Why Mideast Conflict is Inevitable...

The average American doesn't understand that their nation has a tacit top-level agreement to completely ignore Israel's possession of nuclear weapons. It's "agreed" that the US government will never even mention it, so it's never in the public arena for discussion.  The curtain lifted briefly during the Gates confirmation hearing:

Israelis piqued by nuclear "confirmation"
http://news.yahoo.com/...

During his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Gates mentioned why Iran might be seeking the means to build an atomic bomb: "They are surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons: Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west and us in the Persian Gulf," he said.

The remark led Israeli news bulletins. State-run radio suggested Gates may have breached a U.S. "don't ask, don't tell" policy that dates back to the late 1960s.

..more below..

"It's quite unprecedented," a retired Israeli diplomat told Reuters on Thursday when asked about Gates's testimony. "I can only assume he has yet to get to grips with the understandings that exist between us and the Americans."

According to recently declassified documents cited by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists magazine, under President Richard Nixon the United States knew Israel had developed nuclear weapons but opted against pressing its ally to come clean on the capability and accept international regulation.

Israel neither confirms nor denies having the bomb as part of a "strategic ambiguity" policy that it says fends off numerically superior enemies while avoiding an arms race.

This sanctioned reticence is a major irritant for Arabs and Iran, which see a double-standard in U.S. policy in the region.

Gates slip of the tongue has me wondering- is Iran really evil? If Oaxaca, Mexico (just a random example) was revealed to have nuclear capability, just how comfy would you feel? At best, Israel and the US have a razor's edge to manuever politically. But I'm afraid we're not in a best case scenario. We are being perceived as the real axis of evil and we refuse to even mention it amongst ourselves. Isn't that rather "head in sand" of us?

We have a saying in quality control circles, "that which gets measured is improved." If the US government specifically refuses to mention one massively significant aspect of a conflict in discussions with it's own populace or any foreign government, how can things be improved?  Is it rational to expect that there will ever be peace in the Middle East so long as such a huge imbalance of power exists between neighbors and no one even mentions it?  I'm no diplomat, but then, this is a good example of why I can't be..we are the pot calling the kettle black here folks.