let's go to war with Iran

That's not my recommendation, but it's what the House Armed Services Committee is about to authorize in its annual defense bill. According to The Hill newspaper, the committee plans to include extra money for military programs that could be useful in a US-Iranian conflict. That's not so troubling, but the committee reportedly wants to include language approving “all necessary measures, including military action if required” to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. That isn't advisory language; those are the magic words that the attorney general during the Vietnam War considered "the functional equivalent of a declaration of war." Those are also the words used by the UN Security Council when it approves Chapter VII military operations.

Don't go there. At least not with open debate and clear understanding of what such words lead to.