Israel Matzav

Iran's favorite American facilitator

The fault for this disaster would be equally shared by the Bush and the Obama administrations. Under George Bush's watch, the United States issued its notorious National Security Estimate of November 2007, which essentially denied that Iran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. This report was known to be false at the time it was issued since American intelligence became aware of the nuclear weapons facility at Qum before the report was issued. The publication of this report sent a powerful message to Iran: The Americans have fallen for your bait and switch game in which you hide your capacity to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of purported civilian use. This has encouraged the Iranians to move full-throttle ahead on their program. At the same time the Bush Administration changed Israel's green light to yellow and then to red, as it related to United States approval of an Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. The end result was that Iran felt no real constraints on continuing to develop its nuclear weapons capacity in a pretextual civilian context.

The Obama administration appears to have taken any military option off the table, relying instead on its enhanced package of sanctions. Secretary of Defense Gates has been explicit about this and the Iranians have been listening. It makes absolutely no sense to take the military option off the table, even -- perhaps especially -- if one is reluctant to deploy it. As George Washington taught us in his first address to Congress: "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." Israel's Prime Minister echoed President Washington when he recently said, "The simple paradox is this: If the international community, led by the United States, hopes to stop Iran's nuclear program without resorting to military action, it will have to convince Iran that it is prepared to take such action." What is it that American policymakers don't seem to understand about this self-evident proposition?

The man most responsible for both the Bush and Obama administration's failure with regard to Iran is Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, whose tenure has straddled both the issuance of the false National Security Estimate and the decision to take the military option off the table. He is Iran's favorite American facilitator. Although he soon plans to leave office, there are no signs -- certainly none visible to Iran -- that his failed policies with regard to Iran's nuclear program will end with his too long tenure.

Labels: Alan Dershowitz, Iran Study Group, Iranian nuclear program, Robert Gates

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:10 PM