US President George W. Bush will stop the Iranians from getting a nuclear bomb, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated with certainty during an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Monday. Olmert's comments come amid a debate raging in Jerusalem about whether the US will eventually take military action to stop the Iranian march to nuclear capability, whether Israel might have to act on its own, and whether Jerusalem should reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. Asked whether he felt that Bush would, one way or another, stop Iran from going nuclear, Olmert replied succinctly, "I believe so." Olmert said Bush was very determined on this issue. "First of all I think President Bush has the courage," he said during the interview in his Jerusalem office. "This is something that is very important. There is no one in the world today who has greater courage and determination, and a sense of mission about these issues, than President Bush, and I admire his determination and sense of mission."
Olmert's assessment is at odds with those inside the intelligence community who argue that the US president is too over-extended in Iraq and Afghanistan, and too politically weak at home, to take military action against Teheran. As to whether Israel had a military option of its own regarding Iran, Olmert said, "Israel can't accept the possibility of Iranians having nuclear weapons and we will act together with the international forces, starting with America, in order to prevent it. And as I also said, I believe that President Bush is absolutely determined to prevent it, and America has the capabilities to actually prevent it."