Last week, an Obama Administration National Security Council aide named Bernadette Meehan got herself in trouble for suggesting that some of the members of Congress pushing a new Iran sanctions bill “should be upfront with the American public” and admit that they “want the United States to take military action.” Outrage quickly followed. Commentary blogger Jonathan Tobin called Meehan’s statement a “canard” and a “slander.” Foundation for Defense of Democracies fellow James Kirchick called it “preposterous.” Even House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer got in on the act, declaring, “Nobody believes, as far as I know, that going to war with Iran is anything but a dangerous objective that none of us would seek.”

Nobody? It’s true that members of Congress don’t generally go around urging America to bomb Iran. But their allies do. In fact, some of the most prominent commentators now justifying new sanctions as a means of helping diplomacy succeed have already said diplomacy can’t succeed. And some of the same pundits now championing sanctions as an alternative to war have already called for war.