Iran is a large country containing 75 million people [3 times the population of Iraq], in possession of a large and competent army. We don't have the men, we don't have the machines and we don't have the money to stage an invasion. ...

even if we were to contemplate a more limited military strike - the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, for example - there are some pretty serious obstacles to overcome. The most serious is the fact that we don't know where all Iran's nuclear facilities are located, which is not a minor problem if we are contemplating their destruction. ...

This is one of the most unpopular presidents in recent memory, and he is already fighting an unpopular war. More to the point, his credibility on intelligence matters was damaged - perhaps the better word is "eviscerated" - by the Iraq intelligence debacle, so no one is likely to believe his claims about Iranian nuclear prowess or Iranian anything, whatever the evidence. ... [Iran] is a sovereign state which has relatively normal relations with America's allies, not to mention China and Russia.

I have noticed that people in Europe seem much more convinced that the US is intending some sort of immediate war with Iran than people in the US are. Possibly because people in the US are more aware of USian political realities than the Europeans are. The only way the US would attack Iran would be if Iran first attacked the US, and in such a way that there was little or no doubt they did. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident couldn't be successfully hyped into a war these days.