The original neocon plan was a series of dominos to lead up to the toppling of Iran. The pacification of Iraq would enable the invasion of Syria, which would allow the complete encirclement of Iran.

This plan failed when Iraq devolved into a quagmire, but the neo-cons spent the entire Iraq War blaming Syria (and Iran) for the insurgency.

TV said he's bad, therefore he must die.

Same logic with CHYNA. CNN man says China bad, ergo it needs to be nuked.

His friendly relationship with Russia certainly plays a role

death drive