Reply #7: Yeh, but both of those neighbors were their enemies.

[Bucky]

There's a good case to be made that Chalabi was an Iranian agent of influence and manipulated Perl, Rumsfeld, Cheney, et al, into thinking there were WMDs and waiting cheers to compel a US invasion. In one fell swoop, Iran took out Saddam and discredited the US. This is following the backstab the Bushies did to them, first by accepting Iranian help in tracking down the Taliban in Afghanistan, and then adding them to the Axis of Evil list (while leaving Libya and Syria off).

The entire Bush agenda has been to provoke a showdown with Iran, in the hopes of validating their cold war mentality against Iran. Clark is in the smart camp that says doing business builds opportunities and creates interest groups in other countries who will stand against future conflicts. His point that the Bushes are throwing away all their options except for the military is right on the money. Bush unilateralism is a recipe for either war or discrediting the US in the region.