Loony Liberal Soft on Defense Flip Flopper

Yep, that President Bush sure is out-of-touch with heartland American values:

President Bush's endorsement of a plan to end the nuclear standoff with Iran by giving the Islamic republic nuclear fuel for civilian use under close monitoring has left some of his supporters baffled.

One cause for the chagrin is that the proposal, which is backed by Russia, essentially adopts a strategy advocated by Mr. Bush's Democratic opponent in the 2004 election, Senator Kerry of Massachusetts.

"I have made it clear that I believe that the Iranians should have a civilian nuclear power program under these conditions: that the material used to power the plant would be manufactured in Russia, delivered under IAEA inspectors to Iran to be used in that plant, the waste of which will be picked up by the Russians and returned to Russia," Mr. Bush said at a news conference yesterday. "I think that is a good plan. The Russians came up with the idea and I support it," he added.

In an interview published in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Mr. Bush also said he proposed the idea to offer nuclear fuel to Iran and agreed with Moscow on the subject.

During the election campaign, Mr. Kerry urged that the international community offer Iran nuclear fuel in attempt to test whether Iran was serious about pursuing a peaceful nuclear energy program or intent on manipulating such a program to produce plutonium for weapons. "We should call their bluff and organize a group of states that will offer the nuclear fuel they need for peaceful purposes and take back the spent fuel so they can't divert it to build a weapon," Mr. Kerry said during a June 2004 speech in Florida.

At a debate in September, Mr. Kerry faulted Mr. Bush for not agreeing to engage the Iranians with such an offer. "I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes. If they weren't willing to work a deal, then we could have put sanctions together," Mr. Kerry said. "The president did nothing."

Of course, the President backed himself into this corner. He took all his bargaining chips off the table by fighting unnecessary wars of choice, and outsourced the Iran problem to the EU, which couldn't possibly provide the leverage to get the job done. In this environment, the rhetoric of isolation was seen as empty and toothless. So Bush has little choice but to capitulate.

What's funny is that the neocon drum-bangers and warbloggers, who deny reality on a daily basis, are so upset that the President would take a Kerry proposal and put it to use. They didn't realize that their ideas are impotent in a time of crisis, especially with an overextended army at the breaking point. The President has ended up agreeing with Kerry on foreign policy more than once. But it always takes so long for him to wind around to the idea that he deals from a position of weakness. So too on Iran. And the last thing we want to do is give Ahmadinejad another victory.