Normally, I would dismiss such rhetoric in light of the fact that Isaac and Ishmael have been going at it for millennia. However, when someone I respect as highly as Newt Gingrinch puts out the theory, we all need to sit up straight and listen.
From Meet the Press, July 16, 2006:
GINGRICH: We’re in the early stages of what I would describe as the third World War and, frankly, our bureaucracy’s not responding fast enough and we don’t have the right attitude. And this is the 58th year of the war to destroy Israel and, frankly, the Israelis have every right to insist that every single missile leave south Lebanon, and the United States ought to be helping the Lebanese government have the strength to eliminate Hezbollah as a military force — not as a political force in the parliament — but as a military force in south Lebanon.
RUSSERT: This is World War III?
GINGRICH: I believe if you take all the countries I just listed that you’ve been covering, put them on a map, look at all the different connectivity, you have to say to yourself: this is, in fact, World War III.
Full transcript available here.
Bowing Down 
Posted by Jim Peet on July 22, 2006 at 7:59 pm
We know it’s not WW III … The French have not surrendered yet!
Posted by Joey Hoelscher on July 24, 2006 at 2:03 pm
I don’t know Jim, maybe the rest of the world finally figured out there’s just no point in attacking them anymore…
Posted by Mark Weaver on July 24, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Some claim, and I think I agree, that we have actually entered into WWIV, WWIII being the Cold War which included, but was not limited to, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Just a thought, but it makes sense to me.