Bill Kristol Still Writing For NYT, Arguing For Iranian War, Etc.

UMM isn't Bill Kristol's mockery of a one-year contract with the liberal New York Times over by now, after one year, and he should not be writing anymore? Wait, what? "Stay the course" you say? Well then that's good by us. Let's check out the latest prose poetry from America's "lightning rod conservative" about... Israel and Hamas, in which he argues that nothing short of an Israeli "victory" (undefined, as per usual) will lead to American war with the Iranians.

Heard this before:

Obviously, war is an unpredictable business, so I say this with some trepidation: I think the conventional wisdom will be proved wrong. Israel could well succeed in Gaza.

Ah, so now it can never happen, thanks to Kristol's unusual ability to jinx everything. EXPLAIN?

For one thing, southern Lebanon is a substantial and hilly area, bordered by northern Lebanon and Syria, through which Hezbollah could be re-supplied, both by Syria itself and by Iran. Gaza is a flat, narrow strip, bordered by Israel, as well as by the sea and by Egypt, no friend to Hamas. By cutting off the northern part of Gaza from the southern, Israel has basically surrounded northern Gaza, creating a military situation very different from that in Lebanon in 2006.

= Victory!...??

In addition, in Lebanon, Israel proclaimed war goals that it couldn’t achieve — such as retrieving its two kidnapped soldiers and disarming Hezbollah. Now the Israeli government says that it seeks to weaken Hamas, lessen its ability to fire rockets from Gaza and secure new arrangements along the Egyptian-Gaza border to prevent Hamas from re-arming. These may well be achievable goals.

Ha ha okay! A little more detail would help... but meh. All Muslim countries would love Israel, while the 40-45 remaining Palestinians would starve to death after their underground FOOD tunnels were destroyed too in, you know, "collateral damage."

An Israeli success in Gaza would be a victory in the war on terror — and in the broader struggle for the future of the Middle East. Hamas is only one manifestation of the rise, over the past few decades, of a terror-friendly and almost death-cult-like form of Islamic extremism. The combination of such terror movements with a terror-sponsoring and nuclear-weapons-seeking Iranian state (aided by its sidekick Syria) has produced a new kind of threat to Israel.

But not just to Israel. To everyone in the Middle East — very much including Muslims — who aren’t interested in living under the sway of extremist regimes.

Can someone, anyone, in the media please mention that Hamas was democratically elected?

Oh and Iran needs to be invaded too, because of the Gaza Strip:

The huge challenge for the Obama administration is going to be Iran. If Israel had yielded to Hamas and refrained from using force to stop terror attacks, it would have been a victory for Iran. If Israel were now to withdraw under pressure without accomplishing the objectives of severely weakening Hamas and preventing the reconstitution of a terror-exporting state in Gaza, it would be a triumph for Iran. In either case, the Iranian regime would be emboldened, and less susceptible to the pressure from the Obama administration to stop its nuclear program.

But a defeat of Hamas in Gaza — following on the heels of our success in Iraq — would be a real setback for Iran. It would make it easier to assemble regional and international coalitions to pressure Iran. It might positively affect the Iranian elections in June. It might make the Iranian regime more amenable to dealing.

With respect to Iran, Obama may well face — as the Israeli government did with Hamas — a moment when the use of force seems to be the only responsible option. But Israel’s willingness to fight makes it more possible that the United States may not have to.

Lies, all lies, and it's not working again. Israel and Hamas are each insane. So how about we pay attention to our two (2) current, endless American wars -- we still have those, did you know that? -- instead of caring so much about a small foreign land strip and the douchebags constantly pissing over them. As if our position is negotiable!

 Why Israel Fights [NYT]