Bush Administration Got One Right with Rebuff of Israeli Requests for Aid to Attack Iran
Filed under: Bush Foreign Policy, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The New York Times is reporting that Israel asked the U.S. for special munitions and overflight privileges over Iraq last year in either an effort to launch its own raid against Iranian nuclear sites or to goad the Bush Administration in taking an offensive action against Iran before the expiration of George W. Bush’s term. According to the Times report, the Israelis were refused on both accounts, but an increase in intelligence has begun with respect to Iran.
At some point, perhaps in the near future, a U.S. president will have to make the decision on whether or not to take out Iranian nuclear sites. Let’s say it’s a given that a nuclear-armed Iran is untenable. If the U.S. is to be involved at all in removing such a capability were it to exist, the worst thing we could do is to aid any Israeli effort to take out Iranian nuclear sites. If and when action is taken it needs to be either the Americans or the Israelis, preferably the Americans who make the move.
The Middle East is enflamed enough with anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiments that we don’t need to tie ourselves any more than necessary to the Israeli millstone.
