The other day Hillary Clinton lost face among ministers of Islamic countries she was meeting in Doha, because the U.S. is doing nothing to restrain Israel. This hasn’t stopped neocons from citing Arab opinion in trying to turn up international pressure on their villain in the Middle East, Iran.
Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations is the latest to do so. A former realist reminted lately as a neoconservative, Haass was talking to Fareed Zakaria about the need to go to war against Iran the other day, when he went all Arabic:
But if you’re asking me, do I think using military force is a real option — not just a rhetorical option — yes. I’ve just come back from the Middle East. And what’s clear to me in the Arab world, is people do not want to see an Iranian weapon. It would be transforming in the worst possible way for that part of the world.
We have to be serious. And I don’t think we should necessarily just hide behind Israel’s skirts.
This is one of the neocons’ favorite stunts. Kenneth Pollack did it in his book, The Threatening Storm, saying the Arab street would dig us invading Iraq. Or here’s David Makovsky, a leading Israel lobbyist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, claiming to speak for Arab countries’ interests in stopping Iran, in the NY Jewish Week last year:
Radicals, led by Iran, are enemies not only of the United States and Israel but also of key Arab regimes. The Saudis and all six Gulf states believe that Iran has hegemonic designs on Arab oil. Senior officials in these states, as well as their counterparts in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, also fear Iran for security, territorial, and ideological reasons. They see Iran as hostile to the Arabs for reasons relating to a mix of historical incursions by Persia into the Arab world, aspirations for regional dominance, and sectarian differences. They fear that Iran will funnel money to militant organizations, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, so that these proxies will destabilize the Arab regimes
This is truly shameless. Reminds me of the great line in Longfellow’s The Courtship of Miles Standish, when Priscilla says, Speak for yourself, John Alden.
I remind you of the news from Doha last week:
Even at a conference featuring much constructive talk about improving the institutions of civil society and enhancing dialogue between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds, the gravitational pull of Palestine was always present. The rhetoric of reconciliation dominated, but there were also comments about "the foggy vision through which the United States looks at the Arab world," and insistence that U.S.-Arab relations cannot substantively improve until Israeli-Palestinian disputes are resolved.
Hat/tip to Eli Clifton.
