Well, since John Yoo is on vacation this week or something waterboarding herds of unicorns and John Bolton’s Mustache is busy with trying to adapt drone controls for use by facial hair (hard to fly straight and hit the red button at the same time when you’re only a mustache) to bomb Syria, it’s up to Niall Ferguson at the Daily Beast to yell LET’S BOMB IRAN as loudly as possible at the Village today.
The single biggest danger in the Middle East today is not the risk of a six-day Israeli war against Iran. It is the risk that Western wishful nonthinking allows the mullahs of Tehran to get their hands on nuclear weapons. Because I am in no doubt that they would take full advantage of such a lethal lever. We would have acquiesced in the creation of an empire of extortion.
War is an evil. But sometimes a preventive war can be a lesser evil than a policy of appeasement. The people who don’t yet know that are the ones still in denial about what a nuclear-armed Iran would end up costing us all.
It feels like the eve of some creative destruction.
And really, Ferguson’s entire argument is “We could so take Iran because our aircraft carriers have more hit points.” Also, the whole “Oil at $160 a barrel if war breaks out” thing is so 2008 because the Saudis can just make more, or something. It’s like the last 11 years never happened, and he’s just expecting us to buy the argument and go “LET’S DO IT!” like we’re playing Team Fortress 2. Our bombs are filled with awesome cartoon sound effects and FREEDOM, so it’s cool anyway because AMERICA!
Meanwhile, the really awesome part is 49% of Americans are already on board with Operation Here We Go Again, so before you have a good laugh at Niall here, understand that the universe has spotted him a hell of a spread.
[cross-posted at Balloon Juice]
Funny how Conservative commentators like Ferguson always mention the Six-Day War. I have to wonder why they are so enamored of it. The Seventh day of that War has lasted 45 years….and counting.
Dr Brzezinski & Richard Engle gave parallel points that Iran would NEVER use nuclear weapons because Israel & U.S. would wipe it off the map. On Hardball Friday. Well played.
Relative to: “…the whole “Oil at $160 a barrel if war breaks out” thing is so 2008 because the Saudis can just make more, or something.”
Who’s naive enough to think Iran won’t send some short-range missiles across the gulf and take out tanker loading terminals on the Saudi side? If they get that the Saudis let the Israelis use their airspace as an attack corridor, do you really think Iran will just let it go?
We’ll be looking back with sad nostalgia at the good old days of $160/bbl oil.
Oops. Bad HTML italic tag, I think.
Hey, they want to go to war, thats fine….
Volunteer yourselves and your kids, better yet, lets have a draft, no deferments, no bullshit religious ones that Mittens took for ‘Nam while supporting other people being sent there, everyone goes.
Then these fuckers who get a chubby for bombing shit will go flacid again
Actually, I think they ought to reinstitute a draft, with the determining criterion being conscripts are taken in descending order of family net worth.
Those who have a lot worth defending really need to “take the point” now and then, don’t you think?
You, Sir, are brilliant. I love this idea. People with the most should give up the most to protect it. Yes, I can get behind that.