So, to our benifit, albiet as a side effect to their own policy, did it once before. Now there is talk of leaked Israeli military info of another possible strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The only reason Iran doesn't have nukes now is because of the strike over a decade ago. I'm cautiously all for it. Let Israel do what needs to be done so we don't have to. But, there is talk that they might use tactical nukes to get at some of the deeper bunkers. I don't like nukes. The use of tactical nukes just opens Pandora's Box to the wider use of the planet killer ones. If Israel does it they can only use conventional weapons.
Posted by Paul Goldner (Member # 1910) on :
If israel does it, it will be because israel believes that Iran is about to get nuclear weapons, and that israel's existence is at stake. So, if they believe the only way to remove iran's nukes is to use nukes of their own, they will.
Israel doesn't use force because its in our interest, they use force because it is in their interest, and, as such, they will use the force necessary to accomplish their ends, not ours.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Of couse they don't act for our intrest, but it would be a nice side effect for us if they did.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
If they use nukes they will really make this a jihad in fact rather than in name.
God help us all.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
If the alternative is getting nuked by Iran, Kwea, which I'm not saying it is right now, but should that turn out to be the case, do you honestly think they shouldn't take out Iran's nuclear capability by any means necessary?
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
quote:If they use nukes they will really make this a jihad in fact rather than in name.
Seriously, if Iran-led by 'Holocaust-wasn't-so-bad Ahmadinijad (spelling phonetically here), a man who as the president of a nation has espoused murderous hatred of Israel and Jews in the past, acquires nuclear technology without some major guarantees-verifiable guarantees-that it won't be used for weapons technology, how long do you think it'll be before Israel is threatened with nuclear weapons?
Posted by Avatar300 (Member # 5108) on :
That depends, how long does it take to push a button?
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
That really depends on the location, size, color, general pushability, and most importantly, the intelligence of the button pusher.
I know a couple of Iranians, so I think if the button was easy to find, 3 inches in diameter, red, fun to push (like x-box controller triggers), and the button-pusher was of average intelligence....about 2 hours after they were told to.
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
I think it would be better if they used something other than nukes...maybe we can loan them one of those new MOAB bombs.
But I don't think the USA should try to talk them out of it. They are surrounded by enemies, it is hard to blame them from using any means necessary to protect themselves.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
When it comes down to making the decision whether or not to NUKE Iran, I'm not paying much attention to Ahmenidijad, I'm watching Khamenei.
Keep in mind that "President" in Iran doesn't mean the same thing it does in America. Ahmenidijad is a mouthpiece and figurehead, and his actions lost his party local elections all over Iran this last year.
I think bunker busters are going to get Israel further than conventional nukes though. Maybe if the US had continued to develop the nuclear bunker buster that the world went crazy over that we nixed, we'd have the best of both worlds, but how good are nukes at penetrating deep layer bunkers and fortifications?
If the network of bunkers is as deep and widespread as Iran claims, or even half as much, then even a handful of nukes won't do much good, and chances are they'll kill so many civilians that the backlash from such a strike would pose a bigger threat to Israel thank Iran's nukes.
I think if Israel is looking to take out Iran's arsenal, they should beat the crap out of them with targeted airstrikes. I think they'll hit more, and not using nukes let's them keep the high ground, and I think gets them out of an all out Jihad being declared on them by all neighbors.