republicans rush to another war

The Bush administration’s urge to provoke Iran is as unmistakable as its preparations for a wider war. Nearly every day, the White House sends obvious signals of belligerence to Tehran, with the same drumbeat heard during the months that led up to the invasion of Iraq.

The President announces that he will deploy Patriot batteries to the region, which can only be useful in shooting down Iranian missiles. The President sends another carrier battle group to the Gulf, with an air wing poised to strike Iranian nuclear sites.

The President replaces the four-star Army officer running Central Command, the Middle East region, with a Navy admiral whose specialty is naval air combat. The President orders an armed raid on an Iranian diplomatic office in northern Iraq, which nearly results in a shootout with Kurdish troops.

According to Mohammed ElBaradei—the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose assessment of Iraq’s feeble nuclear program proved correct—the Iranians have no hope of producing an atomic weapon within the next five years. So the rush to war seems premature.