US About To Strike Iran?

German media are running reports that Washington is well on its way to planning military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. Der Spiegel reports:

According to [reporter Udo] Ulfkotte's report, "western security sources" claim that during CIA Director Porter Goss' Dec. 12 visit to Ankara, he asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide support for a possibile 2006 air strike against Iranian nuclear and military facilities. More specifically, Goss is said to have asked Turkey to provide unfettered exchange of intelligence that could help with a mission.

Iran's nuclear ambitions are undeniable and cannot be allowed to proceed. The country is just too crazy and irresponsible to have a bomb, but a strike on Iran will be dicey, given Iran's unstable Sunni population. Bush's focus is always on our safety, and it's very likely he's come to see Iran as a more immediate threat than Iraqi instability.

The German response is interesting. Der Spiegel provides no man-on-the-street or politician quotes, but does say:

The German wire service also quotes a high-ranking German military official saying: "I would be very surprised if the Americans, in the mid-term, didn't take advantage of the opportunity delivered by Tehran. The Americans have to attack Iran before the country can develop nuclear weapons. After that would be too late."

If an action is in the works, the Turkish response will be more important and more complex.

Also interesting, if there's any truth to this story, would be the response of the Dems and the American left. They've said all along Iraq was the wrong target. Will they now say the same thing about an Iran that's about to have nuclear-tipped missiles and ambitions of annihlation?

h/t memeorandum