OT--Israelis turn up the heat on Iran
 

washingtonpost.com
Israel Warns of Iran Nuclear Plans

By GAVIN RABINOWITZ
The Associated Press
Monday, August 1, 2005; 7:33 PM



JERUSALEM -- Israeli officials expressed alarm Monday over Iran's decision
to resume uranium processing, warning that unless the international
community steps up pressure on the Islamic state, Iran will develop nuclear
weapons.

However, Israeli experts said the world, led by the U.S., should deal with
the problem.

Iran says its nuclear enrichment program is for peaceful purposes, but
Israel and the United States believe Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.

"If the Americans, Europeans and Russians will not take Iran to the (U.N.)
Security Council and put real pressure on them, they will produce nuclear
capabilities," said Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the parliamentary Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee.

Israel has repeatedly warned that Iran, which already posses the Shahab-3
missile _ a weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching
Europe, Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East _ is a threat to the
Jewish state.

"There is a growing understanding in the international community that the
Iranian nuclear program is not benign," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark
Regev.

Despite the mounting concern over the resumption of uranium processing and
the recent election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner, as Iran's
president, officials said that Israel was relying on the international
community, in particular the U.S., to stop Iran.

"Israel has already said that its policy today is to leave the stage to the
international players, the United States and Europe," said Efraim Halevy,
the former head of Israel's Mossad spy agency. "I think Israel is acting
wisely."

Officials questioned Israel's ability to destroy Iran's nuclear
installations. Israeli warplanes bombed the unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor
at Osirak near Baghdad in 1981. They said Iran's nuclear installations,
unlike the Iraqi reactor, are dispersed throughout the country _ many in
populated areas, with sophisticated defense systems.

"I believe this is beyond our abilities," said Uzi Even, a former lawmaker
and a Tel Aviv University expert on nuclear weapons.

Iran should fear the U.S., not Israel, Steinitz said. "The Americans have
proven their ability to strike many sites simultaneously."

Did you bother to read this article before posting it? The conclusion is
that the Israelis can't mount a realistic threat, and probably wouldn't
anyway.

Do you consider the ramp-up of Iran's nuclear program a success for the
Bush Administration's foreign policy? How about President Bush's
schmoozing with Vladimir Putin, asking him to not give (or sell,
actually) the Iranians any nuclear material, which they went ahead and
did anyway? By golly, that Bush-Cheney team really gets the job done!

BTW why did you run away from the thread about Turkey?

DSK

NOYB wrote:

washingtonpost.com
Israel Warns of Iran Nuclear Plans
... Officials questioned Israel's ability to destroy Iran's nuclear
installations. Israeli warplanes bombed the unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor
at Osirak near Baghdad in 1981. They said Iran's nuclear installations,
unlike the Iraqi reactor, are dispersed throughout the country _ many in
populated areas, with sophisticated defense systems.

"I believe this is beyond our abilities," said Uzi Even, a former lawmaker
and a Tel Aviv University expert on nuclear weapons.

Iran should fear the U.S., not Israel, Steinitz said. "The Americans have
proven their ability to strike many sites simultaneously."

"DSK" wrote in message
...
Did you bother to read this article before posting it? The conclusion is
that the Israelis can't mount a realistic threat, and probably wouldn't
anyway.


I didn't read it that way. I read it as a canard...meant to mislead the
Iranians and lull them into a sense of complacency. I also read it as a
strong warning to the US: "you guys take care of this problem, or we'll do
it for you...and then you can live with the total ****-storm that would
follow an Israeli attack against an Arab nation".





Do you consider the ramp-up of Iran's nuclear program a success for the
Bush Administration's foreign policy? How about President Bush's
schmoozing with Vladimir Putin, asking him to not give (or sell, actually)
the Iranians any nuclear material, which they went ahead and did anyway?
By golly, that Bush-Cheney team really gets the job done!

BTW why did you run away from the thread about Turkey?

What about it?

Did you bother to read this article before posting it? The conclusion is
that the Israelis can't mount a realistic threat, and probably wouldn't
anyway.



NOYB wrote:
I didn't read it that way. I read it as a canard...meant to mislead the
Iranians and lull them into a sense of complacency.

Really? In other words, this article saying that it would be almost
impossible for the Israelies to attack Iran's nuclear sites... and
listing some pretty solid reasons why... is all a smokescreen to cover
up Israel's intention to really attack?

Do you always assume gov't spokespeople are lying, or is it only
'conservative' ones?



... I also read it as a
strong warning to the US: "you guys take care of this problem, or we'll do
it for you...and then you can live with the total ****-storm that would
follow an Israeli attack against an Arab nation".


Gee, that'd be nice. Maybe you should read it again, only consider some
of the facts conveyed in the article this time.

And why no answer to my questions?

Do you consider the ramp-up of Iran's nuclear program a success for the
Bush Administration's foreign policy? How about President Bush's
schmoozing with Vladimir Putin, asking him to not give (or sell, actually)
the Iranians any nuclear material, which they went ahead and did anyway?


Big success, right? Just like the decrease in *reported* terrorism
because of the Bush/Cheney policy of supressing reports!

BTW why did you run away from the thread about Turkey?


What about it?


Last heard from, you were stamping your little feet and ranting that
there was no insurgency in Iraq. Has a brief cooling-off period allowed
some reality to sink in? Maybe I shouldn't mention it.

DSK

"HarryKrause" wrote in message
...
Scooby Doo wrote:
"NOYB" wrote in :

washingtonpost.com
Israel Warns of Iran Nuclear Plans

By GAVIN RABINOWITZ
The Associated Press
Monday, August 1, 2005; 7:33 PM



JERUSALEM -- Israeli officials expressed alarm Monday over Iran's
decision to resume uranium processing, warning that unless the
international community steps up pressure on the Islamic state, Iran
will develop nuclear weapons.

However, Israeli experts said the world, led by the U.S., should deal
with the problem.

There is a Middle Eastern country which has always categorically refused
international inspection of its nuclear program, but it's not Iran.

There is a Middle Eastern country about whose espionage against the
United States Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said "It is
difficult for me to conceive of a greater harm to national security", but
it's not Syria.

There is a Middle Eastern government run by the former mastermind of a
terrorist organization, but it's not the Palestinian Authority.

There is a Middle Eastern country that has engaged in the brutal military
occupation of disputed territory for over a generation in defiance of
dozens of United Nations resolutions, but it's not Pakistan.

There is a Middle Eastern regime so beholden to religious absolutists
that a de facto ban on interfaith marriage has been in place for years,
but it's not the Taliban.

There is a Middle Eastern country whose military in the past 36 months
has killed and maimed numerous neutral foreign nationals including
journalists, but it's not Lebanon.

There is a Middle Eastern country implicated in the ongoing investigation
of the fabrication of the "yellow cake uranium from Niger" story leading
up to the Iraq invasion, but it's not Saudi Arabia.

Anybody want to venture a guess as to the single country referenced in
the preceding seven paragraphs?



Middle Eastern? North Carolina?

I was going to guess West Virginia...but only because one of its elected
officials is a former mastermind of a terrorist organization.

"Scooby Doo" wrote in message
...
"NOYB" wrote in :

washingtonpost.com
Israel Warns of Iran Nuclear Plans

By GAVIN RABINOWITZ
The Associated Press
Monday, August 1, 2005; 7:33 PM



JERUSALEM -- Israeli officials expressed alarm Monday over Iran's
decision to resume uranium processing, warning that unless the
international community steps up pressure on the Islamic state, Iran
will develop nuclear weapons.


Back atcha:

August 1, 2005 Issue
Copyright © 2005 The American Conservative

Deep Background

In Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the
administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for Iran.
The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney's
office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with
drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-
type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-
scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear
weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets,
including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites.
Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be
taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the
case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being
involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States.
Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly
appalled at the implications of what they are doing-that Iran is being set
up for an unprovoked nuclear attack-but no one is prepared to damage his
career by posing any objections.

Stay with the action. ;-)

I posted that here a week ago when I wrote:

" The plans are already drafted to destroy Iran should another 9/11-type
attack occur...particularly if it's with WMD. " (NOYB, July 27th)

It really bothers you that there is a Jewish State, doesn't it.

It really bothers you that they resisted destruction by their Arab
neighbors and have a military that is the envy of the world.

What doesn't bother you is that these people that you claim
are being brutalized have been blowing up restaurants and
buses full of innocent civilians.

I think you have an agenda on this subject, and its not necessarily
an objective one.

Sherwin D.

Scooby Doo wrote:

"NOYB" wrote in :

washingtonpost.com
Israel Warns of Iran Nuclear Plans

By GAVIN RABINOWITZ
The Associated Press
Monday, August 1, 2005; 7:33 PM



JERUSALEM -- Israeli officials expressed alarm Monday over Iran's
decision to resume uranium processing, warning that unless the
international community steps up pressure on the Islamic state, Iran
will develop nuclear weapons.

However, Israeli experts said the world, led by the U.S., should deal
with the problem.

There is a Middle Eastern country which has always categorically refused
international inspection of its nuclear program, but it's not Iran.

There is a Middle Eastern country about whose espionage against the United
States Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said "It is difficult
for me to conceive of a greater harm to national security", but it's not
Syria.

There is a Middle Eastern government run by the former mastermind of a
terrorist organization, but it's not the Palestinian Authority.

There is a Middle Eastern country that has engaged in the brutal military
occupation of disputed territory for over a generation in defiance of
dozens of United Nations resolutions, but it's not Pakistan.

There is a Middle Eastern regime so beholden to religious absolutists that
a de facto ban on interfaith marriage has been in place for years, but
it's not the Taliban.

There is a Middle Eastern country whose military in the past 36 months has
killed and maimed numerous neutral foreign nationals including
journalists, but it's not Lebanon.

There is a Middle Eastern country implicated in the ongoing investigation
of the fabrication of the "yellow cake uranium from Niger" story leading
up to the Iraq invasion, but it's not Saudi Arabia.

Anybody want to venture a guess as to the single country referenced in the
preceding seven paragraphs?

Iran should fear the U.S., not Israel, Steinitz said. "The Americans have
proven their ability to strike many sites simultaneously."

Yeah baby! - and don't you forget that either !!!
The Americans are the heavy-lifters of the world,
always have been, and always WILL be, bar none!
We Americans have a saying, and live by it: Work
hard, play hard. And if someone threatens the things
we value, or the things we need for pleasure, look the
F out, cause be it Hitler, Saddam, whoEVER!, yer
going daaaaawn my bra-ther!

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 01:55:23 GMT, Scooby Doo
wrote:

~~ snippage ~~

Anybody want to venture a guess as to the single country referenced in the
preceding seven paragraphs?

Massachusetts? Whoops - that's New England.

Hmmmm - I KNOW!!! I KNOW!!!

Georgia!!! In Jimmy Carter's peanut field!!!

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 01:18:28 -0500, sherwindu
wrote:

It really bothers you that there is a Jewish State, doesn't it.

Doesn't bother me at all.

It really bothers you that they resisted destruction by their Arab
neighbors and have a military that is the envy of the world.

Pretty cool actually.

What doesn't bother you is that these people that you claim
are being brutalized have been blowing up restaurants and
buses full of innocent civilians.

Who - the Israelis? I thought they only used missiles on people in
wheel chairs?

I think you have an agenda on this subject, and its not necessarily
an objective one.

I have no agenda - beyond finding out who the hell scratched my
Contender. :)