Electing Romney = War With Iran

Daniel Larison finds Mitt Romney laying out his justification for war with Iran, with or without Congressional approval:

I can assure you if I’m president, the Iranians will have no question but that I will be willing to take military action if necessary to prevent them from becoming a nuclear threat to the world. I don’t believe at this stage, therefore, if I’m president that we need to have a war powers approval or special authorization for military force. The President has that capacity now. I understand that some in the Senate for instance have written letters to the President indicating you should know that a containment strategy is unacceptable. We cannot survive a course of action would include a nuclear Iran -- we must be willing to take any and all actions. All those actions must be on the table.

As Larison says,

These are not statements that Romney’s critics are putting into his mouth. No one is speculating about what Romney’s position on Iran might be, and no one is imputing views to him that he doesn’t claim to hold. He is telling the public plainly that he believes the United States cannot survive a containment policy directed against Iran. It is fair to conclude from this that Romney is delusional (or is pretending to be delusional) and cannot be entrusted with the responsibilities of the Presidency.

The one thing George W. Bush cannot be accused of is going to war without Congressional authorization; he did that according to law. Romney's foreign policy would like Bush's but without even the restraints on force that Bush accepted. It would be perpetual war, first with Iran and Syria, but then, who knows? All of these wars would be financed by borrowing, since he has also promised to cut taxes.

I find it disturbing that this makes sense to so many Americans.