Zbig Brzezinski put his body down, warning Pres Bush to tell the Israelis not to try and bomb Iran's nuclear enrichment program, because such an attack would soon engulf the U.S. in a wider and longlasting conflict.
In Israel, John Mearsheimer has said that the only country that wants the U.S. to attack Iran is Israel.
Meantime, Joe Lieberman has attacked Obama over the issue:
"If Israel is in danger today, it's not because of American foreign
policy, which has been strongly supportive of Israel in every way," he
said. "It is not because of what we have done in Iraq. It is because
Iran is a fanatical terrorist, expansionist state."
Of course, Obama promised AIPAC that he will use "everything" to stop Iran from getting nukes, thereby departing from the ever-more-conventional Fareed Zakaria position that we may have to deter Iran, as we deterred the Soviets.
What are the true politics of this issue? Are we Americans? Do we openly discuss plans to go to war? Do we openly discuss the influence of factions in our politics (Christian right and gay marriage)? Isn't it time to have an open conversation about whether Israel's interest and the U.S.'s ever depart, and the role of the Israel lobby in our politics?
