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WikiLeaks Reveal Deadly Fictions

(Tablet) Lee Smith - What the WikiLeaks documents reveal is a growing gap between the private assessments of American diplomats and allies in the Middle East and public statements made by U.S. government officials. While the Israelis are deeply concerned about Iran's march toward a nuclear program, it is in fact the Arabs who are begging the U.S. to "take out" Iranian installations through military force. It is not just Israeli leaders who believe Iranian President Ahmadinejad is reminiscent of Hitler; U.S. officials think so too, as do Arab leaders, who use the Hitler analogy to warn against the dangers of appeasing Iran. Furthermore, America's Arab allies do not believe that the Obama administration can separate Syria from Iran through any foreseeable combination of carrots and sticks. What comes through most strongly from the WikiLeaks documents is that U.S. Middle East policy is premised on a web of self-justifying fictions that are flatly contradicted by the assessments of American diplomats and allies in the region. Perhaps the most disturbing revelation in the documents is the extent to which both the Bush and Obama administrations have concealed Iran's war against the U.S. and its allies in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and the Arab Gulf states.
2010-11-30 10:19:07
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