Booneville
Those of us spending our August out in the boonies may have missed the blog frenzy emanating from Washington the past few weeks predicting that Israel is insisting on bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities to remove an “existential threat.” If the U.S. is not willing to do so, the story line goes, Israel will have to do the job itself. The blog hysteria took wings when the Atlantic magazine published an article by Jeffrey Goldberg in its September issue which portrayed the Netanyahu government as irrationally bent on bombing the Iranian nuclear sites.
Such an action would border on insanity, as, apparently, American military leaders understand. Both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, it is reported, strongly oppose any U.S. support for an attack on Iran. The results, in fact, would be disastrous since Iran has the capability to close the Straits of Hormuz to shipping, thus choking off a major portion of oil exported to world markets.
It also would not ensure that Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapons capability. An attack on Iran would be viewed in most Islamic countries as an attack on Islam. Under such conditions, the security of Pakistan’s weapons could not be assured.
Therefore, an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities not only would fail to achieve any rational objective, but would actually produce a greater threat than the one it was supposed to eliminate.
Most likely, hard-line Iranian leaders like Ahmadinejad would actually welcome an Israeli attack. It would strengthen their hand against the democratic elements who believe (rightly) that the last election was stolen. It would allow Ahmadinejad to rally much of the Islamic world against the U.S. and Israel and greatly increase the threat of terrorist attacks within the U.S.
The resolution now making its way in Congress to encourage an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is sheer idiocy. Truly, its sponsors know not what they do! It may seem a cheap bone to throw to ill-informed constituents, but it is truly dangerous. It just gives more apparent justification in Iran for the necessity of getting hold of the bomb, lest it be invaded like Iraq was (to the delight of the Iranian hard-liners!).
Iran, even with nuclear weapons, does not pose an existential threat to Israel, as fanatics claim. Iran’s leaders, though unprincipled hoodlums, are not suicidal and Israel’s reported hundred or so nuclear weapons are sufficient to pose an existential threat to Iran.
I do not believe that Bibi Netanyahu is as deranged on this issue as Jeffrey Goldberg pictures him. He is a master manipulator, and I believe that he and his Likud-minded colleagues are using the issue to distract attention from Israeli policies that are making the peace process impossible: the continuation of settlement activity in the West Bank and the illegal isolation of the Gaza strip. These are policies that make a true settlement with the Palestinians impossible. They are policies that empower Iranian diplomacy in the area, even in Arab countries which traditionally fear Iranian influence.
The most serious existential threat to a Jewish state in Palestine comes from the policies of the existing Israeli government. All the bru-ha-ha about an alleged “existential threat” from Iran is most likely designed to deflect U.S. and world attention from that fundamental fact.
Among the many comments on this issue, I would recommend in particular those by Gary Milhollin, by Robert Wright in the New York Times Blog, and by Arnaud de Borchgrave.
Amazed to hear Congress is trying to pass a resolution endorsing an Israeli attack on Iran. It is puzzling to hear reports that Iran’s sponsorship of terrorist organizations means that if it ever possessed nuclear weapons it would pass them on to such organizations for a covert attack on Israel. Such an action, if it was seriously contemplated, would be irrational as a matter of public policy for Iran. It would place Iran’s fate at the whims of terrorist organizations since nuclear weapons can be traced back to their creators. No modern state, even headed by radicals such as Iran’s theocratic elite, would support such an irrational act. The so called existential threat posed to Israel by Iran’s nuclear program is a chimera. Thanks for exposing it in an article that is essential reading for those interested in the nuclear issue and Iran.
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I realize the threat Iran poses, but bombing them like that would be a great risk, one I don’t believe the US or Israel should take unless they have to use it as a last resort.
Bombing Iran under any conditions would be idiocy. They are still a long way from getting nuclear weapons, and if they do they probably will not be as much a threat as the Pakistan weapons already pose. Besides, covert programs to disrupt the production of HEU seem to be working. Threats only increase their determination to develop the capability.
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