GOING TO WAR WITH IRAN COULD GET THE SILENT TO SPEAK UP

A former Israeli general, Yossi Cooperwasser, has the following argument in the NY Sun about going to war with Iran:

JERUSALEM — A military strike against Iran could empower that country's democratic forces.

So says a retired general who headed Israel's military intelligence research division, Yossi Cooperwasser. An attack on Iran "may cause people in Iran who today are silent to act," General Cooperwasser, who spoke alongside other authorities on Israel during a visit of Western journalists to Israel sponsored by the American Israel Education Fund, said. "If the situation changes and the world intervenes forcibly, they might go to the state and say, ‘What are you doing?'"

General Cooperwasser's remarks by no means reflected the consensus of the group. Some officials expressed optimism about the recent Saudi overture to Israel — which might, in theory, help to isolate Iran — while others voiced hope about the prospects for success of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

I wouldn't go that far regarding the House of Saud. They still won't allow Jews to enter their country, and they still harbor and fund terrorists.

But does Cooperwasser have a point about getting anyone in Iran with common sense to step out of the shadows and speak up? Maybe.