What Options?

The Monk is a bachelor tonight as Madam has gone with a friend to see "Menopause the Musical" which I gracefully declined to see. Anyhow, taking advantage of the quiet to cruise the blogs and try an catch up.

Digby has a new post up that brings up some interesting questions. We keep hearing our incompetent leadership saying that all options are on the table with respect to Iran but I have not heard anyone exactly list those options. Continued saber rattling? More "axis of evil" statements? Surgical strikes at weapons facilities? What, exactly, are the options?

A lot of people seem to be overlooking the fact that we are now a failed state with respect to our position internationally. George Bush and company have managed to show the world that we are untrustworthy, incompetent and mostly not serious about a peaceful world. The rest of the world knows that the world is a worse place and greatly more dangerous than it was six years ago when Bush arrived on the scene. Digby says it better than I but the 411 is that we are the most powerful nation on the planet but one that no one trusts and , in addition, the rest of the world mostly loathes and fears us.

One of the most important things our new Democratically controlled Congress can do is to change our image. The rest of the world needs to see that we are a thinking and peaceful people and that armed conflict with the U.S. will only be the result of armed aggression against us. The Dems need to loudly and completely renounce the Bush doctrine of "preventative war" and convince the rest of the world that we are not bullies and gunslingers aching for a fight. We need to show the rest of the world that the US can operate with calm, deliberate competence. Until that happens, we will continue to be seen as an unpredictable, threatening superpower and the nuclear proliferation and global war we are so worried about will become inevitable. I keep saying this but maybe, just maybe, we can get the grownups in charge?