Either
Israel is engaged in the most elaborate ruse since the Trojan Horse or
it is on the cusp of a pre-emptive strike on Iranās nuclear facilities. Whatās alarming is not just Iranās increasing store of uranium or the
growing sophistication of its rocketry. Itās also the increasingly
menacing annihilationist threats emanating from Iranās leaders. Israelās
existence is āan insult to all humanity,ā says President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. āAnyone who loves freedom and justice must strive for the
annihilation of the Zionist regime.ā Explains the countryās Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israel is āa true cancer tumor on this
region that should be cut off.ā
Everyone wants to avoid military action, surely the Israelis above
all. They can expect a massive counterattack from Iran, 50,000 rockets
launched from Lebanon, Islamic jihad firing from Gaza, and worldwide
terror against Jewish and Israeli targets, such as what happened last
month in Bulgaria. Yet Israel will not sit idly by in the face of the most virulent
genocidal threats since Nazi Germany. The result then was 6 million
murdered Jews. There are 6 million living in Israel today.
Time is short. Last-ditch negotiations in Istanbul, Baghdad, and
Moscow have failed abjectly. The Iranians are contemptuously playing
with the process. The strategy is delay until they get the bomb. What to do? The sagest advice comes from Anthony Cordesman,
military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies,
hardheaded realist, and a believer that āmultilateralism and soft power
must still be the rule and not the exception.ā
He may have found his exception. āThere are times when the best way
to prevent war is to clearly communicate that it is possible,ā he
argues.
Today, the threat of a U.S. attack is not taken seriously. Not
by the region. Not by Iran. Not by the Israelis, who therefore
increasingly feel forced to act before Israelās more limited munitions ā
far less powerful and effective than those in the U.S. arsenal ā can no
longer penetrate Iranās ever-hardening facilities.
Cordesman therefore proposes threefold action.
1. Clear U.S. redlines.
Itās time to end the ambiguity about American intentions. Establish
real limits on negotiations ā to convince Iran that the only alternative
to a deal is preemptive strikes, and to convince Israel to stay its
hand.
