Informed Speculation

…at least, by someone other than Howard Fineman, belongs to George Bisharat of the L.A. Times:

IN A SUDDEN ATTACK of common sense, a Pentagon-commissioned study released in mid-November suggests an approach to nuclear nonproliferation in the Middle East that might actually be accepted by the people of the region. What is this breakthrough idea? That U.S. policies begin not with a country that currently lacks nuclear weapons — Iran — but rather with the one that by virtually all accounts already has them — Israel.

To avert Iran’s apparent drive for nuclear weapons, concludes Henry Sokolski, a co-editor of “Getting Ready for a Nuclear-Ready Iran,” Israel should freeze and begin to dismantle its nuclear capability.

Never mind the poor grammar (the study had a sudden attack of common sense? And you write for a living? Where were the editors?), the idea itself is stunningly awful.

Yes, Israel, the lone democracy in the Middle East (at least, pre-Iraq – doesn’t that feel good to say?), surrounded by enemies who have attacked it on more than one occasion, surrounded by people whose rhetoric call for it to be ‘wiped off the face of the Earth’, surrounded by people whose word is worth as much as a three-dollar bill – Israel should begin to disarm.

Yes, George, yes – and why not the U.S. as well? After all, if we hadn’t have had that pesky Manhattan Project, there wouldn’t have been any nuclear arms to proliferate.

The fact that such a foolish notion has seen the light of day speaks volumes about the lack of serious some still bring to the Iranian problem. When a nation is threatened with extinction, particularly THIS nation, founded in the aftermath of the threat nearly made good, that nation does not disarm…the fact that the opposite conclusion has been reached in a Pentagon-funded study only shows how much waste there is to cut, even in the military. Let us begin with Mr. Sokolski’s salary…

UPDATE 11:59 p.m.: Perhaps I owe Mr. Sokolski an apology; Omri Ceren has given the article a closer read than I, and he’s read the report referred to, as well; his conclusions are here, and they make for essential reading. A small taste will suffice to show that not only is Bisharat’s idea a horrible one, but it is, in fact, a misrepresentation of the report’s recommendations:

In answer to Bisharat’s claim that the United States can solve Iran’s incentive to proliferate by forcing Israel to begin publicly dismantling its nuclear weapons, the report asserts that:

(a) Iran will proliferate for reasons independent of Israel
(b) Israel shouldn’t begin by dismantling anything
(c) Israeli should limit fissile production (it doesn’t recommend dismantling nuclear weapons in any way)
(d) Israel should avoid publicly disclosing its nukes in any way

That’s a far cry from the impression given by Bisharat in his commentary…