Obama Seeks to Delegitimize Israeli Concerns over Iran
Recall the huffing and puffing and the fuzzy shifting deadlines on Iran of the administration’s first year in office. On July 22, 2009, Secretary Clinton said of U.S. action on Iran: “Our president came to office with a very clear preference for talking with people. … I think there is still a lot of opportunity here, but we are not going to keep the window open forever.” On July 27, 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said: “The president is fully aware that the Iranians may simply try to run out the clock. … I think the president is hoping for some kind of response … at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly session.” On October 1, 2009, the president said: “Iran … must grant unfettered access to IAEA inspectors within two weeks. … We’re not interested in talking for the sake of talking. If Iran does not take steps in the near future to live up to its obligations, then the United States will not continue to negotiate indefinitely.” On November 29, 2009, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said: “Time is running out for Iran to address the international community’s growing concerns about its nuclear program.”
Or compare the president himself in his first year in office to the Obama of today. On May 18, 2009, President Obama was asked about Iran and any deadlines for his “policy of engagement.” He responded: “You know, I don’t want to set an artificial deadline. … We should have a fairly good sense by the end of the year as to whether they are moving in the right direction.”
Almost three years later, the president is still spinning his wheels. On March 6, 2012, after the administration announced a new round of talks with Iran, the president told a news conference in eerily similar terms: “To resolve this issue will require Iran to come to the table and discuss in a clear and forthright way how to prove to the international community that the intentions of their nuclear program are peaceful. … They know how to do it, and the question is going to be whether in these discussions they show themselves moving clearly in that direction.”
So let’s recap. The leading state sponsor of terrorism is poised to acquire the world’s most dangerous weapon. The president of the United States is still pretending that Iran could prove that its intentions are peaceful and is wondering where the Iranians are headed. And to forestall the possibility that Israel will give up on America’s commander-in-chief having his own country’s back, let alone theirs, President Obama is busy sabotaging the Jewish state’s right of self-defense.
Twenty-four centuries later and Purim is as relevant as ever.
Obama sides with the mullahs. I believe he seeks Israel’s destruction via ‘leading from behind’ First, make a big show of his alleged undying support for the Israelis, while assuring them that they continue with ‘diplomacy’ at least until after the November elections. Then he gets Jewish money and votes from clueless liberal Jews in America, while giving the Iranians more time to put the finishing touches on their nuclear weapons program. Israel will be hamstrung until then, since military action by Israel during the ‘negotiations’ will be villified by the Obama admin. and the arab world.
Step two, after Barack Hussein Obama II is recoronated,and having absolutely no further use for the Jews, he will attack Israel if it attempts to defend itself or disable the Iranian nuke program. Obama wants Israel gone just as fervently as any devout Muslim.
While he is willing to forgo the survival of the Jewish state, he doesn’t want to lose the Jewish vote.
Weakness in the face of aggression is the father of war. The coming conflagration will be born of Barack Obama’s inability to stand up for the interests of the nation he is supposed to be leading.
Read more of my article: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/how_iran_could_save_america.html#ixzz1ofh9CLkf
NO one should doubt what Chris has convincingly posited. Why? Because Obama, in his own words, stated as much. He intoned that he would always side with Muslims.
What can be clearer than that? Moreover, as deep as his animus is towards Israel, so too is it towards America.
Forewarned is forearmed. As such, even our PC leaders in Israel (mostly) understand the score. And THAT is what will save us all from the malignant POTUS’s real intentions, as well as those of the Iranian Hitlerite regime.
My understanding is that any decision to stike Iran would be up to the ‘octet’ – with Ehud Barak and Netanyahu currently being the members most in favor of a preemptive attack. The other members (Eli Yishai, Dan Meridor, Moshe Ya’alon, Benny Begin, Yuval Steinitz, Avigdor Liberman) are said to be more on the fence (esp. Meridor and Ya’alon)… Any sense from where you stand?
“The president is attempting to undermine the legality of an Israeli strike.”
Have fun trying.
“Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.”
The Israelis are constantly subjected to armed attacks, they have been for decades, and the Security Council has never done diddly about it, and the Israelis have every right in the world to defend themselves under international law.
Don’t worry. It’s only until after the November election. Then it won’t matter to President Obama.
Meanwhile, there are some in Israel who side with President Obama against PM Netanyahu. The newspaper Haaretz today referred to PM Netanyahu’s AIPAC address as follows:
In a slightly more temperate but not on that account less absurd “analysis” on March 6th, it attempted to demolish his analogy to the Holocaust.
I tried to analyze the earlier Haaretz editorial here and today’s even worse editorial effort here. The latter seemed worthy only of satire.
This administration is all about pretending that we don’t have a problem with terrorism, Iran is a rational actor, the Arab spring is only portending good things, etc, etc…
The middle east is even more of a power keg today than it was when this president took to the White House. The president has all the reasons to be as aware as anyone can be to the mounting prospect of war at any minute, and he wants to be able to say that it was Israel’s fault.
If I was a citizen of Israel, I would hope for some credible assurance that there will be another man in the White House next year, but I would not bet the well-being of my family and the future of my country on it. As an American I feel ashamed to see that my president is not taking his duties seriously.
Somebody please explain to me how such an obvious nutcase ever got near the presidency, and why he is still a serious contender for re-election?
Well, for one, there was the Journolist. For another, lots of folks wanted “hope and change” without really thinking it through. And three, the promise of fairies and unicorns would finally grace our lands. With those elements stacked against a grumpy old man who didn’t want the job in the first place, or at least didn’t want to fight for it, and an unrelenting attack against a successful woman, the cards stars simply aligned in favor of “The One.”
*sigh*
The explanation of this administration’s behavior is straightforward and not unique to it: if you admit there is a problem, then you have to do something about it, or reveal your pusillanimity. How can you then cut the defense budget multiple times for over $1.5B over the next ten years and yet deal effectively with a rogue state that has nuclear weapons and is in a position to threaten the oil fields in the Middle East upon which the economies of all the developed world depend?
Someone please needs to ask General Dempsey if Iran is acting rationally if its goal is to make its own nuclear weapons. I think he would say “yes, absolutely!” because it is the truth, this is exactly how a rogue nation would need behave to achieve said objective. Quite rational indeed. Remember, this is just part one of their “rational act”.
Obama’s only reason for speaking to AIPAC and pretending to support Israel was to try and shore up his support by Jewish voters and more importantly Jewish voters in Florida. If re-elected will he turn his back on them? Absolutely.
“Obama is attempting to undermine the legality of an Israeli strike.”
I have often wondered about this idea of “legalities.” Was it legal for the United States to help overthrow the leader of a sovereign nation, Egypt, and not even consider what was to come after that leader was deposed? Was it legal for the United States to get involved in a civil war in Libya even though that country posed no credible threat against the United States? And was it “legal” for Obama to do so without any, ANY, approval from Congress?
I’m beginning to think the world has left “lagalities” by the curb. It’s a quaint term best left to the diplomats from the 19th Century. Today, pretty much anything goes, so long as you can back up your brand of “legality” with force. So if Israel has the power to back up its threats, then that makes it legal, just like we did in Libya. Worse, Libya posed no direct threat to us, but Iran DOES pose a direct threat to Israel. So, if anything, Israel has a better “legal” case to attack Iran than we did in attacking Libya. Much better, in fact. So let’s stop talking about “legalities” and let’s start talking about good, old-fashioned, power politics, or realpolitik. And if Iran doesn’t watch out, it’s about to get bashed by Israel, because Israel knows what’s at stake. It’s very survival. And survival motivates people to do all sorts of things, including attacking another country. This is something Obama and his minions simply do not understand.
The middle name says it all
Obama’s closest friend and adviser is Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett. Need anything more be said?
Exactly. And a good friend of his in Chicago was PLO mouthpiece Rashid Khalidi. The LA Times has protected Obama by not releasing an Obama tape about Khalidi. And then there is the generally anti-Semitic stance of Euro-socialists, and we know Obama’s ideology aligns with them. I’m reading “Sovereignty or Submission” and Dr. Fonte makes the point that the strong national/cultural/religious identity of Jews is a major sticking point for the transnational agenda of these globalist liberals.
DaOne, and the other flag holders of the CFR global government agenda stand for no country doing anything without international permission.
Obama’s hemming and hawing dalliance with Israel may well be predicated on Israel not acting against Iran until after the US November election.
His so called policies in general (like denying Keystone) are influenced by, even predicated on, his assessment of how they might or might not fly with his “base” (very base), but this would be a new low if Obama dancing around on Israel is mainly a function of his personal re-election and his personal ego.
Ideologically, given his radical past and conditioning, it goes without saying that Barack Obama, in his heart of hearts, doesn’t have much use for Israel
“but this would be a new low if Obama dancing around on Israel is mainly a function of his personal re-election and his personal ego.”
How can it be anything else? For Obama, the longer the delay, the better for his re-election. For the Israelis, the longer they wait, the more danger. For the Iranians, this is what they need and want. Obviously, they’re banking that they can survive a nuclear exchange with Israel (it’s a big country with 80 million people). Obviously, Israel is not. Were my neighbor, a block over, constantly thundered that he was going to kick my ass or worse, I would be justified to take preemptive action. The cops (UN and the USA) be damned.
Not only that, they Iranians love death than they love life as long as the infidel goes down with them.
Even Ayatollah Khamenei is getting in on the show, yesterday saying day he thought getting together and doing some more yakking would be a good idea.
Let’s keep talking, we need about 2 more years of dilatory delay and we’re there! (Of course, any question of Iran’s nuclear program would be off the table, so I guess they would just exchange pleasantries about the weather or hanging teenagers who were raped by their uncle or imprisoning and sentencing to death a guy who changed from Islam to Christianity or something.)
Khamenei is the disgusting sick (not sick enough) old man who was practically doing cartwheels in the street right after September 11.
Tanstaafl, the anonymous response to your posting was mine. I forgot to fill in the header before I posted. Sorry, everyone.
I did the same thing directly above in the comment #12.
Obama is not “spinning his wheels.” This is as far and as fast as he wants to go.
Israel will not use Nuclear weapons, at least not in the beginning stages. Israel will use specialized conventional weaponry and attack hardened targets within Iran. Iran will then have to choose its response.
If a conventional proportional response is levied, Israel will suffer moderate losses and will be forced to accept them. If Iran responds with disproportional or nuclear, then Israel will look to USA and Europe to assist the war with Iran. If the USA / Europe enter the war, Russia / China may come to Iranian assistance with Weaponry and boots on ground. If it goes this far Nuclear Weapons will probably come into the Battlefield with various petroleum installations in Saudi Arabia and rest of Middle east hit by both sides. Large portions of the Middle east will be left uninhabitable, with major ports completely wrecked.
Most petroleum installations will be unusable either to radiation or wrecked beyond salvage due to pressure and heat blast(s) from nuclear weapons. Terrorist bombings and attacks will continue for dozens – hundreds of years as Middle east blood feuds play out across the globe.
Enjoy the Weekend !
Alex, let’s not forget 40,000 missiles in Lebanon that Hezb’allah has and thousands of rockets and missiles that have made their way into Gaza in the past year, all coupled with the hand-held Stinger-type surface to air missiles that are no longer in Libya. Moderate losses? Hardly.
I do not have sufficient military knowledge to even know where to begin to comment on this. I’m scared witless as to what can/will happen if Israel goes it alone with this administration still in place. Europe will be of no help.
Truly, an absolutely horrible future is directly ahead of us.
obama will sell out the Israelis for his Muslim cohorts at the first opportunity and, I never thought I would say this of an army officer but Gen. Dempsey is a toady or a fool or both.
For 3 years, Obama has been lying to us, on all topics. On this most important topic of the Iranian nuclear weapons development he should especially not be believed. He is now talking that there needs to be proof that the Iranian nuclear development is not for peaceful uses. That claim is nonsense and he knows it. He threw Rsv. Wright ‘under the bus’when it suited him, He will do the same to the Jews, whenever it suits him. DON’T BELIEVE HIM.
This is for one reason only: To give support to Obama’s re-election campaign. This supremely evil sham artist will stop at nothing, even putting the entire Middle East at risk over his shameless self-promotion. I cannot think of a more disgusting example of scumbaggery.
Now try to imagine what he will do to undermine the Jewish state, once he no longer needs Jewish campaign cash and votes. He will sell out the Jews at his first opportunity. “I will stand with the Muslims..” -B Hussein Obama.
If the mullahs rebuild the gas chambers, Barack will go golfing.
Obama will be a very lonely dude if he backtracks on his promises to Israel’s defense … “got their back”. Congress doesn’t give standing O’s because they hate
Israel and Netanyahu … therefore; even though my own sentiments echoed all the above comments after hearing Obama’s possibly doubletalk at AIPAC; I resolved to accept the public announcement of his support for Israel; and remain happy that America supports Israel, even though I’m still verifying whether or not “Obama’s heart of hearts” embraces Israel. Iran will attempt to attack first, and Obama will be forced to decide in spite of his electioneering crap. Both Syria and Iran are crumbling from within and they’re both desperate … the mullahs are panicking, because their time (and their dreams of nuking Israel) are running out. The midget Andimanutjob is already a shorter man after the Iranian elections; there’s gonna be some big changes and the midget knows it in his desperate bones. Khomeini quivers as we speak; while he’s reading his porno mags and dreaming of more power over people … another mental midget.
Don’t worry Anne … Israel has a Captain of Hosts and General of Armies that will come against Iran. Fear is no place to be at this present time … may peace be upon Jerusalem and Israel.
The BHO scam is running on full gear, Americans at large are as ever naive, gullible, uneducated. BHO is active to undermine America’s security, the western world security , Israel’ survival in every possible way.We saw BHO staged in Egypt a well-planned blunder of strategic dimension ( throwing out Mubarak ) we saw BHO giving up our best informant on the islamic mob ( Khadafi )
we saw BHO giving a toll free road to the petro-nazis of Theheran when they crushed their opposition , we see that BHO turns his head the other side to give Assad , a minion and protegè of Theheran all the time he wants to butcher his opposition .Actually BHO helps as much as he can the iranian-shiite domination of the Mideast starting from the strait of Hormuz, the oil-rich persian gulf, Iraq, Syria and up to the mediterranean shores of Lebanon.BHO policy has created great furor within the arab gulf monarchies which feels threatened by his errors either deliberate or not: let’s remember that those monarchies are pro-western and provides us all the oil we need ; and now we see BHO cherry on the cake ; the disarmement of Israel thanks to the ” more friendly than any ” President BHO.BHO has blocked the sale of any weapons that Israel needed to neutralize Iran ( bunker-busters bombs , anti-missiles batterry, refueling air tanker ), while at the same time giving in to the delaying tactics of endless and fruitless talks with Iran. Actually BHO is cornering Israel to the most extreme choice
i.e to overkill Iran or to get toasted by Iran nuclear toy. Since BHO has constantly denied Israel conventionnal arms sale , Israel is constrained to use its last resort weapon as first and ONLY choice. BHO knows very well that he created himself this situation. Now the sandclock runs ; Israel must preempt Iran agression , and as usual BHO will stand pat, sitting on the fence, condemning in the harshest term the israel desperate reaction he engineered himself. The situation on the day after will be that the USA will stand looking passively as the whole mideast will be on fire, the price of a gallon of gas will reach 6$ and the whole western world will be attacked both from the outside and from the inside ( sleeping terror cells in south america , africa, europe and USA ; remember the failed attempt on the saudi ambassador in Washington ).
So at this point the right question to ask is : BHO is goofy ot he is an accomplice ? My judgemment is that BHO is a marxist muslim mole.Even if he is not a declared marxist he acts like one, even if he is not anymore muslim since he cnverted he acts like a member of the muslim brotherhood and his treacherous subversion policy is the work of a grandiose anti-western mole.
Pravda is reporting on Obama’s Great Fraud and Usurpation.
We dont live in a free society with free press.
NWO now owns it.
Read about your Great Leader…whoever he is.
Isn’t it sad that we have to read the foreign press in order to learn about the actions of our pathetic excuse for a president? Even Pravda has been more truthful than our feeble press.
Obama is a liar. He is also not a legal, sitting president.usur
He is a Muslum, a foreigner who has usurped the office, is forcing Americans into decades of financial ruin, endangering oour national security, and the lies of his father pour from his mouth.
Anne, you say: “If Israel can be cast as pre-empting or foregoing the reasonable possibility of diplomatic success with a “rational actor” — as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey recently described Iran — then it would not be engaged in justifiable self-defense. Labeling discussion of the necessity of using force to stymie Iran’s aggressive behavior as “loose talk of war” or “beating the drums of war” — in the president’s words — is also to deny that such a move would be legitimate self-defense.”
Now: add Podesta’s claim that “international permission” is the “legal basis” for any armed action by the United States. The context for this claim was a discussion of US military involvement in Syria. But the claim, besides being clearly unconstitutional, is much stronger than he needs to defend inaction there. So why make it? Well, if this fabricated, extra-constitutional rule applies to the US, he and Obama would apply it elsewhere, to other states, including Israel. This extraordinary claim, it’s curious timing, and your observations, amount to a concerted effort by the Obama administration to make any unilateral preemptive action by Israel against Iran illegitimate, and Israel an international pariah. If Israel acts, the left will campaign on it.
This is what’s known as “having Israel’s back”.
…add Podesta’s claim that “international permission” is the “legal basis” for any armed action by the United States.
Most recently (3 days ago) it was defense secy’y Leon Panetta (not John Podesta) making that unbelievable claim in front of a committee headed up by Senator Jeff Sessions.
The point of some kind of international law/community usurping US law is the central underpinning of a major push of most all actors in the Obama administration (the ones who’ve lasted)…transnationalism, in which, literally, national boundaries are transcended & national law and national integrity (the whole idea of separate and individual nation states) is dissolved.
Harold Koh, Obama’s so called legal adviser is a huge proponent of transnationalism, as is, less obviously, Obama himself, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, see her recent comments on not looking to the US Constitution (incredibly enough, her only job revolves around said Constitution), really the whole close cadre associated with and attached to Barack Obama.
Part and parcel of the overarching agenda of the Obama administration of diminishing America.
Currently, in a transparent plea to continue the destruction for another 4 years, Obama (previously referenced the Constitution as a litany of negative liberties and leaves out “endowed by their Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence) is making a huge attempt to paint himself other than who he is.
If you believe a single word of his routine these days…”our country” this and “out country” that, you fall for the worst in propaganda ever propagated.
tanstaafl, thanks for the correction.
Obama Generosity, Muslim Cancellation
Two recent developments involving the president and his favorite religion:
No one has ever suggested our commander-in-chief was stingy.
Well, before he launched his presidential bid in 2007, his charitable contributions were comparable to pre-conversion Ebeneezer Scrooge’s but since then he has opened his wallet somewhat. Now, his good-hearted generosity almost rivals that of Winnie the Pooh.
The president is so giving that he is considering sharing “limited classified data” on our proposed European anti-missile shield with our good buddies and former sworn enemies in Moscow.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Brad Roberts explained that the adminstration is merely continuing an initiative begun by Obama’s favorite whipping-boy, George W. Bush, although Bush never followed through with the harebrained idea of providing strategic information to a potential foe.
You see, the always paranoid Russians are fearful that the missile shield could somehow be deployed against them, without clarifying how a shield could miraculously become an offensive weapon. In fact, it would serve in a defensive capacity against the rapacious and truculent Ruskies and other crazies, so they don’t like it.
Reflecting the peculiar nature of Russian thought processes, Vladimir Putin has indicated that, should the shield become operational, he would deploy missiles as a defense since shields are notoriously threatening.
Fortunately, saner heads may prevail. Republican Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Michael Turner, has said he will “vigorously resist such compromises of U.S. missile defense capabilities.”
That, of course, assumes Rep. Turner will be re-elected in November. If the president isn’t re-elected, the matter becomes moot. If Obama is re-elected, Americans will have far more to worry about than protecting Europe.
Something not moot and no longer worrisome is the fate of TLC’s reality show, “All-American Muslim,” which didn’t depict reality and certainly didn’t demonstrate that Muslims living in Dearborn, Michigan were all or mostly American.
TLC spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg announced last week that, “We decided not to renew it for a second season” because of a collapse in viewership and a loss of more than half its audience between its first and eighth, final episode.
Left unmentioned by Ms. Goldberg . . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=16835.)
This is another excellent piece by Prof. Bayefsky.
It is interesting to note that many establishment figures are openly acknowledging that BHO seems content to just let Iran run out the clock. Case-in-point: Leslie Gelb, President of CFR(http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/24/leslie-h-gelb-the-iran-washington-conspiracy.html). One doesn’t get more “establishment” than Gelb and CFR.
It is therefore disappointing that the AIPAC leadership were not more emphatic in demanding action from BHO as well as claerly calling out BHO on this game. Gutless …
Our prodigal president is itching to use his buddy George Soro’s Responsibility to Protect doctrine in order to encourage the UN to move against Israel. It’s been so clear to me from the minute Soros wrote UN policy that its purpose was to destroy Israel. Libya was a test run and our congress is either remarkably stupid or completely corrupt. Judging by the statement made by the US State department regarding Palestinians once again bombing Israel – stating that they both are to blame – I know which one I believe.
Obama’s Gas
The president of the United States is currently engaged in perpetrating the biggest fraud since the invention of the anthropogenic global warming scam.
In his weekly Saturday chat with the American people, Barack Hussein Obama vowed, “I am going to keep doing everything I can to help you save money on gas, both right now and in the future.”
He added, “We can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices–not when we consume 20 percent of the world’s oil,” as if drilling for more oil wouldn’t result in more oil and lower prices at the pump. At the same time, he was effectively accusing Americans of causing high prices by indiscriminate consumption, like driving to work and heating their homes.
Obama has an odd way of implementing his resolve to help us “save money.”
Even before he assumed office, his energy secretary Steven Chu let the cat out of the gas bag when he indicated he wanted to raise gasoline prices to European levels of $10. a gallon. Mr. Chu is now calling the gas shots in Washington, putting the lie to the president’s phony concerns.
The Obama administration has also crippled off-shore oil exploration, rejected the Keystone XL pipeline project, repeatedly refused permission for companies to pump black gold in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, and stalled efforts at hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to recover petroleum.
Most recently, the president said we should invest in “energy sources of the future” and phase out oil, the energy source of “the past,” which happens to be the only reliable source we have.
As for developing our most abundant energy resource, coal, the president said during the last campaign that he wanted to put the coal industry out of business since he has better ideas.
His ideas? Windmills dependent on breezes that don’t always blow. Solar power which isn’t very effective at night or during cloudy days. Hydroelectic energy which requires waterfalls. And automobiles like the Chevy Volt which have the unfortunate tendency to catch fire at the most inopportune moments.
The administration rationale for all that baloney? Preserving our pristine waters, saving the caribou and the environment in ANWR, keeping our drinking water potable throughout the land, using pond scum to alchemistically create fuel, and forcing Americans to buy matchbox cars.
And, always in the forefront of Obama’s thinking is the passage of cap and trade legislation. The Wall Street Journal has aptly called the cap and trade charade “the tax that dare not speak its name.” Voters will eventually find out that the impact of carbon credits on their wallets will dwarf ten dollar gas, but it will be too late to do anything about it.
At the heart of all that hooey is Obama’s feigned and misplaced terror of global warming, a fear eerily similar to the panic of almost forty years ago over global cooling and the looming New Ice Age. . .
The president’s vow to restrain gasoline prices has as much validity as his claim the economy is improving. . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=16868.)