It’s been a while since we heard from former Pennsylvania Sen. Tricky Ricky Santorum, who’s been biding his time at a new think tank dedicated to keeping an eye on America’s enemies, and who popped out of his burrow recently to go on the Hugh Hewitt radio program and declare that “unfortunate events,” i.e. terrorist attacks, are likely to occur within the next year, and that this will change the country’s perception of the war in Iraq.

“Between now and November, a lot of things are going to happen, and I believe that by this time next year, the American public’s going to have a very different view of this war, and it will be because, I think, of some unfortunate events, that like we’re seeing unfold in the UK. But I think the American public’s going to have a very different view.”

One might wonder how the former Senator speaks so authoritatively on this, how he seems to know for certain that the attacks are coming.

For indeed, we’ve heard a lot of this from the right. Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff has a “gut feeling” there are going to be attacks. There’s a certain desperation to this - as if Republicans realize that the only thing that can lift their fortunes now is for there to be another attack here in the United States.

As if they are actively hoping for an attack here in the United States.

For then - in their minds - they will be proven right; the war in Iraq, the broader war on terror (and wouldn’t it be convenient if the attack/attackers were traced back to Iran) will have been proven a sage and necessary strategy against the barbarians who menace us.

But Republicans ought to be careful of what they hope for. Because if there is another attack in the United States - and if Iraqis, or those trained in the cauldron of Iraq played a role in it - then we may say, accurately, that the the war in Iraq helped precipitate the attack. That the war in Iraq, and those who engineered it, bear some culpability. The public, rather than rallying behind the war party, may turn on the war party, saying - You have helped cause this.

Let’s be clear: It’s entirely possible, even likely, that there are going to be additional attacks on this country, be it this summer or sometime down the road. Those attacks may or may not be a direct result of what’s happened in Iraq; without Iraq, they might have happened anyway. And regardless of who will be responsible for the attack, they are certain to invoke Iraq. It provides a convenient excuse for what they wished to do anyway.

Nevertheless, when you kick over the hornet’s nest, as we have done, you can expect to get stung. It’s rather sickening to see that Republicans are already trying to spin this as validation of all they have done these past six years.