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Podhoretz: ‘I Believe Bush Is Going To Order Airstrikes On Iran Before He Leaves Office’

Norman Podhoretz, widely reputed as the “godfather” of neoconservatism, has released a new book entitled World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofacism, a strident call for continuing the Bush strategy of preemptive wars.

Podhoretz, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bush in 2004, met privately with the President for 45 minutes recently. During the course of the meeting, Bush listened diligently as Podhoretz laid out the “the case for bombing Iran.” Podhoretz seems to have come away convinced that he made the case.

In a C-Span interview that aired this weekend, Podhoretz states his fervent belief that Bush will attack Iran before he leaves office:

I believe President Bush is going to order airstrikes [on Iran] before he leaves office. Because he has several times said — at least twice to my knowledge — that if we allow Iranians to acquire nuclear capabilities, 50 years from now, people will look back at us the way we look back at Munich and say ‘how could they have let this happen?’

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Watch it:

[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/10/npod.320.240.flv]

Podhoretz is echoing a view that has been sounded by many conservative voices close to President Bush:

Richard Perle: “Would this president do it? I think that until the day he leaves office, this is a president that, if he is told, ‘Mr. President, you are at the point of no return,’ I have very little doubt that this president would order the necessary military action.” [Link]

A well-placed source in Washington said: “Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo.” [Link]

Bill Kristol: “We could be in a military confrontation with Iran much sooner than people expect.” [Link]

Podhoretz has said he “prays” we will bomb Iran, despite also acknowledging that it could “unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make the anti-Americanism we’ve experienced so far look like a lovefest.”

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