No World War III. Darn!!

Well, news this morning is that a cease-fire has been agreed upon between Israel and Lebanon.  Aside from the strange fact that Lebanon wasn't really involved in any actual fighting, the likelihood is that the conflict will end soon.

When this conflict started, I read several articles and had some friends that said World War III was about to start.  The reasoning was that since Iran and Syria were already helping the terrorists, that meant that other Islamic countries would get involved.  Then of course we would get involved.  Which would cause other large countries to get involved.  Hence, World War III.

Now, these weren't all doom-and-gloom liberals who were saying this.  It was people from all kids of different ideologies.  Several of them did have theme that we helped cause the trouble with our involvement in Iraq or that Bush shouldn't be president since he caused this.  Others were saying this was what would finally cause Armageddon to occur.  Oddly enough, both sides seemed quite excited that a long drawn-out war was about to occur.

The only problem was that neither side even cared to look at history.  The confilct between Israel and militant terrorist groups has been going on for DECADES!  I find it highly unlikely that this type of conflict could lead to a world war.  Mainly because the countries that get involved would have to be willing to risk an awful lot to commit troops.  Remember that countries that lose world wars tend to suffer some major consequences when they lose.

Let this be a lesson, folks.  Just because it CAN be bad doesn't mean it WILL be bad.  How about practice a wait-and-see approach?  I know it's not as much fun as scaring the crap out of people, but it does help your credibility.  Assuming that's important to you.