Posted on 04/02/2010 11:27:33 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The U.S. intelligence community has determined that Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council are quietly accepting the prospect that Iran would acquire nuclear weapons. Officials said the Persian Gulf states and other Arab League members would learn to accommodate Teheran's domination of the region.
"This assessment has been shared with Israel, which today is the only country in the Middle East that wants to stop the Iranian nuclear program," an official said.
Officials said the assessment has formed a major element in the strategy toward Iran by the administration of President Barack Obama. They said Israel would be the only country in the Middle East that would press the administration to pursue harsh international sanctions against Teheran in an effort to foil its nuclear weapons program.
"Most of the Arab countries are not happy with Iran but none of them wants to be seen as actively stopping its nuclear program," an official said. "Even the Saudis are not pressing Washington on this."
The administration has pledged to lobby for sanctions against Iran amid its refusal to stop uranium enrichment. But officials said the White House and State Department do not envision any decision by the United Nations regarding sanctions on Teheran until mid- to late 2010.
In his visit to Israel in March 2010, Vice President Joseph Biden cautioned Israel against expectations of an imminent sanctions regime on Iran. Officials said Biden, who discussed the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that UN sanctions against Teheran could fail.
"Biden's message was that the United States will do all it can, but Israel should not expect that the international community would fulfill its [Israel's] expectations," another official familiar with Biden's visit said. "There was an underlying message that Israel should learn to live with a
(Excerpt) Read more at geostrategy-direct.com ...
Ping
Could the administrations’ policy be that Israel exists to take out Iran and be taken out by Syria/Iran?
Have you heard of the Samson Option?Its a term used to describe Israel’s alleged deterrence strategy of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons as a “last resort” against nations whose military attacks threaten its existence, and possibly against other targets as well
That’s leading ya putz obammy.
Slow Joe is of the opinion that sanctions could fail and military action could fail. Apparently the only thing in the mind of this administration that has a chance of success is to do nothing.
You seen spring in Minn. yet?
Things aren’t greening up yet but we haven’t had any snow on the ground for at least a month. I’m in the northern part of the state, though, and we may be a few weeks behind the southern end.
“Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council are quietly accepting the prospect that Iran would acquire nuclear weapons.”
One wonders how this assessment was made. “If the U.S. sat on its hands, would you be prepared to do what it takes to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?” likely would elicit a very different response than “If the U.S. and Israel were to undertake all measures, including military action if need be, to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, would you support us?”
Most of them are....why? Because they lack the ability to counter Iran with their own nuclear weapons programs.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt are not among those who can’t.....be assured, once Iran declares nuclear weapons capabilities, those three will go into high gear internally to debate their own pursuit of nukes.
Agree completely with skepticism over what questions were asked and how.
How about this one:
“Given that the United States and the rest of the world are now clearly dedicated to doing nothing to stop Iran from going nuclear, and given that the Iranians could wipe out your sorry little State even without nuclear weapons, would you still attempt to stop Iran from going nuclear?”
Or,
“Are you completely suicidal, or would you like to have the hope of living a little longer?”
It’s like asking them if they are going to try to stop the sun from coming up tomorrow, or would they be resigned to it.
What else were they going to say? What else are any of us going to say, for that matter.
“Given that the United States and the rest of the world are now clearly dedicated to doing nothing to stop Iran from going nuclear, and given that the Iranians could wipe out your sorry little State even without nuclear weapons, would you still attempt to stop Iran from going nuclear?”
I think it may have been more like: “Given that we will sit on our hands while Iran goes nuclear and have no plans to assist you if Iran responds militarily to any efforts you make to stop them, would you still attempt to stop Iran from going nuclear?”
I don’t have cites handy, but I’ve been following reasonably closely the prospects for Israel to take matters into their own hands. As of even just a few weeks ago, the “conventional wisdom” seemed to be that while Arabs would never publicly say so, many would feel relief rather than anger were Israel to take action. If Israel truly believed that attacking Iran would ignite the entire Arab world against them, then preemption would be tantamount to suicide. It makes no sense for a person or country to preempt murder by committing suicide.
So this most recently leaked “intelligence” feels suspiciously like self-serving pablum for the masses. Leaks always happen for a reason and the reason isn’t always to give the public “the truth.” As we’ve seen in their shameless performance during the health care reform debate, these spinmeisters have no compunction whatsoever about truth-twisting when it suits their purpose.
Today the headline is: Gulf states are resigned to a nuclear Iran.
At some point, expect to see a headline: World resigned to continue on without NYC, LA and Tel Aviv.
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