The Main Campaign Issue

As I have written before, the most important foreign policy issue in this campaign is not Iraq but Iran. Which candidate is best able to confront Iran should be one of the main questions facing voters. Saul Singer goes into this issue in depth.

AT THIS late stage, it is clear that only a joint US-European threat of draconian UN Security Council sanctions, the fall of the mullahs, or military action could block Iranian nukes - and none of even these scenarios is foolproof. Navigating this minefield will be the first major challenge for Bush, if he is reelected. Even assuming that Bush is determined, there are no guarantees of success.

There is more certainty in the case of a Kerry win, but it is in the wrong direction.

"The realist temptation in the American foreign-policy establishment is always powerful, principally because it is the path of least resistance and least action, and it dovetails nicely with the status-quo reflexes of the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the military brass at the Pentagon," explains Gerecht. "Senator John Kerry appears to have embraced the realist cause."

Whatever else you think about in that voting booth, consider this: With one vote, there is a chance that the clock can still be turned back on the coming Islamist nuke; with the other, hold on to your hats.

Also, the LA Times has an article about the choice facing Israel and the possibility that a decision on military action will need to be made very soon.