Thread: The Time Clock Has Run Out: Isreal Ready To Strike Iran

The Time Clock Has Run Out: Israel Ready to Strike Iran

Monday, January 12, 2009 3:56 PM

By: Jim Meyers Article Font Size



Iran's Shahab-3 missiles being launched in a test from an undisclosed location last summer. The missile is capable of carrying a nuclear payload and, with a range of 1,250 miles, can hit both Israel and parts of Europe. (AP Photo)

Informed sources in Washington tell Newsmax that Israel indeed will launch a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities soon – possibly in just days as President George W. Bush prepares to leave office.

The reason: The time clock has begun to run out. Iran is close to acquiring a nuclear device under the control of its radical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in June that Iran would have a nuclear weapon in as little as six months.

That six-month period has passed.

Reports of Israel’s decision to imminently launch strikes, although unconfirmed, would seem to contradict the Bush stance outlined in a front-page New York Times story last week, which asserted that Bush rejected a plea from Israel last year to help it raid Iran’s main nuclear complex.

The Times said Israel was rebuffed after it requested from the U.S. specialized bunker-busting bombs that it needs to attack Iran’s nuclear complex at Natanz. The U.S. also reportedly nixed permission to the Israeli warplanes to fly over Iraqi territory to reach Iran.

Israel’s requests to the U.S. for military assistance came as the Jewish state was reportedly angry over a U.S. intelligence assessment in late 2007 that concluded Iran had effectively suspended its development of nuclear weapons.

But an investigative report circulated by IAEA chief ElBaradei late last year disclosed that Iran was continuing to carry out uranium enrichment and had already established 6,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium, of which 3,800 were then in operation.

American intelligence officials now estimate that the figure is 4,000 to 5,000 centrifuges, enough to produce about one weapon’s worth of uranium every eight months or so, according to the Times.

The IAEA report estimated that Iran has obtained two tons of enriched uranium since its enrichment program was restarted at Natanz two years ago.

Last year 100 Israeli jets took part in an exercise over the eastern Mediterranean that was interpreted as a dress rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran.

And on Sept. 6 Israel launched an air attack against a site in Syria believed to be a nuclear-related facility containing material delivered by North Korea.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton predicted that Israel would stage a raid against Iran's nuclear facilities if Barack Obama won the presidential election.

Bolton stated that he believed the Israeli attack would take place sometime between the day after Obama's win and his inauguration on January 20.

In an interview with FOX News, Bolton reasoned that Israel wouldn’t be able to hold off a strike on Iran any longer than that given Obama’s more conciliatory approach to Iran.

The Israeli government “would have to make a judgment whether to [strike] during the remainder of President Bush’s term in office or wait for his successor,â€

Israel recently requested Bunker Busting munitions from the U.S., which was refused.

Remember that Israel did this in Iraq? While we were arguing in the UN that Saddam Hussein was in the process of acquiring nuclear weapons. Nothing was getting done at the UN level as usual. So Israel lost patience, recognized the threat and flew in there at 3 in the afternoon, in full daylight and blew up the site in Iraq. Then they just flew right back out and the issue was ended.

The danger of attacking Iran is its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz which Iran would certainly try to choke off. They would attempt to sink an oil freighter blocking it off. Right now the US and Isreal are at a severe political disadvantage because of gaza, so attacking Iran would further galvanize Anti-American/Israely sentiment in the middle east. Bad situation with no easy answers.