Robert Novak’s column today reports that President Bush is “secretly” planning to engage US forces in yet another war, this time by sending in US special forces to help the Turkish Army eliminate the Kurdish guerillas attacking Turkey from Kurdish Iraq.

High-level U.S. officials are working with their Turkish counterparts on a joint military operation to suppress Kurdish guerrillas and capture their leaders. Through covert activity, their goal is to forestall Turkey from invading Iraq.

Suppose you’re the last remaining semi-rational person in the Administration — oh, say, the Secretary of Defense — and the President asks you to gather support for this secret military intervention. Which of the following would you do?

A. Send Congress’ favorite Under Secretary of Defense, Eric “you’re a traitor if you ask me any questions” Edelman to give the briefing to Congress, because he’s so respected there?

B. Make sure Karl Rove is in the loop, because he never leaks national security information, especially to Bob Novak?

C. Make sure Novak hears that everyone is shocked, shocked at how isolated and delusional Bush has become.

D. Make sure Congress feels they were duped, again, because Bush never mentioned that the US surge forces he wanted to secure Baghdad would be used to intervene between Kurdish Iraq and Turkey.

E. All of the above.

Someone in the Administration is sending a message that they think President Cheney Bush is nuts. Wonder who?

Of course, if you’re a Democrat and have been writing “withdrawal” legislation with exceptions that allow Bush to retain and use US troops to discourage neighboring countries from violating Iraq’s borders, you might want to think twice about how much discretion you’d want to give the Bush/Cheney Regime after you’ve given them 160,000 US troops to play with.

Photo by AP, Novak on Meet the Press, October 2003, via Chicago Tribune.