Back in 2007, during a similar outbreak of overheated rhetoric about war against Iran—at that time, Vice President Dick Cheney was pushing behind the scenes for a unilateral American strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities—a subversive report National Intelligence Estimate by the US intelligence community slammed the door on war by declaring that the spy agencies believed that Iran had halted its work on a nuclear bomb.
In 2012, Dennis Ross may have done the same thing. His op-ed in the New York Times today all but closes the door on the idea of war against Iran in 2012 by either the United States or Israel.
It’s a surprise from Ross, a hawkish, neoconservative-leaning Middle East expert who served for three years as President Obama’s top adviser on the region. Though not a neocon himself, Ross is affiliated with the neoconservative-dominated Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a pro-Israel think tank founded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in the 1980s. Off and on, since then, Ross has been part of WINEP. But he’s also a liberal Democrat who makes no effort to hide his overtly pro-Israel sympathies. That’s why, coming from him, his Times op-ed is important.
Titled “Iran Is Ready to Talk,” Ross argues that there’s no need to consider bombing Iran since economic sanctions appear to be working. As a result, he says, Iran is ready for diplomacy.
In 2012, Dennis Ross may have done the same thing. His op-ed in the New York Times today all but closes the door on the idea of war against Iran in 2012 by either the United States or Israel.
It’s a surprise from Ross, a hawkish, neoconservative-leaning Middle East expert who served for three years as President Obama’s top adviser on the region. Though not a neocon himself, Ross is affiliated with the neoconservative-dominated Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a pro-Israel think tank founded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in the 1980s. Off and on, since then, Ross has been part of WINEP. But he’s also a liberal Democrat who makes no effort to hide his overtly pro-Israel sympathies. That’s why, coming from him, his Times op-ed is important.
Titled “Iran Is Ready to Talk,” Ross argues that there’s no need to consider bombing Iran since economic sanctions appear to be working. As a result, he says, Iran is ready for diplomacy.
