The confrontation between Washington and Tehran may have turned the corner this week as advocates for restraint managed to gain the upper hand even as the war hawks' disinformation campaign intensified.

Today's European press coverage of the Bush administration's runup to war against Iran finds three European Union nations, Germany, France and Britain (EU3), scrambling to find a way to prevent war, while the United States modifies its attack plans to allow it to go ahead even with a complete lack of support in the international community.

Promoted by Colman: I tried to write about this earlier and ran out of steam half-way through. It is just too depressing.

Originally posted at dKos

Since Seymour Hersh exposed the Bush administration's plans to attack Iran, the dKos community has recognized the gravity of this threat and responded more than 500 times with information, analysis and calls to action (since 4/08, 527 diaries and 6 articles where the words "Iran" and "nuclear" appear).  The level of interest and concern is more than justified by both the evidence that the Bush administration is determined to expand their "World War III" and also the disastrous consequences that would result for Americans, Iranians and the rest of the world.

In FAQs form below the fold, here are where things stand now:

[editor's note, by Jerome a Paris] Back from Front Page. See the full text of the letter from Ahmadinejab to Bush here as well as a first analysis by FarEasterner here

When America called upon its sons and daughters to risk their lives to defend the country against Japan and Germany, where was George McGovern?  He was a student at Dakota Wesleyan, a small Methodist college, when he volunteered and was trained to pilot a B-24 bomber.  He named his plane the "Dakota Belle" in honor of his wife back home, and he took it and its crew on 35 missions from North Africa and Italy over heavily defended Nazi targets.  His courage and skill won him a Distinguished Flying Cross and are remembered in Stephen Ambrose's Wild Blue.

Thanks to Fran's link in today's "European breakfast," I learned that the House of Representatives voted 397-21 for the Iran Freedom Support Act.  The mainstream press portrayed the bill as simply tightening sanctions against a renegade regime, but Dennis Kucinich, one of the 21 Congresspersons who voted against the act, called it,

a stepping stone to war.

More after the break...