Much
controversy has arisen recently about the Obama administration leaking details
of Israel's planned raid on Iranian nuclear sites by using Azerbaijan as a
staging area. The reason for the leaks is simple: if Israel attacks Iran, Obama
will lose the presidential election this fall, and Obama will do anything to
prevent that from happening.
If Israel were to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear weapons capability, Iran would retaliate by attempting to close the Strait of Hormuz as it has often threatened.
If Israel were to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear weapons capability, Iran would retaliate by attempting to close the Strait of Hormuz as it has often threatened.
U.S. Fifth Fleet |
The U.S.
Fifth Fleet patrolling the area would likely be called upon to keep the Strait
open, and expanded American military involvement
in the region could not be ruled out. World oil and financial markets would be
roiled. Israel would be hit with a barrage of rockets and international
condemnations. And relations with strategic competitors such as China and
Russia would hit the deep freeze. President Obama would have many 3AM telephone
calls to deal with.
The good news: We now
have a new set of
talks on Iran’s nuclear program scheduled for
mid April in Istanbul. The bad news: Washington and its allies have not
prepared the ground for these talks. We are a negotiating table away from
$5-a-gallon gasoline and a failed economic recovery. Or was the story all part of a complex and devious disinformation
campaign by the Obama administration to box Israel in, or one targeted at the
president?
Real
pain for Obama would come from the political price he would pay as Americans
saw gasoline prices skyrocket again, dead and wounded U.S. soldiers and
sailors coming home from the Middle East again, plummeting financial markets again, possible terror attacks on U.S. soil again, and internet disruptions
from Iranian cyberwar.
No president could survive politically from such a series
of calamities. Thus president Obama is desperate to delay any Israeli attack on
Iran until after the November elections, even to the extent of foiling Israel's
near-term military plans.
We have all observed Obama's willingness to sacrifice anything to win re-election. His trips and speeches have little to do with policy and everything to do with politics. His cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline was a blatant move to solidify his position with the radical environmentalists, even at the expense of 100,000 lost jobs.
We have all observed Obama's willingness to sacrifice anything to win re-election. His trips and speeches have little to do with policy and everything to do with politics. His cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline was a blatant move to solidify his position with the radical environmentalists, even at the expense of 100,000 lost jobs.
The administration's contraception
ruling affecting Catholic hospitals and universities, and Obama's exploitation
of the Sandra Fluke incident were meant to cement his radical feminist base,
although many Catholics were alienated. Obama has ratcheted up his race- and
class-based rhetoric, most recently with the Treyvon Martin incident, to ignite
racial resentments in a cynical ploy to increase Democratic voter turnout at
the expense of the cordial race relations 2008 candidate Obama had promised.
His recent budget, rejected 414-0 in the House, was more a political statement
of his hostility to the Congress than an actual policy document. Obama's latest
effort to undercut the strategic interests of a valued ally are of the same
cloth, as Israel joins far too many Americans under the bus.
Perversely,
the world sees these two allies, the U.S. and Israel, struggling with each
other right out in the open. What could possibly be next? What 2013 Obama
policies are so important that Israel means so little?
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