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.
I agree completely. I was in college just before and during the takeover, and had proud Persians seated on each side of me in a Political Science class. Great guys, both of them, left stranded by the upheaval. They were "into" their political scene, and we talked a lot about it.
I was in touch with one of them briefly a year ago, and he's involved with things happening within Iran, and excited about them.
Would you proclaim your pro-America -pro-west if you had the Mullahs as your government and lived in Iran ?
No way, until things came to a head with a chance of success. It's a very tightly-controlled regime down to the neighborhoods, not a nice place to be if you long for freedom.
The Samson Option-- what is known about Israel's Nuclear Weapons?
U.S. Air Force: Israel has 400 nukes, building naval force
The latter report is illuminating, given that it is 4 years old, and the most commonly-quoted number of Israeli warheads is 200... wonder how many they really have?
agree 100% You cannot negotiate with an enemy commited to wiping you off the planet. This talk with the UN/EU/IAEA is only buying them time to complete their bomb. The cost of action is far less than the cost on inaction.
I would agree to a certain extent, at least with one particular fellow I know personally...
He came to the USA from Iran as a small boy with his parents. As a young teenager, he ran away to avoid returning to Iran with them. He wears pointy boots, Stetson hats, chews, drives a GMC 4WD with rifle racks in the back window, likes that Texas honky-tonk rockabilly music and you would think he is a Mexican or Native American cowpoke if you got a look at him.
He told me to never trust the Islamics. The sight of a mosque makes him cringe and grit his teeth. When seeing it that day in his face as we drove past one in Detroit on the way to a hockey game, I asked. It was a ten minute rant from a usually quiet, unassuming fellow I will never forget. He seriously hates the religion...
The nuclear Popeye Turbo launched from Dolphin class are a myth. The whole myth was started with the story of Israeli Dolphin class subs testing with the Indian Navy. If you believe the stories then the two Israeli Dolphins at the time were in the Indian Ocean. They were actually still in port in Israel. It is a classic case of bogus rumors and stories getting out of hand. Consequently many individuals believe that Israeli Dolphin-class have this capability and can strike solely from the Med.
and Preditors and Global Hawks.
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