Tuesday, October 6, 2009

How Would the U.S. Respond to an Attack on Israel?

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dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com

With the revelation of the obvious, that Iran has the know-how to build a nuclear bomb, along with their ongoing testing of medium range missiles that are a regional threat, there can be no illusion anymore about Iran's intentions. Absent military action that would take away their nuclear development facilities, they will become a nuclear power. Iran is successfully continuing its strategy of using negotiations as a delaying tactic. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues his dangerous talk about wiping our ally Israel "off the map", and has stated that millions of Iranian civilian deaths would be acceptable losses if it meant Israel was destroyed. In the meantime, the Obama administration is pushing Israel hard not to take military action in its own defense, in line with President Obama's favoring diplomacy in resolving disputes and his general aversion to use of military action. Iran is not just a threat to Israel. As a leading backer of global terrorist groups, Iran is the leading candidate to provide terrorists with suitcase nuclear bombs that could be used in the U.S., Israel or elsewhere. But a nuclear bomb in the United States, as devastating as that would be, would not destroy our nation. Israel is a different case, as a nuclear strike would effectively destroy this small nation (see size comparison maps here) and kill a significant part of its population. Israel cannot take a nuclear hit and survive. The Obama administration has reportedly promised that the US would have a nuclear response to an Iranian nuclear attack against Israel. But it is much more likely that a nuclear attack against Israel will come from Iranian-backed terrorists. What if it couldn't be proved that Iran supplied the nukes? What if it WAS proved conclusively? Is it reasonable to believe under ANY circumstances that President Obama would order a nuclear attack on Iran if Israel were attacked? Should Israeli national security plans rely on an American security guarantee?

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