David Frum

No, it was like this.

Here are things you could do.

One of the things when you're talking to a president, you always say, I am not here to constrain your options.

I'm here to present your options.

I'm not a policy person.

Here's a range of things you could say.

So it wasn't that it was a complete, you know, countries to be determined.

It was, you could do it this way.

You could do it that way.

You could do it this other way.

You could do it maximum, medium, or minimum.

That's not for me to say.

That's the job of the president.

So it was very unclear to me in...

February of 2002, whether operationally, acts of evil would mean Iraq, would mean Iran, or would mean just the immediate financiers and sponsors of terrorist organizations.

And the reason that's important is not just a historical note, is when you describe Iran as a central cog, yeah, it's a big part of China's supply of energy, and it's a meaningful

partner to Russian aggression in Europe and elsewhere, but it's not the center of the action.

A war with Iran will not weaken Russia.

An American war against Iran will strengthen Russia.

Russia is today making a billion more dollars a day out of oil.