Charles Finch

Thank God that a few moments ago various newspapers were reporting that US intelligence has determined that Iran's nuclear weapons program "halted in 2003." This is good news on its own - the fewer nuclear weapons in the world the better, of course - but also geopolitically. Many of us who opposed the Iraq War were gravely concerned about the current administration's focus on Iran, especially given that Congress apparently no longer has to approve American wars. Dick Cheney's menacing, utterly moronic threat of "serious consequences" for Iran seemed a month and a half ago like a definite statement of intent. Between all the minatory screeds of Tom Tancredo and Rudy Giuliani, and Bush's second term failures (on Social Security, Hurricane Katrina, and a dozen smaller issues) it can be easy to forget that the most dangerous Republicans are still the ones with a key to the Situation Room.