This commentary by columnist Maureen Dowd is charged with cynicism, but it raises two points that I thought made it worth sharing. One is the idea that the Iraq War was a sort of test case of the American public’s tolerance for the sacrifice of war. The other is two citings of recent references to a brewing conflict with Syria, which is otherwise being officially downplayed by Colin Powell and Tony Blair.

An excerpt:

But Mr. Wolfowitz played the diplomat on Sunday, gliding past probing on whether the neo-conservatives’ dreams of other campaigns in Syria, Iran and North Korea would come true. Pressed, he said: ‘There’s got to be change in Syria as well.’

And The New York Times reported that when a Bush aide told the President George W. Bush that the hard-boiled Mr. Rumsfeld had also been shaking a fist at Syria, he smiled and said one word: ‘Good.’

Full commentary…