Wait Him Out

I have long considered that the problem with Iran would not have arisen -- certainly not with the same intensity -- were it not for the outrageous rhetoric of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, speaking ex cathedra as it were, from his perch as President of Iran. Other Iranian leaders have made incendiary statements about Israel, but they have fallen below the perfervid murderousness of Mr. Ahmadinejad's remarks.

As my friend and former colleague, Bob Ames, used to remark, "To be Israeli is to worry." And indeed, in the case of a threat of annhiliation from a nearby, and much bigger country, the Israelis, in view of what has happened in the past, do have a case for worrying. That Ahmedinejad's attacks have gone largely unchallenged is in part an indication of how far Israel's credibility had sunk in the eyes of the world. And yet, Ahmedinejad may be doing this largely for effect, hoping to gain support for himself and an isolated Iran in the eyes of an Arab world never very fond of Persians. But then, who knows what this wild-eyed impersonation of a tinpot ant-Western tyrant might do?

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But let not Western impatience be back-footed once again in the face of Eastern timelessness. The Iranian nuclear program is still not operational and has encountered some difficulties of late. Ahmedinejad's term of office expires in 2013, and the Iranian Constitution prohibits him from standing for a third four-year term. In view of the uproar created by his disputed election in 2009, any attempt on his part to change the Constitution would seem unlikely.

Why not wait him out? Whoever follows him is bound to be better, not worse.