Are we going to war with Iran?

Seymour Hersh, writing in The New Yorker, has everyone in a tizzy--it looks as if the White House would be quite willing to bomb Iran, possibly with tactical nukes, in order to stop that country's atomic plans.

I've just returned from a town meeting with Congressman John Murtha--you remember: the much-decorated Marine veteran who wants us to pull our soldiers out of Iraq yesterday. Murtha was quite confident that there will be no war with Iran. "Iran is three times bigger than Iraq," he said. "It has a population that has a fanatic hatred of the U.S. Surgical nuclear strikes? Our intelligence is so bad in Iraq, who the hell believes it will be better in Iran?"

For his part, President Bush has also poo-poohed a military approach to the Iran problem. Which means nothing. As others have noted, it is very important--no, crucial--to his presidency that Democrats do not retake control of Congress. Should that happen, there will be investigations galore. Censure is possible. So is impeachment.

But would Bush invade a country--start a war--for personal gain? Well, he did it once. And now that he's hunkered in the bunker, he shows no signs of admitting he was wrong about anything. And then there's the issue of his legacy. What will it be--a failed war in Iraq? Or, just maybe, a late-inning victory in Iraq?

However it plays out, it's clear that enough people in the Pentagon are sufficiently worried that they talked to Sy Hersh. Who then wrote:

The word I hear is messianic. He thinks, as I wrote, that he's the only one now who will have the courage to do it. He's politically free. I don't think he's overwhelmingly concerned about the '06 elections, congressional elections. I think he really thinks he has a chance, and this is going to be his mission.

If that's the case, I have only one suggestion: Pray. And hope that your God is more powerful that whatever deity has put these crazy ideas in this silly little man with the undeservedly high opinion of himself.