"PULL THE TRIGGER," McCAIN SAYS ABOUT IRAN – AT 7:20 P.M. ET:  Using stunningly blunt language, Senator John McCain today needled the Obama administration about its failing Iran policy.  From Fox:

As Iran gets closer to fulfilling its nuclear ambitions, Republican lawmakers are pushing the Obama administration to stop whistling past the graveyard and get tough with the Islamic Republic.

Sen. John McCain said Wednesday the United States has been backing away from a brewing fight with Iran, while U.S. officials admitted that that country's accelerated nuclear program is roughly a year away from producing a weapon.

McCain opened a Senate hearing Wednesday by saying that Iran will get the bomb unless the U.S. acts more boldly. The Arizona Republican said the U.S. keeps pointing a loaded gun at Iran, but it is failing to "pull the trigger."

The U.S. government has prepared a new, classified assessment of Iran's nuclear capability and intent, but it has not released it yet. Military and intelligence officials who testified before Congress Wednesday would not publicly address whether the U.S. has changed its 4-year-old assessment that Iran isn't actively seeking to make a bomb.

What we know definitely is that nothing we've done, or the "international community" has done, has dented the Iranian program.

Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iran could have a deliverable nuclear weapon in three to five years, going a step further than Defense Secretary Gates, who told reporters Tuesday that Iran could make a nuclear weapon within a year.

Lots of wordwork here.  When Cartwright talks about a "deliverable" weapon, he means something that could be put on the tip of a missile.  But what about a basic nuclear device, sailed into a harbor and detonated?  It seems to me that would take a lot less time to develop.  Frankly, that's my greatest concern.  I really don't think Iran, under most circumstances, would launch missiles, which are easily detected and have home addresses.  A clandestine explosion somewhere, untraceable, would be much more intelligent.

Once again, we're facing the fact that nothing has actually been done about Iran, despite all the noise.  The next sound you hear may be BOOM!

April 14, 2010