[Marxism] "Wag me again, Daddy Warbucks", said Lil' Arfing Ninny...

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Report: Israel ready for pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facility

By Ellis Shuman  - July 19, 2004 "Israel Insider"

http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enDisplay=view&enDispWho=Article%5El3867&enDispWhat=object&enZone=Security&enPage=ArticlePage

July 19, 2004 "Israel Insider" -- The Israeli Air Force has completed
military preparations for a pre-emptive strike at Iran's Bushehr nuclear
facility and will attack if Russia supplies Iran with rods for enriching
uranium, Israeli officials said, according to a report in the London Sunday
Times. Military sources said the raid would be carried out by long-range
F-15I jets, overflying Turkey, with simultaneous operations by commandos on
the ground.

Israel may also choose to launch submarine-based cruise missiles from the
Persian Gulf at key Iranian targets, NewsMax.com reported.

The rods, currently stored at a Russian port, are expected to be delivered
late next year after a dispute over financial terms is resolved, the paper
reported.

An Israeli defense source in Tel Aviv, who confirmed that the military
rehearsals had taken place, told the paper: "Israel will on no account
permit Iranian reactors - especially the one being built in Bushehr with
Russian help - to go critical."

"If the worst comes to the worst and international efforts fail," the source
was quoted as saying, "we are very confident we'll be able to demolish the
ayatollahs' nuclear aspirations in one go."

The Iranian nuclear threat has been on Israel's agenda for some time, and
the issue was raised in talks between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S.
President George W. Bush in Washington last year. The Washington Post
reported in August 2003 that administration officials were increasingly
concerned that Israel would launch a per-emptive strike against Iran.

In its report, the Sunday Times quoted a senior U.S. official warning of a
pre-emptive Israeli strike if Russia continues cooperating with the
Iranians. He said Washington was unlikely to block Israeli attacks against
Iran.

The paper also quoted from a classified document on the Iranian threat,
entitled "The Strategic Future of Israel," which was presented to Sharon
earlier this year. The document allegedly advocates military action against
"countries which develop nuclear weapons" and describes Iran as a "suicide
nation" and recommends "targeted killings" of members of the country's
elite, including its leading nuclear scientists.

Israeli sources acknowledged, according to the Sunday Times, that a
pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities could provoke "a
ferocious response," which could involve Lebanese-based rocket attacks on
northern Israel or terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets
abroad.

Meanwhile, Jane's Intelligence Digest reported this week that if Israel
launches a pre-emptive attack against Iraq, it would have to go it alone.
"Any joint U.S.-Israeli precision-guided missile strike against Iran's
nuclear facilities - Bushehr, Natanz or Arak - is unlikely to prove an
attractive option for the U.S. administration while it remains mired in
Iraq - which shares a 1,458 kilometer-long border with Iran," Jane's
reported.

In 1981, Israeli Air Force jets successfully attacked and destroyed Iraq's
nuclear reactor at Osirak. An attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be
much more complicated, Israeli media sources reported, because the country's
nuclear program is dispersed at several sites and the distance from Israel
is much greater. Iran also has the possibility to retaliate with its Shihab
ballistic missiles, the reports said.

Military sources believe the IDF has the capabilities to defend Israel
against a possible Iranian missile attack. Officially, due to Israel's
reliance on the newly developed Arrow anti-missile defense system, the
country is giving priority to diplomatic pressure to combat the Iranian
nuclear threat.

END

~daneo~


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