Take a guess

According to an AP story today,

[t]op House Democrats retreated Monday from an attempt to limit President Bush's authority for taking military action against Iran as the leadership concentrated on a looming confrontation with the White House over the Iraq war.

Officials said Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of the leadership had decided to strip from a major military spending bill a requirement for Bush to gain approval from Congress before moving against Iran.

Okay, take a guess as to why they did that. Go on, take a guess. I'll wait.

Nope. not that it was a distraction. Nope, not that it was divisive. Nope, not that it would be better dealt with in separate legislation. And nope, not - as some have urged - because Congress should present the idea of Bush needing authority to attack Iran as something to be taken for granted, thus requiring no legislation. Ready for the answer? Here it is:

Conservative Democrats as well as lawmakers concerned about the possible impact on Israel had argued for the change in strategy. ...

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in an interview there is widespread fear in Israel about Iran, which is believed to be seeking nuclear weapons and has expressed unremitting hostility about the Jewish state.

"It would take away perhaps the most important negotiating tool that the U.S. has when it comes to Iran," she said of the now-abandoned provision.

"I didn't think it was a very wise idea to take things off the table if you're trying to get people to modify their behavior and normalize it in a civilized way," said Rep. Gary Ackerman of New York. [emphasis added]

But apparently, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Ackerman, it is "normal" and "civilized" practice to "modify" other nations' "behavior" through the threat of a massive military attack - even if that threat is exercised not for the benefit of the public, which is, at most, ambivalent about the supposed threat from Iran, and not even for the benefit of some supposed national security, but for the benefit of a third party whose interests many already argue are a controlling factor in our Middle East policy - an assertion I suspect the rest of us are finding increasingly difficult to doubt.