Would the U.S. use force to stop an Israeli attack on Iran?

A. Zarkov writes:

Will the Obama order the U.S. Air Force to shoot down Israeli jets on their way to bomb Iran?

Former national security Zbigniew Brzezinski seems to think the US should. In an interview with Gerald Posner he said:

How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest? We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?

What if they fly over anyway? Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse. [Israeli jet fighters and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty in international waters, off the Sinai Peninsula, during the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel later claimed the ship was the object of friendly fire.]

This is an extraordinary statement, and one I think he should not have made. How will Obama respond if asked about this? What would happen if the USAF really did attack Israeli jets and the pilots were killed or captured? I think there would be domestic chaos here. Let’s go further. Suppose the USAF were unable to stop the jets and American pilots get shot down. This could happen because Israeli pilots are at least as good as American pilots. While, the IDF uses American jets, they generally rip out the American avionics and put in their own, which are superior for that theater of operations. Israel has an extraordinarily good electronics industry. I shudder to think of what might happen then.

We live in interesting times.

LA replies:

But it’s “Zbig” who is saying this, a man who has been wrong on everything he’s said for the last 33 years. If it’s ridiculous to give any importance to what Carter says, isn’t it even more ridiculous to give any importance to what Carter’s national security advisor says?

Mr. Zarkov replies:

I agree that Brzezinski has been wrong about everything, but the issue is worth considering. It does look at if Obama is willing to live with a nuclear armed Iran, but Israel isn’t. What would happen if Israel went against the wishes of the Obama administration and attacked Iran? The chances are we would do nothing, but let’s remember that Obama is a creature of the extreme left which is virulently anti-Israel. The U.S. State Department has already told Israel that Arab property in East Jerusalem can’t be sold to a Jew. That’s a remarkable departure from the past, and a direct challenge to that county’s sovereignty. We are in a new and very dangerous world, where we have to weigh every possibility.

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Richard Hoste writes:

Thanks for the laugh. Maybe he’ll talk it over with his Chief of Staff, who went off and joined the Israeli army during the first Gulf War.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 21, 2009 09:21 AM | Send