Bush’s Iran Argument Lacks Sense, Credibility  In a speech to
the national convention of the American Legion last Tuesday,
President Bush warned that U.S. failure in Iraq would lead to an
increased Iranian threat to the region and beyond. It’s a
strange and inaccurate argument. To the extent that Iran poses
such a threat, it is largely a creation of the Bush
administration’s policies.  It is not at all clear why a defeat
of the Sunni-dominated insurgency in Iraq would be bad for
Shiite Iran. Indeed, one could make a better case that further
weakening the Sunnis would actually strengthen Tehran’s hand.
The big loser would more likely be Saudi Arabia, which has
provided funding and military hardware for various Sunni
factions in Iraq.  Iran’s principal avenue of influence in Iraq
is the forces backing the Shiite-led government of Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom Washington strongly supported
when the Iraqi parliament chose him. These forces include the
militias affiliated with the Dawa Party and the Supreme