Editorial: A mess, courtesy of Bush

Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007 | 6:57 a.m.

President Bush, as recently as October, was warning of the specter of "World War III" because of the threat he said a nuclear-armed Iran could pose. Now, however, we know differently - much differently: A National Intelligence Estimate found that as far back as 2003 Iran had stopped work on its nuclear weapons program, contradicting previous White House claims.

The White House had been beating the war drums for some time with respect to Iran, saying the Islamic regime was developing a nuclear weapons program, but such talk generated considerable skepticism. This, after all, was the same administration that had warned of gathering "mushroom clouds" if we didn't invade Iraq and remove its weapons of mass destruction. Of course, there were no WMDs and our nation has been bogged down in a quagmire in Iraq since 2003.

Iran's government certainly poses dangers. Its regime consorts with terrorists and has called for the destruction of Israel, this nation's closest ally in the Mideast and the only true democracy in the region. But other nations might view the White House as having cried wolf once too often, making it that much more difficult to persuade them to join us in acting against Iran if evidence someday exists that Iran is working to build nuclear weapons or planning a military action.

What a mess - thanks to the belligerence of a president who always seems to be looking to pick a fight.