Wise Words

"The perpetual plea for U.S. foreign policy to “do something” needs to be changed; we would be better served by adopting the physicians creed: “First, do no harm.”"

--Gary Sick, a member of the National Security Council under three Presidents and expert on Iran.

But, of course, what is wise is not necessary what works in domestic politics. The piece is very interesting in how it shows the continued expectation of Iranian nuclear weapons that never seems to quite happen. Sick also is quite clear that we need to be careful since many of the potential steps lead to war, something that the US cannot really start right now, nor is ever an attractive option (think back to the Sicilian's warning about land wars in Asia).