Cheneyism Spreads To Israel

Iran is in the midst of political uprising that has revealed a collective desire for more moderate leadership. The mass demonstrations and calling out of the clerical leaders seems to be a good thing. You can see why the country's younger and liberal (socially) populace is so important. The young Iranians could serve as crucial catalyst for capitalizing on America's use of soft power with Iran to unwind their nuclear ambitions.

Leave it to the neocon elements in the U.S. and their Israeli counterparts to find a problem with the hopeful signs in Iran. First it was Diane Pletka's column in the NYT that threw cold water on the notion that the current upheaval will lead to anything good in the end.

Then there was this piece in the WSJ (s/r) that corroborates what the neocon line should be on this matter. Any signs of moderation in Iran are bad for the bomb-bomb-Iran-crowd. Case in point:

Meir Dagan, chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, told a closed Knesset ommittee hearing that Mr. Ahmadinejad's reputation as a Holocaust-denying rabble-rouser makes it easier for Israel to enlist international support against Iran's nuclear program, a committee member said. A victory for Mr. Ahmadinejad's moderate challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, in last week's presidential elections would have presented Israel with "a graver problem," Mr. Dagan said.

You see, we need crazy Ahmadinejad to stay in power so there is a reason to sell the hard line approach to Iran.

"Both of them pose the same threat. But it's better for Israel that you have a leader [in Iran] with a very dangerous ideology who speaks clearly so that nobody can ignore him," said Knesset deputy speaker Danny Danon, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party. A more careful, soft-spoken Iranian president who promised better relations with the West "would have made it harder for us to recruit the world to our side," Mr. Danon added.

You got that? More crazy leadership equals better chance of starting yet another war in the Middle East. That's what the crazies in our neck of the world think. Good if you are an oil company or a defense contractor. Not so good if your son or daughter is the one that will be thrown into another needless military engagement.