Where Osama will Find his Nuke

On the plane to Chicago, I read Newsweek's breathless analysis of the situation in Pakistan. Here's what you need to know:

Today no other country on earth is arguably more dangerous than Pakistan. It has everything Osama bin Laden could ask for: political instability, a trusted network of radical Islamists, an abundance of angry young anti-Western recruits, secluded training areas, access to state-of-the-art electronic technology, regular air service to the West and security services that don't always do what they're supposed to do. (Unlike in Iraq or Afghanistan, there also aren't thousands of American troops hunting down would-be terrorists.) Then there's the country's large and growing nuclear program. "If you were to look around the world for where Al Qaeda is going to find its bomb, it's right in their backyard," says Bruce Riedel, the former senior director for South Asia on the National Security Council.

And yet we're spending all this time and energy saber-rattling on Iran. In the same issue of Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria gets real about Iran:

Iran has an economy the size of Finland's and an annual defense budget of around $4.8 billion. It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century. The United States has a GDP that is 68 times larger and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?

The one where George W. Bush managed to get elected president.

I understand the need for caution in dealing with the tepid-against-the-war-on-terror regime in Pakistan, and know that if it fails it will be replaced by an outright enemy. What worried me is that the White House and Pentagon are consumed by Iran and thereby missing the real threat.

It's not like it hasn't happened before.