US Told Israel “No” When They Asked To Bomb Iran
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Bush, Iran
I have little doubt that they would have given a thumbs up to this plan had the political will been there, but this is an interesting juxtaposition to reports that Bush has been wanting to bomb Iran.
President Bush last year rejected an Israeli request to provide sophisticated, deep-penetration bombs to attack Iran’s underground nuclear enrichment facilities, Pentagon officials said yesterday.The administration also rebuffed Israel’s plan to fly through U.S.-controlled Iraqi airspace to reach the Iranian site, officials said. The Israelis had not proposed a specific date for an attack, and it was not clear how far along the planning was when the requests were made, officials said.
The Israeli requests were first reported on the New York Times Web site yesterday. The Times also said that President Bush, seeking to deflect the Israelis and to soften his refusal, told the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he had authorized a new covert action program to sabotage Iran’s uranium enrichment program. The report quoted U.S. officials as saying that some actions had been taken as part of what it described as an ongoing covert program, but that they had not seriously affected Iranian operations. Israel and the United States and principal European allies have charged that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program, a charge Tehran has denied.
Personally, I think the last thing we need right now is to give Mahmoud Ahmadinejad something to hammer us with. Because while Israel and neo-cons are convinced that Iran will give nukes to terrorists to use against Israel, I think a more realistic viewpoint is that Iran would be foolish to do so because Israel would nuke them into oblivion.
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 and is filed under Bush, Iran. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Unless its a nuclear bomb! (*rimshot*). But seriously folks…
Picture this scenario: 15-20 years from now, This controversy has blown over because Iran achieved nuclear capability during the era of Hopenchange, and has built up an arsenal ever since, as have surrounding Arab nations who fear the looming threat of the Shiite Islamist superpower. But people have sort of accepted it and let it pass here in America.
A particularly extremist element of the Iranian regime manages to smuggle a nuclear device through Syria or Egypt to an unnamed terrorist (like the one that fired rockets from lebanon last week) organization, who then affix it to a rocket or tunnel it in to Israel proper and dtonate it, killing 10,000 Israelis.
Iran issues a statement totally denying culpability, pleading with the UN for restraint, and demanding an investigation for the real culprits while pointing out nuclear proliferation amongst Israel’s other enemies in the region.
No one really knows who is responsible nor is there any evidence for Iranian involvement, Israel mobilizes to respond with nuclear weapons against Iranian cities and ports. They prepare a military force to occupy all of Lebanon up to beruit, and also into Egypt to control the other entry of the tunnels into Gaza.
Will the world tolerate destruction of a substantial amount of the Islamic world by the most hated nation in the world, particularly when the world believes terrorism is merely a crime, and nuclear weapons could be bought and sold on the black market by rougue actors with no affiliation? And don’t forget the substantial power the Islamic world will hold at the UN 15 years from now. Can Iran count on their survival? Maybe its worth the risk for the religious extremists who will in all likelyhood control Iran in the future.