Attacking Iran: Where a little more Israeli influence on US policy would be desirable

Steve Clemons, in a long and informative post at TPM Cafe, argues that US War Planners Should Listen to Israel Regarding Iran.

This is a good example of how rightwing lobbyists representing the views of neoconservatives, pro-Israeli-hardliner Jews and rightwing "Christian Zionists" sometimes pursue policies that represent minority opinion in Israel and may well be destructive to Israel's best interests. Clemons here refers to a recent conference of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in which hawkish talk about attacking Iran was the order of the day, including the rhetoric of Hillary Clinton and Maverick McCain along those lines:

Nearly everyone I spoke to in Israel who ranged in political sympathies from the Likud right to Maretz left thought that the tone of the AIPAC conference had been too shrill and that Israel thought it wrong-headed and too impulsive to be engaged in saber-rattling with Iran at this stage.

In the past, I've been occasionally critical of Israeli influence over U.S. decisionmakers when I felt that American and Israeli national security interests were not as convergent in some respective case as some argued. However, in this instance on Iran, Israel's national security thinkers and diplomats are on the side of logic - and it is in American national interests to hear the Israeli position and consider the roots of their surprising position.

Also, this article by Asher Susser, Disintegration of Iraq would pose multiple problems for Israel Daily Star (Lebanon) 04/04/06, gives a good overview of Israel's views of Iraq and Iran and how those are now very different from in the 1970s and 1980s. The title refers to the fact that Israel, which tilted toward Iran in the 1980s when the Reagan administration was tipping toward Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War, is now concerned about the newly-strenthened position of Iran and how a distintegrating Iraq enhances Iran's regional strength.

The advocates of preventive war against Iran like to pose as defenders of Israel. At the very minimum, it's not a claim that should be taken at face value.

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