The Ticking Clock

The Iranian government seems to be preparing itself and its people for war. This is not neccesarily news, as most sane people have seen this coming for years. However, in recent weeks, the agitating of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has become more pronounced. His threats and insinuations against Israel continue to intensify, to the point where he is now openly elaborating on what a potential war might look like, and how battle lines might be drawn. A complacent world can no longer reassure itself that Iran poses no threat to anyone.

Doubtless the recent apparent action by Israel against Hamas is stoking Iran's anger. Israeli agents brazenly took out a hit on a Hamas leader, using European passports to infiltrate a hotel in Dubai where the target was staying. The incident has created a diplomatic mess, but it illustrates Israel's refusal to conduct its own War on Terror by any sort of politically correct rulebook. Israel and Iran are on a collision course, and Israel is clearly not going to blink.

Meanwhile, discussion of a potential conflict remains muted and sparse in the U.S. We continue to call for sanctions and warn that our fuse is running short. This is all well and good, but idle talk had better give way to preparation. What will we do if Israel ends up fighting a multifront war against Iran and its neighbors? What if Iran sees no distinction between Israel and the U.S., and includes our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of its list of potential military targets when things get hot?

The writing is on the wall, and we had best start gearing up for the inevitable. The last thing I want to see is a third front in our current war against Islamic terrorism. However, events are moving rapidly in the direction of armed conflict. We better figure out how we intend to respond.

Back in 2003, some said that Iraq and Iran were equally threatening to world peace, and that any military action against one or the other would still leave us with a net total of one dangerous Islamo-fascist state. It's an interesting line of thinking. Here we are, seven years later, staring down a pissed-off and (possibly) nuclear-armed Iran. Of the "elective wars" that we could have fought, did we choose the right one? Would Saddam Hussein be as much of a threat in 2010 as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? I don't know the answers, but the questions intrigue me.