Israel Matzav

Former Obama Iran adviser says 'attack Iran now'

A former special adviser to President Obama on Iran policy has written an article in Foreign Affairs (subscription required) in which he argues that the US should hit Iran now.

"The truth is that a military strike intended to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, if managed carefully, could spare the region and the world a very real threat and dramatically improve the long-term national security of the United States," Matthew Kroenig, a nuclear security expert at the Council on Foreign Relations who served as a strategist under Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in an article published by Foreign Affairs Magazine.

Kroenig acknowledged that a military operation in Iran is not an "attractive prospect," but explained that it is within the US' power to minimize the anticipated effects.

"If it does so successfully, it can remove the incentive for other nations in the region to start their own atomic programs and, more broadly, strengthen global nonproliferation by demonstrating that it will use military force to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons," Kroenig wrote.

The only way I can see Obama doing this is if it is the only chance he has of winning reelection. And even then, I don't see this happening. This is not a President who is going to go to war against anyone other than Israel for anything and certainly not without UN approval.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Iranian nuclear threat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:39 PM