President Bush has been trying to whip up hysteria about Iran all week, saying astoundingly off-the-wall things like, “If you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing” the Iranians from gaining the means to make nuclear weapons. That would be weird — considering everything else on The First Plate … the hot dogs, the pretzels, the depriving children of health care, the spittle — except that this week I happened across a story in Esquire magazine, which makes it truly terrifying. The title, “The Secret History of the Impending War With Iran That The White House Doesn’t Want You To Know,” would seem to say it all, but the story says much, much more.

Reporter John H. Richardson relies on two of the Bush Administration’s highest-ranking policy experts–well, until they got disillusioned and quit–who lay out how the United States has gone to great lengths to avoid making peace in Iran and the Mideast while making great plans for another war. If it seems too insane to be true, you haven’t lived through the 21st century–and aren’t likely to.

Tags: esquire, george w. bush, iran, iraq, world war III