The Wider War

One of the major arguments against the war in Iraq is that it could destabilize the entire Middle East region. Now, it's hard to believe that a region beset at all sides with brutal regimes, occupations, and suicide bombings on an almost hourly basis could get worse. However, that's exactly what looks to be happening. The great Seymour Hersh has the latest story on Israel's forays into Iraq.

Officials told me that by the end of last year Israel had concluded that the Bush Administration would not be able to bring stability or democracy to Iraq, and that Israel needed other options. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government decided, I was told, to minimize the damage that the war was causing to Israel’s strategic position by expanding its long-standing relationship with Iraq’s Kurds and establishing a significant presence on the ground in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Israeli intelligence and military operatives are now quietly at work in Kurdistan, providing training for Kurdish commando units and, most important in Israel’s view, running covert operations inside Kurdish areas of Iran and Syria.

This is about as close to WWIII as its gonna get, folks. Israel and Kurdistan in a marriage of convenience, fighting against Iran, Syria, and Iraq. Kurdistan predictably is pushing for its own sovereignty, and instead of just wanting to lop off itself from Iraq, they want to draw new ethnic boundaries, taking pieces out of Iran, Syria, and Turkey. I'm sure they won't mind. What was that line from The Princess Bride, "Never start a land war in Asia?"

Let's add to this growing cauldron the seizure of 3 British seagoing vessels today by the Iranians, and Iran's announcement over the weekend that they will resume the production of nuclear-related material (but only for energy production, they allege). And while we're at it, we can throw in the literally dozens of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, including Friday's beheading of Lockheed Martin employee Paul Johnson, and the attacks on Saudi oil refineries.

This is the Wider War that everybody was fearing. Tension has begot more tension, and Bush's ineptitude has created a tinderbox where all of this can happen. Who knows if we can turn it around before yet another Great War.