"All options are on the table."

Over and over, President Bush has said that "all options are on the table" when it comes to dealing with Iran. There are some who worry that this includes the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

A tactical nuke is a battlefield weapon. Instead of a city-buster, it's designed to be used with relative precision. Most folks think of nuclear weapons only in terms of megatons, but there are tactical nukes with yields of about 1 kiloton or less.

The moment we use nukes of any kind, we are forever granting free license for anyone else to do the same. End of story. I don't care if it's a Davy Crockett or a Peacekeeper: once we excercise a nuclear option, we've guaranteed that the U.S. homeland will eventually sustain a nuclear strike. This isn't World War II. This isn't a new technology being developed in a desperate and morally clear time. To use a nuke now is to write our a worldwide permission slip.

Which brings me to a broader point. What used to make this country great was the fact that we held ourselves to higher levels of conduct. I.E., we could demand fair treatment of prisoners when we treated prisoners family. Now, we've made a mockery of our moralism, and the whole world is laughing. Or testing their medium-range missles.

I don't know what's going to happen with Iran. As Vice-President Cheney pointed out, Israel might pre-emptively strike Iran's nuclear facilities, "and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards." The Israelis would have good reason to do this, too... Iran is openly dedicated to their destruction.

All I know is this: we have got to stop the moral backslide in this country. We can start with this year's elections. We can make write our leaders to let them know that the nuclear option doesn't exist. And, well, we can pray that saner heads prevail.

Love to all. Even you, Mr. Rumsfeld.