Counting the cost of war with Iran.(THE LAST WORD)

Will we be seeing $10-$12/gallon gasoline and a lot more body bags before the end of the year? That depends on the answers to a couple other important questions, such as: will the Bush-Cheney war hawks launch a war against Iran before the November elections, as they have been aching to do for the past several years? Or will they encourage/sanction an attack on Iran by Israel that will end up drawing us into the fray? Either way, we certainly seem to be headed needlessly on that disastrous collision course.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems confident that the course is set. "We reached agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat," Olmert said after his June 4 meeting with President Bush. 'I left with a lot less question marks [than I had entered with] regarding the means, the timetable restrictions and America's resoluteness to deal with the problem," he said. According to Olmert, "George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on the matter before the end of his term in the White House."

Shortly after Olmert's U.S. visit, Israel conducted a drill over the eastern Mediterranean with over 100 warplanes, widely seen as a rehearsal for an Israeli attack on Iran's primary uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Throughout June, Israeli Air Force jets also, reportedly, carried out flights over Jordanian airspace.

Not surprisingly, Iran responded with a little saber-rattling of its own, test-firing a few of its Russian-supplied Shahab missiles. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice quickly warned Iran that the White House viewed its missile demonstrations as a threat against Israel that Washington would not tolerate. "We are sending a message to Iran that we will defend American interests and the interests of our allies," Secretary Rice said on July 10 during a trip to Eastern Europe. "We take very, very strongly our obligations to help our allies defend themselves and no one should be confused about that," she said.

The Democrat-controlled Congress is jumping on board the war wagon, with the blessing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. House Concurrent Resolution 362, introduced on May 22, calls on the president to stop Iran from importing "all refined petroleum products." It has gained 238 cosponsors. A similar blockade measure in the Senate (S. Res. 580) has 35 cosponsors.

Since so many Democrats and Republicans alike seem completely impervious to moral and constitutional arguments against starting a war against Iran, let's consider a few of the compelling practical reasons for all Americans to oppose this mad folly.