Tonkin One More Time?

The rush to judgment last week blaming Iran for attacking two oil tankers has a suspicious sound to it:  Finding or setting up circumstances that for hawks justify going to war.  Some of you are old enough to remember the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964.  In controversial circumstances the North Vietnamese were accused of attacking some American warships.  Lyndon Johnson used it as an excuse for having Congress authorize him to up the war in Vietnam.

We saw the same thing happen when Bush accused Iraq of having weapons of mass destruction.

Bingo!  The bad guys won’t get away with it.  We’ll show ‘em.  They are a threat and we have to take action.  The drumbeat for war gets louder.  And indeed, in Vietnam and Iraq war followed.

Iran may not be blameless.  But even if true, that’s not the point.  Taking military action against them should be the last not the first resort.  A war with Iran is not the answer.  It would make our other recent unnecessary wars pale in comparison.

Very bad idea!