Decision Time (J. Post on Israel's capability and fallout of attacking Iran)

[oblivious]

Updated Jan. 5, 2007
Decision time
By YAAKOV KATZ

...Within the Israeli leadership, there is one clear voice - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - that refuses to come to terms with a nuclear Iran and claims that Teheran must be stopped, even at a heavy price, from obtaining weapons of mass destruction and rocking the balance of power in the Middle East.

...The way things looks now, D-Day might not be too far away.

ISRAELI MILITARY CAPABILITY
...One former IAF brigadier-general says he is not certain the air force is capable of dealing Iran the powerful blow necessary to delay the program. "If we send the air force there, we run the risk of losing a third of our fleet," he says. "And if we return without fulfilling the mission, then what will we have achieved?"

...Israel seems to be preparing for the possibility that it will have to "go it alone" against Iran. A recent escalation in rhetoric seems to indicate that the country is getting ready for such an option. ...Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told The Jerusalem Post in November that sanctions were unlikely to work and that Israel must be prepared to thwart Teheran's drive for nuclear capability "at all costs," even in a preemptive strike. Since then other leaders have added their voices, including Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres who recently declared: "Iran too can be destroyed."

...In addition to the underground reinforcement at certain nuclear sites, the Iranians have also beefed up their air defenses in preparation for a possible air strike. But the strong air defenses do not protect fixed Iranian targets against standoff precision-guided weapons fired from out of range of the anti-aircraft missiles. According to a high-ranking IAF officer, "The Iranian air force is not a threat to the IAF. None of our neighbors pose an aerial threat that the air force would not be able to deal with."

"Israel can do it," the former head of the Air Force says. "All you have to do is pick a number of essential targets and destroy them. This way you postpone the process and wait to see what happens."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467659996&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

[bemildred]

1. I've been reading this drivel for at least 3 years now, maybe four.

I quote:

"All you have to do is pick a number of essential targets and destroy them."

If that does not epitomize the dumbfuckedness of this sort of "thinking", I don't know what could be better.