It's the perfect storm of Allen West talking points: His arguments for war with Iran combine his love of hyperbolic rhetoric (a "second holocaust" is coming), his ardent defense of Israel, his need to disagree with Barack Obama on every possible issue, and his insistence that diplomacy is for weenies.
West said in a press release yesterday that "we're running out of time" to deal with Iran before they attack Israel with nuclear weapons that it doesn't have, and said Obama's promises to protect the Jewish state are contradicted by his statement that "it is deeply in everybody's interests -- the United States, Israel and the world's -- to see if this can be resolved in a peaceful fashion."
"This president continues to talk from both sides of his mouth, and it is dangerous," West said. "Israel needs action, not more words from the president."
West said "these nations only respect one thing, and that is strength," which seems to suggest that Iran's new willingness to return to the negotiating table should be met with another war in the Middle East.
But West is starting to get tied up by his own rhetoric -- he wrote in a Facebook post last Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "understands his neighborhood and we should defer to a former Israeli Commando on matters such as this instead of a community organizer."
Moving past the asinine inferences about leadership capabilities based on jobs leaders had 40 years ago, Netanyahu's national security adviser told an Israeli radio station today that "there will be no one happier than us, and the prime minister said this in his own voice, if it emerges that in these talks Iran will give up on its military nuclear capability."
But West isn't the least bit interested in the talks.
"We are running out of time, and the president's insistence to wait for a 'diplomatic resolution' with Iran proves our commander in chief does not fully understand, or is simply ignoring, the imminent threat looming," he said in the release. "The consequences of inaction, could lead to a nuclear arms race in the entire Middle East. ... When is President Obama going to stand up publicly against this theocratic-political, Islamic totalitarian ideology with the courage and conviction that has made the United States the greatest country the world has ever known?"
Still, West isn't the only one skeptical of Iran:
"I think Iran continues to be two-faced," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said, according to Reuters. "That's why I think we have to continue to be extremely firm on sanctions [already imposed on Iran], which in my view are the best way to prevent a military option that would have unforeseeable consequences."
West had another Facebook post on Monday in which he said sanctions on Iran were useless and seemed to draw parallels between not bombing Iran with the European appeasement policies of the 1930s.
"Neville Chamberlain proved that one cannot compromise or negotiate with a madman," he wrote. "I have seen the face of war and know its results...but I shall not allow evil to prevail. God bless Israel!"
