Posted on 06/23/2008 2:31:32 PM PDT by blam
Israel 'will attack Iran' before new US president sworn in, John Bolton predicts
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 9:18PM BST 23/06/2008
John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, has predicted that Israel could attack Iran after the November presidential election but before George W Bush's successor is sworn in.
Bolton: 'the argument for military action is sooner rather than later'
The Arab world would be "pleased" by Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
"It [the reaction] will be positive privately. I think there'll be public denunciations but no action," he said.
Mr Bolton, an unflinching hawk who proposes military action to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, bemoaned what he sees as a lack of will by the Bush administration to itself contemplate military strikes.
"It's clear that the administration has essentially given up that possibility," he said. "I don't think it's serious any more. If you had asked me a year ago I would have said I thought it was a real possibility. I just don't think it's in the cards."
Israel, however, still had a determination to prevent a nuclear Iran, he argued. The "optimal window" for strikes would be between the November 4 election and the inauguration on January 20, 2009.
"The Israelis have one eye on the calendar because of the pace at which the Iranians are proceeding both to develop their nuclear weapons capability and to do things like increase their defences by buying new Russian anti-aircraft systems and further harden the nuclear installations .
"They're also obviously looking at the American election calendar. My judgement is they would not want to do anything before our election because there's no telling what impact it could have on the
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Unless they use small nukes... it’ll be a half-a$$ job.
Olmert may not be brilliant, but I’m pretty sure Israel doesn’t need any advice from us. Remember how they invaded Syrian airspace last summer and nobody knew what had happened, if anything?
One way or another... we'll be in it if it happens.
Please! do it the first week of Nov!
McCain\Bolton in 08
or even better
Bolton\(anyone else but McCain) in 08 ;-)
Israel can detonate some small nukes in the ionosphere and fry all the electronics in a sizable area within Iran. That wouldn’t kill the civilians, but would render a response from Ahmadinejad impossible.
My guess. ..November 5th. ESPECIALLY if Obama pulls it off. . .
As much as I distrust McCain, that’s a ticket I could vote for.
Tomorrow morning is OK with me.
The complete destruction of their military and nuke facilities would be a plus too. Not to mention giving Imanutjob and all the Mullahs a dirt bath also.
Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up tomorrow morning and find that all the fascist dictators, like Chavez, Assad, Putin, the Castro’s, Mugabe, the fruitcake in Bolivia and God knows how many other places had been killed ovenight?
Damnit!
Loose lips sink ships!
Keep your powder dry, and away from the media.
How can civilization ever win if we telegraph our actions to the evildoers months in advance??
Obama would have a very stressful four year term. He could not pull out of Iraq. He would have to support Israel militarily if Iran retaliated. Gas prices would sky rocket and he might have to Drill Here - Drill Now!
Maybe the leaders would be privately pleased, but there would be a huge outrage in the streets, including in the streets of Iraq. An Israeli attack would be a disaster for us throughout the region. Our embassies would become targets for the mobs in the streets. Let's hope Bolton is wrong.
“The “optimal window” for strikes would be between the November 4 election and the inauguration on January 20, 2009. The Israelis have one eye on the calendar because of the pace at which the Iranians are proceeding both to develop their nuclear weapons capability and to do things like increase their defences by buying new Russian anti-aircraft systems and further harden the nuclear installations .”
My translation: Israel does not want to attack Iran too early because they need to at least show the world they gave Iran every chance to peacefully negotiate, but Israel knows that if Obama wins the election, they will not get much support from the US when and if, say in 2009 or 2010 an attack is clearly necessary. Thus, if Obama wins, Israel will settle the matter before he takes office in January.
I would prefer two years ago.
Oh well.
“..fry all the electronics in a sizable area within Iran.”
And possibly electronics of airplanes in flight and equipment needed by our spies within Iran. Bad move.
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