While I oppose the policies of the Bush Regime, I don't see much benefit in going off the deep end and making up stuff. It's a fact that Iran has a nuclear program, and its leaders haven't been shy about expressing their willingness to produce nuclear weapons if they feel "threatened". That rhetoric, of course, masks their own belligerance and is just preemptive finger pointing.

What's really on the table is the Bush Regime's essential defeatiism. "What? Defeatism?" Sure. The shrill belligerence comes across as desperation, as if Bush feels like we've run out of options and all that's left to us is to pile the mattresses at the door and grab the rifles for a desperate last stand. The Bushies and their disciples believe that negotiation is only a trap and can never succeed, and by sabotaging negotiation wherever possible they make war a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Personally I think the war's not lost, and that America is a lot stronger than you'd think from listening to Bush. We weren't transported to an alternate universe on January 20, 2001, and Bush's election didn't wipe out America's historical success at providing leadership since WWII based on a wise balance between military force and a willingness to talk and work out problems before war becomes the only answer. I can't go along with Bush's attempt to throw away a half century developing techniques that work and made America a genuine leader in the world, in pursuit of the grubby neocon chimera of world domination.

That's where there's juice: The threat posed by Iran is real, but Bush's policies are sure to make the situation worse rather than better.