Chilling stuff . . . But, this story is from Aljazeera, a source I would expect to be fair except where Israel is concerned, and I don’t believe even Netanyahu could be that crazystupidevil! But, I don’t live there. Anybody worried?
:o Mods, please move thread to GD!
The factual answer to your question is: Yes, some people are worried.
Israel did this to Iraq in 1981 and it turned out fine. It may be that it eliminates future problems.
Don’t go there. Experts wargamed the “limited airstrike on Iran” scenario in 2007, and again in 2010, and nobody can see any way it does not set off a general regional war.
How would Iran carry out a war against Israel, when they don’t share a border?
First you have Iraqi airspace (and groundspace, so infantry and armor operations are right out), presumably controlled by the US. Then you have Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia in the way. Maybe the Israelis could conduct a one-off airstrike, if they can get everyone in the way to close their eyes. But anything even remotely resembling a war? Tell me how it’s going to be done. I don’t see how it is at all possible.
Looks like bullshit that depends on the target audience being unable to read a simple map.
ETA: Same warfare problem works in the other direction. Just reverse the countries in the way. The problems remain the same. Still bullshit designed to sell news/books.
Iran responding to an attack from any source can make a lot of trouble in the countries it does border before it even thinks of getting around to Israel. America being Israel’s ally, the U.S.-occupied ones (Iraq, Afghanistan) are fair game by definition, to Iran. And the Iranians can see clearly enough how overstretched are our forces in the region.
The limited wars we’ve had in the Middle East have been bad enough. I’d say that anybody in the military with a sense of self-preservation should be scared out of their wits at the prospect of a general war in the Middle East. Does anyone think that it could possibly stay conventional? I doubt Israel would go first, but you can be sure that (assuming they have nuclear weapons, a safe assumption) they would certainly retaliate.
Has Iranian leadership ever stated that they want to destroy Israel? I know that many other groups have stated an intent to destroy Israel, and several countries did attempt to destroy Israel in the past. If Iran really does have a nuclear program, I can understand why Israel would be concerned. And as Qin pointed out, they did destroy Iraq’s nuclear program back in the 80s.
I don’t see why America would have to get involved in a war, if one did break out, between Iran and Israel. The US should stay out of this shit.
I suspect that, if the Iranian forces attacked US forces in response to being attacked by Israel, most Americans would consider it an unprovoked attack against us, and support the US responding fully and in kind. I also suspect that if the Iranians limited themselves to a non-nuclear exchange of missiles with Israel, most Americans would be content to sit it out.
While it’s true that we’re short of man power and money right now - I think that would change dramatically if Iran responded by attacking us directly. That said, I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that.
As for the article, I doubt that anyone who has genuine knowledge of Israel’s plans for a surprise attack is willing to chat about it on public radio. An American former CIA official? He’s just guessing.
Which is why Iran hardened and dispersed its nuclear assets, to make such an attack impractical.
Ya know they gotta attack somebody, if they’re bombed, not attacking somebody wouldn’t be an option.
That’s what the thread’s about. Israel ain’t that crazy, but Netanyahu just might be. Is he? I dunno, he’s just a guy I know from the news and stuff. Any Israelis have an opinion? And what about Barak? Does it make it more dangerous to have him in the mix at this point?
Nope. Knowledgeable insiders have predicted 7 of the last zero Israeli bombings of Iran.
Highly (if not absurdly) unlikely but it can be useful to let the Iranians think so. Worked kinda for Nixon.
Seems to me that the Iranians and other Islamic countries are more dangerous than anyone Nixon ever faced (in other words, Communists) because even Communists didn’t think that they would all be sent to heaven if they died bringing about the end of America. Whereas the Islamic clerics and those who follow them do seem to have no actual fear of death if it is the death of a martyr. I think they’d be happy to let their whole country die if they thought that death would be the price to pay for nuking Israel and destroying “Satan.” This is much scarier to me than people who merely thought America had the wrong kind of economic system.
Yeah … but I’m not convinced that attacking US forces is a strong play for them, even if we’re temporarily more convenient than Israel. In thinking it over, I suspect Iran would be more likely to retaliate via their Hezbollah troops, probably with coordinating attacks from Hamas. Why fight the US with their own Iranian troops when they can get a bunch of patsies to fight Israel directly? US might get dragged into that mess if it looks like Israel is threatened with destruction - but the Israelis could probably hold off a short attack on their own.
If the Israelis were to attack and destroy Iran’s nuclear program - I suspect general world opinion would be quietly on their side, just like last time they did it.
Nonsense. They’ve avoided anything that could provoke anything like that. Martyrdom is for the cannon fodder, not the leadership. And the Communists were far more dangerous because they actually had the power to destroy us. Despite all the attempts of the Right to turn Islam into the New Red Scare, they don’t begin to have the same level of power as the Communists.
Can’t happen. The Iranians have learned from Iraq’s experience and bomb-hardened their nuclear facilities. And I very much doubt all the Israeli planes would make it home again.
The fact that this has been publicly reported means that it will not happen. It is a political tactic, possibly to keep the US presence in Iraq. Israel has already lost it’s opportunity to conduct a useful pre-emptive strike against Iran. If they do strike, it will be with smart weapons, possibly with a figher jet escort, but the fighter jets won’t place themselves in as high risk situation over Iran.
I think Israel is too busy right now trying to prepare for changes in Egypt to waste military resources on Iran.