Learn from mistakes, leave Iran alone

In the most recent edition of “Foreign Affairs,” Georgetown University professor Matthew Kroenig argues that the United States should seriously consider a “surgical” military strike against Iran's nuclear capabilities. “The truth is that a military strike intended to destroy Iran's nuclear program, if managed carefully, could spare the region and the world a very real threat and dramatically improve the long-term national security of the United States.”

Drumbeats build. Just as with the lead-up to war in Iraq, neocon technocrats couch their rationalizations in academic risk-assessment jargon.

We've heard it all before. How did the Iraq intervention work out for us? How many lives shattered and resources squandered? Our elected leaders need to understand that an attack on Iran would be a fool's mission, only ratcheting up tension in the region and quite possibly leading to a further miring of our overextended military. Diplomacy is what's needed. Can't we learn from our mistakes?

Andy Douglas

Iowa City