MER - Would You Bomb Iran, Yes or No?

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> Sandwiched between the Clinton-bashing and UFO-sighting there was much talk of Iran at last night’s Democratic debate in Philly — as there has been at each of the eight debates so far. And for good reason. By all accounts Iran is involved to some degree in aiding and abetting the sectarian chaos in Iraq and it’s clearly working to develop a nuclear reactor. These are not insignificant details and will be among the most important issues the next president will have to confront. Then why could I do little more than yawn last night when the candidates were asked about Iran? <br> <br>If you’ve listened to the debates, you know that Iran-related questions are always framed in one of two ways: Would you as president of the United States allow Iran to develop a nuclear bomb? Or, more precisely, Would you, as president of the United States, bomb Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb? <br> <br>We got it again last night, this time in the form of a pledge to the American people that Tim Russert, the debate’s co-moderator, tried to get each candidate to make, that “Iran will not develop a nuclear bomb while you are president.” <br> <br>Even the audience understood, by the time the third candidate, Barack Obama, was forced to make the pledge, that this is a fundamentally uninteresting and unenlightening question. Obama even said so, to much laughter from the auditorium: “I think all of us are committed to Iran not having nuclear weapons. And — and so, you know, we — we — we could potentially short-circuit this.” <b on></b> </body>