The former head of Central Command, John Abizaid, the retired Army general said the United States could deal with a nuclear Iran.

“There are ways to live with a nuclear Iran,” Abizaid said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. “Let’s face it, we lived with a nuclear Soviet Union, we’ve lived with a nuclear China, and we’re living with (other) nuclear powers as well.”

How true. Imagine the neocoms jumping in that Iran is a special case, solely because it is Muslim. Abizaid responds to them with:

“Iran is not a suicide nation,” he said. “I mean, they may have some people in charge that don’t appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon.”

Abizaid suggested military action to pre-empt Iran’s nuclear ambitions might not be the wisest course. Instead we could modify their behavior with our overwhelming strategic capabilities.

“I believe that we have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear,” he said, referring to the theory that Iran would not risk a catastrophic retaliatory strike by using a nuclear weapon against the United States”.

It is funny how all the good sense is filtering out now……..and not before Cheney led us into war after Iraq’s oil…….