The Leveretts’ Myopic Advice to Obama
So the Leveretts repeat that Obama’s policy is “an only slightly prettified version of George W. Bush’s approach.” Like the previous administration, Obama’s policy-makers want only to contain a “perceived” threat without solving the real political conflicts. Look carefully at that word “perceived.” The implication is that an Iranian bomb is only a threat to those who think it is, and they have no good reason. The reality is different. The Leveretts imply, without making a case, that it would not be any kind of a threat and is therefore an event we in the West can live with.
They also oppose what they call a “Bush era delusion;” that world events give moderate Arab states a very real reason to oppose Iran, and hence a willingness to perhaps even engage with Israel in order to effectively deal with their own concerns about Iran’s power and policies. Finallly, the Leveretts note that “strategic cooperation with Israel is profoundly unpopular with Arab publics.” Again, the implication is that this truth means that the Arabs must be appeased, and no effort taken to get moderate Arab states to accept Israel. With that logic, Israel never would have been able to sign a peace treaty with both Egypt and Jordan. Instead, they want US cooperation with Iran, and of course, its proxies- they identify them with a benign term- “regional allies,” Hamas and Hezbollah.
In simple terms, what the Leveretts offer is old fashioned appeasement- this time of Iran and the mullahs who rule it. If the United States only commits “not to use force to change the borders or the form of government of the Islamic Republic,” all will evidently work itself out. The same people who urge the US to break its alliance with Israel, to pressure them not to build in existing settlements, and who urge pressure on Israel to agree to borders favored by the hard-line Palestinians, and to make concessions to the Arabs and Palestinians in advance of negotiations-now urge no pressure whatsoever against Iran- despite its sworn aim of destroying Israel. Thus the Leveretts urge integrating both Hamas and Hezbollah into any settlement, and accepting a major role in the Middle East for both terrorist groups.
The Leveretts conclude by urging President Obama take their “new approach” on Iran into consideration. Were he to do so, the US would not just lose Iran, but perhaps the chance for any peace and real stability in the Middle East.
“…it is the United States that must show its willingness to “assuage Iranian skepticism about America’s willingness to end efforts to topple the regime and pursue comprehensive diplomacy.”
In his heart of hearts, this is also the way Barack Obama perceives the situation. The president is a non-violent Leftist. He most assuredly blames America—and the existence of Israel for the tensions of the Middle East. Obama will therefore likely respond by pressuring the Israelis to make further concessions to the Palestinian extremists.
A lot of Iranians are about to disappear in a fireball. If they don’t have a bomb they’ll buy one from the North Koreans with oil and do what they have been saying they’ll do for the last decade. For a regime that used to have children clear minefields by walking across them and exploding them with their bodies, why would you think different. Benjamin Netanyahu is going to help punch their tickets for the Paradise Express. After the debacle of the Walter Duranty who lied about the genocide in the Ukraine and won a Pulitzer while at the Times, how can you take anyone there serious.
Barack Obama was elected president due to white guilt. These voters conveniently overlooked the hard facts. There was nothing hidden about Obama’s embarrassing resume. Voters knew that he had accomplished next to nothing previous to taking the oath of office. We will now pay the price for these naive but well meaning sentiments. Obama is not ready for prime time—and yet his term does not end for a little over three and half years. We are royally screwed.
I well remember the initial debate between the politically correct John McCain and Barack Obama. It was originally supposed to revolve around the issue of defense. Unfortunately, the first question to Senator McCain involved the economy—and he totally messed up. I strongly believe that McCain cleaned Obama’s clock on the defense matters. But the majority of the voters could have cared less. Their minds were focussed almost entirely on the economy. And McCain was dead meat after he lost them on the first question. The rest is history.
Iran’s neighbors are Pakistan to the east, Russia to the north and Iraq to the west. If you lived in that neighborhood you would want a bomb too. Who would come to their defense if someone attacked them. No one. The Irianians are simply being realistic. Its a dangerous world. You have to be able to defend yourself. If I lived in a country no mattter how small I would want the government to be nuked up to defend the country.
Wasn’t “How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb” the subtitle of the Peter Sellers classic Dr. Strangelove?
Once you are committed to eternal youth, you are also condemned to rationalize appeasement, to perpetuity! Blessed are the Zombies, for they will fall in slavery without even noticing it!