August 13, 2005

War Without End?

The big news today is that President Bush has announced that "all options are on the table" with regard to putting a stop to Iran's uranium enrichment program, a suggestion that the United States may use force against Iran in yet another preemptive strike against one of the three nations in a group that our President called an "axis of evil." I should note that the President has said we will only do this as a last resort, but I would remind readers that President Bush also said that all options were on the table with regard to Iraq right before he decided to invade that nation, which was the first in his list of "axis of evil" nations. We were told then that force would only be used as a last resort. The question is this: If President Bush is considering war as a last resort, does he think that we'll be at "last resort" status before the end of his presidency? That seems to be what he's implying by even discussing war with Iran as a last resort.

It's clear to me that President Bush is gearing up for war with Iran, even though our own intelligence tells us that Iran is more than a decade away from developing nuclear weapons, if (and this is a big if) they're even trying to develop weapons. We must speak up often and early against another preemptive war. As German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in response to President Bush today: "Let's take the military option off the table. We have seen it doesn't work." Amen.