The drumbeat of war has been thumping away over the past couple of days. Jeffrey Goldberg’s piece in the Atlantic Monthly is acting as a springboard for blogger commentary on the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran and its consequences. In case you somehow missed it, here are Heilbrunn’s and Pillar’s takes on the situation. Matt Yglesias thinks that Goldberg’s already dark piece actually understates the economic consequences of an Israeli strike. At Contentions, Jonathan Tobin says all the speculation “misses the point,” and is “unhelpful and misleading.” But, echoing George Will (also see Heilbrunn’s thoughts about that), Tobin says what really matters is whether President Barack Obama “has the guts” to do what is necessary (i.e., attacking Iran). Stephen Walt reads the article in more sinister terms, writing that the story and those like it hark back to the Iraq invasion media run-up and are intended to “box Obama in” to score political points. Over at Salon.com, Glen Greenwald takes it a step further, calling Goldberg a “propagandist” and contends it is prevalent in his past work, too. Coming full circle, even Goldberg gets to comment on his own piece, writing that his “official” position is “profound, paralyzing ambivalence,” but it is important to give Obama’s plan a chance to work—at least through 2010. He also gives an “apology” to Greenwald.