Sarah Palin Second Guesses Bush and US Interests, but Not Israel

Foreign Policy, Yukon-Style: In February, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin renewed, with Yukon Territory Premier Dennis Fentie, a long-standing two-page resolution to "continue to work together on matters of joint concern and mutual interest." It's the sort of credentials that enhance her foreign-policy credentials, Palin told Katie Couric: "It certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries." (Alaska Governor's Office photo).

In her CBS News interview with Katie Couric, GOP Vice Presidential nominee said Israel should never be second guessed on matters such as attacking Iran. Making that statement, she was second guessing her own president.

From today's Guardian:

Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President George W Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency, senior European diplomatic sources have told the Guardian. The then prime minister, Ehud Olmert, used the occasion of Bush's trip to Israel for the 60th anniversary of the state's founding to raise the issue in a one-on-one meeting on May 14, the sources said. "He took it [the refusal of a US green light] as where they were at the moment, and that the US position was unlikely to change as long as Bush was in office", they added. [...]

Bush's decision to refuse to offer any support for a strike on Iran appeared to be based on two factors, the sources said. One was US concern over Iran's likely retaliation, which would probably include a wave of attacks on US military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on shipping in the Persian Gulf. The other was US anxiety that Israel would not succeed in disabling Iran's nuclear facilities in a single assault even with the use of dozens of aircraft. It could not mount a series of attacks over several days without risking full-scale war. So the benefits would not outweigh the costs.

Valid reasons, surely, to second guess Israeli intentions, especially with such obvious American and international interests so directly at stake, and so much uncertainty in play.

But this is what Palin said in her exchange with Couric:

Couric: You recently said three times that you would never, quote, "second guess" Israel if that country decided to attack Iran. Why not?

Palin: We shouldn't second guess Israel's security efforts because we cannot ever afford to send a message that we would allow a second Holocaust, for one. Israel has got to have the opportunity and the ability to protect itself. They are our closest ally in the Mideast. We need them. They need us. And we shouldn't second guess their efforts.

Couric: You don't think the United States is within its rights to express its position to Israel? And if that means second-guessing or discussing an option?

Palin: No, also … we need to express our rights and our concerns and …

Couric: But you said never second guess them.

Palin: We don't have to second-guess what their efforts would be if they believe … that it is in their country and their allies, including us, all of our best interests to fight against a regime, especially Iran, who would seek to wipe them off the face of the earth.

Palin, who never had a passport until a year ago because she says she was never "part of that culture" (of back-packing across foreign lands) and who told Couric that she had foreign-policy experience because Alaska borders Canada and Russia, was speed-dated through a few grip-and-grins with world leaders in United Nations corridors earlier this week, and into a longer, one-hour date with ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Nixon and Ford).

Kissinger, whose entire career as a Middle East and Vietnam strategist was based on second-guessing anyone not on his team (including, on occasion, second-guessing Nixon), must not have told Palin what he's said all along about Israel: "Anybody who gets 100 percent of the confidence of the Israelis has discovered something that has not yet existed."

Which is to say: never give Israel your own 100 percent confidence, if it's your own country's interests you're protecting. Evidently, Palin disagrees.

See Also:

• Sarah Palin's Middle East Policy
• Sarah Palin in Arab and Middle Eastern Eyes
• John McCain's Middle East Policy
• Barack Obama's Middle East Policy
• Joe Biden's Middle East Policy
• Barack Obama Through Middle Eastern Eyes