The Holocaust Declaration -- a bad idea

Joe Klein tears into Krauthammer's Holocaust Declaration, where Charles says that Bush ought to declare publicly that any attempt by Iran to nuke Israel would be viewed by the US as an attack on the US. Klein's best line:

... [I]deologues like Krauthammer insist on going around wantonly threatening countries, announcing our pre-eminence in the world, which--as the Chinese know--is precisely the sign of a weakling. We may well have to take military action against Iran at some point, and they should know that. But without all the chest-thumping. (Krauthammer should note that the Israelis haven't said very much at all about their intentions toward Iran, but everybody knows what they have and their willingness to use force, if necessary. That is how strong nations act.

But Klein himself bombs, big time:

Who says Iran has any intention of nuking Israel? If the mullahs dropped the big one, they would likely wipe out as many Muslims--including their Hizballah allies in southern Lebanon--as Jews. They would also wipe out the third most sacred Islamic shrine in the word, the al-Aksa mosque.

Now, I'm no expert in Middle East politics, but I don't think Iran would want to raise Arab anger (they are not Arab, you see), so I don't think the target would be Jerusalem, where Arabs live and the al-Aqsa mosque is located. No, I think he'd try to hit Israel where it might really hurt: Tel Aviv, a big city that is the financial center of the country, and where the main entry point is for tourists. There is where the highest concentration of Jews exist that is as far away from Muslims as can be. Klein thinks that Iran wants their own nuclear deterrent against Israel and the U.S. That would be sensible, given Israel's undeclared stockpile of nukes and the U.S.'s apparent willingness to use that option to fight terrorism.

On its face, Krauthammer's idea doesn't seem all that insane, at least from this Jew's perspective. Labelling an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel a holocaust lets Ahmedinajad know that we condemn his version of WWII history, while letting the world know that Israel will always be our ally. But, as Klein said, it would be viewed simply as a provocation to the jihadis to do their best to undermine, to infiltrate, and to destroy from within. They are good at that, as the endless supply of Iraqi roadside, car, truck, and suicide bombers can attest. On top of that, Russia would object to such a brazen display of superpower status and would continue to support Iran both publicly and privately. Bottom line, nothing would get advanced by chest-thumping posturing by the U.S.

Klein wins.