Foreign Policy

Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran

The man who schooled Paul Ryan on foreign policy prior to his selection as Mitt Romney's running mate is now openly calling on congress to vote for war with Iran.

via ThinkProgress

Elliott Abrams, a former Bush Administration official who focuses on the Middle East, took to the pages of the Weekly Standard to argue that neither Iranians nor Israelis think the Obama administration is “serious” about attacking Iran, and that the only real way to convince them is having Congress vote for war.

From his column

There are few legislative days left in 2012 because this is an election year, but there are enough to debate and pass this joint resolution if it is given its proper priority. Congress needs to act on the farm bill and the federal budget before adjourning, but it is quite likely in both cases that three or six month extensions will kick those balls down the road to a lame duck session or into the new Congress next year. The Iranian nuclear program, by contrast, must be addressed right now—or Israel is quite likely to strike while it still can.

There aren't many days left in this session of congress, and we still don't have a comprehensive farm bill or a budget for fiscal 2013 on the books. But you know what? Starting another war is more important!

Abrams' idea is that we can prevent Israel from bombing Iran by declaring war before they do. We can then somehow use our declaration of war as a bargaining chip to force the Iranians to discontinue their non-existent weapons program. Because a declaration of war is actually a gesture of peace. Do you follow? Me neither. And this man gives Paul Ryan his talking points.

The Republicans are so concerned about the national debt they can't wait to enlarge it with another bogus, treasury-plundering war.