I am naive

By Creature

I am naive. Before this morning I really thought the rhetoric against Iran was just that, rhetoric. I did not think our leaders could be seriously contemplating a new war. Today I think differently.

President Bush plans to issue a new national security strategy today reaffirming his doctrine of preemptive war against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, despite the troubled experience in Iraq.
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The preemption doctrine generated fierce debate at the time, and many critics believe the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq fatally undermined an essential assumption of the strategy -- that intelligence about an enemy's capabilities and intentions can be sufficient to justify preventive war.
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"If necessary, however, under long-standing principles of self defense, we do not rule out use of force before attacks occur, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack," the document continues. "When the consequences of an attack with WMD are potentially so devastating, we cannot afford to stand idly by as grave dangers materialize."

Such language could be seen as provocative at a time when the United States and its European allies have brought Iran before the U.N. Security Council to answer allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons. At a news conference in January, Bush described an Iran with nuclear arms as a "grave threat to the security of the world." [Read More]

However, it is not the restatement of the I-will-blow-you-up-before-you-blow-me-up (based-on-cherry-picked-intelligence) doctrine that has me feeling a bit off balance this morning. Take the doctrine above, add to it this quote by our unstable U.N. Ambassador Bolton, and I can't help but believe that the megalomaniacs that run this country are damn serious about blowing Iran to smithereens.

"Just like September 11, only with nuclear weapons this time, that's the threat. I think that is the threat," Bolton told ABC News' Nightline program.

"I think it's just facing reality. It's not a happy reality, but it's reality and if you don't deal with it, it will become even more unpleasant." [Read More]

My awakening does not even take into consideration the accusations leveled by the President himself on Monday that Iran is supplying IED components to the Iraqi insurgency. A charge that itself had no basis in fact and was eerily similar to the discredited sixteen words from the 2003 State of the Union address.

While I myself have no solution for the mess that is Iran, I would prefer that bombs not be part of the equation. I cannot imagine that we are prepared for the fallout that would occur if we choose the path of aggression against Iran. And aggression is a choice. Please, let Iraq be a lesson for the American people, Congress, and the media. As the drum-beat intensifies we must not allow this administration to take us to war once again.

I am awake now. I am fearful. And I am not happy.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)