Iraq Exit Strategy: Attack Iran

Sure is starting to look that way. Steve Clemons at The Washington Note ponders the idea here and here. Juan Cole addresses it here. Andrew Sullivan captures my attention here.

I was wondering after Bush's speech on Wednesday just how the heck we are going to extricate ourselves from Iraq if this "surge" doesn't work. Now I think I'm starting to understand the plan. The plan is that we're going to blame Iraq for the mess in Iraq and then turn our attention to Iran.

I'm still a bit undecided on what kind of action I'd support on Iran. I'm trying to educate myself on the topic. Certainly their behavior in the Iran-Iraq war is an interesting study. I just hope -- and I mean really f*ing hope -- that this time we the people will demand a logical analysis of the situation instead of merely biting down on the emotional flag waving/scare mongering bait we were fed in 2002-2003.

I mean, looking back to the Iraq run-up there were all kinds of people pointing out the tribal/cultural identity issues in Iraq, as well as the religious zealotry, and estimating that we would require a large occupational force for a decade or more. Colin Powell, General Shinseki, and a parade of career military personnel were all shouted down. Hans Blix, Scott Ritter, and Joe Wilson were absolutely demonized for trying to tell us there were no WMD. We need to be smarter this time. We need to talk openly about all risks and consequences. We need to allow dissent and test the conventional wisdom. Maybe military action is the best move or maybe it's not but we need to be smarter about how decide.