There was a great book written during the 1950's called "Alas Babylon" in which the third world war started in the Middle East (a most unlikely scenario at that time since the focus was on cold war containment of communism). I was living in Istanbul several years after that, but in the same general time frame (the Kennedy Administration). My grandfather worked on the missile tracking stations along the Black Sea Turkish/Soviet boarder. I had the opportunity to talk with Islamic lawyers, doctors and university professors. I was just a young kid at the time, but I soon learned to stay off the subject of religion. Otherwise there were unfortunate results. One thing that I did learn is the religious fanaticism permeates the entire Middle Eastern world no matter how well educated the individual. When "Alas Babylon" was published most readers felt the Middle Eastern spark to the nuclear holocaust was rediculous. However, the book seems most prophetic now.

There are some who have advocated a pre-emptive strike to turn the Middle East into a sheet of glass from the Mediterranean to the Chinese border. Hopefully diplomacy will prevail, and things will not reach that state. However, the religious fanaticism of the players in the region has been going on almost 2,000 years, and is not likely to cease. Al Quaida has already indicated that one of its plans is to further aggravate the relationship between Iran and the  U S. If Iran is drawn into it, the war will cover the area of the former Persian Empire. I do not see how the U S is going to have the resources to fight in a region that large without going to nuclear. Our illustrious NATO allies with the exception of the Brits have already demonstrated their complacency and have no stomach for a fight unless their arms are twisted to honor their treaty commitments as in Afghanistan.