WW III: The president uses reckless doomsday talk on Iran
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This week President Bush made the revelation that he considers World War III a possible outcome of Iran's acquiring the knowledge to build a nuclear weapon.
At a White House press conference Wednesday, Mr. Bush said he had "told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
This irresponsible threat could be simply another disconnect between brain and mouth on the part of this president if it weren't for two other facts.
The first is how he took the United States to war with Iraq. He rolled a hapless Congress in advance of the 2002 elections. He ignored the counsel of most of America's allies, bypassed the United Nations and marched the country straight into a war that has turned into an endless catastrophe.
The second came the very same day as Mr. Bush's remark, in the confirmation testimony of Michael B. Mukasey, his nominee for attorney general. The former federal judge told the Senate Judiciary Committee that it may be legal for the president to supersede laws especially on national defense and to do what he wishes, regardless of the Constitution, based on his role as commander in chief.
On Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress to request authority to declare war against Japan, initiating America's role in World War II. On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before Congress to ask for approval of a declaration of war against Germany, thus bringing the United States into World War I.
The idea that President Bush would even consider starting World War III over information that Iran might be acquiring that could lead to its joining the other eight nations that now possess nuclear weapons is appalling.
If Mr. Bush launched an attack on Iran without congressional approval, such action would justify the initiation of impeachment proceedings against him. This president must not be permitted to take the nation into a second catastrophic war.
If he sees such a war as World War III, presumably casting himself as Mr. Roosevelt or Mr. Wilson, one must question his grasp of reality, his grip on reason. Mr. Bush cannot be allowed to put this country and the peace of the world at such risk.
First Published October 20, 2007 12:00 am
