Who Will Provide the "Muscle" in Dealing with Iran?

[Adam's Apple]

Here We Go Again; Is Anybody Coming?
By Wes Pruden, The Washington Times
January 17, 2006

You don't have to be a warmonger to understand that without somebody big and willing to be hard and mean standing behind the peacemongers, bullies prosper. Who would pay attention to diplomacy and good will unless there is assurance that somebody will get his rear end rearranged if all else fails? Diplomacy and talking is all to the good as long as the bullies understand that diplomacy and talking is only the opening act. Our dovish friends--the Europeans forever huddling together as the coalition of the unwilling, some of our congressmen and the editorialists at our largest newspapers--are determined that U.S. policy must be a one-act play.

Even some of our pragmatists, who recognize that survival is at stake and can look without blinking at the enemy and the unyielding religious ideology that drives him, are tempted to imagine that someone else will supply the muscle to back up our pretense of resolve. The Israelis did it once before, in 1981, destroying Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor at Osirik before he could build the nuclear weapons that would have changed, and changed utterly, the delicate balance of power in the Middle East and the world. The Israelis will do it for us again.

The reputation of the efficiency of Israeli arms and intelligence is well-founded; nobody does it better when the chips are down and something absolutely, positively, unequivocally, categorically and unmistakably has to be done. But the Israelis are not as eager to do the good deed for the rest of us as many in the West--including many Europeans who are ready to condemn publicly and praise privately--think they are. The politics of Israel are, to put it mildly, in severe flux, with Ariel Sharon lying at the point of death on the eve of national elections. "Before you send bombers to take out nuclear installations," a senior Israeli military analyst told me one day last week, "it helps to know exactly where they are. Getting there and getting back is not the holiday trip a lot of people imagine."

for full article: http://www.washtimes.com/national/pruden.htm

 

[dilloduck]

Israels economy would collapse without US aid so America will provide the muscle even if Israel does the deed. We,ve stockpiled weapons there for years and financed their war machine.

 

[Adam's Apple]

Your thinking on this, Dillo, is right on target, of course. The world evidently is expecting the U.S. and Israel to take care of Iran’s nuclear program--or at least set it back several years--while this problem should be just as much of a concern to the rest of the world as it is for the U.S. and Israel. They should be working the diplomatic channels unceasingly--including Russia and China--to see that nuclear weapons stay out of Iran's hands. I cannot understand why the U.S. has to spend precious time trying to educate other countries about the seriousness of this situation when it should be apparent that this is just as much of a threat to the whole world as it is to the U.S. and Israel.

 

[shepherdboy]

China,Russia and Europe really don't care about the fate of Israel. Iran is a trade partner to them. Like the U.S., you do business with countries that best suits your economical needs. A year ago the Israeli air force (squadron 29) could have carried out such a mission on Iran. At the present time with a Iranian nuclear program that is farther ahead then what most intel agency had gathered, the likely hood of a successful Israeli air campaign is doubtful.
To add to the difficulty, is a recent arms trade with Russia to Iran. A very modern ground to air missile system called the Gauntlet 50 missile system.
Many operational planners doubt the current Israeli air force can take on such a bombing run. Many think that only modern stealth air craft could carry out such a mission. These modern air craft are only in the hands of the United States. Without U.S. help, Israel might be forced out of self preservation into launching tactical nuclear weapons. This would surely bring the U.N. and parts of the E.U. down on the nation of Israel to disarm. Which could start the Biblical prophesy that many people fear.