U.S. doesn’t need another Bush war

The Bush administration hopes to use secret operations inside Iran to undermine its government and to gather information about its nuclear program, according to The New Yorker magazine.

Writer Seymour Hersh said Congress provided $400 million late last year for a major escalation of such activity.

At least they’re not trying to attack Iran militarily right now. But the possibility of an attack by this administration is troubling.

President Bush has less than seven months remaining in office. He and Vice President Dick Cheney have shown that they distrust Iran and suspect it of trying to develop nuclear weapons.

No real evidence of weapons development has surfaced, but experts say it would not surprise them. In December, a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iran had stopped work on nuclear weapons in 2003. Without strong evidence, an attack on Iran would be a terrible idea.

It would multiply the troubles the U.S. is now experiencing as the result of the Bush-Cheney decision to invade Iraq without adequate evidence of weapons of mass destruction. It could cost more American lives, raise the price of oil even more, and further delay action on needs at home such as health care, jobs, education, and rebuilding roads and bridges.

Iran is unlikely to develop nuclear weapons before the Bush administration leaves office. Let’s hope that the same people who brought us the Iraq fiasco won’t face the need or opportunity to start another war.