Stanley Kurtz has an in-depth review of the consequences of allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

Jeff Jacoby slams the State Department and the Administration in general for its weak response to the Iranians, including the issuing of a visa to a former Iranian President who is making a lecture tour of the United States.

Meanwhile, President Ahmadinejad is purging liberals from Iranian academia.

David Ignatius points out that there are lines of communication open between Iran and the rest. He says the choices we face when dealing with Iran are talking or fighting. Unfortunately, while those open lines are quite real today, if the current Iranian government purges liberal elements from the structure of its society, those lines will probably be shut down.

Amir Taheri thinks that the political debate about Iraq going on here at home is damaging the war effort.

Joe Klein writes a column suggesting a speech the President should be giving about the war on terror.

Five years after 9/11 we have a weakened President, in fact, a weakened governing elite at all levels, engaged in a debate about a war that they have bungled at all levels. Who is to blame for this sorry state of affairs? While there is much to go around, the worst offender is, of course, George W. Bush. History may look back at him as Harry Truman, if his policies eventually bring victory. But it may also look at him like another Texan, Lyndon B. Johnson. He also tried to fight a war without mobilizing the nation and sacrificing his domestic agenda. He also spent too much time listening to his domestic political advisors (or his own political instincts), calibrating his foreign policy efforts to match his political needs.

George W. Bush continues to make speeches declaring that this nation is at war and, in fact, that we are part of a war for the existence of civilization as we know it. Yet, he has never mobilized the nation to fight such a war. He never asked Congress to declare war. He never asked for a resumption of the draft or an expansion of the military. He never asked for the general public to sacrifice for national security by going on a crash program to end our dependency on foreign oil. If this war is about our national survival, why haven't we taken efforts commensurate with that goal?

Sadly, no one is listening anymore. He has cried wolf, yet he refuses to take common sense steps to protect us from the wolves. His party will suffer the consequences this Fall. The nation will suffer the consequences for decades to come.