"A war initiated by Israel would spread to our interests in about half an hour."
Of course, which is EXACTLY the motive the Israelis would have for initiating the war. Bibi and co know perfectly well that they do not have the capacity to stop Iran getting nukes on their own (leaving aside the question of whether Iran is actually doing that - the important thing here is that the Israelis BELIEVE they do). But if they can entangle the US into a war with Iran the USAF will do the job for them.
That's their whole strategy, and the only reason they haven't started the war yet is because they could not be certain even Bush was dumb enough to be their dupe, and they know Obama certainly isn't (hence their distaste for him). But if a naive Republican who has made all sorts of tough guy noises in the campaign gets elected, then watch out ...
Pretty obviously, Joe, they started because there was this superpower that invaded and occupied two of the neighbours and then kept looking them in the eye muttering "regime change". Had I been on Iran's National Security Council I'd have been thumping the desk yelling "nukes now, whatever the cost!". There was an overpowering national interest to be gained
And, yes, once you start down that road your generals alone would never let you discard those glittering new toys, anymore than the US ones did in 1946 or the Chinese did at the end of the Sino-Soviet split.
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Better, D King, it's the SMART thing to do - see my previous comment. Israel won't attack unless it thinks that it can implicate the US in the attack.
"A war initiated by Israel would spread to our interests in about half an hour."
Of course, which is EXACTLY the motive the Israelis would have for initiating the war. Bibi and co know perfectly well that they do not have the capacity to stop Iran getting nukes on their own (leaving aside the question of whether Iran is actually doing that - the important thing here is that the Israelis BELIEVE they do). But if they can entangle the US into a war with Iran the USAF will do the job for them.
That's their whole strategy, and the only reason they haven't started the war yet is because they could not be certain even Bush was dumb enough to be their dupe, and they know Obama certainly isn't (hence their distaste for him). But if a naive Republican who has made all sorts of tough guy noises in the campaign gets elected, then watch out ...
Pretty obviously, Joe, they started because there was this superpower that invaded and occupied two of the neighbours and then kept looking them in the eye muttering "regime change". Had I been on Iran's National Security Council I'd have been thumping the desk yelling "nukes now, whatever the cost!". There was an overpowering national interest to be gained
And, yes, once you start down that road your generals alone would never let you discard those glittering new toys, anymore than the US ones did in 1946 or the Chinese did at the end of the Sino-Soviet split.