Posted on 07/18/2008 8:43:55 AM PDT by kellynla
ISRAEL will almost surely attack Iran’s nuclear sites in the next four to seven months — and the leaders in Washington and even Tehran should hope that the attack will be successful enough to cause at least a significant delay in the Iranian production schedule, if not complete destruction, of that country’s nuclear program. Because if the attack fails, the Middle East will almost certainly face a nuclear war — either through a subsequent pre-emptive Israeli nuclear strike or a nuclear exchange shortly after Iran gets the bomb.
It is in the interest of neither Iran nor the United States (nor, for that matter, the rest of the world) that Iran be savaged by a nuclear strike, or that both Israel and Iran suffer such a fate. We know what would ensue: a traumatic destabilization of the Middle East with resounding political and military consequences around the globe, serious injury to the West’s oil supply and radioactive pollution of the earth’s atmosphere and water.
But should Israel’s conventional assault fail to significantly harm or stall the Iranian program, a ratcheting up of the Iranian-Israeli conflict to a nuclear level will most likely follow. Every intelligence agency in the world believes the Iranian program is geared toward making weapons, not to the peaceful applications of nuclear power. And, despite the current talk of additional economic sanctions, everyone knows that such measures have so far led nowhere and are unlikely to be applied with sufficient scope to cause Iran real pain, given Russia’s and China’s continued recalcitrance and Western Europe’s (and America’s) ambivalence in behavior, if not in rhetoric. Western intelligence agencies agree that Iran will reach the “point of no return” in acquiring the capacity to produce nuclear weapons in one to four years.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
the source needs to be corrected.
WSJ, NYT - what’s the difference? /sarc
Git ‘er done
Hopefully, they will take out Iran’s airforce also.
Iran’ is developing stealth Technology for their airforce.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=63833§ionid=351020101
Sends shivers thru the world a the Iranian Airforce putting a burqa on their plane.
The bomb in the hand of religious fanatics has been on of the fears since its invention. Like Hitler, their leader is exactly the nutjob he appears to be and he means what he says. Like many totalitarian leaders, he will do whatever is necessary to fulfill his own messiah complex—even if it means sacrificing his homeland to achieve his destiny. Letting Iran get the bomb will be the end of Israel. They will give it to Hezbollah, who will use it and Iran will have plausible deniablity.
If Israel was smart, they would detonate a small yield nuclear bomb in a sparely populated area of Iran as a sign of their capability and will—then demand total Iranian disarmament and the Nutjob’s head on a stick. My biggest fear is that the current Israeli leadership is too weak to act decisively.
Thank you, Jimmy Carter!!!! Without your multi-year efforts to depose America’s best ally in the Middle East and replace him with a radical Islamist regime, none of this would have been possible.
Maybe I am a deluded, but I think a strike on Iran would not be even close to the Doomsday scenarios the MSM likes to paint.
- Nukes are the poor man’s deterrent now. It’s not the pinnacle of military might, but rather, because the poor country has nothing else. Nukes are cheaper than developing new ballistic missiles, certainly cheaper than building or buying advanced fighters, subs or advanced surface ships (and Iran has few/none of these).
- Iran’s economy can not support a conflict. It imports half of its gasoline, although is one of the worlds largest oil countries. How screwed up is that?
- It has no Navy to speak of
- It has no air-force to speak of
- Their bluster is typical of mid-east dictatorships, who are always much weaker than they appear.
- The only threat comes from its surrogates in Hezbollah and Iraq. This can easily be handled.
- the US and the West (and certainly Israel) are already nearly in a state of war with them anyway.
They HAD fighters we sold them. They haven’t been able to get parts since the Shah left so they literally can’t fly any. They have no Air Force. They have experimental rockets similar to those flown by college students in the US.
If there is a terrorist attack on the U.S. before the
election, we will surely attack Iran’s neuc sites.
Whether Israeli or American, or a combination of the two, I'd set it for Election Day, in November.
Everyone's eyes and ears will be elsewhere.
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