Reply #34: It's a spooky tale, no doubt, Will. And what we've got now is bad enough.

[Warren DeMontague]

Only thing is, out of all the players you've outlined, I think only Israel and Hezbollah are the ones clearly spoiling for a real fight right now. Bush may want Iran, but I think he knows that's not happening- not with our military stretched way too thin with Iraq and Afghanistan. Not without a draft that would threaten to wake millions of Americans out of their High Fructose Corn Syrup, Jessica Simpson comas. And despite the fears of PNAC string-pulling we see so often in these parts, if he really wanted war with Iran, he wouldn't go to all this trouble of orchestrating a fight between Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas (they're perfectly capable of fighting with each other with no help from Bush) No, he'd have Karl Rove order some bogus documents written in crayon on official Fernando Poo embassy stationary to try to justify the thing. Or he'd just do it- time and again, he's proven he doesn't give a shit. The rationales for Iraq couldn't be any more phony- so why go to all the trouble to come up with one even halfway based in reality for Iran?

One has to bear in mind that for all their bluster, this administration is far more Maxwell Smart than James Bond.

I don't think Syria is terribly interested in war right now. Iran doesn't want war. Iran may want nukes (hence the Hezbollah distraction during the G8 Summit), but they don't want war. China? They're set up to own the damn planet in the next century. How many landlords burn down their own buildings?

No, call me Pollyanna, but I don't think this is WWIII.