Max Boot, Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) published an opinion piece, Let Israel Take Off the Gloves, calling on Israel to ignite the flames of war across the Middle East.

Mr. Boot relies on the over exaggerated capabilities of the Israeli Defense Forces (i.e., the cultural myth that Israel has been victorious in various wars against impossible odds). It isn’t 1967 or 1973 any longer. The U.S. is stretched a little thin and isn’t going to be able to cover Israel’s back. We have North Korea, Kosovo, Iraq, China, our own protection here at home, and many other hot spots to worry about.

His CFR bio notes that Mr. Boot has been called one of “the 500 most influential people in the United States in the field of foreign policy” which is scary.

A much more realistic analysis appears in the UPI. See: U.S., Israel face spreading war.

The UPI states:

No one appears to want a full-scale war between states to break out in the Middle East, with the possible exception of Iran’s firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Well, no, add Mr. Boot to that list.

There are people who want this. Mr. Boot and those like him will be back home armchair quarterbacking the deaths of million —“ including our own sons and daughters, all for the greater glory of themselves.

God save us from the Max Boots of the world.

* Sadly, Mr. Boot probably uses this as his regular moniker and would probably be proud of it.