AND NOW FOR THE LATEST POLICY – AT 10:28 P.M. ET:  What remarkable people we have running things in Washington.  They can change policies every, oh, 10 minutes, 20 minutes.  Please try to keep up.

Earlier in the day, Michele – no, not the Michelle, who lives in the White House, but Michele Flournoy, our heroic undersecretary of defense for policy – declared that a military option against Iran was off the table for now.

Yuch.  The phones started ringing.  Ulcers started bothering.  Once again, an American official had dropped the appeasement bomb.

Apparently realizing the damage, the Pentagon itself issued a "clarification."  In Washington a "clarification" means that someone had acted like a jerk and told the truth.  Herewith, the new explanation.  May we have a fanfare?

U.S. military action against Iran remains an option even as the United States pursues diplomacy and sanctions to halt the country's nuclear program, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

"We are not taking any options off the table as we pursue the pressure and engagement tracks," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said. "The president always has at his disposal a full array of options, including use of the military ... It is clearly not our preferred course of action but it has never been, nor is it now, off the table."

Morrell was responding to reported comments by a top U.S. defense official who was quoted in Singapore as saying a strike on Iran was off the table in the near term.

Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy said earlier Wednesday that the U.S. has ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear program any time soon, hoping instead negotiations and United Nations sanctions will prevent the Middle East nation from developing nuclear weapons.

COMMENT:  Apparently this other Michele got too much into Obama's head and revealed what's really going on, requiring a clarification.  Are you believing that our defense is in the hands of this adolescent crowd?

April 21, 2010