Obliteration

When Hillary Clinton threatened to "obliterate" Iran, it was rhetoric that not even Dick Cheney could have dared to use. When she several times talked of "massive retaliation" in the Middle East, not only if Israel is attacked but unnamed other countries, she was toying with nuclear annihilation in such a cavalier way that it should have been shocking. In fact, it should have prompted Democrats, Independents and the non-insane wing of the Republican party to condemn her. Even as campaign rhetoric it was dangerous enough to disqualify any serious candidate for the Presidency.

So what greeted her statement? Silence, pretty much. At least here in the U.S., where the news media is obsessed with flag pins, and politicians are too busy taking the temperature of super-delegates. The response, or lack of it, I found more shocking than Clinton's reckless, tougher-than-the-guys, warmongering rhetoric.

But it didn't get past a lot of people in the rest of the world. Says the Los Angeles Times: " But it prompted shock overseas as well as headlines from Bulgaria to New Zealand."

This is what a British diplomat (Lord Mark Malloch-Brown) said:

"While it is reasonable to warn Iran of the consequence of it continuing to develop nuclear weapons and what those real consequences bring to its security, it is not probably prudent ... in today's world to threaten to obliterate any other country and in many cases civilians resident in such a country."

It's what every responsible American politician on the national level--and certainly every congressional Democrat--should have said. And should say. In a country that takes the presidency and its place in the world seriously--especially when the entire globe must cooperate to deal with the Climate Crisis or failure will exact a toll on everyone--this statement should obliterate the candidacy of the person who made it. But hey, let's talk a little more about "bitter."

Update: Well, at least somebody else is taking this seriously.
Update 2: As is the Sunday Boston Globe, in an editorial entitled "Hillary Strangelove." The Globe concludes: "A presidential candidate who lightly commits to obliterating Iran - and, presumably, all the children, parents, and grandparents in Iran - should not be answering the White House phone at any time of day or night."