NETANYAHU THREATENS TO BOMB IRAN

Yesterday I wrote how prospects for world peace had improved in the flash of an eye by the "cordial" meeting of Richard Holbrooke with the undersecretary for foreign affairs from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Today, however, the mood changes darkly. Reports are flying about the Internet that Israel's new prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, is threatening to attack and bomb Iran.

Jeffrey Goldbert reports in The Atlantic:

"In unusually blunt language, Netanyahu said of the Iranian leadership, “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.” . . .

"But Netanyahu also said that Iran threatens many other countries apart from Israel, and so his mission over the next several months is to convince the world of the broad danger posed by Iran. One of his chief security advisers, Moshe Ya’alon, told me that a nuclear Iran could mean the end of American influence in the Middle East. “This is an existential threat for Israel, but it will be a blow for American interests, especially on the energy front. Who will dominate the oil in the region—Washington or Tehran?”"

Note the intemperate and demonizing language of Bibi. Iranian leadership is a "messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs." Each of the adjectives is without basis. Messianic? In what way? Name one person in Iran who thinks he or she is the new Messiah? Apocalyptic? Oh, really! Do Iranians really want to commit suicide like some in the uneducated Arab street? And how is Shiism, with millions of adherents throughout the world, a "cult?"

What Bibi says is nonsense, but it is designed to make Iranians bogeymen to such an extent that people in the U.S. and Israel will feel no compunction in annihilating them or, to use Hillary Clinton's word during the debate, "obliterating" them.

Obviously Bibi Netanyahu is one dangerous loose canyon now ensconced as prime minister of Israel. The world cannot afford to allow him to attack Iran.