NeoCon Delusions

Though many neo-conservative commentators have long been arguing that Israel and the United States must overthrow the Iranian and Syrian regimes, the current Israeli/Hezbollah crisis has increased the frequency with which these calls are being made (see here, here, and here). While there are many reasons why military confrontation with Syria and Iran would be devastating for the US, the Middle East, and the world, perhaps the most dire consequence would be the price paid by our soldiers in Iraq. As Lawrence Kaplan notes,

when Teheran's mullahs boast that neither the United States nor Israel can touch them, they have a point. The point seems to have been lost on those encouraging Israel to consider a strike on Iran. But it ought not to be. The Bush team has evidently, and rightly, decided that Israel's right to self-defense trumps America's longer-term aims in Lebanon. It does not, however, trump America's own self-defense in Iraq...