As if low public approval, never-ending conflict in Iraq and skyrocketing budgets weren’t enough, Bush seeks to add to his headaches by singling out Iran as the greatest threat to America’s future.

Is Bush right?

He most certainly is! Iran and its overt and covert support for terrorism, its clandestine development of nuclear weapons, its vows to wipe out Israel and its claims of the eventual domination of the world by Islam should give any rational human being cause for alarm, unless you are a radical Islamist. Iran poses a very real threat to Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Iran has significantly expanded its military prowess in recent years and its nuclear weapons program continues, in spite of pledges that such research is for “peaceful” purposes. Perhaps Iran defines peace as the absence of those who oppose their will, not unlike the communist view of peace.

In pointing to the reality of the Iranian threat, Bush again asserted the right of the US to resort to preemptive action to counter a perceived threat, such as the one posed by a nuclear armed Iran. If there is one thing we can say about this president, he is consistent and unfailing in his resolve and stubbornness, he will not back down from this position, even in the face of overwhelming opposition. The president, however, has a problem, he has lost considerable credibility, with such mishaps as the Cheney shooting debacle, the UAE ports deal, not to mention his ongoing inability to refute the lies and slander of the left in their opposition to the war in Iraq or the larger war on terror. Given these handicaps, it is unlikely the president will have the much-needed public support to launch any preemptive strike on Iran, short of an Iranian attack on US soil.

In a very real sense, Bush’s failure to communicate, places us in greater risk, as he lacks the ability to muster much needed political capital to deal with the Iranian nuclear crisis. Bush’s failure is magnified by the fact that this administration has allowed the appeasers of Europe (the EU3) to take the lead in negotiations with the Iranians. The Iranians, however, have manipulated the EU3 to such an extent that their threats to Iran have proven quite hollow. If negotiations fail to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program, force will be needed. Iran, however, will never voluntarily abandon its atomic program, and only in the face of certain destruction would they even begin to acquiesce, such a threat from the EU is meaningless, Russia and China have only given nominal opposition and the US government is crippled by the leftist propaganda machine.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/16/bush.security.ap/index.html