The headline and lead of the story everyone’s buzzing about reads,

Pentagon Finds Perils for U.S. if Israel Were to Strike Iran

A classified war simulation exercise held this month to assess the American military’s capabilities to respond to an Israeli attack on Iran forecast that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials.

That claim that just “hundreds” of Americans would die in a war started next door to where we’ve got 90,000 Americans deployed makes me want to see the full results and the resumés of those who did the war game.

But the headline misses one critical result of the war game.

The initial Israeli attack was assessed to have set back the Iranian nuclear program by roughly a year, and the subsequent American strikes did not slow the Iranian nuclear program by more than an additional two years. However, other Pentagon planners have said that America’s arsenal of long-range bombers, refueling aircraft and precision missiles could do far more damage to the Iranian nuclear program — if President Obama were to decide on a full-scale retaliation.

This regional war Israel might start? A war, presumably, akin to the Iraq war, which started 9 years ago today and only “ended” in December?

All it would do is set Iran’s nuclear program back 3 years.

No word on what this 8 year war to set Iran back 3 years would cost. But don’t worry. I’m sure it’d be as great a value as the war itself.