WarSclerotic

Why would the United States intentionally expose Israel’s military plan to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent the Iranians from enriching uranium to build a nuclear bomb?

Last week Defense Secretary Leon Panetta refused to deny a report by the Washington Post that he believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June — before Iran enters what Israelis referred to as a “zone of immunity” to commence building a nuclear bomb.

While reports indicate the White House has not yet decided how the United States would respond if the Israelis do attack, it’s clear to many that from a point early in his presidency, Barack Obama has fostered an environment of uncertainty where U.S. support of Israel is concerned.

In 2009, the president used his speech to the U.N. General Assembly to warn Israel that “America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements,” referencing Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

After the speech, the National Review quoted former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton as saying the president’s words were “very naive” and revealing of Obama’s foreign policy.

The former Ambassador added the president’s speech “put Israel on the chopping block.”

Pursuant to the Israelis’ pre-emptive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the President and Secretary Panetta are reported to have cautioned the Israelis against such an attack, believing it would derail an international economic sanctions program and other non-military efforts to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

But the sanctions against the Iranian government have had limited success in keeping Iran’s nuclear capabilities at bay.

The facts in this world-changing scenario are cold and hard:

The International Atomic Energy Agency has released multiple levels of evidence that Iran has “carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear device,” according to the New York Times.

A Congressional Research Service report to Congress in 1998 charged Russian entities with assisting Iran in developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear bomb and in the building of nuclear reactors as early as 1995.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly demonized the state of Israel and often calls for its destruction, calling it a “fake regime” and declaring it “must be wiped off the map.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has referred to Israel as a “cancerous tumor that will be cut,” according to an Associated Press report.

Ahmadinejad is on a holy mission — to destroy Israel and the United States.

In 2008, he was quoted as saying, “… the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started,” according to the AFP.

Until now, political rhetoric alone had upheld this administration’s lack of support for Israel.

However, the subversive act of intentionally revealing Israel’s military strategies to protect their nation’s sovereignty is inexcusable and transcends what heretofore had been speculation about Barack Obama’s commitment to our tried and true ally, Israel.

Mark Caserta is a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.