My God, somebody noticed

That isn't a blogger...

U.S. rhetoric on Iran resembles pre-Iraq war rumblings

US officials appear in much the same position as they were in 2002: stalwart defenders of the nuclear order scouting world support for their cause, uncompromising souls in a compromising multilateralist universe.

With the latest nuclear crisis coming to a head after Iran blew off a UN Security Council injunction to halt uranium enrichment, the United States is again showing signs of frustration with the world body.

Nearly four years after President George W. Bush warned the United Nations it risked becoming "irrelevant" unless it dealt with Saddam, his administration is billing the showdown with Iran as a new test of UN mettle.

"Iran is openly challenging the United Nations," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Friday. "That challenge should have consequences in order to sustain and to reinforce the credibility of the UN as an institution."

This is so fucking pathetic. If Bush and his merry band of cowards hadn't so overplayed its hand with Iraq they may have actually had hope of some diplomatic resolution to Iran that didn't involved nothing more than saber-rattling. But ultimately they are ineffective at being much more than bullies...always good for our long-term security interests. Iran knows this, it also knows that Bush cannot really afford to fight another war -- it expects Bush to act rationally and not pull the trigger.

So we have two states expecting rationality, as they see it, out of the other.

Oh that's a good sign.