Israel’s American supporters are crying out for war against Iran. The entire Republican Party - with the exception of the intrepid Dr Ron Paul - is consumed by war fever bordering on the hysterical.
Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, whose foreign affairs experience is, to put it politely, limited, vowed unlimited military support for Israel and insinuated that Obama was an Arab sympathiser.
Romney, who never served in the military, opined that attacking Iran would be easy.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2008 threat to “obliterate” Iran was joyously recalled during a huge Israel lobby gathering last week in Washington.
Israel’s right-wing government insists it must attack Iran before the Islamic Republic gets nuclear weapons that will be used to obliterate Israel.
“Time is running out,” warned Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu last week, while visiting Washington to show the Americans who really runs the US Mideast policy. He said nothing about his own nation’s estimated 300 nuclear weapons, or why it needs so many when 16-20 would obliterate the entire Arab world and Iran.
Netanyahu’s claim raises an interesting question. Since many Americans think it is essential to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities - even though US intelligence denies Iran is even working on nuclear weapons - then what about North Korea?
Why shouldn’t Japan and its big brother ally, the United States, attack North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure? Unlike Iran, North Korea actually has an estimated four operational nuclear weapons and some 800 short and medium range missiles that can strike US bases in South Korea and Japan.
The North’s new Taepodong missile can cover much of Japan. It is unknown if North Korea has yet developed nuclear warheads, but Pyongyang certainly has chemical and biological ones. The North has routinely threatened to turn South Korea and Japan into a “sea of fire.” That is even more fevered than Iranian rhetoric.
Iran has only a handful of highly inaccurate Shahab-II missiles with small, conventional warheads, but no nuclear warheads. It has much less offensive military capability than North Korea. In fact, if US intelligence is correct, Iran threatens no one with nuclear weapons - because it has none.
Meir Dagan, former Chief of Israel’s intelligence service Mossad, just told CBC News that it would be a mistake to attack Iran, and diplomacy should be given more time - pulling the Persian carpet from under the warmongering Republican candidates.
Having followed Iran’s nuclear policies for 20 years, I am amazed that Tehran has not by now managed to deploy nuclear weapons. Even Israel’s Defense Minister recently wondered aloud why Iran had not already produced such weapons.
Even though US troops in North Asia are seriously threatened by North Korea’s weapons, there are no calls in the US Congress or media to launch a war against it. To the contrary, Pyongyang is opening new nuclear talks with the US, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.
Contrast this measured diplomacy to the rush to war against Iran now being marketed in the US. The United States faced thousands of Soviet nuclear weapons for 50 years. Could not nuclear-armed Israel do the same with Iran, assuming Tehran had a few nuclear weapons?
Last week, President Barack Obama had the courage to stand up to the Israeli lobby in an election year and say, “slow down.” He rightly called Republican leaders irresponsible for shamelessly beating the war drums.
In fact, the President might also have told the Republicans: “Your leader John McCain denounced me last week for not leading the US military intervention in Syria and Iran. Well, he backed our wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, and look where that got us!”
“What’s more, the Afghan and Iraq wars will end up costing American taxpayers $2 trillion. This vast sum was piled on the US national debt, undermining our economy.”
“A new, drawn out war against Iran - never mind Syria - could cost us another trillion. If the Israel lobby wants war, let them ante up and pay for it.”
“Let’s level with the Americans and tell them that smashing Iran and keeping it down by repeated bombings will cost each family $30,000 in new taxes.
“That’s facing reality. See how many Americans want a new war after that.”
The writer is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. His articles appear in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Gulf Times, Khaleej Times and other news sites in Asia. He is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, Lew Rockwell and Big Eye. He appears as
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