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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |
| Small Wars Journal: Why Israel Will Attack Iran | |
| 2012-04-08 | |
First, Israeli leaders believe that a nuclear Iran poses an existential threat to Israel and the Israeli public agrees. 90% think Iran is building nuclear weapons and 43% of the country support a military strike. Israeli leaders genuinely believe that they have a responsibility to keep the Jewish people safe and take a threat of this magnitude very seriously. The phrase "Never Again" isn't just rhetoric and Israeli leaders aren't just posturing when they say that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. Second, Israeli leaders know that world powers will not stop Iran. Israeli warnings have been ignored for a decade. The sanctions being imposed now may have had an impact, if they had been instituted ten years ago when Israel first sounded the alarm. For the Israelis, it's too little too late. By time sanctions take full effect in July, the Iranian nuclear program will be so deep underground that even the world's most powerful munitions may not be able to reach it. The Israelis know that the US is not going to attack Iran. The US fears an increase in Iranian-sponsored attacks on US forces in the Middle East more than they fear a nuclear armed Iran. Israel knows that it is on its own. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #8 Or possibly US leaders believe see (b). |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-04-08 13:41 |
| #7 I think the issue is exactly what they think. And they should think that if control structures currently in place fail, they're all dead. And that should be the message from an attack on Israel. We should be trying to make the Paks come to the conclusion they are better off without nukes. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2012-04-08 13:11 |
| #6 The issue is less what the current Pakistani leaders believe, Nimble, than what might happen if control structures currently in place fall apart. That is a greater-than-zero possibility. |
| Posted by: lotp 2012-04-08 11:39 |
| #5 The loss of Abyssinia was much less important than the reoccupation of the Rhineland. But both should have been opposed. And opposing the first might have prevented the second. The Pakis need to be made to understand that the nukes make them more insecure rather than less. Making Persia an example might help. Pour l'encouragement des autres. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2012-04-08 09:45 |
| #4 Or possibly US leaders believe the Iranian nuclear program is less of an immediate threat than, say, the implosion of Pakistan with a concommitant proliferation of tactical nukes into the hands of various hard-to-trace terror groups. |
| Posted by: lotp 2012-04-08 09:31 |
| #3 Forgot the most important reason. Most Israelis come to understand that (i) Peace with Muslims is impossible. (ii) Western powers no longer interested in survival. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-04-08 03:59 |
| #2 Well, boys will be boys. -Ronald Reagan |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2012-04-08 01:57 |
| #1 Tic Tock. |
| Posted by: newc 2012-04-08 01:07 |