The diplomacy of trying to talk Iran’s nuclear ambitions to death has not worked so far and is unlikely to work in the foreseeable future
Israel does not believe it can afford to wait while the U.S. and the Europeans try to talk Iran’s nuclear ambitions to death. But Israel also knows that a strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities is likely to bring upon itself deadly and devastating military reprisals from the Tehran regime.
IT’S TOO LATE TO STOP IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM: U.S. MILITARY CHIEF SAYS ISRAELI STRIKE WOULD NOT CRUSH TEHRAN’S AMBITIONS
General Martin Dempsey said an attack would ‘clearly delay but probably not destroy’ its nuclear program
By David Gardner
Mail Online
August 31, 2012
An Israeli strike would come too late to crush Iran’s nuclear program, according to America’s top military chief.
General Martin Dempsey said such an attack would ‘clearly delay but probably not destroy’ Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Speaking from London, where he was with a U.S. delegation visiting the Paralympic Games, it was the strongest comment yet from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff distancing America from a possible unilateral attack by Israel.
Israel is believed to be planning a military strike ahead of November's Presidential elections.
Barack Obama would be under pressure to support the attack - even though military chiefs are against it - for fear of alienating Jewish voters in key swing states such as Florida.
Emphasizing Washington’s position, General Dempsey - America's most senior general - added: 'I don’t want to be complicit if they (Israel) decide to do it.’
And he said there was a worry that the international coalition putting pressure on Tehran ‘could be undone if Iran was attacked prematurely.’
He insisted that sanctions were having an effect and should be given a reasonable chance of succeeding.
His comments came on the same day that the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had doubled its number of centrifuges and accelerated nuclear fuel production – a clear sign that it is pressing ahead with its nuclear plans.
In private, America has repeatedly warned Israel that it does not have the military capability to destroy Iran’s main underground, heavily fortified nuclear site.
While the U.S. does have the firepower, it wants to give sanctions more time to work.
In Israel yesterday, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said he feared Iran did not believe it faced a real military threat from the West because of mixed messages from the US and other foreign powers.
'We have an exchange of views, including with our friends in the United States, who in our opinion, are in part responsible for this feeling in Iran.
'There are many cracks in the ring closing tighter on Iran. We criticise this,' he said.
1 comment:
There is no doubt in my mind that, when push comes to shove, the Israelis will act. There are still enough people alive in Israel with tattoos on their wrists that they know the price of doing nothing can be prohibitively high when the time to act does indeed come. When faced with possible condemnation on one hand and certain descruction on the other, the choice is not that hard for people who are not stupid.
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