The option of an Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has essentially off the agenda, according to a senior diplomatic source cited Monday by the Ma’ariv daily. According to the source, Israel’s military and political leadership is not determined enough to lead such a bold move. He added that the defense establishment has not proposed plans that would enable military containment of Iran’s nuclear development program.
The report comes less than a day after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israel might have to act against Iran before the United States does, noting that the Islamic Republic could “jump” the red line of having a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks.
There is no way we can know about this. I am sure that no Israeli top official, who has the inside details about what Israel will or will not do, or when, concerning Iran, is talking seriously and honestly to anybody in the public domain, anonymously or otherwise.
It has been widely reported that back in ’08, Olmert – yes, Mr. “Tired of Being Right”, the UberWeakling – was jumping up and down about a strike on Iran, but he needed material support from Bush in the form of tanker support and some bunker-busting bombs, and the answer was no.
If even HE wanted to make the move, then I have little doubt that Netanyahu, with all of his faults, also would like to get this done.
The real problem is that even if Israel has the basic resources, independent of the U.S., to carry out an effective strike, she still needs U.S. cooperation in terms of material/logistical support “the day after”, and diplomatic backing in the UN for cover, and she will not get these from the U.S. under Obama. But even if Israel is willing to forego these, what is even worse is this: there is real reason to believe that if Israel spooled up the resources to carry out a strike, the U.S. under Obama would tip off Iran, greatly reducing the chances for success, as the critical element of tactical surprise would be lost. A strike that failed would be worse than no strike at all; who would take this risk?
So, by default, out of apparent practical necessity, it would seem that for the time being, the “Dagan” strategy is being employed. Sabotage/assasinations are to throw monkey wrenches into the works in the hopes that these will put off the need for a decisive move until either a) Obama is out of office, and even then, only if he is replaced by someone more symapathetic (a big “if”, the way things are going here), or b) if there is some big breakthrough/opportunity in the near term that allows Israel to achieve surprise in an effective way IN SPITE OF likely U.S. treachery under Obama.
From an Israeli point of view, I suppose it is more satisfying from a psychological/ego standpoint to blame “cowardly” Israel leaders for the lack of decisive action thus far, as the sole reason such action is not forthcoming. In this case, the “solution” is relatively simple: change the leaders. Well, that is not necessarily “simple”, but at least in theory, Israeli people themselves would be completely in control of their collective destiny, if this were true.
But it is much harder to accept that due to factors beyond one’s control, as a member of a sovereign state and polity, that the leadership is nonetheless restrained from acting in the country’s vital, even existential interests. Yet, it seems that, thanks to the strategic relationship that has evolved between the U.S. and Israel up to now, combined with the traitorous lying s***head excuse for a president we have here today, this is the case.
For my own part, I am fairly certain – at least in a better than even odds sense – that Netanyahu will make an overt, decisive move against Iran sooner rather than later IF he can do so in a manner that overcomes the problem of interference by Obama. But I have no idea, one way or the other – and I doubt very much that anyone else here does, either – whether or when such a breakthrough/opportunity will be achieved or present itself. Unfortunately, I am about as doubtful of this latter issue as I am confident of the former, but that is only a gut instinct. But I don’t even begin to pretend to have real, hard evidence here, and if I did, I sure wouldn’t be sharing it here.
About the only thing I really am certain of – 1000% certain – is that Obama is NEVER going to act militarily against Iran. If this is going to be done, Israel will have to do it, or it won’t get done. The ONLY way the U.S. does this, is if Israel can use the “James Bond” stunts to put off the dire need of a strike until Obama is out of office, AND even then, only if his replacement is not some variation on more of the same b.s., which it could very well wind up being.
Netanyahu besides being a coward is a liar, a consummate speechster. A treacherous individual. I have no idea why the people disregarded that he was a leading party helping Sharon in the nefarious “disengagement”.
Just as much. He and his associates NEVER had any intention to stop Iran, not ever.
The combina WANT Iran armed with nuclear bombs to gain more control over us all under fear and intimidation.
Once Iran is armed the people above will use that to blackmail Jews out of their lives to “keep Iran under control”.
Could this be disinformation? The kind you disseminate before an attack?
Yup – right up to the time that great bright light fills the Teheran sky…
keelie Said:
10% is enough to control a population. The communist party was only 10% in russia. Who controls the WMD, the 90% or the 10%? The 90% are sheeple just like in the US where they get to choose between 2 stooges every 4 years. Also, I doubt opposition is anywhere near 90%. Whichever stooge gets chosen they end up acting similarly. Left moves right or right moves left. Ideologies become meaningless once the vote is over..
@ Mladen Andrijasevic:
I don’t completely buy these arguments. Let’s say that 10% of Iranians have this lunatic idea that death is highly desirable because everyone (except the women, I guess) will participate in God’s special whorehouse. This leaves 90% of the Iranian population, and my feeling is that they would rather live their lives – watch their children and grandchildren grow up – just like every other normal human being.
So at this time – perhaps with a little help – the 90-percenters have to begin to consider taking over from the loons…
yamit82 Said:
Netanyahu was never going to do anything – with or without Obama’s blessing. He talks loudly but has no stick. I’m not surprised at this revelation.
Nonsense. They should read what Bernard Lewis, a Princeton University scholar of Islam, says about mutually assured destruction:
In this context, the deterrent that worked so well during the Cold War, namely M.A.D. (Mutual Assured Destruction) , would have no meaning. At the End of Time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter is the final destination of the dead– hell for the infidels, and the delights of heaven for the believers. For people with this mindset, M.A.D. is not a constraint; it is an inducement…
Why are Bernard Lewis’s views on MAD ignored?
http://www.madisdead.blogspot.co.il/2012/05/why-are-bernard-lewiss-views-on-mad.html
or what Raphael Israeli, a Hebrew University scholar of Islam, says about MAD:
According to Shi’ite eschatology, the end of the world will come with the return of the Imam, whose arrival will be announced by violent pangs, unrest, wars, injustice and misery; and all the more, the more imminent his coming. Namely, mad leaders like Ahmadinejad, who are full of hatred and bellicosity, and imbued with messianic zeal and unimpressed by any worldly circumstances or restrictions, might very well, especially when controlling nuclear powers, decide to use them regardless of the costs or the consequences, as long as it will hasten the return of the Imam. For then, even the worst errors made by human leaders would, in their view, be redressed in an instant by the omnipotent Imam in the new post-apocalyptic world.
MAD Deterrence and Mad Leaders
http://www.madisdead.blogspot.co.il/2011/10/mad-deterrence-and-mad-leaders.html
or a German scholar, Mattias Kuntzel:
There are other dictatorships in the world. But only in Iran are the fantasy-worlds of antisemitism and religious mission linked with technological megalomania and the physics of mass destruction. The specific danger presented by the Iranian nuclear option stems from the unique ideological atmosphere surrounding it – a mixture of holy war and high-tec, of antisemitism and weapons-grade uranium, of death-wish and missile research, of Shiite messianism and plutonium
Matthias Küntzel – Antisemitism, Messianism and the Cult of Sacrifice:The Iranian Holy War
http://www.madisdead.blogspot.co.il/2012/09/matthias-kuntzel-antisemitism_8.html
Senior Israeli Source: Attack on Iran is Off the Table
I’m Shocked, Shocked!!!!!!! 🙁
The ink in the red marker ran out.
Now there is a new yellow marker…