“We Will Bury You”
Everyone of my generation remembers this quote; few recall that what bellicose Nikita Khrushchev actually said was more like, “We will outlast you.” The quote had its impact at the height of the Cold War and in the 1960 U.S. elections. Kennedy and Nixon argued over who among them was best at standing up to the USSR. Kennedy argued that the Republicans had allowed a “missile gap” to develop that favored the USSR. Kennedy won — but the so-called “missile gap” actually didn’t exist.
Now it’s the frightening face of Ahmedinejad that fires the electoral imagination in the United States. Hillary Clinton promises to “totally obliterate” Iran if Iran should launch a nuclear attack on Israel. Here’s the exact quote:
“I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran (if Iran were to attack Israel with nuclear weapons),” Clinton told ABC TV on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”
Yesterday, practically on the eve of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, ABC TV offered Hillary a chance to revise her word choice. Her response: “Why would I have any regrets (about my choice of words)? I’m asked a question about what I would do if Iran attacked our ally, a country that many of us have a great deal of, you know, connection with and feeling for, for all kinds of reasons. And, yes, we would have massive retaliation against Iran.”
The recent National Intelligence Estimate found that Iran had stopped efforts to process or enrich uranium. CNN reports today that voters in Indiana and North Carolina don’t rate Iran among their top concerns. So why Hillary’s bellicose language?
The political logic, as during the days of the “missile gap,” is to exaggerate a threat and response in order to make your opponent look weak. There’s also the added attraction of identifying your candidacy as being more “pro Israel” in advance of Bush’s travel to Israel to commemorate her 60th anniversary.
So much for truth and politics. Or, as Khrushchev once said, “politicians are all alike. They promise to build a bridge, even where there is no river.”