Nancy Pelosi isn't the only person telling George Bush to calm down:

In the first few days after the captives were seized and British diplomats were getting no news from Tehran on their whereabouts, Pentagon officials asked their British counterparts: what do you want us to do?

. . .The British . . .said the US could calm the situation by staying out of it. London also asked the US to tone down military exercises that were already under way in the Gulf.

. . .The British government also asked the US administration from Mr Bush down to be cautious in its use of rhetoric.

How telling that the main help the US government offered was to use our military in a provocative and aggressive way. Of course, the British government had as its goal the return of the hostages. I have no idea what goal the Pentagon was pursuing by offering to "mount aggressive patrols over Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases in Iran."

Yes, let's use warplanes to violate the airspace of a sovereign country! That will certainly make the Iranian government amenable to negotiations! Also, the Iranian people will become just that more likely to greet American soldiers as liberators, with flowers and smiles - not that anyone is considering an invasion of Iran. No, no, what would give anyone that idea?

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