Posted on 03/10/2006 6:15:22 AM PST by Irontank
The United States has until now not done enough to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, a senior Defense Ministry official has told The Jerusalem Post while expressing hope that Wednesday's referral of the Iranian issue to the United Nations Security Council would prove to be effective.
"America needs to get its act together," the official said. "Until now the US administration has just been talking tough but the time has come for the Americans to begin to take tough action."
The only real way to stop Teheran's race to obtain the bomb apart from military action was through tough economic sanctions that caused the Iranian people to suffer. "Once the people understand that their government is bringing upon them a disaster will they realize that the [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's regime needs to be replaced," the official said.
Iran, the official said, was doing all it could to stall for time, including holding "pointless" talks with Russia concerning the enrichment of its uranium. "They are just trying to get more time and they will continue lying and deceiving the international community while simultaneously trying to obtain nuclear power," he said.
While it was complicated to overthrow the current regime in Teheran, "it is not impossible," the official said. If the world stopped refining Iranian oil, the official said as an example, the country would not have gas for its cars. "If the people start to suffer then they will understand that a change in government is needed." But if the diplomatic course failed, Israel and the US needed to be prepared, the official said, to take military action against Teheran. "This option may be needed but it should only be used as a last resort," he said.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told reporters in Germany on Wednesday that Israel had all it needed to defend itself against Iran. Asked by reporters if Israel had a military plan handy in a desk drawer to strike Iran, Mofaz said: "Israel has many drawers containing everything it needs to defend its citizens." Israel, Mofaz told senior German officials, would not stand by idly while its very existence was at risk. "We do not plan to turn a blind eye to these threats and we will do everything possible to make sure they do not materialize."
America does not carry Israel's water.
I would say that 2,400 dead, 17,000 wounded and $450 billion in war costs are sufficient evidence of "toughness".
It will be a wasted sacrifice if Iran gets a nuclear weapon and destroys Israel. After all, this is why we got rid of Hussein. If Iran does it anyway, all of this will have been in vain.
ping
Israel is also not doing enough to stop Iran. Where are the air strikes planned by Israel? Let it happen now. Why would Israel need to wait for another minute with sanctions unlikely, with China and Russia to block it?
Since when does Israel dictate our foreign policy. Why isn't the IDF in Iraq fighting aside Americans?
Israel is free to set its own foreign policy- attack Iran if it's in their best interest.
We can't be expected to engage Iran at the expense of our troops in Iraq. We (Americans) have made more than enough sacrifices in American lives and dollars in the middle east.
In this case we do. Considering that Irans nuclear facilities are spread far and wide and will require a lot more than just one sortie. The Iranians have learned from Saddam's mistake.
Agree. Israel does help. Just not in the public eye. Mostly intelligence sharing.
A nuclear Iran is a problem for Israel and far less of one for the world...especially an American thousands of miles away...unless you believe that Iranian leadership is suicidal...and, there is no reason to believe that. Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons because it fully understands that a match up of conventional forces with Israel means nothing so long as Israel possesses nuclear weapons and Iran does not...my guess is that nukes being pursued by Iran will be used to deter the threat of conventional attack by Israel or the US (or Israel through the US) and, worst case, to permit Iran to ally with Arab enemies of Israel in the region to attack Israel with conventional attack without fear of nuclear retribution by Israel
It is not however, a threat to the US
And Iraq has been an exercise gone awry...facts would suggest that one of the primary reasons we invaded Iraq and deposed Saddam was, not to liberate Iraqis or to protect America, but to protect Israel...but not from Saddam...but from Iran and Syrian designs on a very weak and vulnerable Saddam
Overthrowing Saddam and helping the Hashemites (i.e. Jordanians) take power in Iraq was a plan put forth as early as 1996 in a Report to the Israeli government from Richard Perle, David Wurmser and Doug Feith called "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm"
Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq — an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right... Since Iraq's future could affect the strategic balance in the Middle East profoundly, it would be understandable that Israel has an interest in supporting the Hashemites in their efforts to redefine Iraq...To anticipate U.S. reactions and plan ways to manage and constrain those reactions, Prime Minister Netanyahu can formulate the policies and stress themes he favors in language familiar to the Americans by tapping into themes of American administrations during the Cold War which apply well to Israel. If Israel wants to test certain propositions that require a benign American reaction, then the best time to do so is before November, 1996
--from "A Clean Break: A Strategy for Securing the Realm
As you know, Perle later became Rumsfeld's Chairman of Defense Policy Board, Feith became Under-Secretary of Defense to Wolfowitz and Wurmser became Cheney's Mid-East Advisor...all were strong proponents of using the American military to get rid of Saddam.
In 1997, Wurmser expanded on his suggested policy for Israel vis-a-vis Iraq in a Report entitled "Coping with Crumbling States." Far from concluding that Saddam was a menace to Israel...much less the US...the Report argues that Iraq is a crumbling regime and subject to influence from Israel's two main enemies...Iran and Syria
There is no mention in this Report of WMD in Iraq or threats from Saddam or sponsoring terrorism and there is no mention or recommendation regarding democracy in Iraq...the entire paper is devoted to the struggle between Syria, Jordan, Iran and Israel for whatever becomes of Iraq
In 1999, Wurmser changed his tact and began advocating the US take the lead role in the overthrow of Saddam in his book "Why Removing Saddam Matters to U.S./Israel"
In the book, he writes "Iraq's strategic importance to the US derives from a source beyond the pernicious, extortionist character of Saddam's regime. Iraq occupies some of the most strategically blessed and resource-laden territory of the middle east. ... Iraq also has large, proven oil reserves, water, ..." [Note that lack of water is a long-standing Israeli problem.]
Wurmser also notes that Iraq threatens its neighbors but mentions only Israel.
The neocons threw their support behind Ahmed Chalabi...Perle and Wurmer pushed Israel and American Jews to support Chalabi and his INC group in their efforts to overthrow Saddam
Chalabi, who was a favorite of the neocons (Wurmer called him one of "two mentors who guided my understanding of the Middle East" in his 1999 book.
But what about Chalabi? He had been an enemy of Saddam for years...formed the INC in 1992, helped organize an attempted coup against Saddam in 1995. In the late 90's and, especially after 9/11, he found partners in interest in getting rid of Saddam in the Israeli lobby in Washington and the neocons. So, we relied on, funded and suypported Chalabi...yet it was Chalabi's group that provided much of the bogus intelligence that led us to war against Iraq
Despite the fabrication notice, reporting from the INC source regarding Iraqi mobile BW facilities started to be used again several months later in finished intelligence—eventually ending up in the October 2002 NIE and in Secretary Powell’s February 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council.WMD Report to the President, March 31, 2005, page 109
Shortly after Defense HUMINT’s initial debriefing of the INC source in February 2002, however, a foreign liaison service and the CIA’s Directorate of Operations (DO) judged him to be a fabricator.
--WMD Report to the President, March 31, 2005, page 85
In May 2004...the U.S. intercepts an Iranian message from an agent in Baghdad to Tehran saying Chalabi had told him the U.S. can read Iran's secret cables...an investigation by the FBI reveals that Chalabi had been passing a huge amount of US secrets to the Iranians...including extremely sensitive information about recent U.S. intercepts of official communications within the Iranian government. The intelligence allegedly shared by Chalabi's group with Tehran also included information on how the United States had deciphered encrypted Iranian messages, U.S. officials said
Finally, in 2004, the Pentagon and White House concluded Chalabi was a fraud and an opportunistic dangerous character and cut off Pentagon funds to him
In the end...America was led into war by a group of intellectuals whose saw a great benefit to Israel...I'm still trying to figure out the benefit to the US...on the basis of lies fed to them by an opportunistic deceptive operator who has now assumed power in the new Iraqi government and proven himself an enemy of America. The war and the elections have clearly strengthened Iran...and, in that sense, the mission accomplished exactly the opposite of what it was designed to do
If Israel feels she is threatened by Iran, the she alone should act.
It is NOT up to us to spend our blood and treasure protecting them.
I'm confident that the President, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, the Joint Chiefs, and all of GWB's contacts in the Bush 41 administration understand the gravity of this threat and they're willing to act to stop Iran at this critical time in history.
If nothing is done about the Iranians, what would stop then from nuking US troops in Iraq? The mullahs are looney enough to do it.
It's even worse than that. If we let them build a full nuclear arsenal, then one crazy ayatollah could decide to destroy America in one day with ship-launched nuclear cruise missiles.
I find it funny that they complain that we aren't doing enough to protect them. Like their security is our responsibility.
It almost makes you wonder if they have (or had) say in our foreign policy.
This problem will have to be resolved in the very near future. Maybe a massive EMP bombardment to paralyze their infrastructure for starters..
We're doing it the UN's way now. They didn't like how we handled Iraq, fine. We're doing it their way. Israel is right, but they should be complaining at another office, we're closed. Try Brussels.
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Contrary to the foolish, stupid, and uninformed MSM, the President is doing a great job at dealing with very difficult circumstances in several areas of the world. Far from being "incompetent" as the silly Democrat congresscritters say, his administration is extremely competent, but he is dealing with very difficult circumstances. There's a huge difference between incompetence and dealing with some very tough situations in the world.
Watching the Bush administration is like watching the top golfers in the world playing Pebble Beach at the US Open in a 30-mph wind. They're extremely good at their game but the conditions are very tough. But just as at Pebble Beach, at some time the winds will subside and the true expertise of the Bush administration will then be visible to the world. I expect to see some improvement in conditions in Iraq throughout this year, and then Iran will be the big challenge. IMO, we must bring the Iranian nuclear crisis to an acceptable conclusion later this year or in the first half of 2007.
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