IT DOES!
"I think it's important to place a red line before Iran, and I think that actually reduces the chance of a military conflict because, if they know there's a point, a stage in the enrichment or other nuclear activities that they cannot cross because they'll face consequences, I think they'll actually not cross it," Netanyahu told CNN's Candy Crowley.
Mr. President, with due respect, it has everything to do with American politics. Your insistence that President Obama should "spell out a specific red line that Iran could not cross in its nuclear program” is an undue interference in the US domestic and foreign policy. What's makes your utterances in the past few months suspect and undiplomatic is that you know very well the likely impacts of the coded messages on the ongoing Presidential campaign. This is a political intrigue of the highest order and you should know better. President Obama should not fall for it.
No one is setting a moral standard for the other between the US and the Israeli Government on what to do with respect to the political development and nuclear enrichment program in Iran. The age-old and time-tested relationship between the United States and the State of Israel is sacrosanct. No one can change it. President Obama, on his own, cannot unilaterally change the relationship, or alter it one bit. The truth is, there is no fact on the ground to support such inferences or support the insinuations that President Obama is soft on Iran or that he is hostile to President Netanyahu's political beliefs and strategic interests in the Middle East.
President Obama should not be stampede into taking action on the Iranian nuclear program to assuage President Netanyahu or to convince the Right Wing of American politics that he is a tough guy. Whatever decision that the President takes on the issue must be at his own schedule - consistent with the counsel of his security team, the consensus of the international community, and the best interest of the people of Israel. Political expediency and pandering should be taken out of the equation.
Governor Mitt Romney and President Netanyahu are best of friends. That cordial relationship or camaraderie was brazenly put on display during Governors Romney's visit to Europe few months ago. What President Netanyahu has not been able to do is to openly endorse Governor Romney for the November U.S. Presidential election. He can do that if he chooses, but he cannot dictate to our President and our highly skilled security and military personnel how to manage the Iranian nuclear saga.
If not for the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens, no one outside of the State Department and the Presidency, would have known the extent, or the substantive role that American diplomats and security personnel played behind the scene in the liberation of Benghazi and the eventual fall of Tripoli. The fact that President Obama is not beating his chest, proclaiming his superpower credentials and the technological superiority of our military on every issue, doesn’t mean he is soft or absent-minded with respect to the development in Iran. Granted that President Netanyahu has every right to be apprehensive of the nuclear situation in Iran and the security of the Israeli people, but not to the extent of being seen as taking side or trying to influence the US Presidential election to benefit an old friend.
If not for the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens, no one outside of the State Department and the Presidency, would have known the extent, or the substantive role that American diplomats and security personnel played behind the scene in the liberation of Benghazi and the eventual fall of Tripoli. The fact that President Obama is not beating his chest, proclaiming his superpower credentials and the technological superiority of our military on every issue, doesn’t mean he is soft or absent-minded with respect to the development in Iran. Granted that President Netanyahu has every right to be apprehensive of the nuclear situation in Iran and the security of the Israeli people, but not to the extent of being seen as taking side or trying to influence the US Presidential election to benefit an old friend.
Mr. Netanyahu has changed his tune over the past week.
ReplyDeleteHe learned that trying to influence a presidential election in favor of his old pal Mitt Romney was not well received by Americans who were paying attention.
The US has a strong pro-Israeli policy. And a clear position re Iran. Or, as Ehud Barak, former Israeli prime minister, said recently, the current US policy re Israel is the strongest it has ever been.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/30/ehud-barak-sings-praises-of-obama-administration/
Mr. Netanyahu has belatedly discovered it is best just to shut up.