OneJerusalem.com

America’s 233rd Independence Day celebrations were barely over, when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Apparently set the stage for some “fireworks” of his own by announcing that on the during a television interview on ABC, that “the USA will not stand in the way of Israel if it wants to launch an air strike on Iran”. Biden continued in the interview by saying that “the USA cannot dictate to an independent country (like Israel) what they can or can’t do (in regards to their personal defense). Israel has to decide by itself what its ultimate interest is in regards to Iran”.

The timing of the interview, given in the aftermath of the hard-line crackdown by the Iranian government on opponents to the results in the June 12th elections there, and at the same time his boss, President Barack Obama left for a two visit with Russian leaders in Moscow (where the situation in Iran will surely be discussed), appears to leave Israel’s “Iranian option” apparently wide open. There may be other reasons for Biden’s remarks, as the former head of the powerful U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee is not a stranger to what is going on in the world in the aftermath of the September 11 attack on America by the Islamic extremist Al Qaeda organization. There may be other reasons too, as the Democratic administration is surely remembering the aftermath of Iran’s 1978 Islamic Revolution, occurring during the Carter Administration; as well as the capture and imprisonment of the American Embassy Staff members for more than 400 days – which only ended after Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, entered the White House in 1981.

Another recent development that hay have influenced Biden’s remarks were remarks made by the Iranian leadership in which they didn’t see anything different in the new Obama Administration from the former one lead by George Bush, despite Obama’s “reaching out to Islam remarks” made during Obama’s recent visit to Cairo. It does appear, however, that Obama’s remarks did have an influence on some M.E. countries, as the Saudi government also appears to have said that they will not object if Israel (still formerly at war with Israel) uses their airspace to attack Iran.

It might also be noted that the new Israeli Ambassador to the USA, Dr. Michael Oren, warned what would happen if the Iranians succeeded in hitting Israel with a nuclear bomb that “could destroy Israel in a few seconds like Hitler tried to do with European Jewry in WWII”.

So what’s left now – a time table, or venue date (like Madonna’s upcoming concert in Tel Aviv, for example)? It’s reckoned this event, if now in the works, won’t be announced beforehand, as Iran is not a push-over like Iraq was when Israel attacked it in 1981. And for sure, Israeli government officials aren’t giving out any ‘flight plans’ with Mossad chief, Meir Dagan, assuring everyone that Israeli P.M. Bibi Netanyahu “will ignore such remarks”. IAF spokespersons have said, however, that “Israel doesn’t need a formal clearance from either the USA or a country like Saudi Arabia to conduct an operation (against an enemy such as Iran) that is in Israel’s national interest”.

These events, especially on the anniversary of the America’s independence from British tyranny, make one remember those sterling words written by Revolutionary War patriot and writer Thomas Paine when he wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls”. Indeed!