More saber-rattling from the Bush Administration. I remain convinced that Bush won’t bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb Iran–the military and much of his party in Congress would go nuts; senior Republicans have told me that bipartisan impeachment hearings would be inevitable–but that doesn’t mean Bush won’t continue to try to provoke the Iranians into some sort of military mistake. So far, the Iranians have been pretty clever about this, keeping their assistance to Shi’ite militias in Iraq fairly covert and low key, not rising to the bait.
The most distressing aspect of this latest Bush provocation is that it doesn’t help the case of Haleh Esfandiari and the other Americans being held prisoner, outrageously, by the Iranians.
One final, contradictory point: the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is pretty damned close to being a terrorist organization, active throughout the middle east. They are a real problem. Too bad the Bush Administration has zero credibility in the world and can’t deal with it.