President Obama had an interesting '60 minutes' interview that was fairly revealing, likening Israel's concerns over Iran's nuclear weapons program and the threat of genocide as noise he tries to ignore.
Here's a transcript:
STEVE KROFT: “How much pressure have you been getting from Prime Minister Netanyahu to make up your mind to use military force in Iran?”
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Well—look, I have conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu all the time. And I understand and share Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence that Iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon, because it would threaten us, it would threaten Israel, and it would threaten the world and kick off a nuclear arms race.”
STEVE KROFT: ”You’re saying, you don’t feel any pressure from Prime Minister Netanyahu in the middle of a campaign to try and get you to change your policy and draw a line in the sand? You don’t feel any pressure?”
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “When it comes to our national security decisions—any pressure that I feel is simply to do what’s right for the American people.And I am going to block out—any noise that’s out there.
Now this is an interesting way of looking at it. This is the same president who justified going to war and spending a billion dollars in Libya on the grounds of 'preventing genocide' at the hands of Moamar Khaddaffi's troops. Apparently there are different rules for Israel where President Obama is concerned.
Also, that bit about national security decisions and 'doing what's right for the American people'. Aside from the fact that President Obama's decisions, such as they are where the Middle Est is concerned have been absolutely awful and deeply flawed, let's remember that Iran refers to America as 'The Great Satan' and Israel as 'The Little Satan'. President Obama has already attempted to signal to Iran that America no longer supports Israel in the conflict between the two countries and in the event of hostilities, as long as Iran refrains from attacking U.S. interests and facilities in the Persian Gulf such as bases and ships, Israel is on its own. That bit of attempted appeasement has already been rejected by the Iranians.
Does President Obama really think it will stop with the Jews?
Oddly enough,in an interview with the Washington Post’s David Ignatius published today, Iran’s anti-Semitic President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used exactly the same term when describing concerns that the Israelis have raised over Iran's nuclear weapons program:
IGNATIUS: “I want to ask as my first question the one every citizen of the world would like to ask today: What is the chance of a war in Iran that would result from an Israeli attack on your nuclear facilities?”
AHMADINEJAD: “I have spoken about this topic at length, previously. We generally speaking do not take very seriously the issue of the Zionists and the possible dangers emanating from them. Of course they would love to find a way for their own salvation by making a lot of noise and to raise stakes in order to save themselves. But I do not believe they will succeed. Iran is also a very well recognized country and her defensive powers are very clear.”
You have to wonder, do they have the same speechwriters?
I actually think I have a pretty good idea of President Obama's mood right now. He considers the entire matter of Iran's nukes to be a distraction from his main interest, which is getting re-elected. To him, it really is noise he'd rather not be bothered by just now.
He simply wants the status quo to stay the same until after the election, so he's more than willing to ignore everything that tells him otherwise and relegate it to the "noise" category while he sticks his fingers in his ears and goes "la-la-la" at the top of his lungs.
Given the president's track record on intel in the Middle East lately you could be forgiven for thinking that anyone dismissing warnings from the Mossad as 'air' is being extremely foolish. But then, this president has not been known for either his willingness or ability to learn on such matters.
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