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The Senate Spectator
Hagel Hears a Zoo
Senators take their swipes in a crucially meaningless fight.
Chuck Hagel testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, and the posturing quickly began.
Sen. John McCain, who was oddly subdued during his friend John Kerry’s confirmation hearing, and uselessly submissive during his friend Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi testimony, grilled his non-friend Chuck Hagel on his opposition to the Iraq surge. Sen. Jim Inhofe accused Hagel of “political expediency.” Sen. Ted Cruz came armed with clips from an Al Jazeera interview.
Hagel’s test was to explain away a checklist of objectionable things he’d said or supported. How’d he do? Not terribly, but worse than I’d expected. It was the performance of someone who was accustomed to speaking off-the-cuff and was forced to restrain himself. Thus he bumbled on Iran, sounded mealy-mouthed on his opposition to the surge, and wilted under several pointed lines of questioning.
A revealing moment came when he was asked about his comment that “the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here” into doing some “dumb things.” Hagel quickly apologized. “I should have said pro-Israel lobby,” he admitted. And replaced “intimidated” with “influenced.” And omitted the word “dumb.” It was a lot of hemming for one remark.
Thanks to gaffes like that, critics have spent the past month hurling overcooked accusations that Hagel is anti-Semitic. He’s not. But he is guilty of letting his mouth get ahead of his head. I was there in 2008 when Hagel made one of his more unfortunate gaffes. Asked about Alan Greenspan’s recent comment that the war in Iraq was being fought over oil, Hagel exclaimed, “Of course we are! They talk about America’s national interest. What the hell do you think they’re talking about? We’re not there for figs.” My memory of the incident isn’t perfect, but I remember him reacting like a snapping turtle, jumping on the question with little thought or consideration.
That’s Hagel’s default mode, tough and reactionary, angry about war. That anger occasionally leads him to say things that are extreme. But it’s also backed up by a pugnacity that President Obama wants. Since taking office, the president has been locked in a passive-aggressive dogfight with his generals. “The struggle between the White House and the Pentagon,” noted Rolling Stone in a revealing 2009 profile, “is an important test of whether the president can take command in a political storm that could tear his administration apart.” The public brouhaha over General Stanley McChrystal, fired by the White House after joking about members of the administration, was just one battle in this bureaucratic war.
Obama wants a more restrained military. In Hagel, he’ll have someone who’s been in combat, shares his views, and, above all, will aggressively enforce his agenda. The president intends to stick it to the Pentagon brass, and Hagel’s his man for the job.
In this sense, Hagel’s symbolic importance is enormous. He represents a turning point, away from the interventionism of the Bush years, and towards a new era of austerity, where the military isn’t sacrosanct and cuts to its budget are real.
Hagel also symbolizes questions haunting conservatives. Should they cling to the foreign policy idealism of the Iraq war? Or should they set all that behind them, accept that the Bush years were a wrong turn, and start treating the Pentagon like just another government agency to be downsized? Or is the solution somewhere in the middle, perhaps supporting targeted Pentagon cuts while getting hellishly tough on Iran?
Those questions are roiling the right. Rarely has the old question of paleoconservative vs. neoconservative been so embodied in one person as in Chuck Hagel. It’s produced some strange ideological fault lines; neoconservatives, some of whom have been encouraging the right to capitulate on domestic policy, are suddenly going nuclear, while many paleoconservatives are encouraging moderation and support.
Ultimately though, none of this symbolism really matters. Senators can harrumph all they want, but barring some sudden Democrat revolt, Hagel is going to be confirmed. And Hagel can harrumph all he wants, but deep military cuts are going to take place. Republicans, most notably Rep. Paul Ryan, are coming to accept the sequester, which would slash $500 billion from defense over the next decade. And even if we dodge the sequester, we have $16.5 trillion in national debt. Eventually the Pentagon will have to be trimmed.
Conservatives should focus on lopping off the right branches. Sen. Tom Coburn recently released an excellent report detailing $68 billion in defense cuts, including money wasted on wind turbines and other renewable energy nonsense. The right should demand that those green projects go first, followed by duplicate programs and other consequences of Pentagon bureaucracy. This is the fight to be had.
Hagel reveals the president’s foreign policy intentions. He confronts conservatives with questions about our ideology. But ultimately, he’s an ephemeral symbol of a change that can’t be stopped.
Cuts are coming to the Pentagon. Now the question is: Where do they begin?
Photo: UPI
About the Author
Matt Purple is The American Spectator’s assistant managing editor.
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Jack in Wi| 2.1.13 @ 6:46AM
The only thing Hagel is guilty of is telling the truth a few times years ago. He has been neutered and is no threat to anyone and will be confirmed. No-one in public life can dare to tell the truth about it and stay in office.
spike59| 2.1.13 @ 7:00AM
I really enjoyed seeing Hagel caught like a deer in the headlights, unable to think of ONE 'dumb thing' the 'Israeli Lobby' (aka 'Those Zionist Bastiges' to him and the rest of the Tinfoil Hat Brigade) has 'intimidated' the Senate into doing...it was refreshing to see someone actually call one of those turds on a Soros/Kos bumper sticker slogan...maybe he should have borrowed a copy of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion for Dummies" from DrRonPaul
Anthony| 2.1.13 @ 11:47AM
Hagel needed Jack in Wi as his counselor at the table, ole Jack would have had all the anti-Jewish "truths" at the ready.
Matching uniforms and jackboots would have added just the right visuals to the august senate hearing. The case for term limits was demonstrated from both the questioners and questionee.
Hagel was as prepared as Hillary was in Benghazi. Hey Anthony!! lay off Hillary, "what difference does it make" Clinton.
And today, two more Americans are dead in Ankora, John Kerry's first day on the job.
Oh joy!!!
Jack in Wi| 2.1.13 @ 11:54AM
I would have told the truth and not grovelled to a fifth column of a nasty and criminal foreign power. Hagel like almost all American politicians grovelled before such filth.
Al Adab| 2.1.13 @ 11:58AM
Jack:
Is the government of Iran a legitimate government or something else?
Jack in Wi| 2.1.13 @ 6:52PM
Its as legitimate as this one or the one in Israel. The so-called Iranian Hitler is retiring in a few months to go back and teach civil engineering. I wish we could say the same about Nut-an-yahoo and Obama.
Occam's Tool| 2.3.13 @ 9:38PM
Jack: "It's." Might I recommend "The Principles of F*cking Style" for you? If I recall, you're the clown who mouthed off about the "so-called" Holocaust a while back.
"Its" is a possessive. "It's" is "it is."
There, isn't that helpful, jihadist germination fluid swallower?
Virtue| 2.1.13 @ 6:59AM
Question is where are the cuts coming. But rest assured that sensitivity training for accepting homosexuals in uniform, and gender norming standards for women in combat, will have top budget priorities. We are doomed.
spike59| 2.1.13 @ 7:03AM
We've already had one member of the top brass publicly worrying that the fallout from the Nidal Hasan terrorist attack may damage the military's important mission of 'diversity'...
c. j. acworth| 2.1.13 @ 8:35AM
And "Green" energy. We have to run our Hummvee's on Bio-diesel and our F-16s on, what, maybe E-85 or something. There was an article about this the other day over at RedState, I think, or maybe Hot Air. Pentagon is going all out for bio-fuel.
Pecos Pete| 2.1.13 @ 8:24AM
Matt Purple: Excellent article!
Anthony| 2.1.13 @ 8:26AM
Poor, poor Chuckie. Hell hath no fury like a scorned political hack, and McLame is one scorned political hack!!
Yes, it appears the dos amigos are no longer sympathico. Seems the guy who 12 years ago endorsed Hagel for Sec. Def., is no longer enamoured with his former playpen buddy.
It's not nice the screw with McLame Chuckie, and endorsing Obozo over your pal wasn't the smartest thing to do. But hey, it got you back into Washington, and that's what being a political whore is all about.
Still,walking back into that snakepit of a senate hearing wasn't too smart on your part. But hey, Chuckie, you were once a whore like them.
You know the old saying; turds of feather flush together.
Now you and McLame can kiss and make up.
CJW| 2.1.13 @ 8:48AM
Anthony
I did not know Hagel endorsed O over McCain. Not surprised, McCain is not liked by his fellow Reps, except by his faithful companiton Graham.
McCain always co-sponsored legislation with Dems, like Feingold, and went out of his way to work with Dems. He tried to co-sponsor some legislation with then Sen Obama, but O was too busy with the basketball and not listening to the Rev Wright speeches.
McCain almost joined Kerry as his VP in 2004, and was always on the TV criticizing Reps.
I voted for McCain, but what choice did we have with Obama as the alternate.
As for Hagel's anti Israel remarks, where are Chuckie Schumer, Di Feinstein, Barbie Boxer, Alfranken, Carl Levin, etc? Maybe McCain is the designated batter trying to empress his liberal senate Dem "friends" while they remain silent and support Obama.
CJW| 2.1.13 @ 8:49AM
impress.
Pecos Pete| 2.1.13 @ 10:00AM
companion
CJW| 2.1.13 @ 11:15AM
thanks, having a rough day
Al Adab| 2.1.13 @ 11:51AM
W:
Few more guilty than I of typos so you are forgiven.
All of these nominations should be rejected given that the middle east is about to explode. My G*d, John the unindicted traitor Kerry and Hagel. The anti- US bias of all these nominees, and the president who posits them, could not be more clear yet the party hacks praise them to the sky. At least they could keep their mouths shut and do what is best for the security of the nation. I dream.
CJW| 2.1.13 @ 12:25PM
Al Adab
I guess we should not be surprised that Obama, a friend of Rev Wright and terrorist/cop killer Ayers and Dohrn, does not care about the security of the USA.
What a crew: Hillary, Napolitano, Kerry, Hagel. Wait till his supreme court nominee: Eric Holder.
Rockabilly| 2.1.13 @ 8:52AM
Not noted in this article which obsesses on the inevitable shrinking of the military is that Hagel looked like an incompetent light weight. Downsizing or not is the the man we want heading Defense? The man appeared to be out of his depth and had to be assisted repeatedly by his Democratic friends. Pathetic, and it shows O either is stupid to have appointed him or only interested in further sticking it to the GOP for spite's sake. Surely he can't think this guy is good for our national security.
TNcracker | 2.1.13 @ 11:11AM
Exactly, Rockabilly. He looks almost out of it, maybe senile. Really a pathetic image for the leader of the military. Just another hack.
Drunken Sailor| 2.1.13 @ 2:00PM
That's the whole idea. He gets nominated and Obama gets credit for making a Lincoln like non-partison appoint while at the same time using the fact that Hagel was Republican, make the Republicans look weak on National Defense. It's a win - win for him.
Occam's Tool| 2.3.13 @ 9:42PM
Chuck Hagel is the second coming of Louis Johnson. Except that the number of deaths due to Hagel will probably be a factor of 100 or 1000 greater.
But, of course, Cheesehead Jack supports the atomization of millions of his fellow Americans.
Fluffyone| 2.1.13 @ 9:07AM
Great article. Balanced and to the point. I hope your advise is taken.
Stormzeye| 2.1.13 @ 9:56AM
Great piece Matt.......intelligent analysis without the ideological ranting. Hagel is simply another Joe Biden. He'll be put out there to make outrageous comments without any thought. As for defense policy, all the strings will be pulled by the White House, as usual. The Egomaniac In Chief is incapable of listening to anyone and every member of his Cabinet is a cipher or at best a Greek Chorus. One is reminded of an image from the Book of Revelation where all the company of heaven do nothing but sing praises to God for eternity. That's all this Fraud In Chief wants from his appointees, certainly not advice.
Anthony| 2.1.13 @ 9:57AM
Poor Chuckie, So who was the Obozo staff jerk that put Obozo's teleprompter in that hearing room?
Chuckie sounded as stupid as his Commander-in-Chief. Oh wait, that's really a low blow, sorry Chuckie.
cicero| 2.1.13 @ 10:09AM
What makes you think that Obama is concerned with our national security? He has told anyone who wanted to listen that it was time that America be cut down to size. Well gang, this is how you do it. Bankrupt the ecomony and make the military look like that of the UK.
If you want to make meaningful cuts to the military, cut the number of general officers of all the services in half, without promoting them in their last year of service so they will have maximum pensions. All you have to consider is the high rankers who are blindly following the dictates of this administration on things like women in combat, and the Nidal fiasco to see where their real interests lie. The fact that not one ranking officer resigned after being told to stand down rather than rescue those guys fighting for their lives in Benghazi tells you all you need to know.
Al Adab| 2.1.13 @ 11:57AM
Exactly so. The Left has told us this for years and why any remain surprised that they are following an agenda of withdrawl and disengagement around the world escapes me. We see the results of a weak US when we look around the M E, the South asia area and others. The incompetence with which this administration has managed affairs in the M E alone serves to delegitamize their positions.
CJW| 2.1.13 @ 12:20PM
On the MSM radio news today they said "only" three Americans were killed in Afghan in Jan. Why are we still there?
N8tivTxn| 2.1.13 @ 10:32AM
Was this The Clash of the Mavericks?
I'm not buying McLoons "anger".
Methinks he and Hagel may have had dinner and yucked it up after the "show"...
Am I cynical? Yep!
Anthony| 2.1.13 @ 11:57AM
Wrongo N8. McLame's anger was the real deal. You don't screw with John "ballistic" McLame and think you won't pay the price.
McLame is one scorned nasty piece of work, and for Chuckie, it was "pay back's a bitch, pal."
Just answer the question sailor, are you a f'up, yes or no?
Drunken Sailor| 2.1.13 @ 2:05PM
Hey now, us sailors have to admit McCain was one of us but Hagel was Army. Let them put up with him.
Yes, McCain's anger was the real deal. And a part of me has to wonder if the old Naval pilot wasn't just a little ticked off that a ex-enlisted army man screwed him over. Some officers can be pricklish that way.
N8tivTxn| 2.1.13 @ 8:46PM
McLoon looked serious... it's called acting.
Ever been around prissy "fighter" pilots?
I could agree with your "take", if the question he asked had real substance. IMO it did not.
The manipulator-in-chief is loving watching the (R)s savage their own. Win/Win!
holmegm| 2.1.13 @ 11:06AM
"Thanks to gaffes like that, critics have spent the past month hurling overcooked accusations that Hagel is anti-Semitic. He’s not."
Oh, I see. When Hagel blames "the Jewish lobby" for intimidating US politicians, and then he can't name even a single instance of how that ever happened, it's just a "gaffe".
Hagel and Obama just *appear* to be anti-Semitic, you see. Don't believe your lying eyes and ears.
loulou| 2.1.13 @ 7:54PM
Matt Purple knows who is an anti-Semite and who is not. How? He just does. You can't go by their statements--you have to ask Purple.
Who Knows?| 2.1.13 @ 12:06PM
People Power!
Drink poison, get sick and maybe die.
The Universe is not a meaningless place, despite appearances---such as the seemingly without-a-clue Chuck Hagel.
Maybe America circa 2013 resembles Rasputin—it took a series of attempts to finally kill the dude. Liberals have been bleeding the country in various ways for years.
Now, besides taxing = theft, they are accentuating the ignorance and even destruction of the Constitution, in ACTION and INACTION.
Poisoning, bleeding, shooting, knifing---how many ways can they get away with destroying this free country, before PEOPLE POWER awakens, and in total revulsion, starts to fight back?
Look around.
The Hagel dance is simply another canary-in-the-coal-mine.
What’s on TV?
What difference does it make?
Picture the average American getting up each day. They ponder---what am I (ME!) going to do today?
Watch the Hagel hearings?
America---dead man walking; no, not walking: being pushed in a wheel chair, or in an electric one.
Al Adab| 2.1.13 @ 12:07PM
The attack on the US embassy in Ankara today is the eighth such attack on America in the last four years. What has this administration done about it?
In 1918 the bolsheviks killed the British military attache' in Petrograd. Urging action, Winston Churchill, then Minister of Munitions said, "The exertions which a nation is prepared to make to protect its individual representatives is one of the truest measures of its greatness as an organized state." Does this administration believe this nation has any meaning to the modern world today?
Drunken Sailor| 2.1.13 @ 2:07PM
Al, they will wring their hands, make empty threats, posture foolishly, and possible use this to take the attention of another of their screwups. The one thing we can be certain of is they won't do a damn thing about it. Why start now?
Drunken Sailor| 2.1.13 @ 2:07PM
Opps, should read "take the attention off of another one of their screwups.
Where is that edit button when you need it?
RCV| 2.1.13 @ 4:03PM
What would You do in response to the attacks, Al Adab? I'm very interested in knowing the specifics.
Dave Williams| 2.1.13 @ 12:54PM
He will be confirmed, and he will be a disaster.
Kerry has been confirmed, and HE will be a disaster.
Sotomayor and Kagan were confirmed, and they will be disasters for decades to come.
...all in the wake of King Obamugabe getting elected, not once, but twice...and if the US survives HIS disaster-in-progress, it'll be a miracle.
Sad, sad, sad, very sad.
jaytrain| 2.1.13 @ 1:05PM
Count heads on the Dem side of the Sen. committee and you have two votes in play . Manchin who needs to cover his right wing and has many constituentsin the services . And Angus King the so-called Ind from Maine .Perhaps he is a quick study and already has a sweetheart deal for BIW in the works but otherwise Obama's One Ocean Navy won't need anymore of BIW's cruisers and frigates . Could be interesting ??
Anthony| 2.1.13 @ 1:31PM
Today must be troll free Friday. No Purp, vtwin, Brooksie or Arnie on any TAS article today.
Dare I hope???
Allen Johnson| 2.1.13 @ 1:39PM
The military budget is bloated in large part because of empire stretch, but also because it feeds the pigs at the trough military industrial complex that makes tons of money. As for the "wind turbines and other renewable energy nonsense" that the writer mentions, well, maybe the particular projects are poorly conceived, I don't know the particulars, but renewable energy better come upon this planet quickly or the planet will be in chaos, and then the military will have a mess on its hands to deal with. The nonsense is that writers who poo climate science.
Finally, the Israeli lobby does have way too much influence! Therefore Israel can flout international law and moral approbation, yet continue to get huge funding from the US.
nathan| 2.1.13 @ 3:09PM
Coburn is hardly a liberal and in an excellent column he proposed cuts. He also demanded that the IG p0sition for DOD be filled. Yet Boehner on Hannity yesterday refused to consider ANY cuts to defense. Which suggests he supports all the wasteful spending that's going on. If Boehner, Sean, Mark and others can't find things to cut at DOD that won't impact our ability to defend ourselves, trust me, they really aren't looking very hard. The fact is, DOD IS like any other agency and treating it like some sort of sacred cow, not to be touched under any circumstances is sheer nonsense.
Hagel, unlike previous notable folks at DOD, Cheney comes to mind at least has seen action. (It took Cheney 6 years to get through college, hardly a recommendation for any high level government positions.) Two purple hearts, one award for valor. With the exception of McCain, he unlike virtually all his critics actually knows what it means to get shot at. On that basis alone I might trust him more than a lot of the "I supported the war but chose not to go" crowd. Cheney after all to pick just one of many (Romney is another) could have volunteered right?
Drunken Sailor| 2.1.13 @ 5:00PM
Did you?
ejp| 2.1.13 @ 5:21PM
#1-Chuck Hagel is an anti-Semite.
#2-He was the phoniest "Republican" to sit in the Senate in the last decade. I saw more positive things done for the GOP by Arlen Specter during his Senate career than I ever saw from Hagel, whom you could always count on to be joining Harry Reid in promoting garbage aimed at President Bush but who would NEVER go after Reid on judicial filibusters or any of the supposed conservative domestic positions he embraced when running for the Senate. He was a phony when it came to his conservatism on social issues and now he's merely confirming what was true on that all along.
#3-On foreign policy he is George McGovern revisited and the fact that there were people pushing this clown as a GOP candidate for President speaks volumes as to how screwed up the ranks of the GOP can be.
mlittle98| 2.1.13 @ 7:17PM
Hagel was buddy-buddy with his fellow "Republican" John McCain a few years ago. McCain even mentioned Hagel as a possible cabinet member in his presidency. Then Hagel diverged from McCain on the surge and even had the temerity go endorse Kerry for president. Now the vindictiveness of McCain come shining through. Hagel and McCain deserve each other - both have been a disaster for the Republican party and the nation.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.1.13 @ 10:24PM
He should have stuck to his guns and stuck by his previous statements, but of course Hagel is a politician. He would rather be Secretary of Defense than have his own self respect just like the rest of them. They gave up any standards they had when they ran for office.
Had I been in his seat before those hypocrites, liars, thieves and whores who make up the Senate I would have made my own accusations against those accusing me. I would have asked Lindsey Graham how much money in campaign contributions he has received from AIPAC. When McCain started on his diatribe about Hagel's comments about the surge or his views on the Iraq war I would have pointed out had we followed McCain's foreign policy in 2008 we might have very well ended up in a shooting war with Russia over the Georgian mad man Saakashvilli. When they criticized him for supporting the Iraq war initially and then changing his position he should have responded that he was following the same faulty intelligence about Iraq, Al Qaeda and WMD's that the rest of the Senate had been given.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.1.13 @ 10:25PM
He should have stuck by his guns about his former positions but Hagel is just an Obama lackey now anyways so I should have expected so much. There is nothing wrong with pointing out and criticizing the influence of the Israeli lobby and the their Evangelical allies. This is the United States this is not Israel. They are two separate countries with different interests and aims. There is also nothing wrong for having a diplomacy first policy which is what we had through much of the Cold War and most Republican Presidencies. Kennedy talked to Krushev, Reagan talked with Gorbachev. How is it we cannot talk to the Iranians? In Afghanistan the Iranians were strong supporters of the anti-Taliban northern alliance. Because they are Shia and the never ending targets of Sunni Islamist terrorism Iran would make natural allies in our fight against Al Qaeda.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.1.13 @ 10:25PM
Why do you think Russia and Iran are so close. As for Israel, wouldn't it be better for Israel to have the United States talking with the Iranians and trying to diffuse the possibility of a conflict between the two nations rather than actively beating the drums of war which could very well be the cause of a major conflict between the two nations? Last but not least the Iraq war was a blunder at best or an outright imperialistic endeavor at worst that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of American servicemen and women not to mention untold thousands upon thousands of Iraqis. Our funding, arming and training of the anti-Assad Free Syrian Army (which includes a large Islamist element) has resulted in over 60,000 deaths in the Syrian Civil War and has jeopardized the lives of millions of non-Sunni Syrian minorities (including Christians). Our intervention in Libya was followed by Sunni Islamist attacks on our embassy there and the killing of our ambassador not to mention the destabilization of the entire region with Islamists (armed with weapons we gave anti-Ghaddafi forces in Libya) moving into Mali.
Yes, our foreign policy needs to change.
Occam's Tool| 2.3.13 @ 9:45PM
Not really, Dmitri: Iran with a nuke is NOT just a problem for Israel. I heartily invite you to go examine the Security measures in place in Long Beach or Galveston, TX's ports. Do that, as carefully as you wish, and get back to me here. Seriously, you seem to have a brain sometimes.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.4.13 @ 11:48AM
If we bomb Iran wouldn't that make them more determined to get nuclear weapons whether by their own development or on the black market somehow. As you see nation's with nuclear weapons (even those deemed as our enemies) get different treatment than those without nuclear weapons.
Col Bat Guano| 2.2.13 @ 12:58PM
" The right should demand that those green projects go first, followed by duplicate programs and other consequences of Pentagon bureaucracy."
Now that's an interesting perspective. Taking Rahm Emmanual's adage "Never let a crisis go to waste" to do some good for once. No doubt there is gargantuan waste in a bureaucracy as huge as the DOD. All trees need pruning on occasion to stay healthy.
Occam's Tool| 2.3.13 @ 9:53PM
Here's the website on Galveston Port security: http://www.portofgalveston.com/index.aspx?NID=174.
The reason this is important, Dmitry, is Texas City. Explode a 10 kiloton device in Galveston harbor, and see what happens. Texas City has major refineries.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 2.4.13 @ 2:30PM
Why would they do that and ensure the end of the Persian race when they could just close the straight of Hormuz? That's the same reason I do not believe that even if Iran had nuclear weapons that they would use them against Israel. Israel does not share a border with Iran and all though Iran likes to appear as the Palestinians benefactor I doubt they would want to end Persian civilization with an attack on Israel for the Palestinians. The IDF all ready pulled out of Southern Lebanon and the Shia Hezbollah party is the most powerful player in Lebanon right now. Why would Iran jeopardize all that with a strike on Israel and the United States? Are there nut jobs in Iran who might want to start Armageddon...probably, there are fundamentalist nut jobs in the United States who also want and think that they can usher in the second coming of Christ by starting a WWIII in the Middle East. However I cannot see the Ayatollah's (who know such attacks would be the end of Shia Islam and complete Sunni dominance in the region) or the Iranian elite going along with such lunacy. I think we have nothing to lose with diplomacy.