richard cohen really is the only columnist in a major publication that is actually critical of the prevailing bordering-on-ridiculous wisdom about iran.
my favorite recent bibi absurdity about iran was when he claimed that the heavy casualties that iran suffered during the iran-iraq war proves that the regime is irrational. you know, because iranians getting killed fighting back after saddam hussein invaded proves that iranians are bloodthirsty.
meanwhile bibi comes from a country that has taken military action against its neighbors dozens of times since the 1979 iranian revolution, with two separate military actions (gaza and sudan) just in the last few months. iran hasn't shown nearly the propensity of israel (or the u.s., for that matter) in taking aggressive military action. indeed, in 1998 iran illustrated the regime's restraint when it decided not to attack the taliban after the group slaughtered iranian diplomats in mazar-i-sharif. iran had massed its troops on the border, but then decided to stand down because ultimately the iranian leaders decided that military action would get that country into a morass that it couldn't get itself out of. if only the israeli leadership could display that level of foresight. the iranian regime certainly had done plenty of stupid things, but the last 30 years of history has shown them to be anything but trigger happy.
