Ken, great post. First, I pray that leaders with true strength and character guide us through our future years of troubles with the Imams of Iran and their mad, hostage-abusing front man, ahmadinajad (spelling?). Second, can any America hater deny what is becoming undeniable, that the US eventually, with little support from the rest of the world, will have to choose between bad and worse options to keep Iran from igniting a horrible conflagration?

This is scary. If you use just a bit of foresight, it is becoming clear that Iran sees itself as the center of the muslim world (are all Islamofascists meglomaniacs?), that it intends to use ever-increasing military and economic pressure to build and grow a new caliphate, that the ultimate intent is for the entire world to be controlled by Sharia law and be obedient to Allah, that their desired future does not include Israel or a free United States. I wish we had leaders upto this challenge.

In 1987 when I was part of the Hormuz Highway Patrol, the straits was a pretty unsafe place for anyone. Iran was as nuts back then as they are now. We transited nightly escorting ships to and from to the handoff at the entrance of the Gulf. Everynight was a GQ night with darkened ship. We did this for about 3 months are so. Even when I transited the straights in 1990 before Gulf War 1 it was a big deal. But since that time, the Navy has been developing anti missile defenses to thwart such attacks, but the merchant ships are still vulnerable.