Contrary to some claims that the Bush administration will allow diplomacy to handle Iran’s nuclear weapons program, a leading member of America’s Jewish community tells Newsmax that a military strike is not only on the table – but likely.
“Israel is preparing for heavy casualties,” the source said, suggesting that although Israel will not take part in the strike, it is expecting to be the target of Iranian retribution.
“Look at Dick Cheney’s recent trip through the Middle East as preparation for the U.S. attack,” the source said.
Cheney’s hastily arranged 9-day visit to the region, which began on March 16, included stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Turkey, and the Palestinian territories.
Tensions in the region have been rising.
While Israel was conducting the largest homefront military exercises in its history last week, Israel’s National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer warned Tehran about expected attacks on the Jewish state.
“An Iranian attack will prompt a severe reaction from Israel, which will destroy the Iranian nation,” he said.
He predicted that in a future war, “hundreds of missiles will rain on Israel,” but added that Iran “is definitely aware of our strength.”
In addition to long-range missiles Iran has been developing to strike Israel, Israel’s military strategists see the Iranians using terror groups they back like Hamas operating from Palestine and Hezbollah from Lebanon to launch attacks.
Iran has supplied Hezbollah with an arsenal that now contains “tens of thousands of missiles,” according to the Washington Post.
IIsrael’s recent war exercises, including preparations for chemical and biological weapons attacks, drew a sharp response from Syria which held its own military drills. The Syrian government accused Israel of preparing for a war which Damascus predicted would be begin anytime between May 1 and the end of June.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently told foreign journalists that Israel needs to confront the threat posed by Iran. Privately he has been telling associates his number one priority is have the Israeli military strike Iran if the U.S. is unwilling.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz disclosed that Israel is concerned that North Korea has transferred technology and nuclear materials to Iran to aid Tehran’s secret nuclear weapons program.
Iran remains intransigent to international pressure that it offer full transparency relating to its nuclear program. On Sunday the head of Iran’s nuclear program “abruptly canceled a meeting with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, dealing a blow to the U.N. monitor's efforts to investigate allegations that Iran tried to make nuclear arms, an agency official said,” according to an AP report.
“But a senior diplomat had told the AP that IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] head Mohamed ElBaradei likely planned to use the meeting with Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's nuclear program, to renew a request for more information on allegations Tehran had tried to make atomic arms.”
A number of signs indicate that, contrary to the belief President Bush is a lame duck who will not act before he leaves office, the U.S. is poised to strike before Iran can acquire nuclear weapons and carry out the threat of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to “wipe Israel off the map”:
According to intelligence sources, the administration now rejects the National Intelligence Estimate report issued in December that asserted Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in late 2003.
The French daily Le Monde reported in March that newly surfaced documents show that Iran has continued developing nuclear weapons. In late 2006, U.S. intelligence reportedly intercepted a phone conversation in Iran’s Defense Ministry in which the nuclear weapons program was discussed.
The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Admiral William Fallon, resigned in March amid media reports that he broke with President Bush’s strategy on Iran and did not want to be in the chain of command when the order comes down from the President to launch a strike on the Islamic Republic.
Democrats suggested he had been forced out because of his candor in opposing Bush’s Iran plans, and Esquire magazine contended that Fallon’s departure signaled that the U.S. is preparing to attack Iran.
According to a Tehran-based Iranian news network, Press TV, Saudi Arabia is taking emergency steps in preparing to counter any “radioactive hazards” that may result from an American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The Saudi newspaper Okaz disclosed that the Saudi government has approved nuclear fallout preparations, and the Iranian network reported that the approval came a day after Cheney met with the kingdom’s high-ranking officials, further stating that the U.S. “is now informing its Arab allies of a potential war.”
The American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, has stepped up criticism of Iran, telling Congress last week that Iranian support for Shiite militias posed the most serious threat to Iraq’s stability. He told senators : “Iran has fueled the violence in a particularly damaging way.” Last week, the U.S. said Iran was providing insurgents with missiles that were killing Americans and hitting targets within the U.S. occupied Green Zone in Baghdad.
MSNBC Commentator Pat Buchanan said Petraeus’ remarks to Congress lay the groundwork for a U.S. attack on Iran.
President Bush said in a speech at the White House on April 10 that Iran, along with al-Qaida, are “two of the greatest threats to America.”
He said Iran “can live in peace with its neighbors,” or “continue to arm and train and fund illegal militant groups which are terrorizing the Iraqi people … If Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests and our troops and our Iraqi partners.”
He later told ABC News that if Iran continues to help militants in Iraq, “then we’ll deal with them.”
Members of Congress are said to have been briefed by the administration about the rising Iran threat.
Iran did little to cool tensions when it announced that it had begun installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz.
Centrifuges can enrich uranium to a low level to produce nuclear fuel or a high level for use in weapons.
The announcement of the new centrifuges by President Ahmadinejad came on April 8, Iran’s National Day of Nuclear Technology, which marked the second anniversary of Iran’s first enrichment of uranium.
Iran already has about 3,000 centrifuges operating in Natanz, and the new announcement was widely seen as a show of defiance to international demands to halt a nuclear program that the U.S. and its allies insist is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
posted
I hope this is untrue. THIS WOULD BE THE STUPIDEST THING THE UNITED STATES HAS EVER DONE!! If we bomb Iran just wait and see how much a gallon of gas will cost you!
Posts: 1458 | From: Ohio | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by osubucks30: I hope this is untrue. THIS WOULD BE THE STUPIDEST THING THE UNITED STATES HAS EVER DONE!! If we bomb Iran just wait and see how much a gallon of gas will cost you!
10 cents.....will take theirs and Iraqs Posts: 2321 | Registered: Aug 2006
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I doubt if we have the moral courage to do it. I'm betting that Isreal will have to do it for us - AGAIN! Personally, I think we should have been bombing them for several years. If I were President, EVERY time an American soldier was killed by a bomb or other weapon from Iran, I would have bombed something else of significance in Iran, starting with their nuclear facilities!
Posts: 1577 | From: Ohio | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
WOW. Iran is no Iraq. Will not be a quick and easy fight. This would throw the whole region into war. Plus I think Russia and China may have something to say about it if we are the one to strike another middle eastern country. Yeah we bomb Iran and start the next massive war. Like I say Iran is no Iraq!
Posts: 1458 | From: Ohio | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by osubucks30: I hope this is untrue. THIS WOULD BE THE STUPIDEST THING THE UNITED STATES HAS EVER DONE!! If we bomb Iran just wait and see how much a gallon of gas will cost you!
never fear, Bush has stockpiled 700 million barrels of oil for US.. it's last two whole months
10$/gallon if its a minor skirmish and you better buy a horse if its anything more than a couple of boats in the Gulf shooting at each other...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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Take it for what it is worth,but Iran is a nation they can't control there oil now.
So as the old saying goes in for a penny in for a pound.
Hate me for two wars you already hate me for one and I am not pulling out period,thats mr. Bushes way of thinking.
And he get away with it as long as there is no draft and the exspence is on the tab pay latter.
Have any of you see how much this country has put on plastic I am sure all of you have. Why aren't more of us outraged an demanding impeachment or a day of reckoning for this blithering idiot
Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005
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Great, I just hope they wait 3 more years to do this so I cant get called back into the military. Dont these people get tired of war? I mean im no hippie and if it NEEDS to happen then ill roll up my sleaves and give someone else a good ol fashioned American ass whoopin.
Let Iran make the first move, and make it their last. You want to do somethin Iran? Go ahead and welcome yourself to a retaliation of such precise sophistication and destruction.
Why isnt the economy the main focus? Sure Iraq is kind of a big problem right now but something else that needs fixing is our dollar!
Our whole country is just messed up right now.
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I don't think you're going to have to worry about going to Iran. We (the United States) can afford to wait for Iran to make the first move, but Israel can not. If Israel waits until Iran starts launching nukes, Israel won't exist. Therefore, I believe that Israel will strike before Iran is able to put a nuke together.
The big question is whether that will lead to nuclear war - it certainly could. Everyday that Israel waits makes a nuclear war a little more likely, because Iran gets stronger.
Posts: 1577 | From: Ohio | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
the Romans taxed their conquests rather heavily. we seem to be giving our taxes away...
somehow the math doesn't work.
as for "waiting" the Iranians out? what's the point? Bush is the problem, he can't get it thru his thick head that being US president is not the same thing as being King Of the World, and nobody else will "play with him" anymore... (except a few republicans)
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:as for "waiting" the Iranians out? what's the point? Bush is the problem, he can't get it thru his thick head that being US president is not the same thing as being King Of the World, and nobody else will "play with him" anymore... (except a few republicans)
What does President Bush have to do with the Iranians and their stated desire to wipe Israel off the map? The president of Iran is a madman who believes that it is his destiny to bring about the return of the Mahdi through violence. There's not anything that anyone can say to him that is going to stop that. We could bring every single soldier worldwide home, and that nutjob is still going to destroy Israel and then attack the United States. Appeasement hasn't worked throughout history and it won't work with Iran.
Fortunately, Israel isn't as stupid as we are. If we don't act, they certainly will!
Posts: 1577 | From: Ohio | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
We can afford to take one on the chin to make sure the fight is right PM. That's what this boils down too.
No one disagreed with our right to go into Afghanistan and kick ass. Most cheered us on and offered to help. The others wisely kept quiet.
But with Iraq we became hotheads going in without fully explaining why, then we became bullies destroying millions and millions of dollars worth of infrastructure in a country that was offering only nominal resistance, then we became liars unable to back up our claims of weapons and links to terrorist activities, and now we are suspect thieves and usurpers taking what is not ours by force under the guise of the benefactor.
And you want to do this again?
Wait until Iran has the balls to plant one on our chin. Then we can go in with steadfast righteousness and hell's fury. It'll never happen though. Even insane Kim Jong Il isn't so far gone as to put one on our chin and not expect to get burned to the ground.
But then why did Osama do that very thing you ask???
A very good question, and one the White House should have asked themselves before taking the actions they did.
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
What does President Bush have to do with the Iranians and their stated desire to wipe Israel off the map? The president of Iran is a madman who believes that it is his destiny to bring about the return of the Mahdi through violence.
first off? i went to HS with a large portion of the Iranian diplomatic corps' children in the '70's. i still remember how to curse in Farsi. I've followed the Iranian story since before the revolution. I also know what the Mahdi is. I can tell you for instance that McCain has a few issues wrong on Iran as he expressed them recently on TV. One? The Persians? they are not the people running Iran right now. The Persians are the peole we want back in power there.
Ahmadinejad may in fact be a madman, but he is not in control of the country. He's the political face of the theocracy. IMO? he's no more of a madman than Dubya is. The Mahdi issue is part of the core set of beliefs that separate the Shia and the Sunni. What you obviously don't understand is that the Shiites are the only sect that see the Mahdi as a religious figure. Iran and Iraq are the only major Shiite countries, so? unless Iran somehow converts the other 90% of Islam over to their view, which is very unlikely? Bringing the Mahdi is only important to a very few people. (about 100 million out of a billion). Alqueda is Sunni, so you are talking about a completely different set of "terroists" and when you lump them all together? It's kind o'like like comparing the IRA and the KKK. They have nothing in common.
As for Iran's nukes? I've supported surgical strikes in posts here for years. However. IMO? Bush waited too long. We can't afford to do it now unless like BF said? they do something really dumb now.
We could have afforded oil to go from 50 to 100$ per barrel. but we cant afford 100 to 200 get it?
the world economic war (and that's not a "conspiracy theory") is not in our favor right now.
as a matter of fact? we are in bit of bind at the moment, and that is completely Bush's fault. IMO? Bush is either a complete fool and blinded by greed enough to facilitate what has happened? or a complete fool not to see it happening as it did and stop it.
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Or country the folks in it have no disire for the long haul.
We have the wealthy for the most part they do not serve and lead and as soon as the war brings no profit for them they want it over.
This war is a sector war mostly oil and corporations that are oil related or construction. It is being waged at the expense of other sectors and the working class.
On the domestic front oil is given a free ticket to do as they please again they are winmning the battle of getting the lions share of disposable income from consumers.
Where I live there are whole shopping malls closeing down or are half empty.
Why becase folks money is going in the gas tank.
cannot go on like this anymore.
In california they are in the red 14 to 16 billion dollars
The gov. arnold still gave the oil companies doing business in california a 7.5 billion dollar tax break. And is cutting funding for education. Teachers ,buss drivers, and special ed for children with problems are being eliminated. The gas producers in California after swindling people, all the law suits that Gray Davis started agaist them have been swept under the carpet by DerBoobingrouper they got away with wipping out the state treasury by the state paying the massive gas bills for the elderly.
PG&E the top management divied up the last 11 million they got and then filed a reorganization and just bk'd on everybody.
I am getting sick of this right wing free loading trash sacking my country and leaving behind there economic carnage.
Posts: 6008 | From: phoenix az | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:as for "waiting" the Iranians out? what's the point? Bush is the problem, he can't get it thru his thick head that being US president is not the same thing as being King Of the World, and nobody else will "play with him" anymore... (except a few republicans)
What does President Bush have to do with the Iranians and their stated desire to wipe Israel off the map? The president of Iran is a madman who believes that it is his destiny to bring about the return of the Mahdi through violence. There's not anything that anyone can say to him that is going to stop that. We could bring every single soldier worldwide home, and that nutjob is still going to destroy Israel and then attack the United States. Appeasement hasn't worked throughout history and it won't work with Iran.
Fortunately, Israel isn't as stupid as we are. If we don't act, they certainly will!
Well then let them act. Your choice of media diet is obvious.
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by osubucks30: I hope this is untrue. THIS WOULD BE THE STUPIDEST THING THE UNITED STATES HAS EVER DONE!! If we bomb Iran just wait and see how much a gallon of gas will cost you!
Yeah.....Bush owns oil fields in Texas right.....Its his $$$ PLAN!!!
I know what BUSH is up to. A president will stay in office in time or WAR. Its his way to hanging on. Think of all the bills he VETOED. BUSH is a NUT CASE!!!
Posts: 2367 | From: Detroit | Registered: Mar 2005
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-------------------- "Believe nothing....unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - Buddha Posts: 38 | From: Hawaii | Registered: Oct 2007
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quote:Originally posted by lpcguy: Get ready for a depression a new currency (Amero) and a new world order. This has all been a long term plan by the elites.
quote:Originally posted by lpcguy: Get ready for a depression a new currency (Amero) and a new world order. This has all been a long term plan by the elites.
There's something far more serious than comming than that buddy....read a bible
not Garbage....
Dude, I went to christian school for 13 years, and studied the bible. The way the world is right now does somewhat correlate to bible prophecies. But there are also a lot of other prophecies do too (ie: Myan Calender). My problem with the bible is that it's been rewritten, translated, and interpreted so many times and different ways that the original context and meaning was diluted. Not to mention the exuberant amount of dogma that surrounds it.
-------------------- "Believe nothing....unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - Buddha Posts: 38 | From: Hawaii | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
If Israel or the Us does anything to Iran its $200 oil for sure! What would that equate to? $6 a gallon?
Posts: 1458 | From: Ohio | Registered: Mar 2004
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Would they even think about doing that?? I mean seriously! That would cause alot of global suffering! All for a pre-emptive strike?? I think if anything is done this issue will cause a global war. Think China is just going to sit back and let oil prices wreck their economy. Plus you have Russia who is pretty friendly toward Iran.
Posts: 1458 | From: Ohio | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by osubucks30: Would they even think about doing that?? I mean seriously! That would cause alot of global suffering! All for a pre-emptive strike?? I think if anything is done this issue will cause a global war. Think China is just going to sit back and let oil prices wreck their economy. Plus you have Russia who is pretty friendly toward Iran.
Russia would like oil to go up...
China? it's hard to tell what they can do.
I think it will happen before Bush leaves office, but that's just an opinion...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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