In an interview yesterday on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, Efraim Halevy, who “led Israel’s National Security Council and Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, from 1998 to 2002,” says that Mitt Romney’s bellicose rhetoric regarding Iran is potentially “disastrous” for Israel. In addition, Halevy says that President Obama is handling the situation very well, is taking “a very tough line” on Iran, “has led the world” on this issue, and as a result the Iranians “are beginning to blink.”
So, who are you going to believe, the former head of Israel’s Mossad and National Security Council, or a bunch of shrill, wildly irresponsible Republican presidential candidates and shrieking right-wingnut bloggers? Yeah, tough choice, I know. LOL
By the way, just to be clear, I emphatically do NOT believe it is in the U.S. national interest for Iran to get nuclear weapons, because it would be disastrous for nuclear non-proliferation and would likely set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Instead, I’m with President Obama on this one — “Iran’s leaders should know that I do not have a policy of containment. I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” Hopefully that won’t mean force in the end, but first things first — crank up the economic and diplomatic pressure, and let’s see if the Iranian theocratic thugs buckle.
Having said that, the point of this diary is not to get into a debate about our Iran policy (although I received my Masters Degree in Middle East studies, lived in Israel, etc, I try to keep the focus here on Virginia, and secondarily on U.S. national politics), but simply to point out that the former head of Israel’s Mossad and National Security Council thinks that Willard et al. are irresponsible idiots for their rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth rhetoric; are completely wrong and reckless in their attacks on President Obama (who is doing a great job on this, any so many other, difficult problems inherited from the Bush Administration); and should really not speak about matters they know absolutely nothing about. They just embarrass themselves when they do.
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