rich ruminations

Quite a catchy tune…

Israel gives the finger to Nasrallah

The Brink of Madness

Read the whole thing.

Mark Steyn has another excellent column about the situation in Iran. I this this excerpt is particularly effective:

You know what’s great fun to do if you’re on, say, a flight from Chicago to New York and you’re getting a little bored? Why not play being President Ahmadinejad? Stand up and yell in a loud voice, “I’ve got a bomb!” Next thing you know the air marshal will be telling people, “It’s OK, folks. Nothing to worry about. He hasn’t got a bomb.” And then the second marshal would say, “And even if he did have a bomb it’s highly unlikely he’d ever use it.” And then you threaten to kill the two Jews in row 12 and the stewardess says, “Relax, everyone. That’s just a harmless rhetorical flourish.” And then a group of passengers in rows 4 to 7 point out, “Yes, but it’s entirely reasonable of him to have a bomb given the threatening behavior of the marshals and the cabin crew.”

Will our leaders have the courage to take effective and decisive action with the Iranians? I believe that Bush does, but I’m not sure the Democrats will put the interests of the country ahead of their political desires to disagree with and defeat anything and everything that Bush does.

In any case, please read the whole thing.

Update: My good friend Lee takes issue with my suggestion that potential opposition by Democrats to action on Iran would be politically motivated.

Yea, Rich. It’s just those Democrats. Oh, and those generals. Oh, and the majority of the American public.

I’d like to respond to the three points Lee is making.

First, I don’t claim that “it’s just those Democrats,” but I do believe that many have been putting political calculus ahead of rational thought and behavior regarding the strategy and conduct of our country’s foreign policy. And those that haven’t, such as Senator Joe Lieberman, have been ruthlessly attacked.

Next, “those generals.” Lee provides a link to Google News for articles about retired US military leaders who have recently called for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to resign. Putting aside the issue of the claims being made by this small group (and counter-claims by other current and retired officers), this is irrelevant to the discussion of what our strategy should be about Iran’s aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons. Regardless of who is our Secretary of Defense — what are we going to do about Iran?

Finally, Lee links to a poll showing declining support for President Bush. Once again, this is irrelevant to the question of what should be done about Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons.

So Lee, I challenge you — what do you think should be done with Iran? Feel free to comment here, we can have a nice friendly dialog.