Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility

For those we lost, We will not forget 09/11/2001

“Our God given unalienable rights are given to us all as individuals. They tell us what we may do for ourselves, and they are the embodiment of liberty. The so-called rights that government gives to some of us are parcelled out to select groups as classes. They tell us what one class of people may require another to do for them, and they are the very essence of slavery.”
— Perri Nelson, February 9, 2010

A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh?

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Why would Israel be that crazy?

Published Mon, Jan 8 2007 8:21 AM

USATODAY.com:

LONDON (AP) — A British newspaper reported Sunday that Israeli pilots were already training to strike as many as three targets in Iran with low-yield nuclear weapons, aiming to halt Tehran's controversial uranium enrichment program.
Israeli officials swiftly denied the report, which comes amid growing global concerns over an Iranian nuclear program that many believe is secretly aimed at developing weapons. Israel has never confirmed it has nuclear weapons itself, although the Jewish state is widely believed to possess a significant stockpile.
Citing multiple unidentified Israeli military sources, The Sunday Times said the proposals drawn up in Israel involved using so-called "bunker-buster" nuclear weapons to attack nuclear facilities at three sites south of the Iranian capital

Why would they use nuclear weapons for this? Large, non-nuclear bunker busters do exist. It doesn't make sense to come out of the closet this way.

Some view Israeli officials' occasional implied threats as a means of pressuring the world community to take action itself, building on the recent United Nations Security Council decision to impose some economic sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
Iran claims its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, including generating electricity. Its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has condemned the U.N. move as invalid and illegal.

Why would a nation as oil rich as Iran need nuclear power to generate electricity?

Former senior intelligence official Ephraim Kam — now of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies — also suggested the report should not be taken literally. "No reliable source would ever speak about this, certainly not to the Sunday Times," he said.

The Sunday Times seems to be engaging in wishful thinking. I don't know about their unidentified Israeli military sources, but it seems to me that the idea that Israel would use nuclear weapons to take out Iran's nuclear facilities is ludicrous.

First of all, Israel has a policy of ambiguity regarding whether they even have nuclear weapons. I think it's likely that they do have them, but they've never proven that to the world.

Second, large scale conventional bunker busting bombs do exist. The U.S. used them in Afghanistan. Israel has never been a nation that couldn't improve on military technology, or take advantage of it when it was available. Even without the U.S. selling them bunker-busters what would prevent them from developing their own?

Third, Olmert doesn't seem to be the type to authorize the use of nuclear weapons even if Israel has them. He's the one that's been holding the IDF back more often than not. Of course there are people that think he's enough of a bumbler that he would give the authorization.

Finally, Israel knows that Iran has some powerful allies that do have nuclear weapons. Israel might be willing to risk another slap on the wrist from the U.N. but a preemptive nuclear strike would provoke retaliation from Russia at the least. They have a large interest in Iran's oil.

Their response would likely be nuclear too, but it might not involve uranium or plutonium. It just might involve polonium-210.

OK, the polonium is quite a stretch... the point is though that Israel is a lot smarter than to come out of the nuclear closet by using nuclear weapons for a preemptive strike on something as sketchy as this. Especially when there are other ways to achieve the ends they desire. I think Ephraim Kam is right.

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