Bibi Strangelove?

Sterling Hayden as Gen. Jack D. Ripper

From what I can tell the Americans making the most noise in their support of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seem to believe the sheer force of their hero's personality -- if directed at the worst villains in the Middle East -- has the power to scatter them into holes in the ground, to cower. Poor devils.

Beyond that, there seems to be no plan, just a pose.

At least, no plan short of another war to to bring on another regime change. Remember, prior to that invading Iraq in 2003 it was Bibi Strangelove who said: "I guarantee you that [removing Saddam Hussein] will have enormous positive reverberations on the region."

Prior to launching that war for regime-change, America's post-WWII history with overthrowing governments, supposedly in order to install more friendly regimes, is worth remembering. Here are a few highlights:

• Let's start with Iran in 1953, where the USA combined with Great Britain to overthrow the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, to put a dictator, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, in charge until 1979.
• Throughout the 1950s and '60s America's CIA had its fingerprints all over various regime-change campaigns waged in South America and in the Caribbean.
• The real lollapalooza of the '60s was the coup arranged by the USA in South Vietnam in '63. It's hard to fathom what the true price has been for our government's mistakes in Vietnam.
• Of course, during the '80s we threw billions in arms support to the mujahideen militants in Afghanistan. They returned the favor by morphing into al-Qaeda. 

There are lots of other regrettable foreign policy moves that can be added to this list of plots that backfired -- dictators supported, illegal arms deals, etc. -- but you should get the picture being painted. Answers for why some good number of people in the world harbor the bitterest of feelings toward America's government -- maybe its voters, too -- can be found in the stories of our government's bloody overreaching, and its very expensive failures.
    
Back to Bibi. He says the Iranians can't be trusted. At least, their current leaders can't be trusted. Then, out of the other side of his mouth, Netanyahu says he wants more than a 10-year deal. What, like 15 years? Does that mean the same Iranians he doesn't trust today, will become more trustworthy, tomorrow, if they agree to a longer deal? 

What the hell does Bibi Strangelove want? 

It seems rather obvious that he first and foremost he wants to get reelected. Netanyahu has taken a big gamble with this week's political stunt in DC, to align himself with hawkish factions of the American Republican Party. No doubt, he hopes the gamble will pay off. 

If Netanyahu gets reelected, my guess is he will soon try to arm-twist the USA into backing him up when Israel unilaterally bombs Iran, initiates a new war, and then tells us we have no choice but to go along. This was the same sort of strategy Gen. Jack D. Ripper employed in "Dr. Strangelove..." (1964) by provoking a nuclear first-strike.

Bibi's cartoonish swaggering demeanor is nearly as over-the-top as that of the bellowing Gen. Ripper (as played by Sterling Hayden) in "Dr. Strangelove..." More Democrats ought to be making jokes about Bibi's cock-of-the-walk mannerisms.

Dig it: No matter what the details of the deal now being negotiated with Iran turn out to be, it's a given Netanyahu is going to say it's a bad deal. The sitting prime minister of Israel seems to have convinced himself that war to institute regime-change in Iran is the only sure way to keep the promised land safe from Persian plots against Israel's "precious bodily fluids."