The Law

They call it "The Law of Unintended Consequences." By which they mean that any action you take may have unforseen results.

And the United States is seeing its fair share right now in the Middle East.

Iran and Iraq were, for many years, deadly enemies. They held the balance of power in the Middle East, with Iraq's minority Sunni Muslims holding power there and the Shitte Muslims holding power in Iran. And so long as that balance obtained, it is unlikely that we would be facing either an Iraq or an Iran with Weapons of Mass Destruction (no matter what GWB thought).

Iran would have been terrified of Saddam having nuclear weapons for fear he would use them on Iran. Iraq (read Saddam) would never have tolerated a nuclear armed Iran.

But now, we've taken Iraq and Saddam out of the picture. Iraq will not be capable of defending itself against an outside attack for years..... and maybe never if a civil war breaks out as seems likely.

But you only have to look back a few years to what George W. Bush and his crew of Merry Men had to say before we took Saddam down to understand that they never considered that law of unintended consquences. Iran now looks to become a nuclear power and we lack the military strength to do anything much about it.

There is a song, I don't recall the author, that describes the current situation perfectly:

Serpent's Song

There's a price for too much arrogance;
A price for too much greed;
And in complacent ignorance;
You've sewed the whirlwind's seed.