Well, this ad is a hoot. Shots of the Port of New York, NYC streets, Grand Central Station, and so on are intercut with scary quotes (from newspapers, Iranian mullahs, and, er, John Kerry) -- all leading up to a big ol' nuclear blast. Then comes a veiled face with mushroom clouds in its eyes. Message: Iranians! Booga-booga!

The souce of the ad is World Net Daily's book-publishing division. It's for the new book by Jerome Corsi, the sewermouth ("Isn't the Democratic Party the official SODOMIZER PROTECTION ASSOCIATION of AMERICA -- oh, I forgot, it was just an accident that Clintoon's first act in office was to promote 'gays in the military.' RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters -- it all goes together") who coauthored Unfit for Command, the Swift Boat liars' bestseller. He's now referring to himself as Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D.; the new book is Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians. It's not selling (#5,884 at Amazon as I write this), but WND Books is spending real money (by book-publishing standards) to put the commercial on the air in twenty TV markets.

Oh, and check out the extended version of the ad -- same menacing montage, but then you get Dr. Corsi making this assertion:

The clerics ruling Iran today are terrorists. If they get a nuclear weapon, they plan to use it -- not just on Israel, but right here at home in the United States.

Got that? This isn't some India-Pakistan balance-of-terror thing -- the Iranians plan to get the bomb and then say, "Yippee! We built it! Let's start World War III! Who cares if the only logical response will be a massive nuclear retaliation by the U.S. that turns our country into a parking lot -- let's do it!!!"

Hmmm ... credulity-straining predictions that we'll be subject to nuclear terrorism from a country called "Ira_" and that preemptive war might be the only way to avert catastrophe ... let's see, when have I heard that before?

It's interesting: In 2002 and 2003 the Bushies concocted an utterly specious case for war in Iraq. Then in 2004 they outsourced the character assassination of John Kerry during the campaign to Jerome Corsi and his band of merry men. Now it almost looks as if they're combining those two operations.

Except this doesn't quite seem to be in sync with administration war plans involving Iran, which are clearly on the back burner. Still, the guy agitating from the "outside" does seem awfully familiar.

Corsi also has an agenda of his own -- even though he's from New Jersey, he plans to run against John Kerry in 2008, when Kerry's Senate seat is up for grabs. This is clearly part of that long march -- and it becomes clear why Kerry shows up in the ad. But maybe we're also experiencing a long administration march to war with Iran, and this is part of it.

(World Net Daily article on the ad here. Text of a Heritage Foundation speech by Dr. Corsi here. Thanks to DU for the tip and for "Booga-booga!")