Pardon the repeat if this has been diaried already, but I was floored when I got to the end of an
AP story on demonstrations in front of the Green Zone and read this:
In northern Iraq, Iranian forces shelled a border area used by Iranian Kurdish rebels, forcing some families to flee but causing no casualties.
On Sunday, Iranian artillery fired more than 180 shells into the same area but caused no casualties, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said.
According to the article, these Kurds are fighting the Iranian government for self-rule. At the moment, the details of that conflict don't concern me. What has me spooked is that this situation--Iran shelling targets inside Iraq--has all the makings of a premise for an American attack on Iran.
The Bush administration's warnings about nuclear weapons don't have much in the way of legs, at least for now, but this is a whole new vector for a war pitch, and it's much more immediate. How hard would it be for the administration to justify air strikes against Iranian forces it deems to be a threat to the stability of the newly formed Iraqi government?
Saddam was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them--he outfoxed Bush's multiple attempts to goad him into providing a causus belli for war. The Iranians, on the other hand, seem to be playing with matches next to a 50 gallon drum of gasoline.
Somebody please tell me I'm overstating the danger of this.