Israel Asked U.S. to Bomb Iran...

[Rowdy]

Report: Israel Asked U.S. to Bomb Iran; Bush Rejected

Friday, September 26, 2008

AP

Sep. 25: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Israel seriously considered bombing Iran's nuclear sites earlier this year but U.S. President George W. Bush refused to support such a strike, a British newspaper reported on Friday.

The Guardian said Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert raised the issue with Bush in a private one-on-one meeting on May 14 in Jerusalem.

According to "European diplomatic sources," Bush said he would not support such a strike because of fears of retaliation, possibly on American targets in Iraq and Afghanistan, and concern that the Israelis would fail to fully disable Iran's nuclear facilities, the newspaper said.

Olmert "took it (the refusal of a U.S. green light) as where they were at the moment, and that the U.S. position was unlikely to change as long as Bush was in office," said one source.

The newspaper said that even if Israel had wanted to go ahead without Washington's agreement, its planes would be unable to reach Iran without passing through U.S.-controlled airspace above Iraq.

Iran would assume that Washington had approved the strike, raising the prospect of an attack against the United States, it said.

Israel considers Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, its greatest threat because of Tehran's nuclear program and repeated statements by its leaders predicting the demise of Israel.

The West accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, while Tehran has insisted its program is for peaceful purposes.

"The need to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is raised at every meeting between the prime minister and foreign leaders. Israel prefers a diplomatic solution to this issue but all options must remain on the table," The Guardian quoted Olmert spokesman Mark Regev as saying.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said he would not comment on any private conversations the president had.

Washington says it wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff but has not ruled out military action as a last resort.

[Rowdy]

I realize this news has sort of "treaded water" so to speak with no real updates concerning Iran, however this article sheds a little on the fact that apparently Bush rejected Israel's formal request. Iran will be tough to attack a few years down the road when they beef up their air defenses with the Russian SAM sites and other military equipment.

If Israel cannot get their planes over there due to airspace issues, I wonder how long they will go before they figure something out.

[canters]

Bush may be afraid of being accused of injecting politics into the election by allowing or endorcing this action.....after all, it likely would help McCain.

I fear that we must confront Iran....sooner or later. I hope we have not waited too long.

[Rowdy]

Thats what Im saying. Their air defenses will be significantly beefed up soon and it will continue to get tougher every month that passes.

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Good for Bush. You can't just go attacking people for no reason (and no those paper tiger comments by Iran are not a reason).

For once I agree with Bush.

[ConcordCowboy]

Don't anyone fall over...but Bush was right here.

[poke]

the scary part is that in her interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin said
the US should NEVER second guess what Israel is doing for their security.

so does this mean Bush is smarter than Palin ?

[masomenos]

Our relationship with Israel scares me. Honestly, I don't even understand what prompted the alliance in the first place. Was it just a strategic alliance to have military presence in the region? This is something I'd love to get some responses to, I'm all ears if a history lesson is in store.

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Originally Posted by masomenos85

Our relationship with Israel scares me. Honestly, I don't even understand what prompted the alliance in the first place. Was it just a strategic alliance to have military presence in the region? This is something I'd love to get some responses to, I'm all ears if a history lesson is in store.

party line is, supporting the only democracy in the area

conspiracy line is, jewish lobby in the US has convinced the US that Israeli needs are US needs

[ConcordCowboy]

Originally Posted by poke

the scary part is that in her interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin said
the US should NEVER second guess what Israel is doing for their security.

so does this mean Bush is smarter than Palin ?

And Couric called her on it and said NEVER?

And of course she got the Moose in the headlight look.

[ThreeSportStar80]

What a joke of a request... Israel has to be kidding!

[vta]

Originally Posted by ThreeSportStar80

What a joke of a request... Israel has to be kidding!

No, Israel never kids about it's security.

[Cajuncowboy]

I would have said Heck yes, I'll even light the candle.