Are we gearing up for another war?

The recent escalation of rhetoric between Israel and Iran makes one wonder if the Middle East is gearing up for another war. Western nations have been pressuring Iran for quite some time now to “give up its nuclear ambitions”. While Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, there does not seem to be any progress toward a peaceful resolution of the impasse. For all intent and purpose, Israel is not helping matters by rattling its own sabers at this time probably with the blessing of the Bush administration, For a country that just fought a humiliating war with Hezbollah, it strikes one as strange that the state of Israel will be inching to get into a conflict with Iran that will in all likelihood involve Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Shiites of Iraq. The recent Israeli “military exercises” were nothing more that an unnecessary provocation which should be condemned by all. If the Israeli calculations includes involving the United States in such a conflict, that may be stretching it a little. U.S forces have their hands full with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While we can not deny Israel’s right to defend itself, it is fair to demand that that country should not be starting wars in the first place. The U.S. policy towards Israel has emboldened that nation to the point of arrogance. Just as that nation has national interests to protect, so do other nations and peoples. While we rail and rant about Iran and its potential for acquiring nuclear weapons, it is no longer a secret that Israel has nuclear weapons, yet a lot has not been said about the ownership of nuclear weapons by Israel. War is not always the answer to everything, even for a country that has constantly been in one since its inception.