Roger Cohen's "Obama in Netanyahu's Web"

I have submitted the following comment to The Times in response to Cohen's op-ed, "Obama in Netanyahu's Web":

Another week, another obsessive op-ed mixing fact and fiction, citing anonymous sources, and employing smoke and mirrors. Forgive me, Roger, as I dissect your ungainly sleight of hand.

You say, "Netanyahu won the first round" and that's "not good . . . for Israel's long-term security." Since when did you ever care about the security of Israel? Think back to April 2008, prior to Operation Cast Lead: I invited you to visit the beleaguered Israeli town of Sderot, which was being rocketed daily by Hamas. You wrote back : "Thanks, Jeffrey, and will do," but never came. Sorry, Roger, but I'm not interested in your "concern", not for me, not for my family.

"All the overblown, reciprocal compliments could not hide evident tensions - over Iran and Israel-Palestine and how the two are linked." Linkage? I didn't realize it was an established fact. Dennis Ross, Hillary's special adviser on Iran, in his new book, "Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East," acknowledges that dialogue with Iran should not be linked to Israel and Palestine and that "linkage" is the "Mother of All Myths".

"Obama also allowed Netanyahu to compliment him for 'leaving all options on the table" - the standard formula for a possible U.S. military strike against Iran - when he said nothing of the sort." How would you know, Roger? We both know you weren't there.

"Score one for Netanyahu, who, in the words of one former American official who knows him well, 'is the kind of guy who negotiates the time he will go to the bathroom.'" Now I realize this fits well, i.e. links, with your recent op-eds, "Of Loos and Language" and "When Nature Calls", but I think you can disclose this highly sensitive information's "secret" source, who doesn't know Bibi very well at all.

"[W]hile the worst has already happened in Kim Jong-il's isolated state, it has not yet happened in Iran and is still avoidable if determined and creative policies are pursued." "Determined and creative policies"? It sounds great, but what do you have in mind? Allowing Iran to pursue its oppression of Baha'is, Kurds, Jews, homosexuals, women, political opponents of the regime, free spirited journalists, and bloggers in exchange for temporary cessation of Iranian atomic bomb development? Even were Iran to agree (they wouldn't), there would be no one capable of policing the deal. (If someone from the Obama administration were to ask me, I would suggest threatening the banking privileges in the U.S. of the European banks doing business with Iran; Obama would quickly have Ahmadinejad's ear.)

"Many more young American men and women will die in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next several years if no Iranian breakthrough is achieved." Sorry, Roger, but this is delusional. If Obama feels there is no reason for the continued presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, then he should arrange for their immediate withdrawal. But this has nothing whatsoever to do with Iran, and blaming Israel for future U.S. casualties is baseless and worse, but apparently not for someone with an agenda.

"An attack on Iran that would put the Jewish state at war with Persians as well as Arabs". How does anyone write an op-ed of this nature without mentioning Sunni/Shiite tensions? Do you know that the dozens of tribal conflicts among the Arab nations and between Iraq and Iran have claimed an exponentially larger number of lives than the combined Israeli/Arab wars? Do you know that America's
allies, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, are more worried than Israel by Iranian atomic ambitions?

Finally, a word about the title of this op-ed, "Obama in Netanyahu's Web", which will necessarily inflame anti-Semitism on the web. I didn't vote for Netanyahu, but he is not an ugly, venomous spider. Rather, he is ardent in his determination to prevent a second Holocaust, and although I do not share all his views, I share his existential concerns. Moreover, Netanyahu and his family have demonstrated dedication and courage of a kind beyond anything that the itinerant and fanciful Roger Cohen could ever hope to fathom.