Bombing Is Our Only Solution - What Was The Problem?

Saw this over at Democratic Veteran. At first, I thought the Krauthammer article he was linking to was something at the Onion or a suggestion from Jesus General. But, no it's the real thing. What we have is an opinion piece in a major American newspaper that suggests we need to bomb Iran and that we need to get the ball rolling soon.

...there is the larger danger of permitting nuclear weapons to be acquired by religious fanatics seized with an eschatological belief in the imminent apocalypse and in their own divine duty to hasten the End of Days.

That sentence was meant to apply to the government of Iran, but out of context it certainly could more easily apply to the Bush Administration.

To Krauthammer's credit, he recognizes some of the consequences of his call to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.

An attack on Iran is likely to send oil prices overnight to $100 or even to $150 a barrel. That will cause a worldwide recession perhaps as deep as the one triggered by the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Iran will shock the oil markets by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's exports flow every day.

Iran could do this by attacking ships in the Strait, scuttling its own ships, laying mines or just threatening to launch Silkworm anti-ship missiles at any passing tanker.

The U.S. Navy will be forced to break the blockade. We will succeed, but at considerable cost. And it will take time -- during which the world economy will be in a deep spiral.

Iran will activate its proxies in Iraq, most notably, Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. Sadr is already wreaking havoc with sectarian attacks on Sunni civilians. Iran could order the Mahdi Army and its other agents within the police and armed forces to take up arms against the institutions of the central government itself, threatening the very anchor of the new Iraq.

There will be massive criticism of America from around the world. Much of it is to be discounted. The Muslim street will come out again for a few days, having replenished its supply of flammable American flags, most recently exhausted during the cartoon riots...

These are just the easily decernible effects. Global economic meltdown, a deepened military quagmire in the Middle East, the complete collapse of Iraq, the hate and emnity of most of the world are a small price to Krauthammer. In the neocon world cause and effect no longer have an rational meaning or relationship.