Reply #34: This story isn't fiction, it is timed to intimidate [View All]

[teryang]

Whether it is a bluff or not remains to be seen. As former SecDef Perry said with respect to N.Korean proliferation, you must convince them that you are willing to go to war. Stories like these are deliberately placed in the news incident to the threat laden negotiations.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1920074,00.html
Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington

ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.
The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations...

“Israel — and not only Israel — cannot accept a nuclear Iran,” Sharon warned recently. “We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation.”

The order to prepare for a possible attack went through the Israeli defence ministry to the chief of staff. Sources inside special forces command confirmed that “G” readiness — the highest stage — for an operation was announced last week...

Aharon Zeevi Farkash, the Israeli military intelligence chief, stepped up the pressure on Iran this month when he warned Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, that “if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course”.

Later in the same article, Netanyahu in so many words says he would do the same if the opportunity presents itself to him.


Title: IAF: Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran
Source: haaretzdaily
URL Source: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/543087.html
Published: Feb 21, 2005
Author: Haaretz Staff and The Associated Press
Post Date: 2005-02-21 19:33:49 by TLBSHOW
9 Comments

IAF: Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran

Israel Air Force Commander-in-Chief Major General Eliezer Shakedi said Monday that Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran in light of its nuclear activity.

But in a meeting with reporters, Shakedi wouldn't say whether he thought Israel was capable of carrying out such a mission alone, as it did when it bombed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad in 1981.

When asked whether Israel has a plan for the Iranian nuclear program, Shakedi replied, "You know that for obvious reasons, I won't say even a word."

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_5543.shtml

Bolton: US 'very concerned' Israel might attack Iran
Jan 31, 2005
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bolton: US 'very concerned' Israel might attack Iran
Jan 31, 2005
ASSOCIATED PRESS

An American envoy repeated US allegations Monday about an Iranian nuclear weapons program and said Israel might attack Iran's nuclear sites because the Jewish state has "a history" of such actions.

John Bolton, the State Department's top international security official, was referring to Israel's 1981 bombing raid on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.

"The vice president said we're very concerned that this might happen," Bolton said, referring to a recent statement by US Vice President Dick Cheney.