Israel Matzav

Where have you been for the last three years?

In the New York Post, Abby Schachter slams former Obama adviser Dennis Ross. Ross wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal calling for pressure on Iran. Schachter says it should have been called Chutzpa. This is from the first link.

In Sept 2008 Ross wrote that for negotiations with Iran to begin, “Iran would not, for example, have to suspend its uranium enrichment first. But to avoid Iran misreading this as a sign of weakness, pressures must be maintained. [...]

"So how to talk and preserve the pressures with¬out making either side appear weak?" Ross continued. "One way to do so would be for the United States to go to the Europeans and offer to join the talks with Iran without Iran having to suspend uranium enrich¬ment. To avoid misleading the Iranians into thinking they had won, the price for our doing this would not be with Iran but with Europe. The European Union would adopt more stringent sanctions on investments, credits, and technol¬ogy transfer vis-à-vis Iran in general or at least on the Iranian energy sector. The Iranians would be informed that the United States is joining the talks but that these sanctions are now being adopted by all European countries."

In Nov. 2008 he wrote that “sharp sticks, of course, must be balanced by appetizing carrots. We need to offer political, economic and security benefits to Tehran, on the condition that Iran change its behavior not just on nukes but on terrorism as well. Sticks will show Iran what it stands to lose by going nuclear; carrots will show its leaders what they would gain by moderating their behavior.”

In Dec. 2010 he was still on this ineffective and dangerous path writing that "we wanted to use engagement so we could deal, directly with Iran” and that “Iran has a chance," said Ross, "to really benefit from the talks in areas like science, technology, etc. and has a lot to gain from the talks."

Today, Ross wants to make it seem as if nothing has happened in Iran over these past three years. There was no stolen election and subsequent bloodbath in the streets of Iran, there has been no Arab uprising in the rest of the Middle East -- an uprising that is looking more and more like it could very well move in Iran's favor. Ross seems to have forgotten that threats against Israel and the United States have continued from Tehran, that the Iranians have a US drone they are stealing technology and information from and finally that the Iranians are now closer than they have ever to having a nuclear weapon.

I agree that Ross didn't help Israel at all during his term in office. But I don't believe he was the one establishing policy. That came from Obama.

He should have resigned sooner and gone public with the real reasons for his resignation - if in fact he resigned over a policy disagreement. But to make it sound like Ross was the guy shaping policy like this op-ed does goes too far in my not-so-humble opinion.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Dennis Ross, Middle East policy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:39 PM