The Middle East is imploding. Christian fundamentalists seen standing on their front lawns, arms upraised waiting for Jesus to take them home.

Israel has sent troops into Gaza and Lebanon over three captured soldiers -- one held by Hamas in Gaza and two seized yesterday by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The United States and its allies set a collision course with Iran over its nuclear program. And there is mounting concern that Iraq's sectarian violence is crossing the threshold to a full-blown civil war.

So every previous president has worked toward facilitating peace in the Middle East, but George "I don't negotiate with terroriosts" Bush has allowed the region to burn out of control on his watch. Who voted for this asshole again?

But who is benefiting from this?

A common thread in the three crises is Iran -- for its support of the two Islamist groups, its alleged funding and arming of Iraqi militias and extremist groups, and its refusal to give a final response to the Western package of incentives designed to prevent it from converting a peaceful energy program into one to develop nuclear weapons.

"There seems to be a hand in each one of these -- Iran's and Syria's," Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. "Today does cross a threshold because, as Hezbollah has now said, this action was planned. It was intended to escalate and widen the battleground."

Okay well these guys are nuts, but how could they do this by themselves? Who else would want this to happen?

The true believers are now seeking to bring all this about. This means staging confrontations at the old temple site (in 2000, three US Christians were deported for trying to blow up the mosques there), sponsoring Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, demanding ever more US support for Israel, and seeking to provoke a final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United Nations/ European Union/France or whoever the legions of the antichrist turn out to be. (For the rest of this story go here)

So the fact that the Middle East is in flames is of no concern to the true believers, of which George W. Bush is a fanatical adherent, because this just means that Jesus is coming even sooner. The potential loss of life does not concern those who believe that they will personally benefit from the death of these "infidels". Just more of that Christian love I always hear about.

And those of us without our heads shoved up our asses can do nothing but watch these events unfold.