Yesterday afternoon I started seeing references on line about President Obama threatening to have American planes shoot down Israeli planes if Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities. People and organizations put a lot of things on line that are a far reach from the truth. But this did give me pause and caused me to lose some sleep thinking about it.
One reason not to believe it, is that the President seems very much fixated on his legacy. A legacy of waging war on your greatest ally in the Middle East to protect a country that is one of the greatest supporters of terrorism would not enhance his historical image.
One reason to believe it, is that the President may have thought he could bully Israel out of such an attack and keep it under the radar. It appears that he feels that a treaty with Iran would crown his term in office with a glorious success.
While Secretary of State, John Kerry, is always in the middle of foreign relations muddles, another name has also been tossed into the mix. It is that of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter. Neither he nor Carter were great friends of Israel. I can imagine him making such a suggestion and having it go public.
Of course, the White House is denying that it ever happened. When this White House issues a denial it is about fifty-fifty if it is true or not. Transparent and forthcoming they are not. They are also a bit ham handed at times in their international policies.
The ultimate point being that Iran keeps playing them for time. The administration keeps giving in to the Ayotollahs. Iran keeps moving forward to nuclear weapons. We keep closing our eyes to their progress.
A national policy of being hard on your friends and as dainty and naive as a nineteenth century bride with your enemies will not stand us well in the long run. Nor will it do anything to enhance President Obama's beloved legacy.
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