Speak Softly and Get Rid of that Stick!

Here are three paragraphs from an article in the Jerusalem Post that demonstrates the received wisdom of the US foreign policy establishment:

Former US secretary of state James Baker said that it is not in the United States' or Israel's interest to attack Iran over its nuclear program.

Speaking to Army Radio on Tuesday, Baker said, "I don't think that it would be in the best interest -- certainly not of the United States and perhaps not of Israel" to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

But at the end of the day, he added, "We cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon."


Get it? The USA cannot let Iran get nukes, but it would be a mistake to attack them to stop it from happening. To call this a schizophrenic statement is insufficient. It is more than that. It is Baker paying lip service to the idea of stopping Iran while at the same time doing what he can to prevent that from happening. In other words, one half of the statement is real and the other is just a facade.

Those who believe that America can deal with a nuclear armed Iran are fooling themselves. For decades, Iran has shoveled weapons and support to terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. These terrorists would gladly blow up New York if they could. We should do all we can to prevent that from happening.