IVORY TOWER ACADEMICS ON IRAN IN THE NY TIMES

A rather lengthy op-ed piece appears in this morning's edition of The New York Times, "How to Press the Advantage with Iran," authored by Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett. The Times credits the former as the director of the New American Foundation and a professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University, and the latter as president of a political risk consultancy. It further states that both are former National Security Council staff members.

Their point is that present and former administrations are at fault for backing Iran into a corner, and they suggest that the stance taken towards China by President Richard Nixon in the late 1960s and early 1970s, opening up America's relationship with that regime, should be the position the Obama Administration adopt at this crucial point in time. The authors state that the "crippling sanctions" Secretary of State Clinton promises should Iran not change course will never be accepted by China, and that Russia's statement of possible support for them will be so watered down in the end as to become meaningless.

Well, if this isn't pie in the sky reasoning, I don't know what is. First of all, where is the "advantage" the authors claim we have with Iran? Far from it! Teheran is caught lying and cheating on the issue of uranium enrichment for the third time in a decade; they defy us and our allies and say they have done nothing illegal; then they proceed with two days of sabre rattling by testing their medium-range missles which they claim can hit any of those nations that may threaten their regime. Would Tel Aviv think that with all that, we have an advantage? On the contrary, Israel must now realize that Iran will never give up their pursuit of nuclear weapons capabilities and are faced with an 18-month time line to come up with a solution that would insure their national security. Yet the Leveretts are "the experts" on National Security issues.

Should the West forgive Iran for its tresspasses, and welcome them back into the international community with open arms? We don't know when these two authors left the National Security Council, but it is obvious that they've spent far too much time since then locked up in their "Ivory Tower."

Bill Breakstone
Somers, NY
September 30, 2009