Kidnapping Mahmoud

By Michael J.W. Stickings

An Israeli cabinet minister (and former Mossad agent), Rafi Eitan, has floated the possibility of kidnapping Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and bringing him to trial for war crimes in The Hague. "[A]ll options are open in terms of how he should be brought," said Eitan, who, while with Mossad, helped kidnap Adolf Eichmann.

Ahmadinejad has made threats against Israel, but he hasn't exactly committed war crimes. He's no Eichmann. What's more, unlike Eichmann, he is the (democratic) leader of a sovereign state. As much as we may not like him -- and I don't -- I'm not so sure kidnapping democratic leaders of sovereign states is such a great idea, and the kidnapping of Ahmadinejad would set an awfully dangerous precedent.

It should go without saying that there are much better ways of dealing with Iran and its seemingly crazy leader -- who, however, seems to say incendiary things more for rabble-rousing domestic consumption than for the rest of the world as statements of official Iranian policy -- but unfortunately there are people like Eitan who are all-too-serious about pursuing "all options," no matter the costs and consequences.