In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Hassan Does Manhattan" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/opinion/sunday/friedman-hassan-does-manhattan.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0), would-be Middle East expert Friedman speculates about the reasons for the recent visit of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani to the UN. Friedman writes:
"No, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, did not allow Rouhani to run and win and start negotiations by accident."
At least Friedman is aware that Supreme Leader Khamenei calls the shots in Iran, and not Rouhani.
But no mention by Friedman of Rouhani's pre-election interview, during which he bragged how he had lulled the West into complacency while radically expanding Iran's nuclear weapons development program (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjbrqPK-BBg). Are Obama and friends truly daft enough to believe that Rouhani's latest charm campaign is anything other than another attempt to buy time to allow Tehran to build its first atomic bomb?
Observing that Rouhani would not shake Obama’s hand at the UN, but did agree to speak over the phone for 15 minutes with America's president on his way to the airport, Friedman provides another of his breathtaking solutions to the impasse involving Iran's nuclear weapons development program:
"We should offer Iranians a deal that accedes to their desire for civilian nuclear power and thus affirms their scientific prowess — remember that Iran’s 1979 revolution was as much a nationalist rebellion against a regime installed by the West as a religious revolution, so having a nuclear program has broad nationalist appeal there — while insisting on a foolproof inspection regime."
And when the foolproof inspection regime is fooled, and when the inspectors are thrown out of the country, what then? Will Hassan merely smile at Obama and quip, "Gotcha!," or will an atomic bomb soon be winging its way west en route to Tel Aviv?
Moreover, would such an agreement have any more teeth than Obama's agreement with Putin for the destruction of Assad's chemical warfare stockpiles, which provides for no sanctions if Assad fails to comply?
You will recall that Obama told Jeffrey Goldberg (http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/obama-to-iran-and-israel-as-president-of-the-united-states-i-dont-bluff/253875/):
"I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff. 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."
Well, Obama sure as heck did his best to fool Israel concerning the power of his convictions.
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