Bush's Eternal Sunshine

"The noon visit to a Jackson home is a campaign fundraiser for Republican interim U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, at $1,000 a pop. It's not a public event.

"Wicker's campaign manager, Austin Barbour, a nephew of Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, said the event is private at the request of the White House."

Parting Shot?

Eugene Robinson writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "George W. Bush's presidency seems exhausted and irrelevant, but that's a dangerous illusion. The Decider remains in command of the world's most advanced and powerful military force, and he has just a few months to tie up what he might consider loose ends. . . .

"[I]f Bush is chastened by failure or troubled by doubt, he doesn't show it. He has said that he expects to be vindicated by history. The danger is that he will decide to give historians more fodder by taking care of unfinished business -- especially business that the next president might want no part of. . . .

"The biggest question is whether Bush will do what John McCain, to the tune of an old Beach Boys hit, once jokingly suggested: 'Bomb Iran, bomb bomb bomb.' Bush has been categorical in saying that Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, even as the Iranians have defiantly expanded their nuclear facilities and speeded production of the enriched uranium that would be needed to fuel a bomb. . . .

"It's not hard to fathom the ominous, potentially catastrophic implications of a U.S. attack on Iran's enrichment plants and other nuclear installations. . . .

"Here's my suggestion, which he probably won't take: Finish the job in Afghanistan, quash the Taliban's resurgence, renew the fight against al-Qaeda and track down Osama bin Laden. As I recall, he's the one who attacked us."

Iran Watch

AFP reports: "The White House declined to comment Monday on a news report that US lawmakers last year approved 400 million dollars to ramp up covert operations in Iran to undermine Tehran's leadership.

"'I couldn't comment either way,' spokeswoman Dana Perino said after The New Yorker magazine reported that the US Congress passed US President George W. Bush's funding request for a dramatic increase in such secret operations.

"Asked about the likelihood of US military action against Tehran's disputed nuclear program before the president leaves office in January 2009, Perino said Bush 'is singularly focused on trying to solve this issue diplomatically.'"

Jonathan Karl reports for ABC News: "Senior Pentagon officials are concerned that Israel could carry out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of the year, an action that would have enormous security and economic repercussions for the United States and the rest of the world.

"A senior defense official told ABC News there is an 'increasing likelihood' that Israel will carry out such an attack, a move that likely would prompt Iranian retaliation against, not just Israel, but against the United States as well.