Steve Clemons of Salon makes the case that Bush has decided -- for now -- against bombing Iran. Apparently back in January, the Joint Chiefs made a convincing case against bombing Iran on strategic military grounds. Yet, Clemons concludes his optimistic article by saying that the prospect of a US attack on Iran has not gone away:
What we should worry about, however, is the continued effort by the neocons to shore up their sagging influence. . . And through Op-Eds and the serious political media, the "bomb Iran now" crowd believes they must undermine those in and out of government proposing alternatives to bombing and keep the president and his people saturated with pro-war mantras.
We should also worry about the kind of scenario David Wurmser floated, meaning an engineered provocation. An "accidental war" would escalate quickly and "end run," as Wurmser put it, the president's diplomatic, intelligence and military decision-making apparatus. It would most likely be triggered by one or both of the two people who would see their political fortunes rise through a new conflict -- Cheney and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A lot can happen, and it's the height of irresponsibility that the US Congress has not even attempted to put some legislative checks on the renegade US president's war powers.
Update: Here are the US targets in Iran (Telegraph via Sullivan).
