War Fever

A friend writes:

2002-2003 is happening again in the blogosphere. I can feel it. Are there enough people to say "NO!" this time?

If, after all the hard lessons we've learned over the last three years, the United States still lets itself get dragged into a war in Lebanon or with Syria or Iran, it will be the stupidest conflict since the War of Jenkin's Ear.

If the Israelis decide to turn a border skirmish into a major war of their own choosing, that's their business, not ours. Israel stomping on Hezbollah might actually improve things in Lebanon -- certainly the Israeli leadership's understanding of the situation in Lebanon is far greater than our leadership's understanding of anywhere in the Middle East. Then again, the Law of Unintended Consequences could come into play for the one millionth time in the Middle East, as happened in 1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon to throw out the PLO only to unintentionally midwife the birth of Hezbollah.

But to allow the Israeli tail -- or, more likely, the armchair hysteria of American pseudo-Sabras -- to wag the American dog would be lunacy.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer