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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| NUKES FOR ALLAH - by Ralph Peters |
| 2005-10-28 |
| THIS week the president of Iran told a student rally that Israel should be "wiped off the map." Always a crowd pleaser in Tehran, Mr. Ahmadinejad's call to exterminate Jews rang freshly ominous in view of his government's nuclear ambitions. Meeting with a lively group of American businessmen on Tuesday, I was asked how we'd know when Tehran was on the verge of acquiring a nuclear capability. "You'll see Israeli planes in the sky over Iran," I said with a smile masking my seriousness. But it won't be as easy as Israel's 1981 destruction of Iraq's French-built Osirak reactor. This time, Israel will need more than attack aircraft (and better refueling means). It may take a combination of aircraft, missiles, special-ops teams and clandestine resources to interrupt Iran's nuclear program if the world fails to act. The effort would look more like the opening of the 1967 war than a pin-point strike. But Iranian nuclear weapons constitute a literal life-or-death issue for Israel. Tel Aviv would be better off facing the world's (disingenuous) outrage than nuclear destruction. Even for the military power of the United States, shattering Iran's nuclear-weapons program would be complicated. Iran's facilities are dispersed, hidden, buried and hardened. Attacks would kill foreign technicians wisely hired by Iran — de facto hostages. Yet, for all of the concern that Israel, the United States and blithely irresponsible Europe should feel about Tehran's quest for nuclear weapons, the Sunni Muslims of the Middle East and Pakistan should be more worried still. The likeliest future nuclear exchange in the Middle East may not be between Israel and Iran, after all, but between Shi'a and Sunni Muslims. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
#7
Frankly, any foreign technician who dies or is injured when someone bombs his work site will just be getting his just deserts. And, they're probably getting a salary based on their risks. Remember, only one man died in the Osirak bombing: a French engineer. Go figure. Hostages? Only that they have made themselves expendable. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-10-28 22:56 |
| #6 Maybe these dumb bastards will get nukes one day and be stupid enough to attempt to use them. A good excuse to turn their country into glass. |
| Posted by: Flame Thrower Junky 2005-10-28 20:29 |
| #5 Blame (or credit) for this can go all the way back to the peanut farmer, and beyond. The Orsirak reactor at Al Tuwaitha was rubblized on a Sunday in about 20 seconds. (the French and other Euro engineers were sleeping off hangovers). Oi vey, anything is possible. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2005-10-28 11:40 |
| #4 Just because you don't see action doesn't mean action isn't being taken. At the same time, there are real limits to what can be done until/unless Iran gives sufficient provocation. Let's see if they have more 'accidents' on their oil lines in the next few weeks. Or more students taking on the police (probably not, given the deaths in previous demonstrations.) |
| Posted by: anon 2005-10-28 10:39 |
| #3 The fact that Iran has lots of sites is not totally in their favor. If we can id some keys sites and take some clandestine action against them (maybe even using UAVs) we may be able to slow the nuke development up by several years. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-10-28 10:06 |
| #2 So Clinton screwed it up so bad this Administration couldn't do anything for the last five years? Not buying it. We're paying for the last admin's complacency in lots of ways, but in the last quarter of year five of an administration, continuing problems are the responsiblity of the current management. And I'm hard pressed to think of a thing we've done since 2001 to deal with Iranian nukes other than let the Europeans demonstrate their fecklessness. |
| Posted by: Tholulet Gleamp1412 2005-10-28 09:18 |
| #1 Another abject failure of the Clinton administration...and of his treasonous National Security Advisor Sandy (check my pants out) Berger. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2005-10-28 08:49 |