From Slate
By Fred Kaplan

The Iranians are expanding their presence in Iraq, the Saudis are cutting a separate deal with them to contain the strife in Lebanon, and who can blame either party?

Yes, as the AP reported Tuesday, this surge of Saudi-Iranian cooperation “could complicate Washington’s efforts to isolate Tehran.” But it is Bush’s abandonment of diplomacy that has left the vacuum that the Saudis and Iranians are now trying to fill. And given the alternative of mayhem and anarchy, their new rapprochement might not be a bad thing.

Iran’s expansive ambitions these days are fueled mainly by two sources: high oil prices, which swell its treasury and strengthen its leverage over industrial nations; and the evaporation of its closest, most threatening rivals–Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The irony, of course, is that the United States facilitated both developments–indirectly in the former case (the United States doesn’t import oil from Iran, but its extravagant consumption boosts prices on the global market, which enriches the mullahs’ regime) and very directly in the latter (the United States overthrew Tehran’s chief enemies).

This is not to say that President Bush should have refrained from toppling Saddam or the Taliban in order to keep Tehran holed up. But he should have foreseen the consequences and adjusted his diplomacy accordingly.

Read more Folly