One reason for the surge is to "send a message" both to the Arabs and Iranians that we intended to be a player in this game. Our position vis a vis Iran is not so weak as the hysterian would lead one to believe. The Isarelis, against all predictions, dropped the ball last summer, which has greatly encouraged both the Arabs and the Iranians, but I ran is a regime totering on collapse, with significant rebellions in its Kurdish provinces and restiveness in its core constituency. The Arabs, regimes, simply cannot defend themselves.