Just as a report comes out reminding us of the "inappropriate" uses of intelligence in the run up to the Iraq war, we hear that the same people, using the same methods, are thinking about war against Iran.  Perhaps the Bush people should read the Tao Te Ching (as my class is this week):

If you use the Way to help a ruler of people
you never use weapons to coerce all beneath heaven.
Such things always turn against you:

fields where soldiers camp
turn to thorn and bramble,
and vast armies on the march
leave years of misery behind.

The noble prevail if they must, then stop:
they never press on to coerce the world.

Prevail, but never presume.
Prevail, but never boast.
Prevail, but never exult.
Prevail, but never when there’s another way.
This is to prevail without coercing.

Things grown strong soon grow old.
This is call losing the Way:
Lose the Way and you die young.

Passage 30

     The Tao Te Ching is not absolutely pacifist.  It speaks here of prevailing, when you must.  But its skepticism about the use of force is prescient (remember, this was written in about the third or fourth century BCE).   We should put up a big sign out in front of the White House: Such things always turn against you……