Last month, we published an editorial under the title "A Period of Consequences." The phrase was taken from a speech in the House of Commons in late 1936 in which Winston Churchill warned: "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences."
Denver
Read more A Mosque Grows Near Brooklyn The dubious financing of "Cordoba House' deserves scrutiny. BY Stephen Schwartz July 26, 2010, Vol. 15, No. 42Since a proposal to construct a 15-story mosque and community center two blocks from Ground Zero was announced last year, the project has been a focus of widening protests. To be named Cordoba House, the project would require demolition of two buildings at 45-47 Park Place and Broadway that were damaged on 9/11. They would be replaced by a glass and steel 100,000-square-foot structure with a new address, 45-51 Park Place.
Read more Excusing the Oakland Rioters Looting is not a form of civil rights protest. BY Heather Mac Donald July 26, 2010, Vol. 15, No. 42In a remarkable demonstration of defining deviancy down, Oakland is congratulating itself for the scale of the riots that broke out July 8 in response to the verdict in a police shooting case. "So a hundred businesses were damaged and looted," the conventional wisdom in Oakland holds, "so police were assaulted with rocks and bottles, a California Highway Patrol car's windshield was smashed, and fires were set in the streets.
Read more Top Secret False Advertising There is nothing top secret about "Top Secret America." BY Gabriel Schoenfeld Can Dennis Kucinich Be Defeated? Peter Corrigan's long shot bid for an upset in Ohio. BY Michael Warren MORE FEATURES The Voter Intimidation Case and the Blind Eye Yes, the New Black Panther voter intimidation case is a story. BY Stephen F. Hayes Spies, Passports, and The Guardian Double standards. BY Michael Weiss The President's Truce with Business Obama is out of ammunition "“ money. BY Irwin M. Stelzer document.write(''); Budget advice for Obama, from The Onion Biden provides an excuse for the stimulus by re-inventing what happened Obama slams Hoekstra for opposing stimulus and 'showing up to ribbon-cutting ceremony' Anyone remember Obama's Pay-Go law? In Louisiana, they're building berms to protect their marshes more Monday,July 19, 2010 Can Dennis Kucinich Be Defeated? Peter Corrigan's long shot bid for an upset in Ohio. BY Michael Warren The Elephant in Latin America India. BY Jaime Daremblum The Great Obama Job Shuffle 'Recovery Summer.' BY Jim Prevor The Daily Grind BY Mary Katharine Ham Quote of the Day (So Far!) Arnold Kling on the future of politics. BY Matthew Continetti Monday, July 19, 2010 By Jason Seiler Should Israel Bomb Iran? Better safe than sorry BY Reuel Marc Gerecht July 26, 2010, Vol. 15, No. 42 $(document).ready(function() { fontResizer('14px','16px','18px'); }); SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: unescape(encodeURIComponent('Should Israel Bomb Iran?')), url: unescape(encodeURIComponent('http://weeklystandard.com/articles/should-israel-bomb-iran')) }, {button:true} );There is only one thing that terrifies Washington's foreign policy establishment more than the prospect of an American airstrike against Iran's nuclear-weapons facilities: an Israeli airstrike. Left, right, and center, "sensible" people view the idea with alarm. Such an attack would, they say, do great damage to the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Tehran would counterattack, punishing "the Great Satan" (America) for the sins of "the Little Satan" (Israel). An Israeli strike could lead to the closing of the world's oil passageway, the Strait of Hormuz; prompt Muslims throughout the world to rise up in outrage; and spark a Middle Eastern war that might drag in the United States. Barack Obama's "New Beginning" with Muslims, such as it is, would be over the moment Israeli bunker-busting bombs hit.Β
An Israeli "preventive" attack, we are further told, couldn't possibly stop the Islamic Republic from developing a nuke, and would actually make it more likely that the virulently anti-Zionist supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, would strike Israel with a nuclear weapon. It would also provoke Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps to deploy its terrorist assets against Israel and the United States. Hezbollah, the Islamic Revolution's one true Arab child, would unleash all the missiles it has imported from Tehran and Damascus since 2006, the last time the Party of God and the Jewish state collided.Β
document.write('');An Israeli preemptive strike unauthorized by Washington (and President Barack Obama is unlikely to authorize one) could also severely damage Israel's standing with the American public, as well as America's relations with Europe, since the "diplomacy first, diplomacy only" Europeans would go ballistic, demanding a more severe punishment of Israel than Washington could countenance. The Jewish state's relations with the European Union"”Israel's major trading partner"”could collapse. And, last but not least, an Israeli strike could fatally compromise the pro-democracy Green Movement in Iran, which is the only hope the West has for an end to the nuclear menace by means of regime change. This concern was expressed halfheartedly before the tumultuous Iranian elections of June 12, 2009, but it is now voiced with urgency by those who truly care about the Green Movement spawned by those elections and don't want any American or Israeli action to harm it.
These fears are mostly overblown. Some of the alarmist scenarios are the opposite of what would more likely unfold after an Israeli attack. Although dangerous for Israel, a preventive strike remains the most effective answer to the possibility of Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards having nuclear weapons. Provided the Israeli air force is capable of executing it, and assuming no U.S. military action, an Israeli bombardment remains the only conceivable means of derailing or seriously delaying Iran's nuclear program and"”equally important"”traumatizing Tehran. Since 1999, when the supreme leader quashed student demonstrations and put paid to any chance that the Islamic Republic would peacefully evolve under the reformist president Mohammad Khatami, Iran has calcified into an ever-nastier autocracy. An Israeli strike now"”after the rise of the Green Movement and the crackdown on it"”is more likely to shake the regime than would have a massive American attack in 2002, when Tehran's clandestine nuclear program was first revealed. And if anything can jolt the pro-democracy movement forward, contrary to the now passionately accepted conventional wisdom, an Israeli strike against the nuclear sites is it.Β
There are many voices out there"”"realists" in America, Kantians in Europe"”who believe this discussion is unnecessary since Iran doesn't really pose an existential threat to Israel, America, or anyone else, and whatever threat it does pose can be countered with "strategic patience" and the threat of Israeli nuclear retaliation. Tehran may support anti-Israeli terrorist groups, but there is no need to overreact: The regime is as scared of Israel's military power as Israel is scared of mullahs with nukes. America's preeminent job should therefore be to calm the Israelis down"”or, failing that, arm-twist them into inaction.Β
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Anti-Semitism run amok
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Denver
Since a proposal to construct a 15-story mosque and community center two blocks from Ground Zero was announced last year, the project has been a focus of widening protests. To be named Cordoba House, the project would require demolition of two buildings at 45-47 Park Place and Broadway that were damaged on 9/11. They would be replaced by a glass and steel 100,000-square-foot structure with a new address, 45-51 Park Place.
In a remarkable demonstration of defining deviancy down, Oakland is congratulating itself for the scale of the riots that broke out July 8 in response to the verdict in a police shooting case. "So a hundred businesses were damaged and looted," the conventional wisdom in Oakland holds, "so police were assaulted with rocks and bottles, a California Highway Patrol car's windshield was smashed, and fires were set in the streets.
There is only one thing that terrifies Washington's foreign policy establishment more than the prospect of an American airstrike against Iran's nuclear-weapons facilities: an Israeli airstrike. Left, right, and center, "sensible" people view the idea with alarm. Such an attack would, they say, do great damage to the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Tehran would counterattack, punishing "the Great Satan" (America) for the sins of "the Little Satan" (Israel). An Israeli strike could lead to the closing of the world's oil passageway, the Strait of Hormuz; prompt Muslims throughout the world to rise up in outrage; and spark a Middle Eastern war that might drag in the United States. Barack Obama's "New Beginning" with Muslims, such as it is, would be over the moment Israeli bunker-busting bombs hit.Β
An Israeli "preventive" attack, we are further told, couldn't possibly stop the Islamic Republic from developing a nuke, and would actually make it more likely that the virulently anti-Zionist supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, would strike Israel with a nuclear weapon. It would also provoke Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps to deploy its terrorist assets against Israel and the United States. Hezbollah, the Islamic Revolution's one true Arab child, would unleash all the missiles it has imported from Tehran and Damascus since 2006, the last time the Party of God and the Jewish state collided.Β
An Israeli preemptive strike unauthorized by Washington (and President Barack Obama is unlikely to authorize one) could also severely damage Israel's standing with the American public, as well as America's relations with Europe, since the "diplomacy first, diplomacy only" Europeans would go ballistic, demanding a more severe punishment of Israel than Washington could countenance. The Jewish state's relations with the European Union"”Israel's major trading partner"”could collapse. And, last but not least, an Israeli strike could fatally compromise the pro-democracy Green Movement in Iran, which is the only hope the West has for an end to the nuclear menace by means of regime change. This concern was expressed halfheartedly before the tumultuous Iranian elections of June 12, 2009, but it is now voiced with urgency by those who truly care about the Green Movement spawned by those elections and don't want any American or Israeli action to harm it.
These fears are mostly overblown. Some of the alarmist scenarios are the opposite of what would more likely unfold after an Israeli attack. Although dangerous for Israel, a preventive strike remains the most effective answer to the possibility of Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards having nuclear weapons. Provided the Israeli air force is capable of executing it, and assuming no U.S. military action, an Israeli bombardment remains the only conceivable means of derailing or seriously delaying Iran's nuclear program and"”equally important"”traumatizing Tehran. Since 1999, when the supreme leader quashed student demonstrations and put paid to any chance that the Islamic Republic would peacefully evolve under the reformist president Mohammad Khatami, Iran has calcified into an ever-nastier autocracy. An Israeli strike now"”after the rise of the Green Movement and the crackdown on it"”is more likely to shake the regime than would have a massive American attack in 2002, when Tehran's clandestine nuclear program was first revealed. And if anything can jolt the pro-democracy movement forward, contrary to the now passionately accepted conventional wisdom, an Israeli strike against the nuclear sites is it.Β
There are many voices out there"”"realists" in America, Kantians in Europe"”who believe this discussion is unnecessary since Iran doesn't really pose an existential threat to Israel, America, or anyone else, and whatever threat it does pose can be countered with "strategic patience" and the threat of Israeli nuclear retaliation. Tehran may support anti-Israeli terrorist groups, but there is no need to overreact: The regime is as scared of Israel's military power as Israel is scared of mullahs with nukes. America's preeminent job should therefore be to calm the Israelis down"”or, failing that, arm-twist them into inaction.Β
Β
Anti-Semitism run amok
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