"Teufelhunde wrote:
"You don't have to employ nuclear weapons to receive a nuclear response, if the targets contain millions
of curies worth of fuel, test materials, spent fuel rods, etc. That cuts both ways, IMO."
I had forgotten about this. Good point. It gets very messy, very fast."
"Messy" is one way of putting it, "dirty" and "hot" also come to mind.
We've covered military isues, on diplomatic and world opinion issues, I think by Sunday or Monday, most who count will have realized the potential here, and will be looking to put Israel back in the cage, in hopes of staving off disaster. You'll see Libs, Muslims, and everyone who uses oil out in the streets making big noise.
Israel won't do any of that in a hurry, if at all. If they do, and if Iran is playing us all for suckers, pulling Israel back actually works to our benefit, no opportunity to slice into their right flank from the Golan. It puts more of the IDF under any potential plume, however, does nothing to stave off future maneuver by Iran and Syria, and opens Israel to more abuse at the hands of the H twins.
However, I'd rather see Israel's hands tied for now, than I would see Iran and Syria get drawn in and react as if they planned this when they didn't.
I'd much rather deal with each of those two on our schedule, seperately, and then let Israel have the leftovers afterwards, if there are any still left worth attacking, so a clamor for an Israeli pullback is a wash for me.
In the words of the old bull to the young bull, "No, lets walk down, and do them all".