Iran Really Wants Those Nukes (Neocons Do Too)

Iran says... full steam ahead: "Iran announced a dramatic expansion of uranium enrichment Monday, saying it has begun operating 3,000 centrifuges — nearly 10 times the previously known number — in defiance of U.N. demands it halt its nuclear program or face increased sanctions."

(There are scattered doubts about these claims, though.)

So even ignoring the usual media hysteria about imminent nukes and ignoring the usual warmongers excitedly beating their drums at the thought of a new excuse to act all tough, this remains a very important story.

The above-linked National Review blogger says hopes that the nuclear development will speed up inside Iran so that it can give the Republicans a campaign issue they've really been hoping for... a new foreign enemy!!! But does anyone really trust these morons with national security and foreign affairs anymore? How can they simultaneously acknowledge that they treated the Iraq invasion recklessly and with intellectual emptiness, and then demand/insist that they be allowed a do-over with a more formidable regional power?

This administration has no credibility and it has no options. Iran knows this, of course, hence the bluster. Both sides will continue to push the issue front and center for their respective domestic political benefit.

That leaves us trapped in the childish escalation of tiny men who want to play war games with each other. We've seen this train coming at us for years now, and it seems increasingly unstoppable. Let's hope that the actual reaction of American voters is to put more grownups in charge in 2008 and tell the children to go to bed.