This is the type of stuff that worries the crap out of me on both sides of the argument. The issue of Iran possibly being able to create nuclear weapons sounds alarmingly like the weapons of mass destruction debate, which was supposedly one of the top reasons for starting a war that's now in it's 7th year. No doubt that both Dumbass Hussein and now Ahmanejahdilbadidad were/are crazy enough to pull that kind of shit off. But, is this something that the U.S. of A. needs to spearhead the fight against? Why is it that when this is something going on in Germany's back yard...and the front doorstep of all of Europe...why are we the ones perceived as the bad guy? Why is our fight when no one else seems to give a shit enough to do anything about it. Lord knows, our armed forces and guys right here on this board have been put through enough when it comes to seemingly fighting the battles no one else has the coconuts to take on.
Just my thoughts. Feel free to opine openly.
Israel Has Until Week's End to Strike Iran Nuclear Facility, Bolton Says
Published August 17, 2010
| FoxNews.com
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AP2009
In this November 2009 photo released by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), the reactor building of Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is seen. (AP Photo)
Israel has until the weekend to launch a military strike on Iran's first nuclear plant before the humanitarian risk of an attack becomes too great, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Tuesday.
A Russian company is expected to help Iran start loading nuclear fuel into its plant starting on Saturday, after which an attack on the Bushehr reactor could trigger harmful radiation, which Israel wants to avoid, Bolton said. So unless the Israelis act immediately to shut down the facility, it will be too late.
"Once it's close to the reactor ... the risk is when the reactor is attacked, there will be a release of radiation into the air," Bolton told FoxNews.com. "It's most unlikely that they would act militarily after fuel rods are loaded."
Earlier Tuesday, Bolton told Fox Business Network the Israelis will have to move in the "next eight days" if they want to attack the Bushehr facility -- a reference to the window between when the start-up was announced last week and the loading date. Bolton said Tuesday that the date has fluctuated, but he described the start-up as the ultimate deadline.
Though Iranian officials insist the reactor is for peaceful purposes, Bolton warned about the danger of the up-and-running reactor.
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Bolton, who was U.S. ambassador during the Bush administration, expressed doubt that Israel was planning a military strike but suggested it's an open question.
"If they were going to do anything, they certainly wouldn't be talking about it," he said.
He noted that the reactor gives Iran something that both Iraq and Syria were never able to achieve because their facilities were destroyed.
"Iran will have achieved something that no other opponent of Israel, no other enemy of the United States really in the Middle East has, and that is a functioning nuclear reactor," he said on Fox Business Network.
Iranian officials on Tuesday warned Israel not to take military action. Iranian media quoted Ahmad Vahidi, Iran's defense minister, as saying Israel would be taking a huge risk with such an attack.
"We may lose a power plant, but the whole existence of the Zionist regime will be jeopardized," Vahidi was quoted as saying.
The reactor project has been in existence for decades, but the Russians have helped push it to the finish line. Russian state firm Rosatom announced last week that the Bushehr facility would be starting up on Aug. 21. According to the Iranian state Mehr news agency, the head of that company, Sergey Novikov, says the plant "just generates electricity."
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