Pirates Take Note
I always feel like Tommy Smothers when I return from to this blog: you always liked Aggie best.
Not that I blame you.
But this blog is at its best when we’re both flailing away against the prevailing “wisdom” in the media. At least I like to think so.
Anyhow, someone did some “flailing” at Iran the other day.
An Iranian vessel laden with weapons bound for the Gaza Strip was torpedoed off the coast of Sudan last week, allegedly by Israeli or American forces operating in the area, the Egyptian newspaper El-Aosboa reported on Sunday.
Anonymous sources in Khartoum told the newspaper that an unidentified warship bombed the Iranian vessel as it prepared to dock on Sudan before transferring its load for shipment to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
These sources said they suspects U.S. or Israeli involvement in the attack, but neither Washington nor Jerusalem have released a statement yet on the matter.
Ed Morrissey opines:
If anyone’s doing this, I’ll bet on the Israelis over the US, especially given the new administrations in both countries.
I’ll second that emotion. It occurs to me that President Obama is following the Clinton model of intervention—lobbing missiles from a distance where no American serviceman is harmed (yet plenty of foreign civilians are). And that’s not a complaint.
But I recall the outrage people expressed when President Clinton bombed the Balkans from the air, antiseptically, with no threat of harm to a single hair on an American head. Clinton also never met a Sudanese aspirin factory he liked.
In just the same way, Obama loves Predator drones. I’ll bet he even has his own presidential joystick which he uses to blast suspected Taliban camps (or wedding ceremonies, same difference) in the Swat Valley. This is how Democrats conduct war: the other guys suffer, and we just change an oil filter or two. I repeat: this is not a complaint. The bad guys should suffer.
But sometimes self-defense requires an even tougher approach. When you get the clean head shot, take it; if such an opportunity does not present itself, you may have to get your hands dirty (and bloody).
So this story could go either way: Obama taking out a perceived threat from a distance, without harm to any American force; or Obama not getting within a hundred miles of facing off against Iran. My money’s on the latter—and Israel.