Further to your point, Dan, we heard the President speak tonight about "the regime in Teheran." This kind of delegitimizing reference to a country, to reduce it to a "regime," is a tactic to prepare its image as an enemy to be removed rather than as a sovereign state. I also noted the evocation of "Shiite" terrorists or extremists as a parallel to al-Qaeda, figured as the Sunni extremist threat, thereby including Iran under the "big tent" of the enemies we must fight because of 9/11.

In contrast, and somewhat hearteningly, the Democratic response by Senator Webb emphasized precisely the opposite, the need for regional diplomatic engagement. Still I was dismayed, though not surprised, to see that Webb mentioned the "War on Terrorism" four times in just eight minutes, mostly to justify deescalation in Iraq. Bush mentioned terrorists, al-Qaeda, the War on Terror, and 9/11, a total of 37 times. But that was over 50 minutes.

If we are, as you say, and as I believe, operating clandestinely areadly in Iran, then we have to wonder whether a "Persian Gulf Incident," real, provoked, or manufactured out of whole cloth, will be long in coming.

Ian Lustick