October 25, 2004
How Many Seconds To Midnight?
"If Israel fires one missile at Bushehr atomic power plant, it should permanently forget about Dimona nuclear center, where it produces and keeps its nuclear weapons, and Israel would be responsible for the terrifying consequence of this move."
So said an Iranian General a few months ago.
But the Israelis are still planning to hit Iran:
Increasingly concerned about Iran's nuclear program, Israel is weighing its options on a military strike to prevent the Islamic republic from gaining the capability to build atomic weapons, according to policymakers, military officials, analysts and diplomats.
One of Ariel Sharon's advisers gives an indication of the timeline: "There may be a few months when the international community can still act and place upon Iran the kind of pressure that would compel it to stop its program. But there's not much time -- there's not much time."
Meanwhile, there are rumours flying to the effect that the United States will "strike at" (to use Bush's terminology) Iran in the week before the U.S. elections.
Either way (and surely, the October Surprise "option" seems highly unlikely), it's a recipe for disaster.
Israel's dismissal of the apparent double-standard vis a vis its own nuclear programme is predictably Orwellian:
Israeli officials insist that their country's presumed nuclear status enhances regional stability by serving as a deterrent but that Iran's possession of atomic weapons would almost certainly trigger an arms race with rival Muslim states.
No comment necessary. But already by the mid-'90s, the late Israeli dissident Professor Israel Shahak was warning that "Israeli intervention in the Gulf may lead to a war -- even a war in which nuclear weapons are used -- against Iran, from which untold calamities will ensue."
Now just how much safer can the Bush Administration and its allies make the world? Stay tuned...
Posted by Eddie Tews at October 25, 2004 07:05 PM
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