The bow can only stay stretched for so long before having to release it or it breaks. Cheney's gulf trip could be precursor, but high command changes could impact planning and execution.
Hezbollah and/or Hamas will launch some type of provocation that forces Israel’s hand.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966560.html
http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2008/03/syria_is_ready.php
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL14303898.html
Iran will have difficulty sitting on its hands as its assets in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza are dismantled. Their hand will be forced as well. Any attack inside the U.S. (AQ/Hezbollah) will be framed to the international community as reciprocal retribution against Israel’s primary ally for the inevitable civilian casualties that would result from the Israeli response. Whether symmetric or asymmetric, Iran will be drawn into the fight. And as we will likely sustain some degree of both military and civilian casualties (hopefully limited but perhaps massive), the entire territory of Iran will be fair game.
Doesn’t matter who starts it. We end it. So anyone in Tehran left with an ounce of sense should see any remaining olive branch as a fig leaf and come back to the table and do a deal. As much damage as they can inflict, the rational factions over there understand that the destruction they would sustain would be incomparable.
Ahmadinejad wants to use mass martyrdom to set off an apocalypse. He and his Revolutionary Guard buddies have hijacked the plane and are once again heading for the skyscrapers. This time, he is taking his 70 million citizen passengers along for the ride.
The question is whether any of the passengers manage to break into the cockpit before there is again devastation in our cities, and the passengers end up dead.