Good Cop-Bad Cop

Submitted by Barry Black (United States), Feb 5, 2012 at 12:00

While it's not exactly a good cop-bad cop scenario, Leon Panetta likes to play the game. He believes such statements may force Iran's hand and pressure them into a less resistive state. The whole thing is a fool's game! Israel is not going to attack Iran without first being attack. To do so would pit Israel against the world as a pariah and the support for Israel in the USA would wane even further then it is now!

And, on the other hand, Iran would never attack Israel without direct provocation with or without nuclear weapons----they would be signing their own death warrant! A nuclear Iran would establish another political stalemate not unlike the USA/USSR and India/Pakistan. I believe a famous statesman once said; "It is better to jaw, jaw, than war, war" and the rhetoric will continue until the Middle East adventure into democracy firmly sets in about 10 years. As a democratic principles take hold it always gets worse before it gets better----just look at both the American and French revolutions.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".