After I was beaten, cuffed, and arrested a year ago at George Washington U. for silently protesting Secretary of State Clinton, many folks asked me why I stood and turned my back to her. The critique I wrote looked well beyond her remarkable display of callousness in watching me brutalized right in front of her without missing a syllable. Her reaction (more precisely, her dismissive lack of reaction) struck me as a metaphor pointing to a remarkable absence of any sign of empathy for the suffering and death caused by her callously macho policies. Compared the millions being brutalized by those policies, I got off easy.

In my commentary after the event last year, I addressed Clinton's behavior toward Iran, which is even more on the front burner this year.  In my view, whether or not there will be war depends largely on whether Israel's hard-line leaders think they can suck the Obama administration into such a war in support of Israel. Our own military is cringing -- and for very good reason -- at the thought of getting involved in a war with Iran, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the generals have been begging the Israelis, pretty please, not to start one.