"We Consider War a Weakness"

Last Wed, NBC News aired a piece (link here) in which Ann Curry interviewed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.  Rouhani struck a very moderate, reasoned, and conciliatory tone, and I came away thinking, "Here's a guy who gets it."

I had exactly the same thoughts as blogger Marcy Wheeler did when Rouhani talked about Syria (link here), only she is much more articulate than I am:

[from the interview] Asked whether he thought Obama looked weak when he backed off the air-strike threat, Rouhani replied, “We consider war a weakness. Any government or administration that decides to wage a war, we consider a weakness. And any government that decides on peace, we look on it with respect to peace.”

[Wheeler comments] What a different viewpoint than we see inside the DC beltway. Throughout the entire Syria episode, we have been bombarded with the refrain that Obama simply had to attack Syria because if he didn’t, he would lose his credibility and look weak. Rouhani, on the other hand, states that it is resorting to war that is the real weakness.

Let me again highlight what a remarkable thing it was that Rouhani said:

“We consider war a weakness. Any government or administration that decides to wage a war, we consider a weakness. And any government that decides on peace, we look on it with respect to peace.”

Well done, President Rouhani.

Now, I am certain that The Very Serious People in DC will pooh-pooh this as yet another Iranian leader trying to bullshit the U.S., and, dammit, we gotta show we won't get fooled again** by acting tough.

You know, almost swaggering in our superpower costume, kinda acting like George Zimmerman, only we act on the international stage and our actions can have planet-threatening consequnces.

**you know, that might make a decent protest song.  I won't bother to embed it, but here's a rousing live version if you need a fix of The Who.