Ledeen on Bush

Michael Ledeen, AEI:

The president's speech Monday was fine as far as it goes, and the Tal Afar story is a great one (the public should have heard about it long since--ahem). Unfortunately, the speech doesn't go far enough, because yet again it was not about the war on terror, but about the defensive battle we are fighting in Iraq. The actual war involves Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, at a minimum, with Pakistan floating in the punch bowl.

The more interesting document is the text of the questions and answers. President Bush has Iran on his mind, as you can tell from the fact that he raised it gratuitously while responding to an Iraq question, then kind of apologized for raising it, then went back to it again. He said that we're looking for a diplomatic solution, which is the party line. Later on, someone asked him about the difference between the Iraq threat and the Iran threat, and he sounded like an assistant secretary of State instead of a president. He said that we had all those U.N. resolutions before we attacked Saddam, and we're just starting down that road with Iran.

No talk of democratic revolution. No mention that Iran is the leading sponsor of terrorism. No encouragement for the Iranian people. Instead, a cheerful reference to talks between our ambassador to Iraq and the Iranians, as if diplomacy could end a war that Iran has been waging against us for 27 years.

Pfui.