Israel Matzav

Bill Kristol warns war with Iran may be coming

Here's Bill Kristol on Fox News on Sunday talking about Iran.

Let's go to the videotape.



Matt Duss disagrees:

Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji was adamant in a May 2010 interview that talk of a U.S. military option was harmful. “If you do not have the threat of foreign invasion and you do not use the dialog of invasion and military intervention, the society itself has a huge potential to oppose and potentially topple the theocratic system,” Ganji said, adding:

What I’m trying to get to is that jingoistic, militaristic language used by any foreign power would actually be detrimental to this natural evolution of Iranian society.

“Unfortunately, the policies of the United States have fanned the flames of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, particularly during the Bush administration,” Ganji said. “The belligerent rhetoric of Bush didn’t help us [the Iranian democracy movement], it actually harmed us.”

On the other hand, Ganji praised President Obama’s engagement policy, stating that it helped create a favorable environment for the Iranian democracy movement. “Obama offered a dialog with the Iran,” Ganji said, “and this change in discourse immediately gave rise to that outpouring of sentiment against the Islamic Republic last year.” Unlike Bush’s threats of war, which only served to unite the regime against an outside threat, Obama’s engagement policy, combined with increasing sanctions pressure, has, by offering the regime a genuine choice, contributed to the worst crisis of legitimacy in the Islamic Republic’s history.

Ganji also noted, however, that continuing fear of U.S. action had caused democracy activists to censor themselves. “Since Iranians, in particular opposition groups, do not want to see a repeat of Afghanistan or Iraq in Iran,” Ganji said, “they’ve actually had to scale back their opposition to the government in order not to encourage an invasion.”

Sorry but I don't buy that. Iran continues to progress toward a nuclear weapon during the Obama administration and Ahmadinejad continues to taunt Obama. If Bush had still been in power, I would bet that Iran's nuclear program would have been destroyed or seriously set back by now. Do you think Reza Khalili agrees with Duss? I'd bet he doesn't. And unlike most of the 'democrats' in Iran, Khalili doesn't favor an Iranian nuclear program either.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:28 PM