At the
Atlantic, national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg
writes:
In the most extensive interview he has given about the looming Iran crisis, Obama told me earlier this week that both Iran and Israel should take seriously the possibility of American action against Iran's nuclear facilities. "I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff." He went on, "I also don't, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But I think both the Iranian and the Israeli governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say."
"Without in any way being under an illusion about Iranian intentions, without in any way being naive about the nature of that regime, they are self-interested," Obama said. "It is possible for them to make a strategic calculation that, at minimum, pushes much further to the right whatever potential breakout capacity they may have, and that may turn out to to be the best decision for Israel's security."
The president also said that Tehran's nuclear program would represent a "profound" national-security threat to the United States even if Israel were not a target of Iran's violent rhetoric, and he dismissed the argument that the United States could successfully contain a nuclear Iran.
"You're talking about the most volatile region in the world," he said. "It will not be tolerable to a number of states in that region for Iran to have a nuclear weapon and them not to have a nuclear weapon. Iran is known to sponsor terrorist organizations, so the threat of proliferation becomes that much more severe." He went on to say, "The dangers of an Iran getting nuclear weapons that then leads to a free-for-all in the Middle East is something that I think would be very dangerous for the world." [...]
And though broadly sympathetic to Netanyahu's often-stated fear that Iran's nuclear program represents a Holocaust-scale threat to the Jewish state, and the Jewish people, Obama suggested strongly that historical fears cannot be the sole basis for precipitous action: "The prime minister is head of a modern state that is mindful of the profound costs of any military action, and in our consultations with the Israeli government, I think they take those costs, and potential unintended consequences, very seriously."
But when I asked the president if he thought Israel could damage its reputation among Americans with an attack on Iran — an attack that could provoke Iranian retaliation against American targets, and could cause massive economic disruption — he said, "I think we in the United States instinctively sympathize with Israel."
A transcript of the entire interview can be found
here.
That is one scary poll.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2005:
Jim Gibbons, an extremist Republican Congressman from Nevada, offers the latest version of the GOP "dissent is treason" talking points, coupled with the threat of violence against political opponents:
"I say we tell those liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, hippie, tie-dyed liberals to go make their movies and their music and whine somewhere else," Gibbons said to another burst of applause.
...
He said that they are the same people who wanted to go to Iraq and become human shields for the enemy.
"I say it's just too damn bad we didn't buy them a ticket," Gibbons said.
Tweet of the Day:
It can't be said enough: Sandra Fluke did not testify about her sex life. That is a Limbaugh (blech) fantasy.
— @rudepundit via web
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