Shamelessly Par for the Course

As you've likely heard, the US government is reporting this afternoon that it has broken up a plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to Washington and to attack the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington. Our reporter is at the press conference which is underway at this moment -- so we'll be reporting more shortly.

  TPM

It would be easier to believe these things if they didn’t always seem to be so conveniently timed as to take the heat off a current embarrassment or problem story. In this case, it comes right as AG Holder has been under a couple of days of sustained pressure regarding his role in the Fast and Furious fiasco.

Justice Department is pushing very hard on the claim of Iranian government complicity. AG Holder spoke of "factions of the Iranian government" being involved. Needless to say, the claim that Iran would try to mount a violent attack in the US capital and trying to assassinate allied foreign ambassadors would have vast and dramatic international implications, to put it mildly.

Second, the claim is that agents working on behalf or in league with the Iranian government allegedly approached Mexican drug cartels for assistance carrying out the assassination/attack.

Oh, for Chrissakes. Not just the Iranians, but the very Mexican cartels Holder is being hounded about having abetted.

Our initial read of the court documents suggests that FBI and DEA agents were involved from the first.

No doubt.

It sounds at this point that the plot was aspirational until US government agents became involved and worked with the alleged conspirators to move it toward operational.

So what else is new? It always works, so they keep doing it.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.