Just gets weaker all the time:
President Barack Obama’s national security advisers are considering a broad range of options to curb Iran’s nuclear program…
…In his statement, Gates said: “The memo was not intended as a ‘wake up call’ or received as such by the president’s national security team. Rather, it presented a number of questions and proposals intended to contribute to an orderly and timely decision-making process.”
Mullen said Gates was leading policy deliberations within the administration that have had “great focus for years, not months.”
“This is as complex a problem as there is in our country and we have expended extraordinary amounts of time and effort to figure that out, to try to get that right,” Mullen said.
They’re acting as if they’ve got all the time in the world – they are dithering over plans and proposals which may take months to even decide on. By the time we make up our mind on what to do, Iran may already have deployed nuclear weapons.
Patience is a virtue in foreign affairs only when you are awaiting the outcome of a policy decided upon. President Bush, for instance, was very patient regarding Iraq and this was ultimately rewarded with victory. But he wasn’t patient in making up his mind – and, indeed, in such things rapid decision-making is crucial to success. Delay means that whatever policy you decide upon might not reflect reality at the time of implementation.
Choose: do we want Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, or do we wish to prevent this?
Choose: if we wish to prevent this, do we go with talking, sanctions or armed action?
Pick one, and then stick with it. Even if we pick wrong, its better than not picking, at all. Quite honestly, we’d be better off saying we’re ok with an Iranian nuke and then make defense arrangements with Iran’s neighbors than making an asinine announcement that we’re still thinking things over. The Iranian leadership isn’t thinking things over – they’ve already decided and are now patiently waiting us out, figuring that even if we ever screw ourselves up to action, it will be too late.
My views are known – blockade of Iran’s gasoline imports followed by selected air strikes on nuclear and other defense targets if blockade doesn’t bring the Iranians to the negotiating table. Maybe I’m wrong but delay in decision is worse than being wrong.
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