{"id":21048,"date":"2012-08-27T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=21048"},"modified":"2012-08-26T20:46:05","modified_gmt":"2012-08-26T19:46:05","slug":"peace-is-war-how-israel-induces-america-into-war-with-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/08\/peace-is-war-how-israel-induces-america-into-war-with-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace Is War: How Israel Induces America into War with Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 17 [2012], America\u2019s two leading newspapers featured strikingly similar opinion pieces, providing further evidence of a coordinated effort by Israel and its American partisans to induce the United States into waging another disastrous Middle East war. In the Washington Post<\/a>, former chief of Israeli military intelligence Amos Yadlin helpfully suggested \u201c5 steps Obama can take to avert a strike on Iran\u201d; while President Obama\u2019s former top Middle East advisor Dennis Ross advised readers of the New York Times<\/a> \u201cHow America Can Slow Israel\u2019s March to War.\u201d Perhaps the most notable difference between the two op-eds was that the latter proposed a mere four steps Washington supposedly needs to take in order to appease the allegedly trigger-happy Israelis.<\/p>\n

Yadlin and Ross both begin by citing recent Israeli statements such as Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s warning that \u201cTime to resolve this issue peacefully is running out,\u201d conveying the impression that Tel Aviv\u2019s patience with diplomacy is wearing thin, and that, as a consequence, this autumn, as Yadlin put it, \u201call the boxes will be checked for an Israeli attack on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities.\u201d Three months ago, Ross admitted<\/a> during a panel discussion<\/a> with Yadlin on \u201cU.S.-Israel Relations in a Changing Middle East\u201d at a conference held by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he is now a counselor, that such alarmist public pronouncements by Israeli officials should be understood not as an indication of the Jewish state\u2019s likelihood to strike the Islamic Republic but as a ploy \u201cto motivate the rest of the world to act.\u201d Now, however, he confidently asserts: \u201cThe words of Israeli leaders are signaling not just increasing impatience with the pace of diplomacy but also Israel\u2019s growing readiness to act militarily on its own against Iranian nuclear facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both op-ed contributors also make it a point to stress that the United States shares Israel\u2019s strategic goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, while noting that they only differ over, in the words of Yadlin, \u201cthe timeline for possible military action against Iran.\u201d Like the former Israeli intelligence chief, Ross touts Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak\u2019s \u201czone of immunity\u201d argument that Israel must act while Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities are still vulnerable to an Israeli military strike.<\/p>\n

Framing their arguments as attempts to prevent, or at least postpone, an Israeli attack, Yadlin and Ross offer, respectively, their five- and four-point plans for \u201cpeace.\u201d Yadlin, currently director of Israel\u2019s Institute for National Security Studies, urges the Obama administration to take \u201cfive immediate steps to convince allies and adversaries alike that military action is real, imminent and doable,\u201d which he assures are \u201ckey to making it less likely\u201d:<\/p>\n

First, Obama should notify the U.S. Congress in writing that he reserves the right to use military force to prevent Iran\u2019s acquisition of a military nuclear capability. This would show the president\u2019s resolve, and congressional support for such a measure is likely to be strong. Forty-four senators signed a bipartisan letter to Obama in June, urging him to \u201creevaluate the utility of further talks at this time\u201d and focus instead on sanctions and \u201cmaking clear that a credible military option exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second, Washington should signal its intentions via a heightened U.S. military presence in the gulf, military exercises with Middle East allies and missile defense deployment in the region. Media coverage of these actions should be encouraged.<\/p>\n

Third, Washington should provide advanced military technology and intelligence to strengthen Israel\u2019s military capabilities and extend the window in which Israel can mortally wound Iran\u2019s program. This support would be contingent on Israeli pledges to give sanctions and diplomacy more time to work.<\/p>\n

Fourth, U.S. officials should speak publicly about the dangers of possible Iranian nuclear reconstitution in the wake of a military strike. Perhaps the most cogent argument against a unilateral Israeli strike is that it would quickly lead to the disintegration of Western sanctions. Without the inhibitions of a sanctions regime, Iran could quickly reconstitute its nuclear program \u2014 this time bunkered entirely underground to protect against aerial strikes. If Iran sees military action by Israel or the West as an absolute end to its nuclear ambitions, it will be more reluctant to risk things.<\/p>\n

Fifth, Obama should publicly commit to the security of U.S. allies in the gulf. This would reassure jittery friends in the region and credibly anchor the U.S. last-resort military option to three powerful interests: U.S. national security, Israeli security and the security of allied states.<\/p>\n

Living up to his reputation as a reliable \u201cadvocate<\/a>\u201d for Israel, Ross presents his remarkably similar four-step plan which he claims is necessary in order \u201cto extend the clock from an Israeli standpoint\u201d as well as \u201cto synchronize the American and Israeli clocks so that we really can exhaust diplomacy and sanctions before resorting to force\u201d:<\/p>\n

First, the United States must put an endgame proposal on the table that would allow Iran to have civil nuclear power but with restrictions that would preclude it from having a breakout nuclear capability \u2014 the ability to weaponize its nuclear program rapidly at a time of Tehran\u2019s choosing. Making such a proposal would clarify whether a genuine deal was possible and would convey to Israel that the American approach to negotiations was not open-ended.<\/p>\n

Second, America should begin discussions with the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany (the so-called P5+1) about a \u201cday after\u201d strategy in the event that diplomacy fails and force is used. This would signal to both Israel and Iran that we mean what we say about all options being on the table.<\/p>\n

Third, senior American officials should ask Israeli leaders if there are military capabilities we could provide them with \u2014 like additional bunker-busting bombs, tankers for refueling aircraft and targeting information \u2014 that would extend the clock for them.<\/p>\n

And finally, the White House should ask Mr. Netanyahu what sort of support he would need from the United States if he chose to use force \u2014 for example, resupply of weapons, munitions, spare parts, military and diplomatic backing, and help in terms of dealing with unexpected contingencies. The United States should be prepared to make firm commitments in all these areas now in return for Israel\u2019s agreement to postpone any attack until next year \u2014 a delay that could be used to exhaust diplomatic options and lay the groundwork for military action if diplomacy failed.<\/p>\n

While noting that these proposals may be seen as making war more likely next year, Ross claims \u201cthey are almost certainly needed now in order to give Israel\u2019s leaders a reason to wait.\u201d Similarly, Yadlin argues that \u201cif the United States wants Israel to give sanctions and diplomacy more time, Israelis must know that they will not be left high and dry if these options fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA long-standing principle of Israeli defense doctrine,\u201d Yadlin asserts, \u201cis that it will never ask the United States to fight for it.\u201d While it may be technically true that Tel Aviv never directly asks Washington to dispose of regional rivals on its behalf, these two op-eds attest that the Jewish state has more subtle ways of inducing America to do its dirty work for it.<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

In his farewell address<\/a> to the people of the United States, George Washington warned that: \u201ca passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.\u201d The aim of this political weblog is to inform about the \u201cvariety of evils\u201d that ensue from America\u2019s (and some other countries\u2019) passionate attachment to Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thepassionateattachment.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 17 [2012], America\u2019s two leading newspapers featured strikingly similar opinion pieces, providing further evidence of a coordinated effort by Israel and its American partisans to induce the United States into waging another disastrous Middle East war. In the Washington Post\u2026 the New York Times\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-focus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}