Posted on 12/19/2001 6:32:44 AM PST by pabianice
Iran's Rafsanjani suggests nuclear attack on Israel
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
One of Iran’s most influential ruling clerics called on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only".
The speech by former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani failed to catch the attention of the western press but made waves in the Middle East.
"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in its possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran.
In Washington Sunday, administration officials said the United States does not plan to target Iran in the war against terrorism.
"Iran is a situation where there are clearly some pressures from young people, there are pressures from women in that country," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "Iran had a different history than Iraq. I don't know, if nothing else happened and one looked at those two countries, I would say the likelihood of Iraq reforming itself is zero. The possibility, the remote possibility of Iran reforming itself is considerably above zero."
Dr. Assad Homayou, president of the Azadegan Foundation in Washington, D.C. agreed. "To me the issue is not nuclear weapons but the responsibility of the regime," he said. "This regime is not responsible and that is why I have always emphasized that the removal of this regime is imperative. As the U.S. secretary of defense said the situation with Iran is different from that of Iraq. People only need the moral support of the United States."
Analysts told the Iranian Press Service that Rafsanjani's speech marks the first time a prominent leader of the Islamic Republic had openly suggested the use of nuclear weapon against the Jewish State.
Rafsanjani advised Western states not to pin their hopes on Israel's violence because it will be "very dangerous".
"We are not willing to see security in the world is harmed", he said, warning that a war "of the pious and martyrdom seeking forces against peaks of colonialism will be highly dangerous and might fan flames of World War III."
Rafsanjani, who, as the Chairman of the Assembly to Discern the Interests of the State, is the Islamic Republic’s number two man after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was speaking on "International Qods (Jerusalem) Day" which is celebrated in Iran only.
The Pentagon, which has pressed for a second stage in the U.S. war against terrorism, does not support any military campaign against Iran. Instead, officials have urged that Washington target the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
On Monday, Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said the stifling of dissent in the country could spark a new wave of student protests, Middle East Newsline reported. Over the last 20 months, officials said, 56 publications have been closed. This includes 24 daily newspapers.
U.S. officials acknowledge that Iran is more advanced than Iraq in both missile development and weapons of mass destruction. They said that Iran, with Russian help, has succeeded in advancing its nuclear project and they could arrive at weapons capability as early as 2005.
But the officials said the administration has been impressed with Iran's help in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. The help has included military coordination, security along the Afghan border and intelligence exchange.
Some officials expect Iran to also quietly support any U.S. military campaign against Iraq. Iraq is Teheran's rival and neighbor and Saddam used chemical weapons against Iran during their 1980-88 war.
One scenario being envisioned by Pentagon sources is increased Iranian help to Shi'ite opposition forces in southern Iraq. The Iranian help could also include coordination for any U.S. ground attack in the oil fields around the southern port of Basra.
"I would characterize Iraq as a dictator in a repressive system that is unlikely to be altered from within absent an assassination or something like that," Rumsfeld said.
Contact World Tribune.com at world@worldtribune.com
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Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
The only thing which you are wrong about is that it would not be a catastrophy, and it will sure provide for lasting peace and cheap oil supply.
About half the world's Jewish population is in Israel. That leaves half the world's Jews surviving this Arab nuclear attack, and the Jews already have shown they can rebuild after massive decimation. And the Jews managed to survive for more than a thousand years without possessing the Temple Mount or the Wailing Wall or even making major pilgrimages to the Holy Land, so Jewry could survive the nuking of the State of Israel. On the other hand, don't expect the Israelis to die with a whimper. Israel already has a nuclear arsenal. What becomes of the Arab world if Israel, in its death throes, nukes Mecca and Medina? What happens to the Egyptian economy if the pyramids are reduced to powder? What happens to most Arab economies if their oil fields are evaporated in a nuclear blast?
Why is that? Just a few million dead Jews. Is the world better off without them?
What about the millions of Palestinians who are fighting to possess Palestine? Both the Palestinians and the land would be destroyed.
What about the tens, or possibly hundreds, of millions of Arabs who would die in such an exchange? The whole concept gives new meaning to MADD. These Muslim nut cases should understand that Israel would not allow itself to be annihilated without taking extreme countermeasures.
You might expect to read these kinds of comments from ignorant people on the margins. But this is from a man who was president of an important country. Sick.
Apparently the word is manna...the question is how much of it they want to eat.
I recall some mullah or another praying that swallows would rise up and crush all Americans.
Swallows, as in birds.
With logic like this, who needs a nuke? Just pray that goldfinches go critical-mass!
All out nuclear conflict in the ME and dead Jews ? Are you kidding ? There will be no dead Jews in the case. Dead Jews are mostly a product of "peaceful coexistence" with palestinians.
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