ex-Mossad chief says Iran no threat to Israel

[yurbud]

He left out an additional detail: Israel has several hundred nukes and would therefore be able to massively retaliate if Iran were lucky enough to strike a hit through Israel's defenses.

When it comes to Iran, most Democrats are still reading from the GOP playbook, which could lead to World War III.

Isn't it time to turn the page on that? If we can have a Sunni extremist dictatorship that supports terrorist groups that attack us as a close ally, would it really be that hard to simply co-exist with a Shi'ite extremist quasi-democracy that supports groups that attack Israel?

At worst, Iran is doing to Israel what we did to leftist governments in Latin America for decades.

We could probably get them to tone their shit down through engagement, just as we did China and the Soviet Union.

But of course, our conflict with Iran probably has little to do with nukes, terrorism, or the security of Israel, and everything to do with controlling (or constricting) the flow of oil and deciding who profits from it.

Last update - 07:27 26/07/2008

Report: Ex-Mossad chief says strike on Iran could 'affect us for 100 years'
By Haaretz Service


Former Mossad Chief Ephraim Halevy told Time magazine in an interview published Thursday that an Israeli attack on Iran "could have an impact on us for the next 100 years" and should only be considered as a last resort.

Halevy, who currently heads the Center for Strategic and Policy Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, added that an Iranian attack on Israel would probably have little impact, because Iranian missiles would largely be intercepted by Israel's advanced anti-missile defense system.

An additional Israeli source told Time that Israel sees the period between the U.S. elections in November and the president's inauguration in January as the "window of opportunity" for a possible attack on Iran. The source explained that any military move against Iran would not be carried out before the elections, because it would negatively impact the presidential candidates, especially Republican candidate John McCain and "No Israel leader wants to be blamed for destroying the Republican chances," Time cited the source as saying.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1005579.html">FULL TEXT

[RC]

1. All Obama has to do is threaten to cut off their US aid if they attack Iran.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. He is in no position to do so.

[NNN0LHI]

4. You ain't lying

Not if he wants to get elected anyway.

Don

[Behind the Aegis]

5. Doesn't even have to do with that.

As a senator, he could propose something and try to get it passed, but anything along those lines would be squashed by Bush.

[mmonk]

3. Ssssssshhhhhhhh!

There's fear to invoke, power to acquire, and money to be made.

[exothermic]

6. So is Halevy Hebrew for McClellan?

:silly:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Damned Bogeymen. They're undependable as threats.

Oh, well, they're always Fidel and Hugo to fall back on.

[leveymg]

8. An Israeli attack on Iran is contrary to US interests - this isn't going to happen. Period.

There is no such window of opportunity for Israel to act with impunity. An attack by Israel between the election and Inauguration Day would be viewed as an attempt to preempt the authority of the incoming U.S. Administration.

The President can cut off foreign aid or even designate Israel as a terrorist state, with or without Congressional approval.

Mull that over.

[yurbud]

9. It would be a severe test of the Israel lobby's power, but they would blunt

any punishment like those you outlined.

[Clark2008]

11. I would, but that will never happen.

No US president will cut off foreign aid to Israel, much less designate them a terrorist state.

[Boojatta]

10. "No Israel leader wants to be blamed for destroying the Republican chances"

You just can't trust politicans. They're always delaying nuclear combat for the most petty reasons! Why don't they stop using the most sneaky, underhanded, evil tool ever created (language) and start doing what human beings were created to do (kill, kill, kill)?
:sarcasm: