Reminds me of how, every few years or so, America's entire civilization is almost brought down by some shock comic/show that has a ton of people up in arms.

They come, they go. We tend to dress them up with far more perceived power than they ever truly wield.

And when it's a savvy politician (which Ahmadinejad truly is) with a gift for inflammatory rhetoric, we lap up the propaganda, letting little men play our big nation for fools.

Because this dynamic is so encouraged by Israel and Saudi Arabia, it would seem we have a critical mass for whipping the American public--or just enough of it--into the requisite war frenzy. I am not naive about that dynamic. It's the way our republic works and always has. I supported it completely on Saddam, but that was because, as I wrote in the original Esquire article, that choice would force America to finally take strategic ownership of both the region and the Gap at large, and no matter how painful our first forays are, that decision had to be made eventually.

But now in, we have to play the board as we find it. Iran's rise and reach for the bomb are hardly surprising, nor is the Shia revival. Both must either be accommodated or we'll have to commit ourselves to Iran's takedown and remaking, and the truth is, we simply cannot extend ourselves that extra step in our current international isolation (thanks to Bush). You might not want to hear that, but there it is.

So we'll be forced to compromise, as will the Saudis and Israelis, or they'll simply be forced to live in more danger, like Europe was forced to do for a solid quarter century after WWII.

Why? Because Iran's takedown is simply too much for India, China and Russia to accept right now, especially with this administration. Our trust factor around this planet is incredibly low. Bush has spent his political capital and spent it badly.

Supposedly Bush's team advises leading presidential candidates on Iraq to make sure they don't box themselves in--just in case they win. In my opinion, those candidates should be mentoring Bush on Iran, so he doesn't do anything stupid that boxes them--and our nation--into strategic tensions with rising New Core powers that we do not need.

Meanwhile, those of us who see the soft kill option working best on Iran make our own efforts in that direction. When you think effects-based operations, your possible list of weapons expands dramatically.