Is the U.S. planning on attacking Iran? asked Juan Cole in Salon.com. The signs are certainly ominous. In his nationally televised speech last week, President Bush 'œrattled sabers at Iran with some ferocity,' threatening to retaliate against the theocracy for providing material support to the Iraqi insurgency. 'œWe will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training,' Bush declared. He has already backed up his tough talk by dispatching the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis to the Persian Gulf, putting jet fighters within a short flight of Iran. That same day, the U.S. mounted a surprise raid on Iran's nascent consulate in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Irbil, seizing five Iranians 'œsuspected of being closely tied' to the Iraqi unrest.
Watch out, said syndicated columnist Patrick Buchanan. If the U.S. launches airstrikes on Iranian 'œnetworks' across the border, Iran will retaliate. 'œThat response would trigger U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, for which Israel and the neocons are howling.' You'd think Bush would have no interest in yet another war, said Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post, especially with 'œall the pushback he's getting from Congress and the public' about Iraq. Then again, this wouldn't be the first time the White House let its self-righteous belligerence override common sense. With a president who sees the world in black and white, 'œyou have to worry.'
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