I say "during." By far the best political theatre. Der Speigel:

[According to reports from the press agency DDP] "western security sources" claim that during CIA Director Porter Goss' Dec. 12 visit to Ankara, he asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide support for a possibile 2006 air strike against Iranian nuclear and military facilities. More specifically, Goss is said to have asked Turkey to provide unfettered exchange of intelligence that could help with a mission.

DDP also reported that the governments of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman and Pakistan have been informed in recent weeks of Washington's military plans. The countries, apparently, were told that air strikes were a "possible option," but they were given no specific timeframe for the operations.

Odd that Israel is not on that list...

Washington appears to be dispatching high-level officials to prepare its allies for a possible attack rather than merely implying the possibility as it has repeatedly done during the past year.

Real men attack Teheran...

According to DDP, during his trip to Turkey, CIA chief Goss reportedly handed over three dossiers to Turkish security officials that purportedly contained evidence that Tehran is cooperating with Islamic terror network al-Qaida.

But then he would say that, wouldn't he?

A further dossier is said to contain information about the current status of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. Sources in German security circles told the DDP reporter that Goss had ensured Ankara that the Turkish government would be informed of any possible air strikes against Iran a few hours before they happened. The Turkish government has also been given the "green light" to strike camps of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iran on the day in question.

But not the Kurds in Iraq? How odd.

Well, Happy New Year, eveyone! Of course, there's no way that Bush won't fuck this up, the way He fucks everything up. And by the time the blowback hits, Bush will be comfortably ensconced back in Hellmouth, TX, well away from the blast area.

NOTE It would be very interesting if the talk of Turkey was all misdirection, and in fact Bush hopes to have Israel conduct the strike instead.