Middle East Focus: Arab Legends: Obama in Bush and Cheney’s Footsteps? Salafi Plots from the Old Testament and Babylon .........

Arabia Deserta

Arab Legends: Obama in Bush and Cheney’s Footsteps? Salafi Plots from the Old Testament and Babylon .........

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

“The Obama administration has assured Israel privately that the US would strike Iran if its nuclear program cross certain "red lines," The Daily Beast reported Wednesday, adding that at the same time Washington was trying to convince Israel not to attack Tehran unilaterally. According to the report, the "Israelis went ballistic" after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said earlier this month that an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities could “consume the Middle East in a confrontation and a conflict that we would regret." Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren lodged a formal diplomatic protest, prompting the White House to reassure Jerusalem that the administration had its own "red lines" that would trigger a strike on Iran and that there is no need for Israel to operate unilaterally, the American news website reported. The Daily Beast said three senior US military officials have confirmed that analysts in the Pentagon were trying to predict which developments in Iran could lead to a preemptive Israeli strike on the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities…………”

There is one Arab legend that the Obama administration pulled out of Iraq in order to better be able to “handle” Iran. Meaning they pulled out of Iraq in order to be able to attack Iran without exposing US forces to retaliation. This is a hopeful legend for some on my Gulf: they want a war so badly they can ‘taste’ it. A war fought by others, of course. It is only one legend in the Arab world.
There is another legend among the Salafis and the Wahhabi faux-liberals of my Gulf region that the United States and Iran are plotting together against the Gulf region, i.e. against the ruling oligarchy order. That is because these Salafis and the Wahhabi faux-liberals, the self-styled literati of some Gulf states, have grown frustrated with the continued delay in the “strikes” they have been waiting for, nay praying for, from Uncle Sam and Uncle Bibi Netanyahu (and now Uncle Yukiya Amano) against Iran. No war means a vindication of the fears and worries and the definite belief that the Americans and the Iranian mullahs (and the Israelis) are plotting together against the absolute tribal monarchial system. Some Salafis have even gone so far to dig up the proof in the Old Testament story of the Babylonian Captivity and Persian Emancipation of the Jews (and Esther and Daniel and all that).
Is this tale of the Obama administration promising a war on Iran also a legend? It could be, given that the goal would be to destroy a perceived Iranian “capability” or “ability” to develop nuclear weapons. How would one destroy an “ability” to build a bomb? Assuming that is what the Iranians want, something that I still doubt. Brick and mortar facilities can be rebuilt, but what about the “knowledge”? Would bombing the brick and mortar structures by the dog satisfy the Israeli (and royal tale)?
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com