Iran

ILLUSTRATED: Iran, what Democrats can say for now.
Iran is probably the biggest national threat to this country. It is in the Middle East, the crossroads of the world, it has influence with the majority of Iraqis (the Shia), and they could inspire even more Islamist terrorism against the United States.
Kim Jong Il is a bit more insane, and may already have a crude nuke, but he is physically isolated. China has too much to lose in fighting us (unless it is for oil).
The spin by the conservative noise machine is that Bush was prescient in moving troops to the Persian Gulf region (Iraq) to attack Iran. Nonsense.
Bush has tied down over 100,000 troops in Iraq preventing a civil war there. Iran must be dealt with, the most courageous method would be face to face talks. But as this excellent analysis in the Atlantic Monthly suggests, we need a military option and none looks good. Bombing or an in-and-out invasion are possible, but are only short term solutions. We could not hold the territory, and we would invite a generation of more retaliatory terrorism.
Bush has fouled up our defense posture and already made Iran the strategic winner of the Iraq misadventure.