Why should Israel seek our permission to bomb Iran?

[Keith Bee]

NOTE TO MODS: This post has nothing to do with the Palestinian situation, thus I believe GD to be the proper forum in which to post it

Let's get this straight from the outset: I DESPISE Baby Nut&Yahoo and Avigdork Lieberman. Theirs is a thug regime. But we elected George W. Bush in '04. Sometimes a great nation, etc.

And Israel is indeed a great nation. Even more importantly, it's a sovereign one. If the Israelis perceive Iran to be an existential threat to them, what the Hell business do we have telling them "no?"

Now, personally, I do not support any military strike on Iran, by any country. But if Israel wishes to do so, the only caveats I would offer are 1) Don't expect us to participate in any fashion, and 2) You can't overfly Iraq on the way.

You may very well be thinking about the billions of dollars we give to Israel each year, and that's a very legimate question to debate. But conflating our aid into "buying" the Jewish State's foreign and/or defense policy is more than a tad anti-semitic, don't you think?

[dkf]

1. How would they not look like a proxy for us?

If we wanted to disavow it we would need to cut off funds. Actually that suits me fine. If they want to be in control they need to be on their own.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. A couple of reasons

1) To avoid the appearance of going rogue and acting unilaterally.

2) To signal not to retaliate as the U.S. gave permission for the prospective bombing.

3) To contract the U.S. to be a partner in the recupercussions of such a bombing.

[Taverner]

3. Because we're their last friend on the block

[TimLighter]

4. Because as a good citizen of the world no nation should ever

act unilaterally when it comes to violating another nations sovereignty.

It's just not polite.

[mod mom]

5. because we have troops in the area that will be adversely effected.

[I owe]

12. Those troops will be out of the area at year's end

Well, they damn well BETTER be!

[mod mom]

15. my guess is they will just rename them advisors.

[The Traveler]

6. The answer is simple

Israel has benefited from a unique strategic partnership with the United States for a long, long time. That partnership has been vital to countering the various existential threats that have periodically emerged. Israel continues to rely on that partnership.

Bombing Iran is a strategic move that, in the context of that partnership, imposes strategic consequences on the US. Those consequences, for example, would include additional strains on the relationship between the US and Russia, and further political opportunities for China in the region. (Need I point out our military is rather stretched at the moment? I assure you military planners in Russia and China are well aware of that fact.) Thus, our government may well perceive that an attack by Israel would seriously imperil our strategic posture.

In that event, we would either have to shift our whole strategic approach to the region, or we would have to dissolve the strategic partnership with Israel. It is one thing for Israel to decide to bomb Iran ... it is quite another thing to do so with the expectation that we are committed to helping them clean up the mess thereby created and incur the geopolitical costs implied in that.

So the answer might well boil down to: Is it worth destroying the strategic relationship between Israel and the United States?

On the other hand, our government may have deemed the Iranian situation may be deemed so dire that they are willing to deal with those consequences.

The point is, we DO have a right, as the senior strategic partner in that relationship, to say NO. Israel has the right as a sovereign nation to ignore that ... but Israel should understand the potential damage that decision could do to the strategic relationship upon which they have relied for so long.

Trav

[Fumesucker]

7. Eh, they didn't ask permission before they bombed and strafed the USS Liberty..

Why should it be any different for Iran?

:shrug:

[Aerows]

10. Exactly

and if Israel wants to bomb Iran, they can make their own damn bed and lie in it without US help.

That's why they want permission - they want US help. We should have cut off foreign aid to Israel years ago - along with every other foreign nation we are financing while allowing our own citizens to starve in the streets.

[H2O Man]

8. The consequences.

[yellowwood]

9. They Don't Need Our Permission

They don't need our permission to bomb Iran as long as they understand:
That we will not back them up.
That we will withhold the money that we have been donating to them--often used for military purposes. About 3 billion annually.
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

[Scottybeamer70]

11. I have never understood

why a tiny country like Israel is always so involved in the affairs of so many other countries.
Is there another country of equal size that seems to always be involved in the affairs of other
countries?
How many conflicts has Israel been involved in within the last 10 years? Several
How many conflicts has the USA been involved in within the last 10 years? Too many
How many conflicts has Iran been involved in within the last 10 years? None (They haven't bombed anyone. )
Flame away!!

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BOG PERSON]

16. too true

:thumbsup:

[damntexdem]

13. Billions of dollars in aid?

But, hey, cut off the aid, and the slavish support for Israel, and leave them to their own devices.

[truebrit71]

17. Why? Because they will need us to support them after they get retaliated against...

...by Syria, Egypt and a host of other countries.

The easiest solution to most of the problems created by Israel will be solved as soon as we stop being their sugar-daddy.

The minute that spigot is shut down and we tell them they're on their own, NuttYahoo would break the landspeed record getting to the negotiating table...