BEIRUT -- As America's campaign in Afghanistan winds down, who the next target will be in the promised "phase two" of the "war on terror" remains firmly in the realm of conjecture. Speculation has focused most intensely on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein himself. Yet, if Israel gets its way, Iran could turn out to be an even doughtier adversary.
Israel has long portrayed the Islamic Republic as perhaps its gravest long-term threat, combining sponsorship of international terror, nuclear ambition, ideological objection to the very existence of the Jewish state, and unflagging determination to sabotage the Middle East peace process.
Indeed, it was argued, a vital benefit of the Oslo Accords and the peace to which it would lead would be to place Israel in a much stronger position for its eventual showdown with "far" enemies like Iraq and Iran. For the closer their nuclear programs come to completion, the more compelling the necessity for Israel to eliminate them before it is too late.