Nothing to see here folks, move along

A story getting some buzz the past couple days is a report from ABC News saying:

U.S. military and intelligence officials tell ABC News that they have caught shipments of deadly new bombs at the Iran-Iraq border.

They are a very nasty piece of business, capable of penetrating U.S. troops' strongest armor.

What the United States says links them to Iran are tell-tale manufacturing signatures — certain types of machine-shop welds and material indicating they are built by the same bomb factory.

"The signature is the same because they are exactly the same in production," says explosives expert Kevin Barry. "So it's the same make and model."

And suddenly, the blogs are humming that Iran may have committed an act of war. For instance, this post Captain's Quarters is entitled Iran Gives US A Casus Belli, If We Want It.

Gentle Readers, there is nothing new here. Two points. First, as I wrote about in this post, there were reports last August that Iran was getting weapons into Iraq.

Second, I hope it does not come as news to you that Iran has already committed acts of war against te US. We've had plenty of reason to go to war with Iran. I listed some of those reasons in that same post linked to above.

And I hope it isn't news to you that Iran is working against the US in Iraq. Iran is very much involved, though Iran does not act in a flagrant, public manner.

This ABC report should simply underscore for you that the Iranian regime poses a danger, and our failure to confront their acts of violence against us with only make us look weak.

We gave bin Laden reason to think we were weak after we hightailed it out of Somalia. Do you remember what he said about that retreat?

BIN LADEN: We experienced the Americans through our brothers who went into combat against them in Somalia, for example. We found they had no power worthy of mention. There was a huge aura over America -- the United States -- that terrified people even before they entered combat. Our brothers who were here in Afghanistan tested them, and together with some of the mujahedeen in Somalia, God granted them victory. America exited dragging its tails in failure, defeat, and ruin, caring for nothing.

America left faster than anyone expected. It forgot all that tremendous media fanfare about the new world order, that it is the master of that order, and that it does whatever it wants. It forgot all of these propositions, gathered up its army, and withdrew in defeat, thanks be to God.

It played a role in making bin Laden think we were ripe for the taking.

Do we want to continue to make Iran think we are weak? How much more emboldened will a nuclear-armed Iran be?

The proper reaction to reports like this is not ooohing and aaahing that Iran is suddenly trying new provocations. We ought to think, hmmm, this is exactly what we know Iran has been doing all along. Are we just going to keep letting them get away with it?