I think of that when I read this “threat” from Ahmadinejad to Obama:

If you set step in [President George] Bush’s path, the nations’ response would be the same tooth-breaking one as they gave Bush.

Ah yes, like that time when Iran lead a coalition of dozens of countries to invade America and overthrow George Bush. Or that time when Iranian airpower supported indigenous rebels to overthrow America’s Christianist government.

Yes, it’s true, the nations of the world certainly got the better of George W. Bush. Obama has much to fear, indeed.

There are powerful incentives for [Iran] to close the door [to nuclear weapons] completely, but they are either purposefully ignoring them or are tone deaf. You almost want to shout, ‘Tune in Tehran.’

One of my favorite types of humor is when clueless people attribute their cluelessness to others. If you can read “Tune in Tehran” in much the same tone that Alicia Silverstone said “As if!”, this becomes the funniest quote you’ll read all day.

The war in Iraq has emboldened Iran, which poses the greatest challenge to American interests in the Middle East in a generation, continuing its nuclear program and threatening our ally, Israel.

Wait a minute. I have a memory that extends more than a few days, and I can remember back when Obama believed, hook line and sinker, the National Intelligence Estimate that said Iran had stopped its nuclear program. In fact, with a pretty much effortless search, I found him buying in to the NIE on December 18, just three short months ago.

I continued the googling. Two months before he bought into the Iranian NIE, he faulted members of Congress for believing the “unconvincing” NIE on Iraq in 2002. Two months earlier-August-here he is citing an NIE about al Qaeda. In 2006 he approvingly cited an NIE which concluded, in his words, that we were “creating more terrorists in Iraq than we’re defeating.” Here (9/12/07) he approvingly cites to Bob Graham disbelieving the NIE before the Iraq war. In this undated PDF he cites as authority an NIE regarding al Qaeda in Pakistan.

I can’t find much more, since the extensive message boards makes his site difficult to search, but I had no idea he had such a love/hate relationship with published intelligence information. Sometimes (i.e. when it cuts against the administration) it’s authoritative; other times (i.e. when it leads to military action) it’s just patently unconvincing. And I can’t track down what has happened in the last three months to make Obama start believing that Iran was still working on its nuclear program.

The two were found guilty of adultery — a capital crime in Islamic Iran — after the husband of one sister presented video evidence showing them in the company of other men while he was away

[snip]

The pair admitted they were in the video presented by the husband but argued that there was no adultery as none of the footage showed them engaged in a sexual act with other men.

Iranian sperm must be a powerful force if adultery is possible without sex!

To understand what to do next, keep in mind that all NIEs consist of two parts: the “Key Judgments” and the text itself.  It’s the text that includes, or should include, the evidence that our intelligence agencies have gathered relevant to the issue at hand. Obviously, you complete the text before writing the Key Judgments, which emerge from the text itself.

…

What was released on Monday is only the Key Judgments.  The text itself hasn’t been released — and won’t be, because the text presumably contains highly classified data relating to what we’ve learned about Iran’s nuclear programs from all sources including, of course, our spies and satellites.

But the text is available to leading members of Congress, including members of both the House and Senate intelligence oversight committees.  Today — right now, this instant — every one of these individuals should get hold of a copy of the NIE and read it.  More precisely, they should cancel whatever appointments and public events are on their calendars, turn off their cell phones, then sit quietly with a pen in hand and work their way, slowly and carefully, through the text of the NIE.  And when they’ve done that, each Representative or Senator should step forward to report – without giving details – whether the Key Judgment about Iran’s nuclear weapons program is, or isn’t, supported by the evidence.

But given Congress’ track record…

Alas, given today’s partisan political atmosphere — and, even more distressing, the limited intellectual abilities of the people we elect — this may not be sufficient to provide the confidence we need.  If ever there was a time for a fast-track Presidential commission – this is it.  Why not ask a half-dozen or so of the sharpest minds in our country to read through this NIE and to tell us – again, without providing details — whether the Key Judgment is supported by evidence within the NIE’s text.  Not all members of this commission need be intelligence experts – or Iran experts, for that matter.  In fact, it would be better if most aren’t.  The two qualities required are intellectual firepower and credibility.  We ought to be able to find six such souls among the nearly 300 million of us.  And the whole thing shouldn’t take more than a week’s time, if that.

The estimate noted that Iran continues to enrich uranium for a civil nuclear energy program. But the intelligence experts said they did not consider this a weapons program because it is being done at openly declared facilities under international supervision.

Uh huh. And if they were to take that enriched uranium, walk across the street, and hand it to their weapons developers, the international supervisors would do what, exactly? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you trust the considerations of the American intelligence community? We’re flying blind. If the NIE said the sky was blue, I would verify it for myself.

From the AP story:

The intelligence officials said they do not know all the reasons why Iran halted its weapons program, or what might trigger its resumption. They said they are confident that diplomatic and political pressure played a key role, but said the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Libya’s termination of its nuclear program and the implosion of the illegal nuclear smuggling network run by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan also might have influenced Tehran.

Uh huh. Us toppling their neighbor because he kept his WMD program opaque “also might have influenced” the Mullahs to stop building a bomb? But intelligence officials “are confident that diplomatic and political pressures played a key role”?

The only way to turn off the anti-U.S. war machine is to end the radical Shiite revolution against the Sunni Muslim world and the West. Accomplishing such a goal requires a change of regime, and the institution of democracy. We have seen what has happened in other areas around the world through a combination of economic and political pressure on a regime.

A democratic regime in Iran will create more political freedom and human rights for women, religious minorities, and homosexuals in Iran. And it will go a long way toward ending the war in Iraq, eliminating the nuclear threat, and reducing terrorist attacks. It will not come without great sacrifice among the freedom fighters in Iran. They should not be alone in the fight.

A liberal hawk, you say?  Not quite. C’mon, guess.

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Rick Santorum.