Bush: Iran Intends to Nuke Israel

NewsMax ^ | 1/14/06 | NewsMax

[wagglebee]

In his sharpest comments to date on the Iranian nuclear crisis, President Bush warned Friday that Iran is seeking to produce nuclear weapons and intends to use them to destroy Israel.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Washington, D.C. with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush warned:

"I want to remind you that the current president of Iran has announced that the destruction of Israel is an important part of their agenda. And that's unacceptable. And the development of a nuclear weapon, it seems like to me, would make them a step closer to achieving that objective."

The president said that Iran's nuclear ambitions pose a threat, not just to the Jewish state, but to the world.

"Iran armed with a nuclear weapon poses a great threat to the security of the world. Countries such as ours have a great obligation to step up, working together to send a message to the Iranians that their behavior, trying to clandestinely develop a nuclear weapon, or using the guise of a civilian nuclear program to attain a nuclear weapon, is unacceptable."

For her part Chancellor Merkel added, "To Germany, it is totally unacceptable, what Iran said recently, especially regarding Israel and the Holocaust."

Last month, Iranian president Mamoud Ahmadinejad said that historical coverage of the Holocaust had been "exaggerated." In October he urged that Israel be "wiped off the map."

[Radix]

Yeah, could be.

If I were the leader of Israel I'd consider having a stroke around this time simply because of the incredible stress.

If I were an Iranian, I'd look for cover.

[Dog Gone]

Typical NewsMax journalism. Bush said no such thing.

He may think it, and it might be true.

But he never said it.

[wagglebee]

I don't think that Iran will have a viable weapon by then. Israel's intelligence in the Middle East is better than they let on, I think they will launch a preemptive strike well before it's too late.

[nmh]

But mistakes happen. Who knows how far along they are with nukes? Don't kid yourself. They'll use them in less than a heartbeat to remove Israel. They are chomping at the bit to totally eliminate the Jews in Israel.

[SauronOfMordor]

I do not see why we do not make a public statement to the affect that if Iran ever launches so much as a single missile towards Israel all of Iran will be massively targeted

First, because the US has no mutual-defense treaty with Israel. Congress would need to approve one that authorizes the President to engage in a nuke attack on a country attacking Israel

Second, if the US exterminates Iran, then it's all-out, open war with every Islamic state in the world. With Iraq, we didn't exterminate the Iraqi people, we went in to get the leadership. With Iran, the response would need to be to hang the mullahcracy

[johnny7]

Andrea Mitchell says there's nothing other than diplomacy the west can use... the sites are tooooooo forrrrrrrtified. ; )

[Camel Joe]

They will never get the chance, Israel has other plans that do not include them sitting idly by waiting for someone to help. Gods chosen people are not from New Orleans.

[willyd]

I think that Israel will launch a coordinated strike on Iran (without prior US knowledge of course and be done with it.) I think we have already given them new planes and weapons systems for this task. We may take out Iran's anti aircraft positions along side them. It makes sense that we want to be flying the same planes as Israel so that we are indistinguishable if one gets shot down. We can maintain plausible deniability by pointing to the fact that we were in the process of withdrawing from the Middle East at the time of the attack which would seem to support our claim. In reality, we have no intention of getting into a ground war with Iran because we would run the risk of dragging China, Russia or North Korea into it.

[staytrue]

if Iran ever launches so much as a single missile towards Israel all of Iran will be massively targeted

Problem is you would kill about 20 million innocent iranians as collarteral damage along with the 20 million guilty ones.

[NY Attitude]

I doubt very much that Israel would use a nuke to neuter the Iranian threat. They would use convention methods to destroy Iran's nuclear research and military centers, if anything.

Unless the way and time it takes to construct a hardened facility, conventional weapons should do the trick.

[DoughtyOne]

I was referring to an Israeli first strike MO. I didn't make any case for Iran's behavior. You and I agree there.

I would add, that if Israel takes a nuclear first strike, the Iranian leadership better have on their level 5000 asbestos underpants.

[Russ_in_NC]

I can only hope your right but I've got strong vib's that Israel is in big trouble. These idiots in Iran are literally out of control. That and the fact that Russia seems to have no problem selling them anything they need or want, the chances of a black market suitcase size weapon getting into Israel are pretty good.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

There's an Iranian FReeper that posts here. Name's Kashayar or something like that. Maybe we'll get the real story from him instead of NewsMax's "Remember the Maine!" journalism.

[DoughtyOne]

Agreed.

[traumer]

Iran is still years away from building The Bomb.
At least that's what I read....

[injin]

when making such a statement of Deterrence, one cannot think about what the casualty result would be . Did we worry about what the Russian casualties would be when we announced the MAD policy? Of course it is implied . The idea is to get them thinking what they themselves stand to lose if they continue on the present track. It worked with Russia/the Soviet Union ,
and Iran is a small fish by comparison.
If the USA cannot find the justification to make such a statement Israel certainly should. It's time to put the cards on the table and stop with all the spook games.

[Steveone]

I think Iran is at this moment fitting nuclear warheads on missiles,Thanks Pakistan/China/Russia take your pick it is only money in the end!

[El Gato]

Remember, Israel can beat any of those guys in a matter of days with air power alone. No need for nukes.

Maybe, and maybe not. The Iranian nuclear and weapons facilities are hardened beyond anything Saddam even dreamed of. Part of that is geography, the Iranians have some pretty rugged mountains to bury stuff in.

It will take some pretty effective "bunker buster" type conventional weapons to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities, and it may or may not be possible with existing Israeli weapons, or even existing US weapons.

[Camel Joe]

We as a nation led by Republicans fear none of those you mentioned. Oil embargo's on the other hand could bring us to our knees in the long run. I'm just glad W has been filling the reserve. Chavez has just threatened us with an embargo for opposing sales of military planes with US Military parts in them from those commies in Spain.