The U.S. has yet to wage its holy war upon Iraq and already we're being prepped for the next three wars. The road from Baghdad, it is now beyond clear, runs next to Tehran, then to Damascus, and then to Tripoli.

An astute reader of the New Republic, Commentary, and the op-ed pages of the New York Times and Washington Post, already knows this, of course. Nonetheless, it is alarming, to say the least, to hear the drumbeats of war being thumped with such mindless aggression before the first warheads have been dropped on those Iraqi targets so bloodthirstily selected by the most crazed elements within the Pentagon and the National Security Council.

And it will come as no surprise that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is exhorting the Bush administration to shift its current hawkish stance toward one more closely resembling wholesale insanity.

Jerusalem's Ha'aretz today reports ("Sharon Says U.S. Should Also Disarm Iran, Libya") that the Israeli leader told visiting American lawmakers that once we -- the U.S., that is -- are done with Iraq, our focus must move to Iran, Libya, and Syria.

"These are irresponsible states, which must be disarmed of weapons mass destruction, and a successful American move in Iraq as a model will make that easier to achieve," Sharon said.

And in a meeting with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton on Monday, Sharon relayed Israel's concerns about Iran, emphasizing that its security concerns regarding the Tehran regime should not be disregarded while American attention was focused on Iraq.

"Bolton, who is undersecretary for arms control and international security, is in Israel for meetings on preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Ha'aretz reported with what may or may not have been unintentional irony given Israel's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Among Washington's happiest happy warriors, Bolton assured Sharon that Syria would be offered the opportunity to prove it is not a threat to other nations -- Where have we heard this before? -- and that dealing with the threat from North Korea is not being ignored, only postponed. That's the fourth war to come, I suppose.

Apparently eager to hear from Israelis representing a wide range of opinions, Bolton also met with Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Housing and Construction Minister Natan Sharansky. This is a joke, right?

Will someone please put this guy on a leash? Or, dare I ask, is he already on one?