JERUSALEM, Aug. 7, 2008
Israel Bolsters Its Ability To Strike Iran
As Tehran Flouts International Demands, Israel Buys More Jet Fighters, Nuke-Capable Subs
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In this Dec. 27, 2007 photo, an Israeli Air Force fighter plane lands during an acrobatics display at a graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Air Force Base near the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
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Timeline Iran Nuclear Chronology Events in development of Iran's nuclear program since it first came to light.
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Timeline The U.S. And Iran Key events in once friendly, now contentious relationship between Washington and Tehran.
Such talk could be more threat than reality. However, Iran's refusal to accept Western conditions is worrying Israel as is the perception that Washington now prefers diplomacy over confrontation with Tehran.
The Jewish state has purchased 90 F-16I fighter planes that can carry enough fuel to reach Iran, and will receive 11 more by the end of next year. It has bought two new Dolphin submarines from Germany reportedly capable of firing nuclear-armed warheads - in addition to the three it already has.
And this summer it carried out air maneuvers in the Mediterranean that touched off an international debate over whether they were a "dress rehearsal" for an imminent attack, a stern warning to Iran or a just a way to get allies to step up the pressure on Tehran to stop building nukes.
According to foreign media reports, Israeli intelligence is active inside Iranian territory. Israel's military censor, who can impose a range of legal sanctions against journalists operating in the country, does not permit publication of details of such information in news reports written from Israel.
The issue of Iran's nuclear program took on new urgency this week after U.S. officials rejected Tehran's response to an incentives package aimed at getting it to stop sensitive nuclear activity - setting the stage for a fourth round of international sanctions against the country.
Israel, itself an undeclared nuclear power, sees an atomic bomb in Iranian hands as a direct threat to its existence.
Israel believes Tehran will have enriched enough uranium for a nuclear bomb by next year or 2010 at the latest. The United States has trimmed its estimate that Iran is several years or as much as a decade away from being able to field a bomb, but has not been precise about a timetable. In general U.S. officials think Iran isn't as close to a bomb as Israel claims, but are concerned that Iran is working faster than anticipated to add centrifuges, the workhorses of uranium enrichment.
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Israeli Deputy Prime Minister
"If Israeli, U.S., or European intelligence gets proof that Iran has succeeded in developing nuclear weapons technology, then Israel will respond in a manner reflecting the existential threat posed by such a weapon," said Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking at a policy forum in Washington last week.Israel takes (Iranian President) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements regarding its destruction seriously. Israel cannot risk another Holocaust.
Shaul Mofaz,Israeli Deputy Prime Minister
"Israel takes (Iranian President) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements regarding its destruction seriously. Israel cannot risk another Holocaust," Mofaz said.
The Iranian leader has in the past called for Israel's elimination, though his exact remarks have been disputed. Some translators say he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," while others say a better translation would be "vanish from the pages of time" - implying Israel would disappear on its own rather than be destroyed.
Iran insists its uranium enrichment is meant only for electricity generation, not a bomb - an assertion that most Western nations see as disingenuous.
In other developments:
Israeli policymakers and experts have been debating for quite some time whether it would even be possible for Israel to take out Iran's nuclear program. The mission would be far more complicated than a 1981 Israeli raid that destroyed Iraq's partially built Osirak nuclear reactor, or an Israeli raid last year on what U.S. intelligence officials said was another unfinished nuclear facility in Syria.
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- Stop making excuses why Iran, who has not and is not and will not follow the UN, EU, US or Israel sanctions, threats, advice (whatever u want to call it) concerning the enrichment. Iran and the entire world is fully aware they r not enriching for peaceful purposes (if u still believe that..u belong to the disney club world of fantasy)
Iran is to be taken seriously...lunatics are very eratic, irrational and the complex of superiority may take them to a dark place....so!
Now that we have establish the reality of things...
and with the volatile situation in the region (with the fact that Russia is belic)...
Everyone should bolster and get ready - Reply to this comment
- Wow -the US middle class pays more than half its tax for the US military-Half of that for the obsolite surface navy,& a wad more for its super weak allies to appear strong-no wonder they are facing death by a thousand cuts!
Posted by babooph at 10:38 PM : Aug 08, 2008
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i dont mean to bust your bubble buddy boy..but iranians pays taxes up the arse AND HARDLY GET SH*T BACK..
thier weaponry looks ''cool'' after a few strokes in adobe photoshop... - Reply to this comment
- Wow -the US middle class pays more than half its tax for the US military-Half of that for the obsolite surface navy,& a wad more for its super weak allies to appear strong-no wonder they are facing death by a thousand cuts!
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- Posted by big_house2 at 05:21 PM : Aug 08, 2008
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I dont think they need any help in any military strike...israel, if done right and quick, can end iran...yes..end it. but they are not terrorists..they dont send jews to iran with bomb vests and blow any iranian citizens..nor do they bombard palestine with shells or rockets BECAUSE it happens to be a good day to do it.
STOP THREATENING ISRAEL..STOP ATTACKING ISRAEL..and everything stops..seeesh its that simple. - Reply to this comment
- Israel can''t do anything in the Middle East without U.S. cover. If it is not military assistance, then it is the U.S. giving Israel cover via the U.N. Israel has over 200 nukes, Israeal isn''t a member of the NPT. Israel can''t strike Iran without violating the airspace of the neighboring countries "unless through Jordan" and then getting over flights rights courtesy of the U.S. in control of Iraq. Also, to allow Israel to attack Iran from Iraqi soil slaps of hypocrisy! If Israel attacks Iran, then they will have to deal with Hezbollah and Syria... Israel isn''t a threat to the U.S. and if Israel feels threatened, fight your own battles. You haven''t even helped out in Iraq, because you''re bogged down in Palastine!
-DJ... Los Angeles... - Reply to this comment
- islam''s mission is to kill jews...liberalism''s mission is to kill jews..
that IS THE REASON why i am not suprised that majority of true hard core left winged liberal THINKS like these terrorists - Reply to this comment
- The US invented and supported Israel due to the Suez Canal.
We no longer need the Suez Canal as a strategic interest.
Nor do we need Israel.
Bye, Israel, good luck with your God''''s protection.
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Posted by tuckerndfw at 11:24 PM : Aug 07, 2008
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come on..I dont think you care about american strategy..bridges..money..I can sense that all you care about is killing jews..
itan wants to do it..you want to do it
iran is islamic..you are a liberal
connect the dots brother.. - Reply to this comment
- tbweb you are correct.. They do not think like that..
DEATH TO HAMAS!!! Pay back time is coming.. - Reply to this comment
- Excuse me people...but it is common knowledge that Hezbollah is 100% backed by Iran...If Iran makes a nuke...they don''''''''t have to fire s missle or put it on a plane...all they have to do is give it to Hezbollah and let them do the dirty work...That''''''''s how close Iran is to Israel.
Posted by guadalcanal3 at 11:15 PM : Aug 07, 2008
-Iran would not attack Israel, rightly because the proximity of Israel to Hezbollah land in Southern Lebanon, next to Israel! Nuclear Fallouts would be catastrophic for Israel but for Hezbollah as well.
Posted by trishab4 at 01:29 AM : Aug 08, 2008,,,
Western thinking and western logic do not apply! Suicide bomber mentality could care less about collateral damage! This is why mutuality assured destruction thinking will not work with Islamic extremist Iran, Iran doesn`t care if it gets destroyed in the same sense a normal nation would care, the Islamic extremist in Iran are death worshipers! - Reply to this comment
- Excuse me people...but it is common knowledge that Hezbollah is 100% backed by Iran...If Iran makes a nuke...they don''''t have to fire s missle or put it on a plane...all they have to do is give it to Hezbollah and let them do the dirty work...That''''s how close Iran is to Israel.
Posted by guadalcanal3 at 11:15 PM : Aug 07, 2008
-Iran would not attack Israel, rightly because the proximity of Israel to Hezbollah land in Southern Lebanon, next to Israel! Nuclear Fallouts would be catastrophic for Israel but for Hezbollah as well. - Reply to this comment
- Excuse me people...but it is common knowledge that Hezbollah is 100% backed by Iran...If Iran makes a nuke...they don''''t have to fire s missle or put it on a plane...all they have to do is give it to Hezbollah and let them do the dirty work...That''''s how close Iran is to Israel.
Posted by guadalcanal3 at 11:15 PM : Aug 07, 2008
-Iran would not attack Israel, rightly because the proximity of Israel to Hezbollah land in Southern Lebanon, next to Israel! Nuclear Fallouts would be catastrophic for Israel but for Hezbollah as well. - Reply to this comment
- `Israel Bolsters Its Ability To Strike Iran`
It would be great if Israel bolstered its ability to make peace too, and created conditions to make peace possible! - Reply to this comment
- Excuse me people...but it is common knowledge that Hezbollah is 100% backed by Iran...If Iran makes a nuke...they don''t have to fire s missle or put it on a plane...all they have to do is give it to Hezbollah and let them do the dirty work...That''s how close Iran is to Israel.
- Reply to this comment
- Whether or not Iran is using its nuclear facilities to create bombs doesn''''t matter- bombing buildings in another country is an act of war.
Posted by nordeck52 at 07:47 PM : Aug 07, 2008
Let''s try to put a bit of logic into this situation. Let us say, for the sake of argument, you are my mortal enemy. That implies that I hate you, your family, your friends and anything you are associated with to include your ideals to include any freedoms you have. Let us further assume I begin to and continue to threaten you and everything you stand for with complete and utter annihilation. You suspect what means I may use to carry out such a diabolical scheme. I may be a farmer that has access to fertilizer materials I could easily employ to build a bomb. You call the cops because I''ve made such overt threats and you are scared for your life. The cops show up and I tell them to get bent. They can''t come into my property to investigate anything based on the inane ramblings of someone I feel threatens my beliefs. I have every right to own those materials you are so afraid of because they support my livelihood. Meanwhile, you happen to discover I''ve perfected a way to maximize the effect of a weapon to employ against you and you believe your fate is imminent. Nobody believes when you tell them your story as I have consistently maintained mine. You have the means to stop me as you have all along. what do you do? - Reply to this comment
- just checking on the hypocisy level of your statement
Posted by libsluv2spit at 06:26 PM : Aug 07, 2008
Actually, our interests ran deeper than the oil. We had to deal with the opposing interest of the U.S.S.R. I''m not saying it was wrong for us to be involved in Iran. We just blew it by not understanding how disaffected the populace was, realiing how rife they were with fundamentalism and failing ro act to protect our interests.
Thank Carter for that one - Reply to this comment
- Israel greatest threat is Hezbollah right next door in southern Lebanon where Israel war machine lost 2 years ago and not Iran.
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Posted by lovegetpeace at 07:57 PM : Aug 07, 2008
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israel''s greatest threats are radical islam and its liberal zombies..just like a christian who sees the face of the lord jesus on a dog sh*t..liberals beleives what they want to believe..they believe in it SO MUCH that for them, it becomes reality..
DONT YOU CONCUR? - Reply to this comment
- Anyone can give himself/herself this right they see most convenience.
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Posted by lovegetpeace at 07:58 PM : Aug 07, 2008
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considering that the state of israel is literally surrounded by other states that TRIED several times and had publically declared its demise..its not convinience its more of a necessity - Reply to this comment
- Posted by libsluv2spit at 07:53 PM : Aug 07, 2008
Anyone can give himself/herself this right they see most convenience. - Reply to this comment
- Israel greatest threat is Hezbollah right next door in southern Lebanon where Israel war machine lost 2 years ago and not Iran.
- Reply to this comment
- ".......Every country has a right to defend itself from attack...."
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Posted by nordeck52 at 07:47 PM : Aug 07, 2008
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you said it yourself...israel has that right.. - Reply to this comment
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
