Will the U.S. attack Iran?

I wish Hersh didn't have such a good track record. I really want him to be wrong.

I'm afraid Bush is going to make that decision unilaterally. Then the citizens of this country will be forced to deal with the fallout. We may have to institute a draft and kill more soldiers for nothing. The entire middle east will be hostile to the U.S. for generations. Iranians will not overthrow their leaders and there will be no democracy set up there.

All for Bush's ego and Cheney's profits.

I wish the Democrats would get some guts.

Shelly,

I wish the Republicans would get some guts.

As you said, Bush can make the decision to commit troops to war unilaterally. Then he can hold those troops hostage and blackmail congress into supporting his war, just as he has done so far in Iraq. The decision to go to war with Iran would be made with the assurances to Republicans, that a new war would rally the country and assure them victory in 2008, which it might. Enough of the Republicans are short-sighted enough that they would go along with Bush and kill any timid opposition the Democrats might manage. A third war, against a country more populous than Iraq and Afghanistan combined and far better armed, would destroy our army, unify the Middle East against us, isolate us in world affairs, collapse our economy, and end our democracy. The Republican Party would be the first to pay the price; the Democrats would not survive much longer.

The Democrats alone cannot stop Bush from starting another war, even if they had the will. However, if Republican leaders in congress (especially the Senate) made it clear that they would join the Democrats in resisting Bush even to the point of impeachment during a presidential campaign, the war plans would be off the table and burned. Basically, Orin Hatch and Arlen Spector have the power to prevent this war.

John,
I see the same outcome you envision. And I'm afraid it's becoming unavoidable.

Americans will realize the disaster an Iranian war is too late to avoid the consequences. At that time, we may see some significant change in our party system and representatives, but the price for that change will be tremendous.

To #1: Hersh is more wrong than right with this article, and dangerously so. He says "We'll be ready to fight another stupid war in another two decades."
First, I wish folks, especially journalists, would quit referring to the neocon shadow government AND the actual current US government as "we".
Two decades? More like two days. And a war with Iran would be dumber than dumb. Where is the ethnic component to cleanse here? A few Jews or Bahais?
The real wrong that Hersh is on about is that the Iraq war is stupid. Most war critics make the same mistake. The strategy AND tactics of this war have been closely calibrated to create as much havoc in this region as possible and in this sense the war(s) is a raging success. The stupid part about it is that it seems most don't realize or accept this. Dr. Ron Paul does, and this is why I am working to get him elected the next president, so we can say "We" once more.

W is waiting patiently for the next 9/11. Osama and his crew are waiting too for precisely the moment that would strengthen W - because he is the biggest aid to terrorist recruitment. After the next 9/11, all the cards will be thrown into the air and land wherever they will. Once again, W will be empowered to attack Iran as he wants because he will blame them, just as he did Saddam. And, in the event that W does not cancel the election of 2008 for security reasons and stay on to prevent further chaos, Mr. Giulini will win big as the chimerical holyman of 9/11.

Meanwhile, American democracy is on the verge of disaster. The corporate right-wing media and the easily-distracted citizenry have enabled W and his cynical gang to destroy Iraq, kill a milliion civilians, damage the US military, undermine the influence of the USA, and to push American democracy ever closer to the abyss.

Maybe this is too late to read these comments and some thing strange is that I found this blog accidentally, saw my country name and felt curious about it, WAR and etc! we are thinking about it but not as you, as Iranians who are under pressure from a stone minded, fascist,dirty and what ever curse government you can imagine,but the nightmare of another war is making us frightened. there,s no difference between Bush and our insane president, both of them are religious and in hallucination of end of the world, by bombs, guns, killing and a bloody resurrection,but if we want peace, dreaming about our future and humanity, who is responsible?! we are tired of these false rumors, it,s non of our business what your artificial democracy or our god damn Islam says, it seems all of them are working for Armour slaughter y, to sell their bombs to each other, to kill cruelly their children of future, because capitalism says: sell anything the customer wants and nothing else matters!

Fascinating finding this on a Science Blog.
Backporch politics and science. I'm not sure what to think.