To: Jack Deth
I don't think Israel is going to use conventional munitions. The EU and IAEA delayed the sanctions long enough for the Iranians to scatter their facilities into more distant and remote parts of Iran and shored up with SA300 SAM's (Russian version of our Patriots). The payload of conventional weapons needed per aircraft would degrade IDF range and time over target. The only option is small detachments of attack crafts per target, each equiped with one or two tactical nukes. We may be facing the first pre-emptive nuclear war and exchange in the world. Get your money out of the stock market and sit this one out in cash. If Iran survives the first IDF strike she will unleash her forces in Lebanon and Syria against Israel. Meantime they probably will attack the oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf. In other words take down the world economy along with Israel/US. If it gets bad enough, I think the West will take control of the domestic oil commodities market and stipulate price limits until the oil crisis is over.
355 posted on
01/22/2006 4:33:43 PM PST by
Fee
(`+Great powers never let minor allies dictate who, where and when they must fight.)
To: Fee
Israel would need to use nuclear weapons in order to take Iran out for many of the reasons cited in your post among other things. Such an attack would cause WWIII to break out in the middle east. It is very reasonable to think that Iran and Syria have already armed the various terrorist groups in the region with with chemical weapons to use against Israel if they attack Iran. Israel should have a plan in place to take out Iran and the terrorists out if need be, but I believe a preemptive nuclear strike against Iran would not be in the best interest of Israel or the world.
Israel should keep a strong posture and promise assured destruction of any nation that attacks it with nuclear weapons, but they should also give the United States and the international community a chance to solve this problem by what ever means we deem necessary. Israel acting alone would make this an all-out war between Islam and Israel that would be extremely costly to both sides. I have confidence that the US and our allies can solve this problem with a more surgical military approach that will assure the safety of both Israel and even the Iranian people by taking out the leadership and the nuclear capability with minimal civilian casualties in Iran.
It would then be up to Israel to take on the terrorist in its own back yard who would retaliate on Iran's behalf. This would be much easier for Israel in this instance because they wouldn't be receiving the same backlash they would have after attacking Iran themselves.
I think we must also consider the possibility that Iran's nuclear program is meant for defensive purposes, rather than offensive purposes. This theory does not assume that Iran is peaceful, but it does assume that Iran wants nukes to protect their regime from being overthrown by the US, rather than to destroy Israel or the west. They probably believe being a nuclear power would make them untouchable as a regime, and it would make them a major world power. We should stop them regardless, but this situation may not require as immediate or as severe a response as is being suggested. What I mean is we don't need to hit them tomorrow, we may have 6 months or a year to figure out the best course of action.
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