Posted on 03/10/2006 8:08:17 PM PST by Flavius
GENERAL Moshe Ya'alon, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces, has revealed that Israel could neutralise the Iranian threat for several years by hitting dozens of targets spread around the country.
General Ya'alon told the Hudson Institute in Washington on Thursday that the Iranian sites could be struck with greater accuracy than was achieved by the air force in its frequent "targeted assassinations" of Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
His remarks, the most explicit yet about Israel's capacity to strike at Iran's nuclear sites, drew sharp criticism from officials in Israel who have been attempting to maintain a low profile on the issue in order to leave it as a matter for the international community.
"You don't talk about these things in public," said a senior official, "particularly when there are journalists present."
The general's comments came as Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that if his Kadima party won this month's national elections, he would aim to establish the country's final borders with the Palestinian Authority within four years.
Although Mr Olmert expressed a readiness to negotiate these borders with a Hamas government if it recognised Israel and disavowed violence, he indicated that this was not likely to happen. The new borders would then be set unilaterally by Israel.
Mr Olmert said for the first time that the security barrier being built on the West Bank parallel to the pre-Six Day War boundary would serve as the new border, although its alignment might be shifted in places - either deeper into the West Bank or closer to Israel.
In Washington, General Ya'alon noted that unlike Palestinian targets, which were generally travelling in vehicles, nuclear sites were stationary.
He added that the job could also be done by means other than an air force attack, an apparent reference to missiles.
"It would be preferable for other nations to do the job," he was quoted as saying, "but you can't rule out Israel."
The retired general said the Iranians could complete their know-how on building a nuclear device within the next six to 18 months and could build one within three to six years.
A sharp counter-strike against Israel could be expected, General Ya'alon said, including the launching of missiles from Iran and action by the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, who have been provided by Iran with 12,000 rockets capable of hitting up to 80km inside Israel.
He said that Israel's Arrow anti-missile missile was fully deployed and capable of intercepting the Iranian missiles.
Back in the 90s when American war hero Bob Dole was positioning himself for a presidential bid, he took a shot at the smut in the media in connection with the Murphy Brown single-mom storyline.
To my rage and incredulity, Frank Rich popped up in the New York Times connecting Dole's remark to Rich's view that anti-Semitism animated this kind of complaint about Hollywood.
If Rich did not directly call Bob Dole anti-Semitic, he was so close that any argument about it would be quibbling.
Since that day, I have had the custom of automatically granting a person so accused an extra measure of respectful consideration for what he says. I utterly reject the disqualifying of someone from the public conversation with this rhetorical nuke. It makes me think that maybe they do have something significant to say if someone is so determined to shut them up rather than answering their statements with reason.
"You shutup because you are an anti-Semite" carries the same weight with me as Ted Kennedy hissing "racism" at someone or the chorus of "homophobe, homophobe" that greets people who offend that constituency.
Are there real anti-Semites now in the U.S. Sure, although many fewer than are suspected, IMHO. And there are other varieties of nasty bigots. I will identify them quickly enough for myself without someone acting as censor on my behalf.
Him observing that something "would be preferable" doesn't make it his, let alone Israel's, "strategy". (For paying the bills and such, I guess I think it would be preferable to win the lottery - but that's not my strategy.)
Never was able to figure out why saying a nation was smart enough to convince other people to neutralize threats for them was an insult to the nation.
Good point. You're just marvelling at how good at scheming and string-pulling those people are. I understand.
I reckon it is. That's why making it seem as if it's a trait peculiar to (or especially advanced in?) one group of people is so, well, peculiar.
Understatement of the century!
After I've thought about that statement, and in the context of the article and the dearth of disavowals from anyone in the government besides this unnamed "senior official," I'm wondering if there's not a "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" here that we shouldn't need the video to detect.
Something like a plausibly-deniable last warning from the state of Israel that's not from the state of Israel...
Wasn't it Dan Quayle that called Murphy Brown a slut?... just kidding. He mentioned her in saying Hollywood promoted out of wedlock child bearing.
Lets hope Iran picks up on that subtle hint... for their own good!
Yea, as I recall, Dan Quayle was the one who made the original comment that made Murphy Brown the symbol of tawdriness in media. But it was a larger conversation about the messages generally in movies, TV, and music. Bob Dole did refer specifically to the Murphy Brown episode after which Frank Rich saw fit to jump on Dole and deconstruct his complaint.
So whats the chance that Iran would attack Isreal directly after such an attack? I know it would be stupid for them to do so, but how smart is a nation that is openly looking for nukes, when its neighbor was invaded by the best military in the world for trying to make less dangerous WMD, a military that has you surrounded on two sides?
I am in total agreement on Frank Rich's idiocy. I was out of the country during the 96 campaign, so I was spared much of the stupidity.
Iran is like a crazy guy with a gun pointed at his head... he will either pull the trigger or put the gun down and seek treatment. For better or worse, the whole middle east mess is about to be resolved within the next year.
I believe that Iran is serious about acquiring nuclear weapons. I also believe that much of their current posturing is just that....posturing to play for time.
What they don't realize is that the US, and more significantly, Israel must take their rhetoric seriously regardless of whether we believe that they are 3 months or 3 years from a nuke....neither can afford to be wrong - particularly Israel!!
So the bias must be for a strike earlier, rather than later. To my mind, that says Israel goes....we seem to be paralyzed with diplomacy....that we must know has no chance whatsoever of success!!
To the substance of your question: I think that after a conventional attack to disable Iran's nuclear and missile sites, Israel will make it clear that the hole card is nuclear and it is held in a clenched fist. That should do the trick.
Why? Because Iran doesn't have a hole card. And as attractive as the coming of the "Twelfth Imam" might be, I'm not sure how many nutty Mullahs would bet on it when the chips were lined up against them.
I'm not hopeful. These people -- the ones that make the decisions -- don't respond well to feedback or overt punishment, and have fewer scruples than Ramsey Clark. They'll make a suicide bomb of their entire nation, if they find the technology and find themselves cornered, then blow it up by cell phone from Geneva.
They're delusional, and their hatred of America and fervor to dominate the world makes us a more inviting target than Israel. Missile-capable nukes require much more advanced technology than nukes in Conex boxes on freightors, so we're about as easy to hit as Israel.
We simply cannot draw the line anywhere north of zero Iranian nukes.
That leaves us with a choice between eating a damned frog -- stopping Iran's development before they have operational nukes -- or eating a much larger toad -- dealing with a nuclear-armed Iran, and its first "test."
US and Israel
The only thing the muslims understand is total and utter defeat. They couldn't surrender fast enough when we were on the move in Desert Storm and when we went into Iraq.
We need to stop pussyfooting around with Iran. It only gives them time to grow stronger.
"Peace, peace, they cry, but there is no peace".
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