So, real men go to Teheran... We're kinda averting our collective eyes from Iran as we careen toward another war, aren't we? And the Iraq Clusterfuck has screwed everything up so much I don't see how it's possible to trust anything Bush says. And it's especially cute the way he's gotten the entire Army tied down in Iraq, so when we bomb Iran to take out their nukes, the Shi'ites will go bonkers and force us to leave, and all in time for the 2006 midterms. Which would make invading Iran a classic Rovian bankshot. Crazy? As sane as anything else in this mess.

And to think Bush invaded Iraq so we'd all feel safe. Thanks, Mr. President, and can you please stop trying to make me feel safe?

The weird thing is, this time we don't have the buildup. At this point in the runup to Iraq, Bush had already decided to go to war. Before the UN resolutions, before the authorization to use force, before anything. All that really needed doing was catapulting the propaganda, and fixing the intelligence and facts around the policy.

This time, nothing. The Europeans and the UN made the running.

Could these guys have learned from experience? Did they decide not to do the WHIG thing a second time, and just keep everything secret 'til the F117s had unloaded?

Anyhow, since the Republican playbook doesn't vary a lot, presumably Bush has already decided on war, and it's only a question of timing.

So what's thrown off the timing? Why the wait?

Maybe Sharon dying threw, because Sharon couldn't lend us commandos or planes?

Maybe that stupid Danish cartoon, because now the Turks, whose airspace we might need, have cold feet?

Maybe Hamas getting elected, because know we can't pressure Israel to throw a bone to the Turks?

Who knows...

And can someone please tell me why taking out Iran's nuclear sites does anything other than buy us a few years to do... What? Elect more theocrats (abroad, and at home)? And why Iran having nukes is any more lunatic than Pakistan having them?

It's a typical American mindset that in any range of options one option will be good. But I sure don't see the good option here.