Moving Goalposts on IranThe funny thing is that the Iranians themselves repeatedly state that they don't want nor need nuclear weapons and are quite willing to impose additional limits on their nuclear program (beyond what the NonProliferation Treaty legally requires) to prove it - but everytime the Iranians compromise the US simply ups the demands, deliberately trying to get the Iranians to say "no" so the US can the pretend that "diplomacy has failed"

Have some leaders that don't appear to be rational?

Hey, they're just like America!

BUT

there's always a but in Bush's lexicon....important "buts" that may lead to accidents.

U.S. in no rush to attack Iran -- for now

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Despite blunt French talk of possible war with Iran, the United States may for the moment be too entangled in Iraq to turn from diplomatic to military action to curb Tehran's nuclear and regional ambitions.

But General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said this month his forces were already fighting a "proxy war" with Iran -- a murky contest which raises the chances for either side to spark a wider confrontation by mishap or intent. [.]

Washington, with its hands full in Iraq, is likely to steer away from military options for now, unless the Iranians "stumble into something", argued Toby Dodge, a British expert on Iraq.

"Clearly there has been a shift in U.S. rhetoric from the nuclear to the Iraq issue and the 'proxy war', but I see no intention in the next few months to go military," he said.

"Full-scale military action would involve a bombing campaign of weeks in duration with massive civilian casualties that would put America's presence in Iraq in jeopardy because the Iranians would kick back in Iraq, across the Gulf and beyond."

GULF FEARS

This would be a nightmare for Saudi Arabia and other U.S.-allied Gulf oil producers whose desire to see Iran cut down to size is tempered by their fear of chaos and retaliation.

related from IPS News

In his prepared statement to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees last week, Gen. David Petraeus claimed that Iran is using the Quds Force to turn Shiite militias into a "Hezbollah-like force" to "fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq".

But Petraeus then shattered that carefully constructed argument by volunteering in answering a question that the Quds Force, an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, had essentially left Iraq.

 "The Quds force itself, we believe, by and large those individuals have been pulled out of the country as have the Lebanese Hezbollah trainers that were being used to augment that activity..."

Petraeus's contradictory statements on the Quds force are emblematic of an administration propaganda line that has essentially fallen apart because it was so obviously out of line with reality. Nine months after the George W. Bush administration declared that it was going to go after Iranian agents in Iraq who were threatening U.S. troops, the U.S. military still has not produced any evidence that the Quds Force operatives in Iraq were engaged in assisting the militias fighting against U.S. troops.[.]

To put some history in perspective, is a timely book:

 That '800-pound gorilla' ...
Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States by Trita Parsi.

Go read book review here. You'll find it interesting.

Considered a deft account of the back-channel relationship linking the three countries from Israel's inception in 1948 through the present.

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

I watched his presentation at CSIS and was suprised by that response to a question from the audience.  I think more than a few audience members were suprised too.  There were several follow-up questions related to his response.  I guess it takes a warrior to know that war in that region should be avoided at all costs.  Too bad we are not led in this country by men with military experience, but those who did their best to avoid the military experience when it was their turn.

The wingnuts are going to slaughter him.  The notion that Iran and THE COMING BETURBANED HORDE(tm) want to turn Skokie into a parking lot for Allah is the 12 pack of Mountain Dew Game Fuel in the wingnut fridge, baby.

Having a US military type admit that it's ok for Iran to have nukes is a cardinal sin to these folks.  While Petraeus can't be wrong, Abazaid just lost any cred to the righties, and they are going to lay him low.

Keep an eye on the wingers.  You're about to hear one hell of an explosion.

More at Zandar vs. The Stupid.