Hersh's articles on Iran had been consistently alarmist before this one, too, which may be useful in the sense that alarms can work "preemptively," but leaks going to Hersh may be part of Washington's psychological warfare as well... Yoshie
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Sure that's a possibility, but I think Hersh is pretty sophisticated jounalist who has obviously been around for decades. I trust him to know when he is being manipulated. You can do that by cross checking with other `anonymous' sources asking related questions and then consider the similarities and differences---which the article does. You can also do the same kind of checking using time, going back a few months and look at patterns of the same source. Plus just plain old judgement. What's the motive in this source or that?
The bottom line as I read the article was the military scuttle butt said we're planning a bombing campaign. Whether that happens or not is up to Bush. That's the way this administration works. Look at all the options and pick one, more or less depending on Bush's mood. Facts are irrelevant in the decision, and only come into play as justifications afterward.
If I wanted to impart motives on Hersh, I could argue that he wrote an alarmist article to generate outrage, and therefore try to influence public opinion against such an action.
CG