I think all of us who can recall the 1950’s (OK, I was a little tyke, but I saw the movies) know what the game of “chicken” is. Two cars full of screaming teenagers go at each other at high speed, the first one to pull the wheel and steer out of the way is the “chicken” or coward. Very unfortunately, the cars sometimes collided and resulted in death and maiming.

Today, a friend emailed me and asked about the US attacking Iran, and I recalled this game. Of course, the initial war plan for the entire Middle East envisioned an attack against Iran.

However, I think there is a different dimension to the rhetoric now. It is because we are losing in Iraq, and Muqtada al-Sadr is winning, against us. Every time Muqtada has a success, such as the recent abortive Basra fiasco, US rhetoric about “Special Groups” rise in volume. Now, the US is engaged in heavy fighting for Sadr City, about one third of metropolitan Baghdad, and I don’t think we will ever conquer that place. And the primary reason for this attack on Sadr city is to stop the near daily mortar and rocket fire on the Green Zone, which basically comes from here.

So for a failed strategy, the Bush administration idea is to blame Iran. Of course, we Americans cannot be at fault for invading Iraq in the first place, and creating popular hatred against us. So the Administration bashes Iran, in the hope that they will get off the road first, and submit to America. And then the Administration can claim some success. But what if they don’t?

And here is the rub. Both Democratic Presidential candidates are tipping around this issue of American wrong doing. To say that America has committed an awful mistake would be political suicide. Yet, to try to cover up this mistake, we are about to create an even bigger one. I have written several times on what I think the result of attacking Iran will be, so I will not repeat myself. But perhaps it is time we stopped blaming someone else for our failures, and own up to them. And stop committing bigger ones.

This present game of “chicken” has a nuclear dimension. We introduced it with our contemplation of using Hiroshima sized “Bunker Buster” bombs. The Russians upped the ante when PM Putin declared Iran to be under the Russian nuclear umbrella.

Now we are careening down the road. Who will have the sense to just step on the brakes?