Nicholas Kristof, "The False Debate About Attacking Iran": Yes, Kristof Is an Imbecile

Nicholas Kristof has written several New York Times op-eds which have demonstrated appalling nescience. For example, in a 2010 opinion piece entitled "New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/opinion/06kristof.html), Kristof declared:

"The President’s Cancer Panel is the Mount Everest of the medical mainstream, so it is astonishing to learn that it is poised to join ranks with the organic food movement and declare: chemicals threaten our bodies."

In that same op-ed, Kristof went on to say:

"Avoid meats that are cooked well-done."

Kristof was unaware that our bodies consist of chemicals and that well-done meat (as opposed to charred meat, which can be carcinogenic) ensures that dangerous bacteria have been killed.

Ignorance, however, has never prevented Kristof from foisting twaddle upon the readership of The New York Times, and in an op-ed entitled
"The False Debate About Attacking Iran" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/opinion/sunday/kristof-the-false-debate-about-attacking-iran.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), he has once again outdone himself. Today, Kristof would have us believe that there is consensus among "experts" that an Israeli military strike against Iran later this year would be senseless, and he cites three opinions to buttress this claim:

• "'I don’t know any security expert who is recommending a military strike on Iran at this point,' noted Anne-Marie Slaughter, a Princeton University professor who was a senior State Department official earlier in the Obama administration."

• "'Unless you’re so far over on the neocon side that you’re blind to geopolitical realities, there’s an overwhelming consensus that this is a bad idea," said W. Patrick Lang, a former head of Middle East affairs for the Defense Intelligence Agency."

• "'Most security experts agree that it’s premature to go to a military option,' said Michèle Flournoy, who has just stepped down as the No. 3 official in the Defense Department."

Or stated more simply, these people are claiming that an Israeli strike is roundly opposed, a bad idea and premature. However, none of the three live in Israel, apparently none of the three have consulted with Israeli military intelligence, and none of the three bother to make reference to Supreme Leader Khamenei's recent declaration during prayers at the campus of the University of Tehran (http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1524218):

"The tumor of Israel, which is in fact cancerous, must be removed from the region, and this will definitely happen."

Is this an instance where Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu should ignore Khamenei and gamble away Israel's existence? In January, US Defense Secretary Panetta acknowledged that Iran is only a year away from building a nuclear weapon (http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=249800). Do Kristof and his "experts" honestly recommend that Israel not prepare for the possibility that Iran will manufacture a bomb? Should Israel stand silently to one side and pray that this time around the world will intervene before it's too late? Eighty years ago, the world chose to ignore Hitler's threats against the Jews, leading to Treblinka and Auschwitz.

Moreover, is it possible that without militant Israeli declarations, the US and Europe would not have implemented sanctions against Iran? Until Israel began to make noise, Obama had done precious little to avoid the crisis.

Kristof makes the inane claim that an Israeli air strike would ignite Muslim ire against the US:

"Day by day, anger in the Muslim world and around the world would grow at Israel — and at America. The coalition pressuring Iran through sanctions might well dissolve."

Unbeknownst to Kristof, America's Sunni allies in the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are more afraid of a nuclear Iran than Israel, and are demanding that the US eliminate this Shiite threat.

Kristof concludes:

"So as we hear talk about military action against Iran, let’s be clear about one thing. Outside Netanyahu’s aides and a fringe of raptors, just about every expert thinks that a military strike at this time would be a catastrophically bad idea. That’s not a debate, but a consensus."

Yeah, those like Ms. Slaughter, who defended the 2003 invasion of Iraq, now oppose unilateral action intended to save Israel from nuclear devastation. After all, no one is pressing a gun to Ms. Slaughter's head at Princeton's ivied campus. Sometimes, when someone presses a gun to your head, there are no happy options.