I can’t vouch for this …

… but I’m told that Bush is head-faking his threats against Iran in order to keep the Israelis from striking on their own.

… but someone in some position to know, and no particular reason to lie, tells me that the Bushoid saber-rattling about Iran is mostly designed to keep the Israelis from striking out on their own. Apparently the current Israeli government is strongly tempted to try to do to Iran what it did to Iraq over the Osirak reactor in 1981, and we’re trying to convince them that it isn’t necessary.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com