With Israel having failed to rally international leaders to take action to stop Iran from going nuclear, the Jewish state is left with only one weapon in its arsenal to get the world to wake up to the Iranian nuclear threat: Bombing Iran. That, at least, is the theory Shmuel Rosner outlines in a piece in The New Republic:
According to this line of thinking, which has adherents among some high-ranking officials and former officials in the Israeli defense establishment, focusing on the tactical questions surrounding [an Israeli bombing operation against Iran]–how much of Iran’s nuclear program can Israel destroy? how many years can a bombing campaign set the program back?–is a mistake. The main goal of a hit would not be to destroy the program completely, but rather to awaken the international community from its slumber and force it to finally engineer a solution to the crisis. As one former Israeli official put it, any attack on Iran’s reactors–as long as it is not perceived as a military failure–can serve as a means of “stirring the pot” of international geopolitics. Israel, in other words, wouldn’t be resorting to military action because it is convinced that diplomacy by the international community cannot stop Iran; it would be resorting to military action because only diplomacy by the international community can stop Iran.
Hmm. Actually bombing Iran. That’s even more effective than warmongering.
If Israel actually does go ahead with a bombing run, Israeli pilots likely will face Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles in Iran, The New York Sun reports:
Apparently fearing Israel would act even before the end of the Bush administration, Iran is boosting its air defenses with advanced Russian-made antiaircraft systems. A first delivery of S-300 missile batteries is expected as soon as early September, an unidentified Israeli source told Reuters yesterday. The missiles can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes 75 miles away.
The latest Israeli warning about bombing Iran came Thursday from IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who is visiting Washington.
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