President Obama plans to caution Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week against attacking IranÂ’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, urging patience while international economic sanctions take full effect.
| Yeah Benji, just wait until January 2013 and we're all good... |
ObamaÂ’s meeting with Netanyahu on Monday begins a critical week in his effort to crush Israel contain IranÂ’s nuclear ambitions and preserve the trust of the United StatesÂ’ closest Middle East ally. Israeli leaders have made clear they think time is running out to stop Iran from achieving the ability to build a nuclear weapon.
But U.S. officials are not convinced,
| Because they don't want to be... |
and many within the administration fear that a preÂemptive Israeli attack could set off a regional war. This disagreement between the United States and Israel will color the meeting between two leaders often at odds over how best to navigate the changing Middle East.
The White House talks are likely to focus on the effectiveness of sanctions and the dangers of an Israeli attack, administration officials say. Obama will seek to avoid discussing the details of how one might unfold out of concern that Israel might interpret such planning as a veiled endorsement of military action.
“We’re trying to make the decision to attack as hard as possible for Israel,” said an administration official.
| Pretty much says it all, doesn't it. |
Administration officials say Obama will attempt to reassure Israel of U.S. resolve while also urging patience and signaling to Iran that the two allies agree on the importance of stopping it from getting a nuclear weapon.
In an interview published Friday in the Atlantic magazine, Obama said that “the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don’t bluff.”
| Dubya and Reagan never had to say that. Both men were strong and did exactly what they said they would do, and everyone knew it. Champ on the other hand is weak and is in over his head, so he has to babble about how he 'doesn't bluff'. |
But he suggested that any Israeli strike on Iran before international oil and gas sanctions take effect this summer would undermine the tenuous unity the United States and its allies have built to oppose IranÂ’s nuclear ambitions. Privately, White House officials say the coalition would explode with the first Israeli airstrike.
“At a time when there is not a lot of sympathy for Iran and its only real ally [Syria] is on the ropes, do we want a distraction in which suddenly Iran can portray itself as the victim?” Obama said in the interview.
| They do that already, Champ. |
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