Does Israel, after losing in Lebanon, plan to double down? From the Times of London via Juan Cole, more on Clusterfuck-alypse Now:

The Israelis are integrating three elite brigades that performed well during the Lebanon war under one headquarters, so they can work together on deep cross-border operations in Iran and Syria.

“The challenge from Iran and Syria is now top of the Israeli defence agenda, higher than the Palestinian one,” said an Israeli defence source. Shortly before the war in Lebanon Major-General Eliezer Shkedi, the commander of the air force, was placed in charge of the “Iranian front”, a new position in the Israeli Defence Forces. His job will be to command any future strikes on Iran and Syria.

The Israeli defence establishment believes that Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear programme means war is likely to become unavoidable.

“In the past we prepared for a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities,” said one insider, “but Iran’s growing confidence after the war in Lebanon means we have to prepare for a full-scale war, in which Syria will be an important player.”

Hey, and guess what? Israel blew it in Lebanon because they didn't follow the neo-con's advice:

“If they had acted against Syria during this last kerfuffle, the war might have ended more quickly and better,” said Richard Perle, a leading neoconservative. “Syrian military installations are sitting ducks and the Syrian air force could have been destroyed on the ground in a couple of days.”

“Fixed targets are hopelessly vulnerable to precision bombing, and with stealth bombers even a robust air defence system doesn’t make much difference,” [Perle added].

Ah. Another cakewalk.

Who's this Richard Perle guy? Isn't he the head of the World Bank or something? Oh, I forgot. Perle is of the AEI, so he's part of the permanent government, and the AEI wants an attack on Iran. And it is rational to have a client state do the work for us, since the Bush's Iraq Clusterfuck has given us strategic overstretch.

NOTE It looks like Seymour Hersh was right: Lebaonon was a demo for Iran.