Having observed the various unprincipled positions, non-positions, and evasions of conservatives, liberals, and in-betweenies regarding what to do about Iran, I was surprised this morning to discover a proposal even more boldly suicidal than any yet offered. This from Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times:
Iran could be persuaded to adopt a Japanese model: develop its capacity to the point that a bomb could be completed in weeks or months, but without testing or stockpiling weapons.
Granted, expert reassurances are easier to accept if you live in New York than in Tel Aviv, and the consequences of being wrong would be horrific. But however one judges the risks, the one thing we should have learned from Iraq and Lebanon is that military "solutions" can leave us worse off than before.
As I have been saying for years, the Bush administration's military "solutions" (i.e., half-battles)—touted as "hawkish" and "aggressive" and "cowboy-like"—have zapped from American discussion . . .