Any Excuse to Bomb

Neocon guru John "The 'Stache" Bolton is taking advantage of the unsettled situation in Egypt to peddle some crazy talk about speeding "the timetable up" for attacking Iran. The 'Stache, who supports the authoritarian Mubarak regime, thinks that if Mubarak is replaced by Mohamed El Baradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former chief weapons inspector for the IAEA, Israel (and by extension the U.S.) will be forced to step up plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. But as Think Progress notes,

"Bolton’s message reflects a growing trend among the right to use the Egyptian protests to scare monger about Iran, especially after Mohamed El Baradei, the former International Atomic Energy Agency chief weapons inspector, returned to his native Egypt following the protests. El Baradei had a very contentious relationship with Iran while he was tasked with monitoring the country’s nuclear program on behalf of the international community."

That last fact hasn't stopped the far right from demagoguing El Baradei as a Islamic radical as an excuse for warmongering. We've seen that the 'Stache may have delusions about running for the Presidency. To let this winger anywhere near the nuclear button would be suicidal.