W on Iran

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Max, it's people like you and Norman Podhoretz--the far left and Right--who talk about war.

The Bush administration has pursued sanctions, and has utilized all of the UN channels to deter the republic's activities. Diplomatically, threatening to attack is useful. It gives you leverage, leverage that the NIE has squandered.

And you're being way too literal about this--"can they get it" means resources, proper material and the acilities dedicated to shifting those resources towards a weaponized program. They had this, and with the advancement of their civilian program, they could have it again.

China was warming up to a third round of sacntions just the day before this NIE leak, and the EU sounded confident too, especially since Iran told them to buzz off last week. Of course we're going to "game" an attack, but diplomatically, everything we're doing goes against the possibility. However, the absence of a perceived threat (something the far left has been rejoicing the past couple of days) puts us in a tough spot in curbing Iran's other activities.