Thank you for your response, Dr. Pipes

Submitted by There is NO Santa Claus (United States), Mar 18, 2012 at 21:37

"Strong Signals". That deserves a definition.

There is widespread consensus that Iran should not have the bomb. Sanctions continue to tighten. Military response has not been ruled out. I'd say that is a strong signal. I certainly agree with you that establishing a broad consensus is important for a country like the U.S. (and Israel) where policy is derived from public consensus.

What I don't like is the overt sabre-rattling by politicians and media commentators. In my view, this compromises operational surprise. Let's consider something. When Iran ranted about their intent to wipe Israel off the map, they gave away their own operational surprise. Since then, efforts at developing anti-missile systems, enacting sanctions and other measures (The specific nature of other measures are not fully known.) have been accelerated.

My comment was merely that the U.S. and our allies (especially politicians) should avoid making the same mistake the Iranians have made by excessive talk and speculation of a military strike.

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