Charles Krauthammer begins the martial drumbeat… again:
Did we invade the wrong country? One of the lessons now being drawn from the 9/11 report is that Iran was the real threat. It had links to al Qaeda, allowed some of the 9/11 hijackers to transit through, and is today harboring al Qaeda leaders. The Iraq War critics have a new line of attack: We should have done Iran instead of Iraq.There may be no deus ex machina. If nothing is done, a fanatical terrorist regime openly dedicated to the destruction of the “Great Satan” will have both nuclear weapons and the terrorists and missiles to deliver them. All that stands between us and that is either revolution or pre-emptive strike.
Both of which, by the way, are far more likely to succeed with 146,000 American troops and highly sophisticated aircraft standing by just a few miles away — in Iraq.
Charade. The common wisdom is always a charade. Never forget that. It is looking more and more likely that total war in the region was the plan all along, and that an important part of that plan was to drag the American people into it step by unwilling step. I imagine we will not bother to declare this war, either.
I’m not saying that one can’t make a reasonable case for war with Iran, not at all. But the way in which the administration has gone about manipulating the situation from the start makes it clear that these neoconservative Wilsonian imperialists are the very last people who can be trusted to wage it.
Third of a third. (shakes head)