Obama to deliver new message on Iran at AIPAC? (a/k/a anything to be reelected)
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Obama's AIPAC speech on Sunday may include a new approach to Iran with a lot more specifics. President Barack Obama could use a speech on Sunday before a powerful pro-Israel lobby to more clearly define U.S. policy on military action against Iran in advance of his meeting on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, these people said.Read the whole thing.
Israeli officials have been fuming over what they perceive as deliberate attempts by the Obama administration to undermine the deterrent effect of the Jewish state's threat to use force against Tehran by publicly questioning the utility and timing of such strikes.
The Israeli leader has told U.S. officials that he wants Mr. Obama to outline specifically what Washington views as the "red lines" that Iran cannot cross, something the administration is considering as it drafts the president's speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and sets the agenda for his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu.
Some administration officials said that if Mr. Obama decides to more clearly define his red lines, he is likely to do it in private with Mr. Netanyahu, rather than state it in his AIPAC speech.
Mr. Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials also are pressing for Mr. Obama to publicly clarify his insistence that "all options are on the table" in addressing the Iranian nuclear threat.
At this point, I doubt there is anything Obama can say that is going to change (a) Israel's decision (and I believe it's been decided) that if the US does not attack before November 6, we will and (b) Israel's decision that when an attack comes, it will not be coordinated with the United States. We've seen enough backtracking by Obama that no one here is going to take his word for anything. If George W. Bush were in the White House, it might be different.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli attack on Iran
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:47 PM
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