at last

the last time the US declared war was before WW2. It has only declared a state of war 5 times ... War of 1812, Mexican - American War, Spanish - American, War World War I, World War II Mike

..or so he thinks !Wakey wakey ! Many years back when it was apparent Iran was seeking the ability to have a nuclear capability it was obvious to most (except Bush and other western politicians) that Iran would NEVER back down and that sanctions will NEVER work. Only military action will deal with the issue

To please the bleeding hearts worldwide, Bush has made every effort and then some to satiate their insatiable lust for appeasement towards Iran. He knows it is futile to negotiate with messianic terrorists, but he has to play by the rules of diplomacy, lest he be called War Mongerer (He will be called that anyway by the left, no matter what he does, if the impasse comes to blows). That it is an impasse is clear to Bush, as it is to any realist whose head isn't buried in desert sands. He has to give diplomacy a chance, as he did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Remember, Bush asked for extradition of Bin Laden before attacking the Taleban and went through a dozen and a half UN resolutions before attacking Saddam. Whatever 'opportunity' Bush gives to Iran to stand down will never be accepted as 'sufficient diplomacy' by the left. And if he attacks Iran, no sufficient pretext for war will ever be acknowledged by his bitter liberal enemies. How do you define "Can't Win?"

Seems you have not read or heard any of the advice that military experts have presented that precisely reject your idiotic idea.

What a historic flip-flop. For years Bush has criticized Democrats for 1. Insisting on a withdrawal timeline 2. Being willing to talk to Iran Now Bush has done both of these forbidden things. What a flip-flopper. Of course, to right wingers this will somehow be seen as shrewd cunning, and not a craven reversal.

Israel has an estimated 100-200 so that probably means they have 300-500. The Americans, Russians and Chinese have thousands of nuclear weapons and they have managed to not destroy each other and the planet for almost 60 years. The Iranians aren't crazy. They certainly don't act any more irrational than the Israeli government. The people of Israel need to sober up and realize that your military and even the military of the United States cannot stop the Iranians from getting a bomb if they really want it. Right now they say they don't want a bomb but can you blame them if change their minds because of the bellicose rhetoric eminating from the likes of Bush and your leaders?

Diplomacy and conflict management expert. No wonder Israel walks away from each negotiations a bit smaller and a bit weaker. There will be a war with Iran, but it appears, that the time will be of Iran choosing -- or we'll just surrender. While we talk, Iran is not standing still, but moving according to their plan. We have no plan. We just wait for Iran to reform, for Islam to reform for Muslims to see things our way. Good luck to us.

I believe Israel has it all wrong, once again basing Trust in Bush on need to feel someone cares. Bush is an opportunist, boasts of his strategic vision, but is clueless regarding actions and their consequences (that’s what Strategy means, right?). Iran is the perfect example. Who would have thought that decapitating the Iraqi regime would have freed Iran to pursue her hegemonic and nuclear ambitions, to embolden Iran to kill American military in Iraq, an act of war by any standard, assuming correctly that Bush as head of the only remaining superpower would not retaliate. But wait, wasn't there a war about ten years ago between Iran and Iraq; wasn't Iraqi WMD intended to threaten and dissuade Iran (Israel is always the public target, but the real target, the Muslim enemy state cant fail to get the message). Ditto Iran today, the publicly proclaimed target is Israel, but the Saudis, et al, get the message! And Bush managed to achieve the unraveling of the sixty-year US security blanket over the oil producing states in only five years! Talk about strategic planning. And now Bush reverses course as an act of intelligent diplomacy? Give me a break. Bush is a self-serving and self-righteous if limited person, his only gift being his ability to change course if it serves his immediate selfish needs to do so, and other consequences be damned. He lost in Iraq, is losing in Afghanistan and looks to a Republican victory in November to give him a gloss of not total Loser. It’s all about image, saving Bush from his justly deserved historical place as worst and least capable president ever. If Bush has to sacrifice Israel and Saudia and oil supplies and a world depression based on threat to oil supplies in service of his reputation... Well, you add it up.

the only way you can make peace with your enemies is to sit down and talk. fighting/killing only makes things worse. it took you long enough to realize that............. I guess you realize that Obama is correct in saying that he is willing to sit down with the iranians. I admire his courage to say something like that.

Don't expect too much from these talks under the Bush administration. They're not capable of being flexible enough to broaden the agenda sufficiently to solve the problems. That will have to wait for the Obama administration.

"In addition, for the first time since 2004, the American situation in Iraq has greatly improved, (and some Iranian leaders are concerned about that (!*$%#@!?))." Surely a person of your background and position at your university must appreciate that the only reason things are quieter in Iraq is the result of Bush collaborating with the Iranians, while they blatantly and blandly go about their business of providing weapons to the resistance used to kill US troops in Iraq. Need I remind you, and your hero Bush, that Iran has been in a de facto state of war with the US for years without any military response by Bush, short of seeking their assistance to extricate himself from Iraq? Who do you think called off Sadr's Shiite Mehdi Army which laid the foundation for the quiet you apparently lay at the door of Bush competence in strategy? Surely you do not believe that inserting 20- or 30-thousand more US troops in the much vaunted Surge did the trick? Bush is a vain, self-righteous politician who has very obvious and severe limitations. His limitations have thus far cost hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, more than four thousand US lives and the only strategic outcome attributable to his ideological invasion has been to promote and strengthen the real threat to US interests in the Gulf, Ahmadinejad and the ayatollahs. I do hope you are not a trusted adviser to Israeli leaders!

.. because it might cause the elimination of Israel and that wouldn't go down too well with the Jewish Zionist Lobby even though the 40 million Zionist goyim would no doubt secretly love it.

Mr. Sas - a lousy student of history you are. The only way to lose your way, your identity and often your life is to sit down and endlessly talk to your enemy. Obama talks exactly like Chamberlaine had before he - along with his buddy Daladier - actually sat down and talked their honor and lives of millions of people in Europe in the not so distant future away, in 1938. Sases of that time had greatly admired their the "courage" those worthless midgets came to exhibit. The reckoning was not long in coming as some of us know by now.

At the opportune moment US and Israel will attack Iran when it is less prepared and The Chanalau Phenomenon will eat her Burka

Wouldn't everyone like to know especially with a claimed last name, "Tova".

I wish appeasement worked. I wish history would have proved so. I wish our enemies would react positively to appeasement. However, the truth is they regard appeasers as cowards and they become more emboldened to attack them. Time and time again history has proved that the only way to neutralise an enemy is to mercilessly overwhelm them. With Iran, sadly, because of the lack of action at an early stage we will see a catastrophic end if and when action is finally taken to stop them. That's history!