From the Wikileaks US Embassy cables. Robert Wexler is the former Florida congressman who has gone on to head a Jewish organization, and who people are always hinting is about to join the Obama administration as a Middle East envoy. How does he operate? Here are notes of a high-level meeting in Israel in May 2009 in which Wexler is representing Obama’s policy to Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Chief, Major General Amos Yadlin:
Rep. Wexler went on to discuss that there is a third good option in that the President may have better leverage with the American public to support action if engagement efforts are attempted and failed. Rep Wexler recommended that the Israeli people need to consider the US perspective and public opinion. MG Yadlin responded that he is not recommending the US enter a third front, but it has to be understood that Israel sees things differently and that Israel has to be ready and can not remove the military option from the table. Rep Wexler stated that he expected Israel would be pleasantly surprised by the President’s acceptance of all possible options in regards to Iran.
And along the same lines, here’s Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state [A/S] for political-military affairs (who once said that Lincoln was for a Jewish state), assuring the government of Israel (GOI) in July ’09 that diplomacy with Iran will soon be exhausted:
A/S Shapiro made clear that a nuclear armed Iran was unacceptable to the United States. He referenced Secretary Clinton’s July 15 foreign policy address at the Council on Foreign Relations, noting the offer of engagement with Iran — but reinforcing that such an offer is not indefinite. A/S Shapiro argued that an Iranian rejection of our offer to engage will only help bolster international support for increased sanctions. He also pointed to the uncertain situation following the Iranian elections — it was unclear at this point how the regime in Tehran will react to our offer of engagement. That said, he repeated that the engagement offer was not unlimited, noting that the United States will reassess its engagement strategy with Iran later this fall.
How many of these people do you suppose there are?
