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Jewish World Review Feb 17, 2012/ 24 Shevat, 5772 The coming end to endless talk By Wesley Pruden
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Crunch time is coming in Iran but President Obama and his men act as if they're at the senior prom, trying to dance the minuet without anyone to dance with.
The White House is trying desperately to rewrite Leon Panetta's interview with David Ignatius of The Washington Post, in which he was reported to believe that Israel is likely to bomb the Iranian nuclear-weapon works "in April, May or June before Israel enters a "'zone of immunity.'" Zone of immunity is girlie-man talk for "before it's too late."
"Very soon," the columnist wrote from his notes of the interview, "the Israelis fear the Iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon - and [then] only the United Statescould stop them militarily."
This could sound like a warning to the Iranians to straighten up and do right unless they want a lesson in the perils of not getting along with your neighbors. But this was not a warning to Tehran, but to Jerusalem. President Obama and the secretary of defense have told Israel that they oppose any bombing of Iran, risking a zone of immunity or not, because the sanctions are working, or soon will, or should, or might someday, and Israel must not say upsetting things to Iran. And if sanctions ultimately don't work, someone at the White House will write a strong letter to the editor urging everyone be nice.
The Panetta interview, published Feb. 2, made a lot of people's teeth itch in Washington, particularly after Mr. Panetta passed up several opportunities to confirm his remarks, deny them or at least say they were taken out of context. The miniature tape recorder that every reporter and columnist carries with his pen and paper has made diplomatic lying difficult for politicians and diplomats. Telling a diplomatic whopper ain't as easy as it used to be.
But the White House was clearly unhappy, if not with Mr. Panetta, who may have thought he was warning Israel to back away and shut up, then with the reporters and columnists for misinterpreting the Panetta remarks as a warning Iran.
This week, a fortnight after the Ignatius interview, Mr. Panetta got another opportunity to say what he thinks of what his remarks hath wrought. He appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee and was pressed by Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, a Republican, to tell the senators who said what to whom.
"I usually don't comment on columnists' ideas about what I'm thinking," he replied with a chuckle. "It's usually - it's a dangerous game to get into." Then he retreated into argle-bargle about how the "international community" should act as one to deter Iran from making nuclear war. (If Russia, China, Upper Volta, Lower Slobbovia and the other peace-loving nations work together with the West the world will be safe for bunnies, begonias and all living things.)
The senator persisted. Does Mr. Panetta believe there's a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June? Was he misquoted or "mischaracterized" by the columnist? "I think, as the president has suggested, I think, ah, we do not think that Israelhas made that decision," he replied. Well, did he actually have a conversation with Mr. Ignatius? "As I said, the comments that are included in a column about what I am thinking or what I'm, you know, possibly worried about - " But did he talk to Mr. Panetta? "We talked, but we talked about a lot of things, frankly." Was the administration trying to send a signal, either toIran or Israel? "No." And does he have a view of whether it's likely that Israel will attack Iranthis spring? "No, I do not."
If people are confused in Washingtonand Tehran, most people are not confused in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The Israelis don't have the luxury of endless talk-talk. Winston Churchill famously said that jaw-jaw is better than war-war, but that's only if there's a willing and working jaw on both sides. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu only yesterday said sanctions are not working, an unpopular view in certain salons, but one widely held in private even by soft-talking girlie men.
In Israel there's a melancholy view of reality, where life is every day proved unfair. "We shall almost certainly see a war here," Sever Plocker, a prominent Israeli pundit, writing in Jerusalem's Ynet News with heavy heart. "Israel will bomb Iran's nuclear military sites earlier than predicted, while enjoying Western and Arab assistance and backing. The sirens will wake us up early in the morning. The Home Front Command's spokesman will instruct us to enter our sealed rooms without panicking. And the rest will be history."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
© 2007 Wesley Pruden |
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