Pants on fire

Look people, we're in the game!

It isn't very often that one gets caught in flagrante delicto, with his metaphorical pants down. But in a recent video shot at a policy forum luncheon at WINEP (Washington Institute for Near East Policy) the Director of Research, Patrick Clawson, suggested that a Pearl Harbor type incident is needed to coerce the US into acceding to Israel's demand for an attack on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons facilities--"crisis initiation" in Newspeak. No description of the video can do justice to the flagrantly, if not immoral, diabolical nature of the proposal and the man proposing it. 

William A. Cook, and English professor at a university in southern California, characterized Clawson as a "Clown" in one of the most drippingly sarcastic pieces of writing I've seen come down the pike in a long time:

...the absolute darkness of this soulless Clown who joked his brilliance before his peers ... this idiot vomited out of his mouth the way to move forward with his agenda and that of his peers, “after all people, we are in the game”.

But the consequences are far greater than the lost sailors in our Clown’s descriptive false flag; “after all people,” this act will propel the world into a catastrophic war, and we will “not be in a game.” Put this in context; here’s the Clown, an appointed researcher for an exclusive think tank the purpose of which is to push the Israeli agenda in the United States at all costs. These un-appointed individuals draw up strategic plans for the US government, maneuver them into strategic places in the Pentagon, the Congress, the State Department, and into the Executive Branch in order to bring them to action. This action is to force the US to go to war on behalf of Israel. That the people of the US do not favor such a war, that hundreds and thousands of their soldiers, the sons and daughters, the fathers and mothers of American families will be the fodder for WINEP’s war is irrelevant to them since they work for Israel and for AIPAC. The end purpose alone counts—their end purpose. That is what Patrick Clawson told us in that released video, a video I suspect WINEP wishes never saw the light of day. The absolute arrogance of his presentation, the total commitment he uttered in his remarks tell of a man incapable of human sympathy, oblivious to international law, uncaring, bestial.

http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19610

As an accessory piece to the clown metaphor we have the cartoonish performance of drawing “red lines” in the sand (and on cartoon bombs) by the supposedly mature adult macho man PM of Israel in the United Nations. But it seems the bomb may have been a dud:

Binyamin Netanyahu's cartoon nuclear bomb certainly grabbed attention, but not necessarily the kind he wanted. No doubt it was intended as a bold and graphic way of presenting the Iranian nuclear threat, but much of the initial response – on Twitter, at least – was ridicule. -  The Guardian

These kinds of performances by Israeli officials and their hired public relations and black ops operatives will do nothing to stabilize the tensions and rivalries in the Middle East. Nor will it endear them to any but the most right wing and neo-conservative types in the United States, who still don't realize how much their benighted adventure in Iraq has weakened the US's ability to successfully fight wars in that region. The Administration main's concern, although unstated openly, appears to be getting out of the military quagmire without losing more once friendly allies and face than necessary. An Israeli-inspired military fiasco in Iran will only inflame the already volatile Middle East, further damage the reputation of the United States and keep the global economy locked into a very long term recession if not plunge it into a depression.

We've had enough farce in the region already, let's not Send in the Clowns.