• 3 August 2008   • Posted By Patrick Disney   • Diplomacy,
Legislative Agenda, US-Iran War  David Ignatius, a columnist for
the Washington Post, has an interesting op-ed today in which he
argues the prospects for a military attack on Iran–at least in
the near term–appear unlikely.  At the center of his argument is
the contention that the Bush administration (including Vice
President Cheney) uniformly believes the military option is not
the way to go–at least not right now.   Additionally, Ignatius
paraphrases an administration official saying the US would
strongly oppose an Israeli strike for a number of very
logical reasons: an Israeli strike wouldn’t destroy Iran’s
nuclear program, it would just retard it; a strike would
strengthen Ahmadinejad; it would undermine US policy in Iraq and
Afghanistan; and a strike on Iran would open up a pandora’s box
of unpredictable (and probably nightmarish) consequences. 
(Interestingly, he also cites a senior administration official
as confirming plans to announce the op