Psychologically, these people feed off power, chaos and death, and as far as they're concerned, the more of it the better.
Diplomacy seems to be a sideshow to the personal drama that's being played out in Washington. Iran is George's last attempt to make a difference. He knows that Iraq has fizzled, and he believes he need a more impressive legacy to take his place in the history books.
Of course attacking Iran will destroy the US as a world power. But at least George will have a real war and a real legacy. Right now, all he has to look forward to is creeping impeachment and a long slow withdrawal from Iraq, which is hardly the high-note ending he's hoping for.
The real question is how far the Repub moderates will go to make sure this doesn't happen.
I've said this before. But perhaps it seems like hyperbole. So I'll say it again. The president's interests are now radically disjoined from the country's. We can handle a setback like Iraq. It really is a big disaster. But America will certainly surive it. President Bush -- in the sense of his legacy and historical record -- won't. It's all Iraq for him. And Iraq is all disaster. So, from his perspective (that is to say, through the prism of his interests rather than the country's -- which he probably can't separate) reckless gambits aimed at breaking out of this ever-tightening box make sense.
Bush has no personal concept of failure. If something goes wrong, someone else is to blame. If a project looks like failing and he's obviously responsible, the project can't be allowed to fail.
Hence Iran, because Iraq is already over.
We're dealing with a teenager here. Attacking Iran makes no sense in the adult world. If you're a teenager and trying to make a point, it makes perfect sense as a grand gesture.
I fear that there are too many "good" soldiers in the world.
