White House coy on reported Israeli request for bombs, planes (classic "non-denial denial")

Yahoo ^ | 3/08/12 | Olivier Knox

[Libloather]

White House coy on reported Israeli request for bombs, planes By Olivier Knox | The Ticket – 3 hrs ago

Call it a classic "non-denial denial."

The White House tap danced Thursday around questions about news reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Obama administration for massive "bunker-buster" bombs and long-range refueling planes that could play a role in a strike on Iran. Israeli media accounts said that Washington agreed in return for a pledge that any such attack would not happen in 2012.

"In the meetings the president had, there was no such agreement proposed or reached," spokesman Jay Carney said. "It's possible that there's a report out there in a news outlet that might not be accurate."

Or it's possible that Netanyahu's schedule in Washington was designed to allow just that kind of duck-and-dodge.

Consider Carney's wording.

"That was not a subject of discussion in the president's meetings," he said. No such deal was sought or occurred "in terms of the president's meetings. I'm the president's press secretary ... that's what I know about the meetings the president had."

[Libloather]

"Uh, Jay, that was a yes or no question."