David Brooks, on 1/22/06:
[T]here is scant reason to believe that imagined Iranian cosmopolitans would shut down the nuclear program, or could if they wanted to, or could do it in time - before Israel forced the issue to a crisis point.
Of course, Iran's nuclear program had already been shut down by this time, but it didn't matter to idiot Brooks, who knew better than anyone with certainty what the Iranians were up to.
But he wasn't the only one. Greg Mitchell has some greatest hits, like the Washington Post's idiot editor, Fred Hiatt:
As France's new foreign minister has recognized, the danger is growing that the United States and its allies could face a choice between allowing Iran to acquire the capacity to build a nuclear weapon and going to war to prevent it.
"The only way to avoid facing that terrible decision is effective diplomacy -- that is, a mix of sanctions and incentives that will induce Mr. Ahmadinejad's superiors to suspend their race for a bomb. ...
Even if Tehran provides satisfactory answers, its uranium enrichment -- and thus its progress toward a bomb -- will continue.
But these pundits shouldn't worry. As Iraq taught them, they didn't have to be right about absolutely anything to remain gainfully employed and sought out in the think tank and lecture circuit.
Glenn Greenwald, of course, has much more.