Israel Matzav: HaLevy criticizes Romney for giving Iran a deadline

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

HaLevy criticizes Romney for giving Iran a deadline

In 2007, long before he went totally off the left rail, former Mossad director Ephraim HaLevy warned that World War III has begun and an Islamic nuclear weapon is likely. Now that the war is about to reach a crucial point - the development of an Iranian nuclear weapon - HaLevy, who endorsed Obama and then denied it in 2008, criticizes Republican challenger Mitt Romney for pointing out that Emperor Obama has no clothes (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

Efraim Halevy, who was the director of the Mossad in the early 2000s and later the head of Israel's National Security Council, told HuffPost that by forecasting his military intentions -- and claiming that Obama would not act in the same way -- Romney is effectively "telling the Iranians, 'You better be quick about it.'"

"If I'm sitting here in the month of March 2012 reading this, and I'm an Iranian leader, what do I understand? I have nine more months to run as fast as I can because this is going to be terrible if the other guys get in," Halevy said.

In the op-ed, published Tuesday in the Washington Post, Romney described Obama as "America’s most feckless president since Carter" and said his rhetoric on Iran "has not been matched by an effective policy."

If he took office, Romney would take aggressive action that Obama was incapable or unwilling to do, Romney promised:
I will take every measure necessary to check the evil regime of the ayatollahs. Until Iran ceases its nuclear-bomb program, I will press for ever-tightening sanctions, acting with other countries if we can but alone if we must. I will speak out on behalf of the cause of democracy in Iran and support Iranian dissidents who are fighting for their freedom. I will make clear that America’s commitment to Israel’s security and survival is absolute. I will demonstrate our commitment to the world by making Jerusalem the destination of my first foreign trip.

Most important, I will buttress my diplomacy with a military option that will persuade the ayatollahs to abandon their nuclear ambitions. Only when they understand that at the end of that road lies not nuclear weapons but ruin will there be a real chance for a peaceful resolution.
To Halevy, this read as a clear message to the Iranians to expedite their nuclear efforts.

"This means to an Iranian, if you will wait until another few months and there is a change in the White House, then maybe there will be trouble, so the lesson is, Let's redouble our efforts to do it as quickly as we can," Halevy said. "In the effort to demolish the president he is making the situation worse."

Does HaLevy think that the Iranians are stupid? Anyone who has watched the US Republican campaign understands that with the exception of Ron Paul (who, thank God, is unlikely to win), any Republican President is going to have a radically different policy on Iran than Obama - or at least claims that they will. Does HaLevy propose that the candidates not talk about it and leave the floor to Obama? Sorry, but unlike Israel, candidates actually discuss issues in US elections, and they criticize the incumbent. It's the price of a real democracy (if only we had one too...).

I guarantee you that the Iranians have figured out that if Obama loses they will face stronger opposition to their nuclear weapons program. And they just might be waiting for November 7 to announce a new breakthrough as a result.

But of course, HaLevy goes on to deny that he's playing politics. That reminds me of the Jewish organizations that wanted Israel not to be a campaign issue because it was one that the Republicans were exploiting. Sorry - it didn't work then, it won't work now, and it shouldn't work ever.

So keep talking Mitt Romney and the other Republican candidates. Let no one think that you're going to continue Obama's fecklessness on Iran or anything else.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Ephraim HaLevy, Iranian nuclear threat, Mitt Romney