Attack dog Netanyahu itching for fight using U.S. dime and military
Puzzled by a ‘red line’ demand
By David Ignatius, WashPost, Published: September 14
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his almost daily demands that the United States announce its “red line” for going to war with Iran, the question puzzling the White House is what he wants beyond what President Obama has already stated.
Obama believes he has drawn the U.S. red line as clearly as a superpower ever should, given that some ambiguity is useful in deterring an adversary. For the record, Obama said in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic in March that it was “a profound national security interest of the United States to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.” U.S. intelligence would provide “a pretty long lead time in which we will know that they are making that attempt.”
Obama was even more explicit in a speech a few days later to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: “I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
Beyond this rhetorical pledge, Obama has directed the U.S. military to prepare detailed plans for attacking Iran if it should cross the line he has set. The Israelis know what signals the United States will look for in determining if Iran has begun weaponization, and what weapons the United States will use in its preventive attack.
(More here.)
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his almost daily demands that the United States announce its “red line” for going to war with Iran, the question puzzling the White House is what he wants beyond what President Obama has already stated.
Obama believes he has drawn the U.S. red line as clearly as a superpower ever should, given that some ambiguity is useful in deterring an adversary. For the record, Obama said in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic in March that it was “a profound national security interest of the United States to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.” U.S. intelligence would provide “a pretty long lead time in which we will know that they are making that attempt.”
Obama was even more explicit in a speech a few days later to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: “I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
Beyond this rhetorical pledge, Obama has directed the U.S. military to prepare detailed plans for attacking Iran if it should cross the line he has set. The Israelis know what signals the United States will look for in determining if Iran has begun weaponization, and what weapons the United States will use in its preventive attack.
(More here.)
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