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Restraint: Do not be goaded into war with Iran

Any number of individuals, organizations and even nations in the Middle East would love to see even the smallest of military conflicts between the United States and Iran. Islamic terrorist groups, for one, understand that would divert U.S. assets from targeting them, to at least some extent.

Tension between the U.S. and Iran has been increasing steadily during the past few weeks. Over the weekend, it was bumped up a notch or two by a rocket attack in Baghdad, one place where Iranian operatives are active.

Within hours after the attack, there was speculation Iran was behind it. Headlines stating a rocket had landed near the U.S. embassy in Baghdad were making the rounds.

But the rocket landed about a mile from the Embassy. No U.S. casualties were reported.

Either the rocket launchers were incompetent or our embassy was not the intended target.

There is enough real, provable violence originating in orders from Tehran to make war between Iran and the U.S. a distinct possibility. Allowing attacks such as that in Baghdad to ratchet up the tension would be unwise.

Plenty of wars have been started “by accident” — that is, by events which were not serious enough to provoke full-scale conflict or by incidents staged by third parties in order to drag two major nations into battle.

War between the U.S. and Iran would be bloody and would have long-lasting, serious repercussions worldwide. Americans should not be played by those seeking to destroy us through distraction. We cannot allow ourselves to be forced into an avoidable conflict.

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