Nuclear Iran

Seymour Hersch at The New Yorker reports that Bush is determined to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons ... and is seriously considering nuking them to do it.

A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was "absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb" if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do "what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do," and "that saving Iran is going to be his legacy."

One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that "a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government." He added, "I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, 'What are they smoking?' "

Recall that Hersch was ahead of the curve on the Abu Ghraib story. Read the whole horrifying thing. And may Providence save us from the President's messianic certainty.