Posted on 04/15/2006 1:11:39 AM PDT by MadIvan
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran appeared to threaten Israel with a nuclear attack yesterday when he described it as a "rotten, dried tree" that would be annihilated by "one storm".
In his most vitriolic and anti-semitic attack to date, Mr Ahmadinejad warned that Israel faced imminent destruction.
While he did not refer explicitly to nuclear weapons, his reference to the "one storm" that would do away with Israel was seen as a code for nuclear Armageddon.
Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons but Teheran is widely believed to be bent on developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of international protocols and peace treaties. Yesterday's outburst will only worsen the stand-off between Iran and the major powers over its nuclear ambitions.
President George W Bush, like many US leaders before him, is an ardent supporter of Israel and his administration would not stand by if Iran posed a threat to it.
Israel for its part has warned that it would not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear capability. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons although it never publicly admits this.
Speaking at the opening of a conference in Teheran to support the Palestinian cause, Mr Ahmadinejad repeated earlier anti-semitic attacks in Israel, questioning the scale of the Nazi Holocaust and attacking Zionism.
"Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation," he said. "The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."
And he poured scorn on the established history of the Holocaust, saying that an atrocity committed in Europe should be settled in Europe.
"If such a disaster is true, why should the people of this region pay the price? Why does the Palestinian nation have to be suppressed and have its land occupied?"
The land of Palestine, he said, referring to the British mandated territory that includes all of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, "will be freed soon".
He did not say how this would be achieved, but insisted to the audience of at least 900: "Believe that Palestine will be freed soon." The president provoked world outcry last October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map".
Mr Ahmadinejad was speaking days after an Israeli general spoke of the military potential of Iran's nuclear programme.
The chief of military intelligence, Maj-Gen Amos Yadlin, was quoted on Wednesday as saying Iran could develop a nuclear bomb "within three years, by the end of the decade".
A day earlier, Mr Ahmadinejad had announced that Iran had successfully enriched uranium using a battery of 164 centrifuges, a significant step toward the large-scale production of enriched uranium required for either fuelling nuclear reactors or making nuclear bombs.
Meanwhile, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards yesterday warned the US not to attack the Islamic republic, saying that American troops in Iraq and the region were vulnerable.
General Yahya Rahim Safavi, one of Teheran's most powerful figures, said of the US: "You can start a war but it won't be you who finishes it.
"The Iranian armed forces are totally ready to defend the country. If the Americans attack Iran, they will be making a second strategic error after their attack against Iraq."
Speaking at the pro-Palestinian conference in Teheran, the general warned: "The Americans know better than anyone that their troops in the region and in Iraq are vulnerable. I would advise them not to commit such a strategic error."
We will not attack Iran until there is a significant event that would justify such an attack. Unfortunately, this means that when we finally do what needs to be done, the consequences for us will be much more serious.
WE can't afford a war with Iran. It's not that they're too strong for us -- we could sterlize the whole country in an hour if we wanted to. Or we could carry out a nuclear counterforce strike and eliminate Iran's government, armed forces, infrastructure, and resource base. Oh, it could be done! But if we were to do that the entire world would turn against us. We would become the new Nazis.
Instead, here is what is going to have to happen: we are going to have to let President Nutjob get in the first shot. The Israelis are going to have to take one for the team. Only after an Iranian nuclear first strike on Israel, with the accompanying television footage from Hell, will the milktoasts and Machiavellis finally see the light. Only by the deaths of a couple of hundred thousand Jews will the world finally see Iran -- and Islam -- for what it really is.
Even then, I'm not so sure they would. We may have to go it alone no matter what. If so, we will face a global economic embargo at the very least. We will be rid of the Iranian nuclear threat, but we will become a pariah state.
This is the main reason I'm for a form of autarky. Sure, autarky is bad from an economic point of view. But a nation that is dependent upon the goodwill of other nations for the resources it needs to survive is not a sovereign nation at all. We Americans would definitely take a standard-of-living hit if we as a nation organized our economy on an autarkic basis -- but we would also be free to do whatever was necessary in situations such as this.
As it is, a whole lot of innocent people -- on both sides -- are going to have to die in order for the world to be rid of the human vermin that threaten us all.
Iran will attack Israel. Israeli forces will get most of the attackers, but one or two will get through. It may be Tel Aviv, Haifa, or Dimona that gets the nuke (I don't think the Iranians would nuke Jerusalem), but the end result will be horror no matter what. Only then will we, the Israelis, and perhaps the UK respond.
Or perhaps a merciful God will spare us all. Let us pray for that miracle.
We could end it all right now with just one bullet strategically shot between the eyes of this tinhorn dictator.
You've never been to Midland Texas have you?
The problem is not world opinion as such, but that the American people need to be prepared for the consequences of an unprovoked attack on Iran. The President would need to start the process of educating Americans that Iran is a threat to our survival. This would be impossible at this time given the almost total lack of support (and outright hatred) for Bush among the elites. Bush does not have Reagan's ability to speak directly to the American people over the heads of these elites (unfortunately). Therefore, as you indicate, some horrendous event will be needed to do the job of educating.
I agree that world opinion as such is not an issue. But if we use nukes first -- for any reason -- we will see an explosion of hatred against us that will make what we experience today seem like an Easter egg hunt. I'm talking a total global economic embargo, UN resolutions branding us a rogue state, maybe even "quarantine actions" by foreign forces. The new treaty with India will go up in smoke. Russia and China will completely freak out and kick off an arms race of 1914 proportions. No more cheap Wal-Mart crap from China; no more cheap labor in Malaysia and Indonesia; even the Japanese might recoil in horror. Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf states will likely cut us off. The stock market could very likely collapse, creating a deflationary slide. It'll be bad.
We'll eventually have autarky here -- either by choice or because no one else in the world will trade with us. I'm all for choice, myself. It sure beats the alternative.
Keisha from MN here, the prophecies of the near death (I had one too, when in a coma) all tell of horrible things, it foretells of the bankrupcy of the U.S. I don't even want to think of one nuclear going off, our world today is more messed up than when we were in Vietnam, Russia and China , China according to Ned Dougherty's vision. Man oh man, I have never seen such instability , cataclysmic changes in the weather too, there are those who say that weather has a profound effect on that stability. I think that President Bush may know something he doesn't dare tell us , about Iran, and that he knew it from the get go....
The nutter is offering up about one juicy sound bite a day, these days. The guy must crave attention.
Thanks for that link.
I think that's an interesting perspective, that the outcome of the Russian/Persion invasion of Israel is the world government. It certainly would provide the impetus for strengthening a world political body like the UN or it's successor.
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