What Would Obama Do? Haaretz Article - Top Iran officials recommend preemptive strike against Israel
The Haaretz Article, Top Iran officials recommend preemptive strike against Israel, has triggered the need to repost an article that I wrote some time ago about a dream I had when Iran was testing their missiles. I light of Sen. Biden’s recent remarks that Obama would be tested by our enemies, I ask the question, “What would Obama do?”
Top Iran officials recommend preemptive strike against Israel
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Senior Tehran officials are recommending a preemptive strike against Israel to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear reactors, a senior Islamic Republic official told foreign diplomats two weeks ago in London.
The official, Dr. Seyed G. Safavi, said recent threats by Israeli authorities strengthened this position, but that as of yet, a preemptive strike has not been integrated into Iranian policy.
Safavi is head of the Research Institute of Strategic Studies in Tehran, and an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The institute is directly affiliated with Khamenei’s office and with the Revolutionary Guards, and advises both on foreign policy issues.
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Safavi is also the brother of Yahya Rahim Safavi, who was the head of the Revolutionary Guards until a year ago and now is an adviser to Khamenei, and holds significant influence on security matters in the Iranian government.
An Israeli political official said senior Jerusalem officials were shown Safavi’s remarks, which are considered highly sensitive. The source said the briefing in London dealt with a number of issues, primarily a potential Israeli attack on an Iranian reactor….Continue Reading post from Haaretz.
Sen. Obama - I Had a Dream Last Night
(This Dream Actually Occurred)
July 8, 2008 by ZachJonesIsHome
Last night, I dreamt that I was on a street in a mountainous region of Iran, near a nuclear weapons research center. I looked over the horizon and saw several hundred Israeli jets screaming down upon the mountain. Missiles, hundreds of missiles were fired and everything was ablaze. I felt a rumbling beneath my feet and looked towards the distant ridge. I was amazed to see whole sections of the ridgeline, hundreds of homes disappearing into the ground. Everything disappeared until the nothingness was within a hundred yards of me. Seeing some sort of intensely hot gaseous vapor rising from the rip in the earth, I realized there had been a massive underground nuclear explosion. I managed to climb into a vacant home and shut the windows and wait for the pain, heat, and poison to overtake me. I sat near the window, listening to the screams and the sound of scorched air making it own wind, and surveyed the devastation as far as one could see.
The scene changed and I was with a large group of people in a large auditorium. Again the terrific rumbling came. I knelt to the floor, listened, and put my hand down. It was intensely hot, fire just a few inches away, and I could sense the earth giving way beneath the floor. Noticing a person in panic, I went to give comfort. As I was making my way across room, I saw a Rabbi with his hand against the door. He turned, and in loud but soft voice said, “Death comes from beneath us today.” I awoke and lay thinking about this the rest of the night.
At first I thought maybe I had had a premonition. I dismissed that idea fairly quickly since I have never had one before. Things and events have occurred from time to time that I had previously considered or envisioned. However, all of those were based on a logical chain of events. So, I began to consider the Rabbi’s statement, “Death comes from beneath us today.”
First I considered what I believe about Iran and their intentions:
· Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has at every opportunity insisted that Israel would be wiped from the map and cease to exist in the not too distant future.
· There have been constant denials from Iran of any intent to weaponize their nuclear program, even in the face of growing contra indicators and information.
· Iran has been training counter insurgents in Iraq who have been instrumental in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of our soldiers.
· Iran supports many terrorist groups in the region which are working to see the destruction of Israel. The list goes on, and on, and on, and on.
From the Israeli prospective, one does not need to say a lot other than they have lived surrounded by people who seriously want to see their destruction, and if Iran becomes a Nuclear Power with its current leadership, Israel’s survival would be in ominous danger.
“Death comes from beneath us today,” means what then? Was it a literal descriptive narration? Dreams rarely are so literal in my experience. I tend to think it was a metaphor for something else. Something beneath the surface of a possibly controllable reality that makes it uncontrollable for Israel. Something that causes Israeli jets to attack Iran which will set off a totally unpredictable set of consequences for Israel and the entire world.
I think it is safe to say that the situation of Iran having nuclear weapons is so wildly against Israel’s survival interest, that there exists a distinct probably that an attack by Israel could occur at any moment. What factor(s) might make the controllable uncontrollable? I believe that a possible change in the level of support from the United States of America ushered in by the election of a new President could be one such factor. If Iran believes that the new incoming administration would be more ambivalent towards the issue of a nuclear Iran, Israel would be put in a position of increased peril. This is the meaning and warning that I attribute to the words “Death comes from beneath us today.”
Given the choice between Senator McCain and Senator Obama, it is reasonably clear to me that if I were Iran, I would much prefer Senator Obama as the President of my enemy. This is because, from their prospective, he would be more likely to be manipulated and/or less likely to take strong stances that they would believe or respect. It is my understanding that Senator Obama has in fact received the “endorsements” of several terrorist organizations and leaders like Chavez and Castro. I would suggest their support is not because they love him, but because he appears to them to be the weaker opponent.
The Senator’s wavering on the whole issue of when to wear a flag lapel pin or when to cover his heart while saying the Pledge of Allegiance might indicate to our adversaries someone who is not as committed to the interests of the United States when compared to his own.
Senator Obama started out the campaign season stating that he would go and talk to our enemies, such as Iran. At the time, he did not use any qualifiers such as prior planning, laying the groundwork, etc. This statement only demonstrated to the world a clear naiveté regarding global relationships and perilous negotiations with dangerous adversaries.
Since I have been writing a lot about Larry Sinclair’s allegations that he and Senator Obama had a couple of instances of crack cocaine use and gay sex in 1999, I assumed this would also factor into my interpretation. My focus regarding these issues has primarily addressed media bias and the way the main stream media appears to continue in their obstinate refusal to investigate or cover these allegations. I believe that had these allegations been leveled against Senator McCain or Clinton the Media would be all over them. (I won’t go into the numerous reasons that I believe the allegations have a more than remote possibility of being true in this instance.)
Given the fact that there is widespread (global) knowledge of these allegations, it seems to me that Senator Obama and the Media who supports him would vigorously try to quickly and definitively put these issues to rest by proving them false. It is critical to the diplomacy of the United States that the countries with whom we continue to negotiate on critical national security issues should at the very least respect Senator Obama as a man. I’m sure most of you are aware of the extreme disdain that many Islamic cultures have for homosexual activity, in some countries it can result a death sentence. Therefore, such a possible perception regarding Senator Obama clearly affects his credibility in the eyes of many who would sit across the negotiating table.
Additionally, it has been reported that several of Senator Obama’s close advisers (Rev. Wright for one) have been repeatedly accused of being anti-Semitic, which only adds to Israel’s angst. The Senator’s mantra of ‘that’s not the _(insert name)_ I once knew’ strains credulity.
Senator, I actually considered your candidacy in the beginning until I started paying attention. Now I can’t help but think that the possibility of a similarly horrific scene, as the one in my dream, is much more likely to occur should you become President - due to your naiveté regarding foreign policy and diplomacy, your close associations with accused anti-Semites, the self-serving support from terrorist organizations that you have received, and the reckless statements that you have made during the primaries.
I would suspect that when Israel sees the multitudes of Americans who appear to be putting their heads in the sand in the face of the very real and present dangers that exist from Islamic terrorists, they must be very troubled.
I hope I sleep better tonight.
