Posted on 08/19/2010 6:37:34 PM PDT by lbryce
The Obama administration, citing evidence of continued troubles inside Irans nuclear program, has persuaded Israel that it would take roughly a year and perhaps longer for Iran to complete what one senior official called a dash for a nuclear weapon, according to American officials.
White House officials said they believe the assessment has dimmed the prospect that Israel would pre-emptively strike against the countrys nuclear facilities within the next year, as Israeli officials have suggested in thinly veiled threats.
For years, Israeli and American officials have debated whether Iran is on an inexorable drive toward a nuclear bomb and, if so, how long it would take to produce one. A critical question has been the time it would take Tehran to convert existing stocks of low-enriched uranium into weapons-grade material, a process commonly known as breakout.
Israeli intelligence officials had argued that Iran could complete such a race for the bomb in months, while American intelligence agencies have come to believe in the past year that the timeline is longer.
We think that they have roughly a year dash time, said Gary Samore, President Obamas top adviser on nuclear issues, referring to how long it would take the Iranians to convert nuclear material into a working weapon. A year is a very long period of time.
Mr. Samore said the United States believed international inspectors would detect an Iranian move toward breakout within weeks, leaving a considerable amount of time for the United States and Israel to consider military strikes.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The W.H. would also like to know if you’d be interested in purchasing a new Government Motors “Volt”.
Whistling past the graveyard of the West.
Yeah, but 0b0z0’s communist threat is continuing.
Is there enough room for all of Israel under the bus?
Ah, yet another “teachable moment”.
The US, and most of Americans, will not give anything remotely resembling a damn until Iran shows proof it can reach the US with nuke weapons. And by then we will be the warriors who idiotically waited until the sound of the trumpet to sharpen our swords. As many problems as there have been with Israel lately, I do at least have faith that the Lord is protecting them and they have the same remarkable self preservation skills they one had so they can stop Iran from going to war with nukes. If Iran hits Israel with a nuke - and they will since they will target Israel before any other nation-they know they can’t trust the US to launch a counter strike.
Now Obama has become Baghdad Bob. He has finally proven to everyone that he is a Muslim traitor.
Wow, I was unaware that the US experienced a holocaust......
And this is the recovery Summer.
Israel would be insane to listen to anything on this subject coming from the ObaMao administration.
Well if it’s going to happen next year, the time to act is this year.
Doesn’t it seem like it is always a year away?
Wow. A whole year. We can relax.
This will look like weakness to our Arab allies.
Obama does not lie, so this must be the truth, right?
...I should have put this in previous post... Given that the CIA did missed the fall of communism and Pakistan and NK getting the bomb, it would make sense for them to be surprised by Iran soon.
If youd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Once the nuke plant is operational, they can extract plutonium 239and essentially bypass the uranium enrichment problem.
Of course it presents two other problems...PU-240 separation and implosion vs gun triggering. Still, once yuou have weapons-grade Pu-239...or a reactor to make it...you're on your way.
The only way to then stop the process is to create a Chernobyl.
Yeah, right. We believe you(wink wink,nod!
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