I really want to finish that sentence. This guy has an itchy trigger finger. That’s fine – until he starts calling on the United States to draw that “red line” for Iran not to cross.
This is what trips me out. Last week, he said that since Washington refused to put strict limits on Iran, we lost any “moral right” to keep Israel from acting. Now, he says:
“We always reserve the right to act. But I think that if we are able to coordinate together a common position, we increase the chances that neither one of us will have to act.”
Oh so it’s, “you can’t tell us what to do but please help us do it?” What the hell?
Thank God Israelis and members of Netanyahu’s cabinet are divided on his stance, too. It will be harder for him to get the go signal to launch a strike against Iran. Still, he pushes us:
“You have to place that red line before them now, before it’s too late,” Netanyahu said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
Bull crap. We don’t have to do a damn thing just because you said so. I’m irritated as hell that he’s trying to bully us into taking this hard-line stance.
We should tread very lightly here since we’re talking nuclear weapons. I don’t want the US involved in some who’s-got-the-bigger-jimmy? contest, even if together with our “ally” Israel, it’s obvious we do. Why? What if they don’t give a crap and start firing? It would be, “Welcome World War III. We should have known you were coming.”
Spinny Liberal 
September 17th, 2012 at 3:56 AM
Spinny, it is time for Israel to either fly or die…..we have covered their butts for 65 years….if they feel that Iran is such a problem then tell them to do what they think is right….but that after that they are on their own.
September 17th, 2012 at 7:46 PM
Couldn’t have said it any better than you just did, lobo.
September 17th, 2012 at 7:03 AM
This is indeed a topic that that needs to be raised more and more and brought into the public consciousness.
The “60 Minute” interview with the former Israeli Mossad chief, Meir Dagan, that was replayed yesterday, pointed out that Netanyahu is indeed an alarmist. Dagan has been as close to this as anyone in Israel or the U.S. and he is confident that Iran has about 3 more years before they are capable of fully developing a nuclear weapon. Though they need to be watched, Dagan stated, striking Iran right now would be a mistake that many innocent people would have “to pay dearly [for] and all the consequences for it.”
Juan Cole in his recent blog has pointed that for years, since 1992, Netanyahu and other Israeli and U.S. hawks have warned that “that Iran was “3 to 5 years” from having a nuclear weapon”. Netanyahu, Cole tells us, “has no credibility”.
September 17th, 2012 at 7:51 PM
Wow. Three more years is a whole lot longer than 6 months. I like that combined description of Netanyahu – “alarmist with no credibility.”
September 17th, 2012 at 10:02 AM
now hold on a sec…doesn’t the first quote show that Netanyahu believes that if the US takes a hard stand, then Iran will stop enriching Uranium and this will eliminate the need for Israel to attack Iran.
The U.S and UK cannot wash their hands off Israel, because they were pivotal in creating that country in the first place. Try living in a neighborhood where you are surrounded by people who want to kill you. That’s what Israel faces every single day.
Yes, the middle east is a messed up place and Israel has a major role to play in that. But it was not the only country that screwed up the region. IT had many partners in crime, and to desert an ally to be eaten up by enemies is not the most morally right act.
Telling Israel to fight its own battle will lead to an all out madness in the middle east. If there is an Israel-Iran conflict, all the countries in the region will jump in to get their pound of Israeli flesh. However, if the US supports Israel, the other countries will stay out of it and let the Israelis and Iranians fight it out by themselves. Isn’t a contained conflict better than an all out regional War?
September 17th, 2012 at 8:18 PM
doesn’t the first quote show that Netanyahu believes that if the US takes a hard stand, then Iran will stop enriching Uranium and this will eliminate the need for Israel to attack Iran.
This is all based on what he “believes,” and I’m not too thrilled with him saying you “have to” do this or that.
Try living in a neighborhood where you are surrounded by people who want to kill you. That’s what Israel faces every single day.
It sounds like a better neighborhood than the one where you’re being pushed out by settlements, subject to curfews, and air strikes way more sophisticated and effective than your bottle rockets.
Isn’t a contained conflict better than an all out regional War?
Thing is, they won’t fight it out by themselves. I’m sure our military will end up there.
I just want out of that region completely. No aid to anyone – Israel, Egypt, whoever else. The worst thing we did was pick sides. And if countries in the region wanted to get their “pound of Israeli flesh,” I don’t blame them. Especially Lebanon. None of this will happen, though. We’re joined at the hip with Israel. Forever.
September 17th, 2012 at 7:32 PM
It’s a tough situation. The fact is that if Iran has the capability for nuclear strike, and the willingness to strike Israel – there is no guarantee they will stop there – and we are likely their next target. So being involved is in our self interest as well as world interest. However, Israel needs to figure some way to secure its status as a sovereign nation that does not require constant protection or assistance. We are Israel’s ally because we choose to be, not because we have to be.
September 17th, 2012 at 8:27 PM
We are Israel’s ally because we choose to be, not because we have to be.
I wish we never made that choice. Because we did, it’s become really hard to break up with them.
September 17th, 2012 at 9:00 PM
True – and frightening. Dependency is like that.