Israel Matzav: Obama wants Israel to hit Iran as close as possible to election day

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Obama wants Israel to hit Iran as close as possible to election day

I have been arguing for months here that Israel must attack Iran before the US election. That attack is likely to take place in October due to favorable weather conditions and, more importantly, due to the perceived need to give US sanctions against Iran 'as long as possible' to have an effect.

Unfortunately, an October attack on Iran may have another, unwanted effect: The reelection of Barack Hussein Obama. And perhaps that's the real reason why the Obama administration is trying to drag this out as long as possible. Lauri Regan explains.

Israel cannot take a chance that Obama wins, for if that occurs, Israel knows that Obama will most assuredly not provide humanitarian aid in the face of retaliatory strikes, military aid to help resupply the IDF with equipment and arms it may need to complete what it was forced to start on its own, and diplomatic cover at the U.N. as the world condemns the attack, as it most certainly will. The world may breathe a sigh of relief that once again the Israelis accomplished what no other country had the nerve to do, but those thoughts will remain the stuff of off-mike whispers never intended as a defense of the Jewish state.

Barack Obama is no fool, either. He may be ideologically driven and politically motivated, but he also wants to win a second term. If Israel is forced to strike, Obama and his advisers understand that the majority of Americans support Israel and will expect the administration to do everything in its power to ensure Israel's success. In such a case, even if Obama does the bare minimum to help Israel -- vetoing a resolution against her at the U.N., ensuring safe airspace over Iraq and perhaps refueling at U.S. military bases in the region, ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remain open and safe for oil tanker passage, and otherwise publicly supporting her in the face of international condemnation -- he will likely claim full credit for the success of the mission, claim that he gave the green light and was always in favor of the plan, and lie once again to the American people in a speech full of "I"s and "me"s.

And assuming that an Israeli attack occurs sometime in late October, too close to the election for an Obama bounce to subside and gas prices to fly sky high, Obama may very well win due to a wagging of the dog he did his best to avoid.

And therein lies the irony of Obama forcing Israel to put its citizens and soldiers at risk to do something that he should be authorizing the U.S. military to do. Israel may clinch Obama's second term while ensuring its own short-term survival. As the Robert DeNiro character says in the movie, "[a]nd if there ain't no war, then you, my friend, can go home and prematurely take up golf." Sadly, Obama prematurely took up golf instead of preventing Iran from going nuclear, and because of that, he may not be going home.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli attack on Iran