If Iran the Zoo

As we relive the no-plan-to-attack-but-all-options-are-on-the-table phase of the propaganda campaign, here’s a reminder to liberal hawks.

The question is not, “Should we attack Iran?”

It’s “Can we trust the Bush Administration with another war?”

As we learned (the hard way) with Iraq, this is not an abstract proposition like, “Should something be done about Saddam?” or “Can we live with a nuclear-armed Iraq/Iran/North Korea?”

To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you go to war with the administration you have, not the administration you want. If you consent to war, it will be George W. Bush’s war, not Kenneth Pollack’s or Tom Friedman’s or Joe Lieberman’s war. It will do no good to say you support an attack on Iran, just as long as it’s done the way you want. If it happens, it will be done the way George Bush wants, with no input from anyone outside his Midas-touch inner circle.

The evidence from Iraq is pretty clear that the Bush Administration cannot plan or manage the occupations of major Middle Eastern countries. It cannot competently assess the pros and cons of military action in relation to alternative methods of pressure. It cannot conduct public and private diplomacy in a way to isolate our adversaries, rather than ourselves. It cannot set realistic objectives or separate legitimate security interests from harebrained utopian fantasies. It cannot be honest about the costs and risks of war.

Under these circumstances, we would be fools to follow George W. Bush into another war if it can possibly be avoided.

In other words, can the Iranian nuclear program wait three years for a new American president? Or is it so advanced that it needs to be stopped now, even if that means war?

Of course, kicking the can down the road poses risks as well. (Unlike Iraq, Iran has an actual nuclear program.) But is it riskier than going to war again under Bush's leadership?

Bush is like a teenage driver who's wrecked the family car too many times. At a certain point, you've got to take the keys away, even if he has someplace really important to get to.