AN IMPLIED COMMITMENT - AT 7:58 P.M. ET:  Obama spinners are trying to put a pretty face on the president's decision to cancel long-range missile defense in Eastern Europe:   From the Washington Times:

White House National Security Adviser James L. Jones says President Obama's decision to abandon a long-range missile defense site in Eastern Europe was driven by U.S. intelligence concerns that Iran is further along than previously thought in developing medium-range missiles that could strike Western Europe and the Middle East with nuclear warheads.

"We think they are heading toward weaponiz[ing] these missiles, which obviously we want to dissuade them from doing," the retired four-star Marine general told The Washington Times, explaining why U.S. officials dramatically shifted from years of focus on guarding against longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

COMMENT:  Now that Jones has said that Iran's medium-range missiles are a distinct threat, we can't just hope to "dissuade" the Iranians from putting nuclear tips on them.  We have to prevent  it, and that will be difficult, given President Obama's image of weakness.

By the way, the whole issue of the Iranian threat has been distorted somewhat in the press by the emphasis on missiles.  If Iran can perfect a nuclear device, and that's almost a certainty, it won't have to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.  It need only place that device in the false bottom of a freighter, sail it into an American or European harbor, and have a suicide crew set it off. 

September 19, 2009