The US Signals It Will Appease Iran - At Israel's Expense

The Obama Administration has sent a number of unmistakable signals recently to Israel that it considers them an obstruction rather than an ally...and that appeasing Iran and the Muslim world takes priority over its relationship with Israel.

First, President Obama agreed on an important concession to Iran, reversing years of policy. They sent a message to the Mullahs that they would be willing to begin talks on Iran's nuclear weapons program without insisting that the Iranians at least temporarily cease enrichment - which means that the mullahs can run out the clock with endless negotiations while they continue to perfect their nukes and their delivery systems.

Second, the Israelis definitely took note of the North Korean fiasco, where Secretary of Defense Robert Gates went public before the Nork's recent missile launch to tell the world that the US couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it. As I mentioned at the time the Israelis, if they're paying attention, should realize that if the US either couldn't or wouldn't do anything to stop North Korea, they're not going to stop an Iranian missile strike on Israel either. And that any guarantees the Israelis get on that score are pretty much worthless.

Just to underline that message, it recently came out that SecDef Gates refused Japan's request to allow the US Navy to utilize America's most advanced radar, a seaborne X-band unit during the North Korean launch:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied permission for the U.S. Northern Command to use the Pentagon's most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea's recent missile launch, precluding officials from collecting finely detailed launch data or testing the radar in a real-time crisis, current and former defense officials said.

To say that the Japanese were upset about this is an understatement.

The Israelis also have an X-Band unit, stationed in the Negev Desert as part of the well-publicized link up of the Israeli and US missile defense systems designed to ease Israel's concerns about Iran's nukes.The US has insisted that the unit remain completely under US control without any Israeli oversight or involvement..which wasn't a huge problem because the Israelis felt confident that the Americans would never allow a missile attack against a long time ally of the US.

After seeing how Japan, another log-time US ally was left hanging, I doubt the Israelis have that confidence.

Finally, Israel was the recipient of two high level blunt warnings from the US in the space of about a week against taking any action to stop the Iranians from getting nukes, one from Vice President Joe Biden and the other from SecDef Gates.

Gates statement was reminiscent of his remarks on North Korea, saying that the US can't do anything about Iran's quest for nukes and that an Iranian nuclear bomb can be prevented only if "Iranians themselves decide it's too costly."

He also said that a strike on Iran's nukes would unify Iran, "cement their determination to have a nuclear program, and also build into the whole country an undying hatred of whoever hits them."

Of course that ignores both the Iranian regime's determination to obtain nukes that's already cemented in place and its genocidal desire to use them on Israel, whether on it's own or by providing them its proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas. As for the hatred, that's pretty much a given already. Referring to a country as a cancer and threatening to wipe it off the map reflects sentiments that aren't going to change no matter what Israel does or doesn't do.

Not only does Gate's statement effectively signal the Mullahs that the US is not going to do anything effective to stop them, it tells the Israelis that the US is not to be depended on an an ally and that they're supposed to cringe, depend on Ahmadinejad and Khamenei's good graces and hope it all works out.

Gates, of course is speaking with Obama's voice. The Israelis would be fools to accept this, and I doubt they will.

As for the US, if things continue as they are we're set to learn a very hard lesson on why appeasing a regime like Iran's is a no guarantee of our own security.

We will pay in blood and treasure and treasure for that lesson, and the longer we try to delay the inevitable the higher the bill will be.