Let's Hope Not..

Andrew Sullivan noted some scary stuff this past Sunday.

Bill Kristol airs the idea that if Obama looks as if he will win the election, Bush or Israel may be more likely to attack Iran before next January. Bush could say: Obama made me do it! Kristol also raises the prospect of Saudi Arabia and Egypt going nuclear in response to an Obama presidency. I think we'll see many more of these dire warnings if Obama looks like the next president..

He then points to another, similar comment from former UN ambassador John Bolton:

This morning on Fox News, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton continued his drumbeat for war against Iran. Adopting Bill Kristol’s argument, Bolton suggested that an attack on Iran depends on who Americans elect as the next President:

I think if they [Israel] are to do anything, the most likely period is after our elections and before the inauguration of the next President. I don’t think they will do anything before our election because they don’t want to affect it. And they’d have to make a judgment whether to go during the remainder of President Bush’s term in office or wait for his successor.

Andrew asks the most obvious question, "Could it happen?" His answer is that knowing Bush and Cheney and their attitude- Yes. I am afraid that I have to agree. They could do it, not just to elect McCain, but to finish their agenda before they leave office. There may be nothing as scary this year as a true lame duck administration from early November through January 20.

Now all of this rhetoric may be just that- saber-rattling, not toward Iran alone but toward the nation getting ready to elect a new president. But then again, rhetoric has been this administration's open door to action.

So, to repeat:

Let's Hope Not!