Not Fast Enough

Finally, Foggy Bottom notices the enslaved, restive Iranian people:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Congress yesterday to fund a sweeping initiative to promote democracy inside Iran that would expand satellite broadcasts to enable Washington to ''engage" directly with the Iranian people. The initiative also would lift US restrictions to allow US funding for Iranian trade unions, political dissidents, and nongovernmental organizations. The new request, which was made yesterday at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Bush's foreign affairs budget, would increase spending on democracy programs for Iran this year from $10 million to $85 million.

Rice announced the initiative as Washington steps up pressure on the hard-line regime in Tehran over its nuclear program, which Washington suspects is geared toward producing a nuclear weapon.

''We find it in our interest now . . . to see if we can't engage the Iranian population," Rice told the senators. ''In some ways, you could argue that they need it even more now because they are being isolated by their own regime."

Pity it's only now that this belated interest-recognition arises, as opposed to years ago. Otherwise it might have made a difference, and this looming eventuality would have been avertable:

Ahmadinejad and the IRGC leadership and the Council of Elders are of one mind that the US and Israel will attack (sooner rather than later). The Tehran regime will not wait to be attacked. It is most likely that the Tehran regime will attack first, using proxies in Syria, in Lebanon, in Gaza, directed against Israel to force the US to respond piecemeal and hastily.

Hem and haw and vaccillate and waffle long enough, and sooner or later the initiative passes to the enemy. The Bush Administration has, on Iran, been the proverbial beast that starved to death between two bales of hay. The kicker is that in this case, neither hay bale is content to let nature takes its course.

Where, oh where, is the Dubya of 2001-2003? We could use some "neo-neocons" right about now.