More in the news about Iran. An independent think tank, the Oxford Research Group, has said that a war between the US and Iran would result in “thousands” of US military deaths. This would appear obvious, and really vague. What I found most telling was this: "I think there is at least a 50:50 risk of some sort of real crisis, probably with military action, before the end of next year," said the report's author, Professor Paul Rogers of the University of Bradford.

Well that’s encouraging. My big problem with the Iran conflict is the hypocrisy. Sure, it would be bad if Iran had a nuclear weapon. But any nation that threatened to use one would be completely isolated from the world, without getting a chance to use it. The only way we can forcefully make Iran disarm would be if we had no weapons ourselves. Who are we to say who can and can’t have nuclear weapons? Without offering any motivation to disarm, except self preservation, we’re actually pushing them to support terrorists and want a nuclear weapon for a bargaining chip. Another good point in this report that Bush will clearly disregard: Any attack on Iran will unite the Iranian people behind the radical government. If we want a more benign government there, we need to make us a helper, not an enemy. Unfortunately, I fear we’ll never go for a peaceful resolution in this standoff.