Greetings to all those celebrating Nowruz and the end of civilization as we all know it. It truly doesn't matter if Iran goes nuclear or not. The Bush gang of war criminals WILL invade, destroy, and bring those shining fires of democracy to Iran and end of discussion. Madness is as the American politician does. The burr under Bush's saddle is "defiance" and Iran is defiant in the face of Bush's insane demands. Insanity is as the American madman does to Iran. Wasn't it just extra special for George and Laura to remember a Persian new year? Why of course it was. The real message from America's imperially insane Caesar to the Iranians was, "I'm thinking about you, yes I am!"

I hope you keep an open and critical mind concerning the "viewpoint" of Israeli political leaders. They, unlike our own policital leaders, have a clear view of their national strategy and national interest. They also have powerful lobbies in Washington.

Please reserve some healthy scepticism for "Israeli political leaders." These chumps were full bore for the Iraq invasion.

Steve,

I was struck by these two paragraphs from the linked Sanger article:

"We've lived with Iran as a terror threat for a generation," says Stephen Biddle, the senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, making the case that containment could work again. "Iran has a return address, and states with a return address can be retaliated against."
...
What of the fear that Iran might pass a weapon to Hezbollah or to Al Qaeda in Iraq? Those arguing for a containment strategy say Iran knows that the origins of any detonated bomb would be traced sooner or later, so the mullahs would not be foolish enough to trust proxies with such a weapon.

Also, President Ahmadinejad doesn't seem to have the executive powers afforded by, say, President Bush; indeed, real government power in Iran rests with the mullah-controlled Parliament and with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

From the maze provided at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/iran_power/html/default.stm

We know (via:)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/iran_power/html/president.stm
The president is elected for four years and can serve no more than two consecutive terms. The constitution describes him as the second-highest ranking official in the country. He is head of the executive branch of power and is responsible for ensuring the constitution is implemented.

In practice, however, presidential powers are circumscribed by the clerics and conservatives in Iran's power structure, and by the authority of the Supreme Leader. It is the Supreme Leader, not the president, who controls the armed forces and makes decisions on security, defence and major foreign policy issues.

All presidential candidates are vetted by the Guardian Council, which banned hundreds of hopefuls from standing in the 2005 elections.

Also, I believe I've read elsewhere that Iran's gov't mullahs have voiced some discontent re: President Ahmadinejad's loudmouthing.

COMMENTS PLEASE: What will it take for the mainstream media and bloggers (including TWN) to stop ignoring the following?............
***LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS: THE ISRAEL LOBBY
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/print/mear01_.html
***HARVARD: THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011/$File/rwp_06_011_walt.pdf