Pat Lang, former military officer and intelligence official, has been following the tos and fros of "war with Iran." On Saturday he posted an essay by a former student, Christopher Bolan, analyzing the way nations may go to war quite apart from rational calculations about costs and benefits. Bolan notes the recent report by former national security officials that I mention in my column. Definitely worth a read, but clearly on the rational calculus side.Bolan, now a professor at the National War College, offers five easy reasons why there could be war between the United States and Iran. Very much worth a read. He concludes: "Of course, none of this means that military conflict with Iran is a certainty. It does, however, suggest that policymakers in Washington, Tehran, and Tel Aviv will need to take steps that consciously avoid the path of least resistance which in this case could all too easily lead to war."Is anyone taking those steps?

Margaret O’Brien Steinfels is a former editor of Commonweal. 

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