Have we already lost Iran?
New York Times / FLYNT LEVERETT and HILLARY MANN LEVERETT
24-May-2009 (12 comments)

President Obama and his team should not be excused for their failure to learn the lessons of recent history in the Middle East — that the prospect of strategic cooperation with Israel is profoundly unpopular with Arab publics and that even moderate Arab regimes cannot sustain such cooperation. The notion of an Israeli-moderate Arab coalition united to contain Iran is not only delusional, it would leave the Palestinian and Syrian-Lebanese tracks of the Arab-Israeli conflict unresolved and prospects for their resolution in free fall. To fix our Iran policy, the president would have to commit not to use force to change the borders or the form of government of the Islamic Republic. He would also have to accept that Iran will continue enriching uranium, and that the only realistic potential resolution to the nuclear issue would leave Iran in effect like Japan — a nation with an increasingly sophisticated nuclear fuel-cycle program that is carefully safeguarded to manage proliferation risks.  

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Disenchanted

Can Obama Break Israel's spell?

by Disenchanted on

Can Obama stand up to Netanyahu or he is going to outsource the resolution of overall Middle East crisis back to Tel Aviv where a combination of racism and delusional religious belief has been the source of pain and bloodshed for half a century!



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Bavafa

correction, South Africa (apartheid )

by Bavafa on

Mehrdad


Bavafa

I seriously doubt it.

by Bavafa on

Although, I have no doubt about the end game and that is the destruction of Zionisum just like S.America or Nazis.

Mehrdad


gol-dust

AIPAC is in charge of US Gongress and the President! Really!

by gol-dust on

To see the president, you have to ask an Israeli AIPAC for premission (Rahm Emanuel). Need to talk about Iran, must see die-hard AIPAC and enemy of Iran Dennis Ross, and AIPAC supporter clinton!

If Obama was serious about Iran, why did he put those guys in charge? Well, they are in charge whetehr he wants or not! As much as they are weaker, they are pretty much in charge! Obama's hands are tight by AIPAC!

OBAMA is hoping to use his charm and his middle name to achieve his objectives including control of the middle east. he is trying to project that he is one of us! Won't work if his actions are diffeent than his rheotic!


Mehdi Mazloom

appeasing?

by Mehdi Mazloom on

All we see here, two former government official express their personal opinion on relationship between US and Iran.

reading the Op-Ed, one can see the fundamental differences in cultural and overall philosophy between West and the Islamic societies. What they understand, and what is out there in reality, are two different  things.

They seem to be oblivious that, after nearly 10 years of negotiation between the Mullahs and the EU official on Iran's nuclear program, finally they all came to realize that the Mullah's are just taking them for a ride  - delay, delay and delay. That famous Farsi ta'arof, and Muzzi.

Furthermore, their theory is, moderate arab states are not that worried about Iran insidious plan to dominate their countries. As they had put it:

The notion of an Israeli-moderate Arab coalition united to contain Iran is not only delusional

One would think, that these two writers know more about Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait then the leaders of these countries know about themselves

The most  striking is the degree to which they seem to advocate US (and the rest of western countries) of appeasement towards the Mullahs. After all, it is the Mullahs themselves who declare their full  intention to push US out of the ME, and remove Israel from the map, so Iran will dominate the rest of the countries in th region under shadow its nuclear arsenal. On which planet do they live, I don't know.

And this:

Additionally, the president would have to accept that Iran’s
relationships with Hamas and Hezbollah will continue, and be willing to
work with Tehran to integrate these groups into lasting settlements of
the Middle East’s core political conflicts.

Have they ever bothered to read Hamas's own charter, and Hizbollah covenant in regards to Israel.?

Finally, don't these two educated American see the glaring hypocrisy coming out these despotic Mullahs. they complain about US interfering in Iran internal affair with attempted subversion to change the regime, while themselves engage in massive subversion in Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt and host of other countries. 

Their big enchilada demands US to prove its intentions in the region, while himself does the exact opposite.

T

 


default

What Natanyahu is dreaming for Iran?

by Netan_Yahoo (not verified) on

Here is from Zakaria's article in Newsweek:

"One of Netanyahu's advisers said of Iran, "Think Amalek." The Bible says that the Amalekites were dedicated enemies of the Jewish people. In 1 Samuel 15, God says, "Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." Now, were the president of Iran and his advisers to have cited a religious text that gave divine sanction for the annihilation of an entire race, they would be called, well, messianic."

Now, who is lunatic who is apocalyptic,who is genocidal? who is a religious nuts? who is more dangerous? Mahmood the annoying, or the Netanyahu who has a bloody record to back his rhetoric?!


capt_ayhab

Fred Khan

by capt_ayhab on

Seems that we are a bit nervous!

Relax dude, Iran , as any other nation, is fully entitled to arsenal of self defense, be it conventional or atomic.

State your problem with that concept.

-YT


capt_ayhab

.....

by capt_ayhab on

You mean MYTH.

keep up the good work guys, Exposure, Exposure, Exposure.

-YT


default

Fred...sounds like a broken record...

by Fred_onymo (not verified) on

you wrote: "What they are proposing, the acceptance of the Islamist nuke..."

They are not proposing that! Next time read the
article before presenting comments. Ofcourse since you sound like a broken record in repeating
same thing, I wouldn't be surprised that you have cliches that you copy and paste here and so
is the major misunderstanding of one major point in their proposal. No one defends bunch of Backward akhoonds in Iran. The issue is that when it comes to dealing with Iran US has to mind its own interests not interests of bunch of luntics in Israel!


default

One short "water boarding" session and.....

by Anonymooooo (not verified) on

... the lunatic Natanyahu comes around to put
an end to settlements in West Bank and bullying Iran!

An opportunity that was lost when he viisted US last week! :-)


Fred

The business of the "grand bargain"

by Fred on

Mistaking campaign rhetoric with gulibility the same crowd of Islamists/Anti-Semites and their likeminded lefty allies, almost to the one, who were rooting for the candidate Obama are showing all the signs of buyer’s remorse. Well, some others were rooting for him  too but for other reasons. Besides seeing the opportunity to shatter a detestable historical barrier, some saw in him courage, knowledge and fortitude desperately needed to sort out the mess the Islamists and the political fratricide in the free world have jointly created.
 
Our man Flynt and his wife Hillary were functionaries in the security establishments of the U.S. and after leaving their government jobs they both have made a career out of the “grand bargain” thing with the Islamist republic.

 It is to no surprise that in this article they are whitewashing the Islamist republic’s transgressions and putting the onus on the U.S. which includes questioning the U.S. president’s judgment, that of his Secretary of State and their chosen point man for the Persian Gulf issues just to name a few.

What they are proposing, the acceptance of the Islamist nuke, sponsorship of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups and the most sought after them all a commitment not to attempt any change in the form of the Islamist regime-- is a sure recipe for the continuation and exasperation of the status quo mess in the Middle East.

There will eventually come a time when apologizing and whitewashing will not be enough and seeing Islamist republic for what it is will be unavoidable.  For their own sake, before it is too late, the free world must help the enslaved Iranians to excise this cancerous Islamist tumor. Not removing it is to guarantee the spreading of its murderous mayhem.

 BTW, Iran belongs exclusively to the Iranians and no one including U.S. has any ownership rights to it in the first place in order to lose it as the title of the atricle implies.


IRANdokht

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by IRANdokht on

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