A stark reminder via Goldfarb that no matter how bad you think The One is, we could do — and have done — worse.

DB: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest?

Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?

DB: What if they fly over anyway?

Brzezinski: Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse.

Goldfarb in reply: “So conjure the image — the Obama administration sending U.S. aircraft up to protect Iran’s airspace and it’s nuclear installations from an attack by a democracy that is one of America’s closest allies.” Indeed. Why is it, I wonder, that this eminence grise of the left, whose side is forever screeching at the right to stop warmongering and embrace diplomacy, is suddenly ready to start blowing F-15s out of the sky over Baghdad instead of reprimanding Israel diplomatically after the fact? That’s an awfully curious stroke of belligerence given that (a) the IAF would be entering Iraqi airspace to attack not the United States but one of its chief enemies, (b) a successful attack on Iran’s facilities would at least delay a nuclear crisis in the Gulf for a few years, and (c) the only reason Israel hasn’t struck already is because it’s put its faith, very stupidly, in the west’s ability to deter Iran with, ahem, diplomacy. In an odd way, it reminds me of the DNC promising a “rain of hellfire” on critics of ObamaCare while The One’s gearing up to schmooze with the dregs of international autocracy this week at the UN. Our side likes to bait the left by accusing them of weakness, but they seem plenty capable of tough talk and hardline reprisals if you’re an American conservative or Israeli Zionist. Funny, that.

As for Brzezinski’s creepy anticipation of a new U.S.S. Liberty incident, whether “in reverse” or not, Goldfarb’s got that right too. Maybe not for ZB but for many others, that’s not a bug in the plan, it’s a feature.