Miscalculations Cause Disasters

Saddam Hussein would never have postured a non-existent WMD program had he foreseen the cost. He was a vicious dictator no doubt and a Muslim, but he was no Islamist fanatic. He was interested in perpetuating his own power and self-preservation and thought Bush was bluster and bluff. The Hamas terrorists currently under devastating assault knew that they would not destabilize Israel with their nuisance rocket attacks; they would occasionally kill a Jew or a few, but they would not overturn the Jewish state by way of the Kassam. They did not conceive that the IDF would marshal sufficient force to cause many of their deaths over a rocket barrage. The Pakistanis do not believe minor troop movements will precipitate a great conflict. Miscalculations engender great conflagrations.