John Grant: A Modest Proposal for Israel and Iran

The State Department has threatened to withdraw the $1.3 billion it sends every year to Egypt, because the Egyptians are holding US citizens connected with pro-democracy groups the Egyptians claim to have instigated the Tahrir Square movement. Specifically, the Egyptian military government prevented a half dozen Americans, including Sam LaHood, director of the US International Republican Institute in Cairo from leaving the country. LaHood is the son of US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. The State Department's goal in supporting groups like Mr LaHood's is to encourage democracy friendly to the US. Before this incident, President Obama warned Egyptian military strongman Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi that the upcoming installment of US military aid was contingent on his playing ball with US interests. The snatching of LaHood and the others turned the situation into a diplomatic incident. LaHood was quoted in The New York Times as wondering whether he would be brought to trial for meddling in Egyptian affairs. "The whole thing is ludicrous," he said. That may be true, but even more ludicrous is the failure to provide a similar warning on the other side of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. That is, according to several recent reports, Israel's top leaders are making it known they feel a massive air attack on Iran by Israel is a manageable thing.