The President vs. the Peacock

The Jerusalem Post reported that Bush "intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday.

"The official claimed that a senior member of the president's entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.

"However, the official continued, 'the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice' was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic, for the time being.

"The report stated that according to assessments in Israel, recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah de facto established control of the country, was advancing an American attack.

"Bush, the officials said, opined that Hizbullah's show of strength was evidence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's growing influence. They said that according to Bush, 'the disease must be treated - not its symptoms.'"

But in a statement released this morning, Press Secretary Dana Perino wrote: "An article in today's Jerusalem Post about the President's position on Iran that quotes unnamed sources -- quoting unnamed sources -- is not worth the paper it's written on. . . .

"As the President has said, no president of the United States should ever take options off the table, but our preference and our actions for dealing with this matter remain through peaceful diplomatic means. Nothing has changed in that regard."

Via Thinkprogress.org, here is CNN's Ed Henry with a few caveats: "A reporter pointed out to Dana Perino though that we heard these similar denials from the White House in the run-up to the war in Iraq. They insisted that diplomacy was the first option; military option was the last option." Henry said that there was no public word of such a meeting while Bush was in Israel, but he noted that "if -- and I stress if -- this had happened behind closed doors, this is not exactly the kind of story the Bush administration would have told us, because it's not the story line they want out right now." And Henry concluded: "The bottom line is that there's a broader fight going on -- which is the White House against the media."

The White House and the EPA

Juliet Eilperin writes in The Washington Post: "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson favored giving California some authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks last year before he consulted with the White House and reversed course, congressional investigators said yesterday.

"The five-month probe by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee drew upon more than 27,000 pages of internal EPA documents and interviews with eight key agency officials, and provides the most detailed look yet at the administration's mid-December decision. . . .

"It remains unclear how exactly senior Bush officials intervened in the decision. Burnett said he was instructed not to answer questions about the White House's involvement, and the White House maintains that Johnson was not influenced by his talks with White House officials."

From the report of the committee's Democratic staff: "The President has an obligation under the Constitution to take care that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed. In this case, the applicable law is the Clean Air Act, which requires that California's petition to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles be decided on the merits based on specific statutory criteria. It would be a serious breach if the President or other White House officials directed Administrator Johnson to ignore the record before the agency and deny California's petition for political or other inappropriate reasons. Further investigation will be required to assess the legality of the White House role in the rejection of the California motor vehicle standards."

Military Analysts

Satyam Khanna writes for Thinkprogress.org that at yesterday's press briefing, a reporter asked spokesman Scott Stanzel about e-mails suggesting White House involvement in the Pentagon's covert use of retired " military analysts" to generate favorable news coverage.

"Without denying White House involvement, Stanzel defended the program, saying it is the equivalent of giving information to someone who writes for a 'liberal blog' . . .

"As the reporter noted, however, the White House's meetings with Pentagon officials and military analysts were 'kept secret.' In contrast, the White House press briefings where the 'liberal' reporter receives his information are available on cable television. 'You can talk to the Defense Department. It was their program,' said Stanzel when asked why the meetings were not public."

On the Trail

At the same briefing, Stanzel said Bush will be doing a lot of campaigning for his would-be Republican successor.

Q: "Are we going to see a lot of them together?"

Stanzel: "I think you'll see the President out on the campaign quite -- campaign trail quite a bit. We'll keep you posted on their events that they may have together."

Bush's Travels

The New York Times editorial board writes: "President Bush's visit to the Middle East last week offered a graphic primer on his failed policies -- and the many dangers his successor will face."

The Boston Globe editorial board writes: "At the end of what may be his farewell sojourn in the Middle East, President Bush delivered an obtuse speech to the World Economic Forum in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt. Bush seemed oblivious to the loss of respect for the United States that his Mideast misadventures have caused in the region."

Bush Apologizes

Qassim Abdul-Zahra writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for an American sniper's use of a copy of the Quran for target practice, Maliki's office said Tuesday.

"White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush spoke to al-Maliki about the Quran shooting incident during a regularly scheduled videoconference on Monday. She said Bush expressed his 'serious concern.'

"'He told the prime minister that we take this matter seriously, and he noted that the soldier had been reprimanded and removed from Iraq by his commanders,' Perino said.

"A statement issued by al-Maliki's office said Al-Maliki told Bush of the 'disappointment and anger of the people and government of Iraq over the soldier's disgraceful action,' the statement said."

Cartoon Watch

Pat Oliphant on McCain's excess baggage; Daniel Wasserman on redeploying Bush; Bob Gorrell on the GOP's new lapel pin; Bill Mitchell and M. e. Cohen on Bush's energy policy; Jim Morin on Bush's unappeasing policies; Rob Rogers on Bush's sacrifice.