So it has been a long time since I have posted here - but my team released another update to our product so I had a minute to raise my head above the trench line.

I have been following our "featless leader" drumbeat and came across two very interesting items.  The first was an article by Rosa Brooks in this morning's LA Times entitled: "Straitjacket Bush:  The president's warmongering remarks on the Iranian threat suggest he is psychotic.  Really."

In the article Ms Brooks makes the following observation:

"Exhibit A: We're in the middle of a disastrous war in Iraq, the military and political situation in Afghanistan is steadily worsening, and the administration's interrogation and detention tactics have inflamed anti-Americanism and fueled extremist movements around the globe. Sane people, confronting such a situation, do their best to tamp down tensions, rebuild shattered alliances, find common ground with hostile parties and give our military a little breathing space. But crazy people? They look around and decide it's a great time to start another war."

and

"On Tuesday, Bush insisted on the need 'to defend Europe against the emerging Iranian threat.' Huh? Iran is now a major threat to Europe? The Iranians are going to launch a nuclear missile (that they don't yet possess) against Europe (for reasons unknown because, as far as we know, they're not mad at anyone in Europe)? This is lunacy in action."

She also quotes from Fareed Zakaria, who wrote in the Oct 20th issue of Newsweek:

"...the American discussion about Iran has lost all connection to reality. . . . Iran has an economy the size of Finland's. . . . It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century. The United States has a GDP that is 68 times larger and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are . . . allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?"

Finally to get a really good overview you should check out the PBS Frontline special “ Showdown with Iran,” which completely lays bare the failures of the Bush administration’s foreign policy.

He's at it again...