Agree completely with skepticism over what questions were asked and how.
How about this one:
“Given that the United States and the rest of the world are now clearly dedicated to doing nothing to stop Iran from going nuclear, and given that the Iranians could wipe out your sorry little State even without nuclear weapons, would you still attempt to stop Iran from going nuclear?”
Or,
“Are you completely suicidal, or would you like to have the hope of living a little longer?”
It’s like asking them if they are going to try to stop the sun from coming up tomorrow, or would they be resigned to it.
What else were they going to say? What else are any of us going to say, for that matter.
“Given that the United States and the rest of the world are now clearly dedicated to doing nothing to stop Iran from going nuclear, and given that the Iranians could wipe out your sorry little State even without nuclear weapons, would you still attempt to stop Iran from going nuclear?”
I think it may have been more like: “Given that we will sit on our hands while Iran goes nuclear and have no plans to assist you if Iran responds militarily to any efforts you make to stop them, would you still attempt to stop Iran from going nuclear?”
I don’t have cites handy, but I’ve been following reasonably closely the prospects for Israel to take matters into their own hands. As of even just a few weeks ago, the “conventional wisdom” seemed to be that while Arabs would never publicly say so, many would feel relief rather than anger were Israel to take action. If Israel truly believed that attacking Iran would ignite the entire Arab world against them, then preemption would be tantamount to suicide. It makes no sense for a person or country to preempt murder by committing suicide.
So this most recently leaked “intelligence” feels suspiciously like self-serving pablum for the masses. Leaks always happen for a reason and the reason isn’t always to give the public “the truth.” As we’ve seen in their shameless performance during the health care reform debate, these spinmeisters have no compunction whatsoever about truth-twisting when it suits their purpose.
Today the headline is: Gulf states are resigned to a nuclear Iran.
At some point, expect to see a headline: World resigned to continue on without NYC, LA and Tel Aviv.