printIsrael hase overwhelming military superiority over Iran, a fact that should not be lost in all the heated rhetoric.—Bruce Riedel
“The former head of Israel’s Mossad, Meir Dagan, says Iran won’t get the bomb until at least 2015,” writes the Brookings’ Institution’s Bruce Riedel. “In contrast, Israel has had nuclear weapons since the late 1960s and has jealously guarded its monopoly on them in the region. The Israelis have used force in the past against developing nuclear threats. Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007 were the targets of highly effective Israeli airstrikes against developing nuclear weapons programs. Israel has seriously considered conducting such a strike against Iran and may do so, especially now that it has special bunker-busting bombs from the United States.”
Read Riedel on Israel’s “multiple delivery systems,” “the Israeli air force’s capability,” and the country’s “conventional military superiority over Iran and the rest of the region,” including its “armed forces’ intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities,” which are “vastly superior to those of its potential rivals.”
Israel is more than capable of taking care of business. I support the right of the Israelis to do what their admirably cautious generals and intelligence agents (like Dagan) think is necessary to protect themselves—I do not support America’s moves on Iran.
“Let’s Fret About Our Own Tyrants.” “In case the advocates of a muscular response have failed to notice, we’re pinned down like butterflies by our own tyrants.”
UPDATE (Feb. 7): “Iran poses no ‘existential threat’ to Israel – ex-Mossad chief”:
[Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy] argues that talk of Iran posing an “existential threat” to Israel is merely Tel Aviv using big words to impress the international community. … “I think Israel is strong enough to protect itself, to take care of itself. I think ultimately it is not in the power of Iran to destroy the state of Israel,” he told RT. “I believe the leadership believes that in order to arouse international public opinion, in order to mount pressure on the Iranians, it is necessary to impress upon the world at large that this is a serious international threat.
You are correct and America should assist Israel in remaining a superior threat in that part of the world. But my gosh, girl,(as you well know) common sense is becoming an uncommon virtue in the current environment of war now and forever, Amen.
Every Moslem leader utters the standard “wipe out the Zionists” bull for the last 90 years but that does not necessarily mean that they will start a suicidal war any more than Mao mouthing off how China could easily lose 300,000,000 casualties in the 1960’s meant that one should start a pre-emptive war. The world has lived with the American Bomb, Russian Bomb, UK Bomb, French Bomb, Chinese Bomb, Israeli Bomb, Indian Bomb and the two scariest – the Pakistan Bomb and the N-Korean Bomb.
There is, arguably, an “eventual” threat of a nuclear war someday. Changing the physics of fission might be nice if it were possible but PRE-EMPTIVE WARS which set off their own chain reaction of political destabilization is not a good answer to the “eventual” threat. The neocons are engaged in the same belligerent pre-World-War-One thinking that got tens of millions killed over a dead Archduke.
One would think that the fact that the same clowns who brought us “curveball” and the “Iraqi cruise missiles …mushroom clouds” would have no credibility whatsoever but the Fox News Network and the Republican Warmonger worship clan listens to these people as if they are Biblical prophets.
America should support Israel against all comers at all times. If anybody doesn’t understand this let them check the book of Genesis. That Israel can take care of business against a bunch of back stabbing camel thieves like the Iranians is a foregone conclusion. The problem comes in when all the rest of the millions in the Arab world and the rest of the non-Arab world join in against Israel. That is the time for the United States to stand tall or face the wrath of God. We are already getting a taste of it, if anybody would care to take a look.
Ok, the threat of “Nuclear Holocaust” is way overblown. A nuclear bomb is bad but as Naga Saki and Hiroshima have proven, they are not world threatening. We destroyed more Iraqis with conventional weapons than nuking Hiroshima. WW2 bombing of Toyko killed more than Naga Saki. I’m not minimizing things just trying to show perspective. Twenty years ago, we had about ten sovereign nations in the Middle East doing business with Israel while their radio preachers spewed garbage against Israel. Thanks to America’s intervention, we have almost a united front of nations that want to destroy Israel and when we ravage Syria and Iran, we will have a united front against her. Oh Myrion, the Biblical Prophets weren’t believed in their time; unfortunately, these prophets are.
“America should support Israel against all comers at all times. If anybody doesn’t understand this let them check the book of Genesis.”
Huh?
At the risk of annoying Ilana, I do notice that the RT article:
http://rt.com/news/iran-israel-nuclear-threat-557/
refers to “Tel Aviv” which apparently is the capital city of the Zionist Entity.
The (one, only, and eternal) capital city of Israel is Jerusalem. On the other hand, RT is hardly any worse than MSNBC, FOX, or CNN on the accuracy scale.
Robert: Genesis chap 12, verse 3 KJV