Thump! Thump! Thump!

The steady beat of the war drums continues. Tuesday's Washington Times brings more pounding from a different but unsurprising quarter.

Iran's relentless pursuit of a nuclear weapon is the biggest danger facing Israel, the Middle East and the world, a senior foreign-policy adviser to the Israeli government said yesterday.

"We have no doubt that Iran is trying to move ahead on building nuclear capability," Zalman Shoval, a former ambassador to the United States....

"Iran is formally and ideologically committed to the destruction of Israel, and a nuclear Iran is an immense danger," he said. "Iran is using the express elevator getting to the nuclear bomb."

Mr. Shoval said this was not simply an issue for Israel, but one that puts the world at danger.

As I recall, Israel's intelligence about Saddam Hussein's capacities and intentions, viewed through essentially the same filter as ours, was no better than ours. But it was a useful tool to persuade reluctant Congresspeople and Executive Branch underlings to get on board the war express. I've no doubt it will be used for the same purpose here, if only because it'll be easier to convince people that a nuclear Iran presents a threat to Israel than that it presents a threat to the US. But just in case, just like Saddam was a "danger to the whole world," so now is Iran.

Just out of curiosity, can you think of nations that might not feel threatened by Iran, even if it did have a nuclear weapon? Can you think of a few kindred souls, a few friendly faces? Does that give you any pause to wonder just how "the whole world" is being defined, who it includes and who it excludes?

Footnote, Peas in a Pod Div.: Shoval also held forth, naturally, on the idea of negotiations with the Palestinians. Pressure from Europe for "more" Israeli compromises - just what the hell past compromises is he talking about? - would be "counterproductive," he said, which bluntly translates to "shut up." Instead, he said, the Arab states should finance rebuilding the Palestinian economy.

So Israel decimates the Palestinian economy and then wants someone else to come in and clean up the mess it created. No wonder we get along so well.