First Strike As Policy

A majority of likely voters – 52% – would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53% believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election, a new Zogby America telephone poll shows.

  Zogby

Could this be why Bush is president? And here I thought it was because of election shenanigans.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

So Very Put Upon

I've gotten pretty jaded, and even though my posts may be gripey, most of the time I really don't have any emotion behind them anymore. I think that happened about a year ago, after taking a break in Mexico, and after political events just got one too many marks over the absurdity line. But when I read stuff like this, it does manage to give me at least a momentary jolt of disgust. Our soldiers don't need any more encouragement in believing that we're the only force for good in the world, that we're the ones who have to straighten everybody else out, and that the rest of the world makes that job difficult for us.

....but hey, do what you want....because I know you will anyway.

India + Nuclear Weapons, AOK

Washington has negotiated that nuclear deal with India.

The pact, approved by India's cabinet on Wednesday, would allow India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in 30 years, even though New Delhi refused to join non-proliferation pacts and tested nuclear weapons.

[...]

[T]he United States has agreed to help ensure continued delivery of nuclear fuel to India even if Washington halts cooperation, as required by law, if New Delhi tests another nuclear weapon -- something Indian and U.S. officials say is very likely.

[...]

According to congressional sources and experts, the United States agreed to give India advance, long-term permission to reprocess U.S. origin nuclear material once New Delhi builds a new reprocessing facility that would only use such material.

This is being done despite the fact that Bush in a major speech in February 2004 stated that "enrichment and reprocessing are not necessary for nations seeking to harness nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."

[...]

Unlike India, Iran is a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, yet the United States has led an international effort to force Tehran to abandon its enrichment program.

Hmmmm. I wonder why that would be.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

It Wasn't Just Federal Agencies

Karl Rove and his compatriot Sara Taylor were giving the GOP spiel to ambassadors and diplomats, too, prompting Spencer Ackerman to wonder "how U.S. foreign policy, and specific binational relationships, is unfolding right now to serve a partisan agenda rather than the national interest."

Which brings to mind a bumper sticker I saw yesterday: "Yee-ha is not a foreign policy."

Maybe it is.