Is anyone listening to Obama?

The Nation’s editorial presented an excellent overview and analysis of the political and military aspects of the way Israel and the US see Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and the potential outcome of military action.

Nobody can deny Israel’s (or any country for that matter) right to defend itself from potential enemies. Nor can anybody deny Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful domestic use. However, I cannot accept that a pre-emptive military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities falls under the category of “defence”, and see Israel’s attitude as being utterly counter-productive to achieving peace in the Middle East, or indeed anywhere else, should it carry out its threats against Iran. 

President Obama seems to be the only person attempting to cool the situation, and appears to be supported by his military advisors. However, he has to maintain a delicate balancing act, telling Americans who are thoroughly weary of the futile wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that diplomacy is the preferred option over military action, yet still maintaining a firm stance on supporting Israel by stating that the US will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon by military action if necessary. 

On the other hand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to raise the temperature by his veiled threats of a unilateral military strike. The GOP presidential hopefuls are also adding to the incendiary situation by their posturing rhetoric to ensure the continuing support of the Israel lobby. Comments about preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power are so hypocritical when they come from countries with sufficient nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times over.

One can only hope that war-weary Americans can see clearly enough at election time, and hopefully much sooner, that peace in the Middle East will be lost for decades should the hawks in the US support an Israeli strike on Iran, and that Americans, along with the rest of the world, will be hurt just as badly, if not more so, than Iran would be following any military action either unilaterally by Israel or with the backing and support of the US. 

Chris Kaye

Chon Buri