Suppose you wanted to start a war. Forget for a second about why you might want to do this. Maybe you're trying to distract the public from the disastrous way in which you handled your last conflict. Maybe you are still intent on fulfilling your messianic vision of yourself as reshaper of the Middle East and bringer of the Apocalypse. Maybe you're just an ass. Who can say? But if you wanted to start this war, can you name some steps you might take?
How about blaming your opponent for all your troubles, even when you know they're not responsible for all, or even most, of what you're seeing?
How about issuing a license to kill for nationals of your opponent?
How about violating a diplomatic office of your opponent, smashing into the buildings, and taking away officials who were there at the invitation of the local government?
How about bringing in more troops on your opponent's doorstep, more ships into neighboring waters, and ratcheting up the rhetoric?
Think that'll do it? A lot of people are starting to think so. Including Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who worries that Iraq could become a battleground between Washington and Tehran.
"We have told the Iranians and the Americans, 'We know that you have a problem with each other, but we are asking you, please solve your problems outside Iraq,' "
Even more dire, are the voices pointing out that the level of tension between the US and Iran greatly elevates the chances that war could be started by any small incident. Some of those making the warning are speaking from inside the US military.
As the rhetoric grows more strident, a U.S. military official in the Gulf likened the U.S.-Iran standoff to the buildup in hostility in Europe before World War I, when the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne triggered a war that engulfed a continent.
"A mistake could be made and you could end up in something that neither side ever really wanted, and suddenly it’s August 1914 all over again," the U.S. officer said.
I suppose we should be grateful that Iran doesn't have archdukes. But I'm worried that the Bush administration will not find locating a substitute too much of a problem.
It was once said of Stonewall Jackson he would have men shot at the drop of a hat, and he would drop the hat himself. Bush has been dropping a lot of hats. With tensions as high as they are at the moment, any one of those falling fedoras could be the trigger of a war much more difficult, and deadly, than anything we've seen in Iraq.