Cole in Salon: "The Iran Hawks"

My column in Salon.com, “The War Hawks,” is now online. Excerpt:

‘ Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton think a tough line on Tehran will sell politically. They could be right.

Future historians may conclude that the key issue in the 2008 presidential campaign was not Iraq, but whether the United States should go to war with Iran. Sparring over Iran dominated the Republican debate in Dearborn, Mich., last week, while a Senate resolution condemning Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terrorists divided the Democrats, some of whom (including Sen. Barack Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) feared that it might give Bush a pretext to launch another war. Unexpectedly, Tehran has emerged as a preoccupation of candidates — as a litmus test for attitudes toward war and domestic security. ‘

Read the whole thing.

(Remember that Salon is an amazing bargain for a daily publication with so much thought-provoking comment– Joe Conason, Glenn Greenwald, Sidney Blumenthal, Joan Walsh, Gary Kamiya, Garrison Keillor (my idol!) etc., etc. I subscribed premium long before I ever convinced them to publish me.)

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Other reading:

At the Global Affairs blog, Philip J. Cunningham argues that Japan’s ruling party is moving away from the right wing and militaristic rhetoric of the Koizume and Abe governments.

Susie Madrak’s blog needs some contributions. She had a birthday not so long ago; if you like what she writes, send along a token of appreciation.

Pamela Leavy considers the false rumors about Air America broadcaster Randi Rhodes being mugged that spun out of control in the blogosphere as an object lesson. She writes, “I didn’t comment on the story earlier today and now I have one thing to say, this over-zealous urge to break the news, and speculate on it is out of control.”