Facts Don't Count

 

Scared because the case that Iran poses no threat to the United States as concluded by the New Intelligence Estimate [NIE] --  Iran has no nuclear-weapons program -- is dismissed with the attitude that it's old news.  Yes. About a month old.

 

Scared because demurrals that an attack on Iran is irrational, illegal, and likely to end badly for the United States is brushed away with reference to Israel.  But as Charley Reese reiterates, "The much-publicized statement about wiping Israel off the face of the map was a mistranslation. The Iranian president really said that the Zionist state would pass away like the Soviet Union."

 

The United States and Israel have no justification for attacking Iran or even trying to break Iran economically.  Nevertheless, the U.S. and Israel have raised the tension level to the point that Russia thinks it necessary to clarify the stakes: Russia is coming back at us with threats of preemptive nuclear strike that echo the United States' own threats to Iran. 

 

Bush wants to leave a legacy.  He already has: A 50% weaker country since he took office. Could he be aiming at a perfect score?

V.