Excuse me, but what if Mexico kidnapped three of our border guards....and then we find out that they are now in Cuba or Columbia etc. What would the USA do? I'd say consider it an act of war.
If Iran harbors those soldiers, they have in essence declared war on Israel.
We wouldn't do jack because the lefties would make damn sure that we go about it in a PC manner with lots and lots of talking and dealing. Not one shot would be fired, and hopefully the widows of the border guards would understand.
I agree. Nevertheless, a wise tactician waits for the right time to attack. Israel cannot let Hizbullah determine the timetable to conduct a military operation against Iran.
At any rate, I know that most Israeli generals know the right way to proceed. They have incredible control of their emotions in the middle of fierce combat.
The thing is, if Mexico did it, it would be a back-channel deal, not booming across satellite news. We would probably act to defuse it and keep it quiet. There's no chance of that happening in a place like the Middle East, where the Arabs need to brag to the public about their "successes".
Kind of like dogfights with the Soviets during the Cold War. Keep the skirmishes under cover, and it gets resolved behind closed doors. Another benefit of the Cold War was that M.A.D. made both our governments extremely reticent to publicize any kind of info regarding encounters with Soviet subs, or what have you. Once it's in the public eye, there is an onus to retaliate publicly. The Arabs don't care. Everything they do is for public consumption. There's no choice but for a situation like this to escalate unless a white knight (the U.S.) attempts to defuse it.
"What would the USA do?"
History tells me we would do nothing.1983 220 Marines died. Did we go to War when our troops were killed in Beirut by the suicide bomber? Or when the Cole was bombed or even the prior incidents at the world trade center.
We wouldn't do diddly-squat. We don't do anything when they're shot at.