The Israelis, who have a few hundred nuclear weapons, are coming to the USA, which has several thousand nuclear weapons.
Israel’s new leaders want to talk to us about doing something about Iran that doesn’t have any nuclear weapons but, according to the Israelis, constitutes the greatest threat to peace in the World today. The trained seals and bobble-headed dolls in our State Department and in the Congress will slobber all over themselves congratulating our Israeli visitors on their brilliant observation and restraint and inquire if they would be willing to accept more aid from us…just in case something “comes up.”
Hey man, it costs money to buy rubber bullets to shoot out the eyes of Arab demonstrators who come close to the Gaza fence…or blow up their knees with live rounds. The American taxpayer exists for something…why not give Israeli snipers some walking around money? Are we going to begrudge them that? What would Joey (Jo-Jo) Lieberman, say?
The good news is that Nancy Pelosi is still Speaker of the House of Representatives, so the visiting Israelis will not be offered the House Chamber for a “Who loves Israel the Most Rally.”
More good news, Benjamin Netanyahu will not be in the visiting party. He is no longer Prime Minister of Israel, at least for a while. But I can report that Netanyahu has unintentionally done great service for the United States…. I’ll get to that later. It demonstrates, that in the Mideast the best news often comes disguised as bad news.
So, what’s Iran to do? They are under strong sanctions most of which were imposed by Trump’s Secretary of Treasury, Steve “The Ghoul” Mnuchin. Can Biden unilaterally relieve Iran of sanctions imposed by a prior administration? In my opinion, absolutely he can and should. It’s within the inherent powers of the chief executive to conduct foreign policy and utilize all the tools the US has to achieve a foreign policy result. Avoiding war is a seldom intended but worthwhile foreign policy achievement. Or relieving a country from massive starvation.
What are Iran’s options while under sanctions and facing the combined opposition of the US, UK and France? Cozy up as tight as they can to China and Russia. China will always buy Iran’s oil and, most likely, Russia also. And if they do, you take it from there and build.
But the obvious question that begs to be asked? Why are we carrying water for Israel? In the old days, many would respond, “they’re our most reliable ally.” You don’t hear that anymore. It’s well known that Israel has never fought and died with us anywhere. It’s less well known that Iran DID put lives at risk for us right after 9-11. The Neocons working for Bush II, right after we were hit, saw to it that, not only would the story of Iran’s help for us never be talked about, but Iran would be identified as part of “The Axis of Evil.”
As John Kennedy said “life is not fair.”
More on how Netanyahu helped the USA….
One year and one day after we were hit on Sept 11, 2001, Benjamin Netanyahu appeared before a US House Committee. He was a private citizen at the time, but well known to Committee Members as a former Prime Minister of Israel. He testified and answered questions for about 90 minutes. His message was that there was “no doubt” that Saddam Hussein (of Iraq) possessed weapons of mass destruction and that it was the duty of the United States to preemptively go to war against him and his country, Iraq.
The US followed that advice, Congress approved and many Americans lost their lives. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry who were both in the Senate voted FOR the War and both lost races for the Presidency. A little known State Senator from Illinois named Barack Obama, unimpressed by Netanyahu’s presentation and other justifications for the Iraq War went on the record, in a timely manner, as OPPOSED to the Iraq War and served two terms as President of the United States.
Thank you, Benjamin Netanyahu. Your mostly false testimony to Congress a year and a day after 9-11 gave a great young State Senator from Illinois a chance to separate from the pack and stake out a position in opposition to yours and build a great career as a two term American President.
Comments are welcome at tomc[at]wednesdayswars[dot]com. Comments will be addressed in subsequent posts.