War this year?

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has raised the political stakes in the Middle East by announcing that Iran had enriched uranium. Since this means that Iran is in the position to manufacture nuclear weapons -- even though none have been manufactured yet -- this is an astounding piece of news. Especially in light of the fact that in recent months there's been a steady drumbeat of American condemnation of Iran. And the US may well be preparing to bomb -- perhaps nuke -- Iran, even though Shrub denies it. Since war with Iran would be several orders of magnitude more troublesome than the Iraq quagmire, it would be a huge step for the US -- one that would require reinstating conscription. I suspect that, out of fear that reintroducing conscription would make Republicans instantly unelectable, the nuclear option really is being considered because it is cheap and quick. Of course, the consequences are another matter. Since those consequences would include making anti-Americanism synonymous with support for decency, I hope that W thinks things through very carefully. Of course, W and thought aren't concepts that go together very well.