Israel Would Be Justified in Launching a Strike Against Iran

[JEDIYoda]

http://news.yahoo.com/israel-justified-launching-strike-against-iran-214000414.html

My own personnal opinion is that this commentator has no clue and does not understand the meaning of the word -- SURVIVAL!!
Which IMO is the only way Israel would ever use nuclear weapons.....was if they had to in order to not be totally exterminated!!


A Commentary -- Let the flaming commence...

COMMENTARY | An AFP report that Israel has equipped a flotilla of German-made submarines with nuclear-equipped missiles constitutes an ominous development in the game of nuclear brinkmanship in the Middle East.

Despite repeated denials, it has been accepted that Iran is developing a nuclear arsenal. While, according to the U.K. Guardian, the U.S. has been conducting cyberattacks against Iran's nuclear program as well as attempting to impede it via diplomacy and economic sanctions, Israel has maintained the right to stop Iran's nuclear aspirations by military means.

The Belfer Center has concluded Israel has the ability to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, many of them underground in hardened position, using long-range F-15s armed with American supplied bunker buster bombs. But such an approach would be risky and might involve heavy casualties among Israeli pilots.

A flotilla of nuclear armed submarines, positioned in the Persian Gulf perhaps, might provide an alternative way of taking out Iran's nuclear program and, at the same time, providing a lesson in what happens when an enemy of Israel contemplates using nuclear weapons.

Most analysts believe Israel's nuclear fleet is meant to be a deterrent. But a scenario might exist in which it has become clear that diplomatic and covert means of stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons have failed. If so, the U.S., under a weak administration such as Barack Obama's, still balks at launching its own strike and in which Israel concludes an air strike is too risky to contemplate.

In such a scenario, Israel might feel it is justified in launching a first strike against Iran with nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons would be capable of penetrating the hardened, underground nuclear facilities in Iran and destroying them. They would also provide an object lesson, not just to Iran, but to any potential enemy of the Jewish state who contemplates a nuclear arsenal.

The choice would be between a first strike with nuclear weapons and accepting a situation in which an enemy sworn to the extermination of the Jewish people in Israel has the means to carry out that threat. Few would be able to say that Israel striking first would not be justified, at least with a straight face.

 

[Jaskalas]

I believe the world has condemned the idea of using nuclear weapons for any purpose. One does not simply re-open Pandora's Box and think to get away with it.

Imagine they do it for a second. Iran would be injured, delayed, but not stopped. It only buys them time until they have to do it again. In the meantime Israel faces the condemnation of an angry planet through embargo and conventional war... Israel does not want to see what this future holds.

 

[tommo123]

it would make every country within reach of a nuclear power but without it themselves paranoid they could be next. they would all justifiably rush to build nukes themselves

more to the point, what's left or iran would counter attack. not with nukes but maybe with chemical or bio weapons. hell, they have some radioactive materials right? why not a dirty bomb?

we can't take the ramblings of crazy fools in power as their true intent. otherwise the US and s.korea would have had to nuke north korea ages ago

 

[schneiderguy]

Attacking a sovereign country without provocation is never justified.

Building nuclear weapons is not provocation especially when one side already has them.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Attacking a sovereign country without provocation is never justified.

Building nuclear weapons is not provocation especially when one side already has them.

So tell Iran to leave Israel alone.

One signs a treaty; one is expected to honor such.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

So tell Iran to leave Israel alone.

What exactly has Iran done to Israel to justify a military attack?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Proxy attacks by Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas for a start over the past 10+ years

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Proxy attacks by Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas for a start over the past 10+ years

Well, if that could be proven, and they really wanted an all-out war over it, that would be justified, I agree.

Of course, that's not what anyone is talking about. What they are talking about is a country that is widely known to have nuclear weapons launching an attack on another country because it (maybe) wants nuclear weapons.

 

[Triumph]

I don't think Iran wants nukes just to eradicate Israel in some misguided understanding of their Divine Right. I think they want them because they're scared the US will invade, as the US tends to do, whenever it feels like it, based on specious evidence about weapons development programs.

 

[bpatters69]

Attacking a sovereign country without provocation is never justified.

Building nuclear weapons is not provocation especially when one side already has them.

Remind you of anything? How about the Cuban missile crisis? Some believe the US came within hours of attacking Cuba.

Its nice to sit back and state that attacking a soverign nation is never justified but I bet most American citizens would be none too happy if nucelar war heads were placed in Cuba and the Cuban leader threatened to launch them against the US.

War should be the last option but sometimes it is the only option.

 

[sm625]

I wish Israel would just do it. In all likelihood they will find that Iran has had nukes for the past 20 years. Needless to say they would find this out only after their country has been wiped off the map. Then maybe we can stop feeding them taxpayer funded arms. Iran would of course survive, since it is a big country.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

I don't think Iran wants nukes just to eradicate Israel in some misguided understanding of their Divine Right. I think they want them because they're scared the US will invade, as the US tends to do, whenever it feels like it, based on specious evidence about weapons development programs.

If you're running Iran, and you compare how the US has treated Iraq and North Korea over the last twenty years, you'd be a fool not to want nuclear weapons.

When you constantly send a message that you'll invade/undermine/destroy countries without nuclear weapons and just wag your fingers at those who have them, you create an incentive to go nuclear that guarantees proliferation.

If Iran becomes a nuclear state, it will be largely due to the US and Israel.

 

[Jhhnn]

Despite repeated denials, it has been accepted that Iran is developing a nuclear arsenal.

Remove that premise and all the warmongering is revealed as a sham.

How do the Iranians create nuclear weapons w/o weapons grade material?

How will they create it when their enrichment facilities are monitored by the IAEA?

And, uhh, don't try to tell us that the IAEA "left Iran" as that scurrilous claim has already been debunked...

 

[cybrsage]

If you're running Iran, and you compare how the US has treated Iraq and North Korea over the last twenty years, you'd be a fool not to want nuclear weapons.

When you constantly send a message that you'll invade/undermine/destroy countries without nuclear weapons and just wag your fingers at those who have them, you create an incentive to go nuclear that guarantees proliferation.

Agreed. Any nation which uses nuclear weapons offensively at this point will be anhilliated by the major world powers. The world powers have no choice, they must send a clear message that nuclear weapons cannot be used to attack others.

Iran wants nukes to become invasion proof. If I was them, given that the UN, EU, and the Obama US only send strongly worded messages, I would be working towards building nukes too.

 

[PokerGuy]

How will they create it when their enrichment facilities are monitored by the IAEA?

You can't be that naive can you? The IAEA doesn't have access to all the sites, and even when they do get access they get it after months of "negotiation" over that access. During those months, Iran does all sorts of cleaning to get rid of the evidence, and sometimes they still get caught.

That said, the OP logic is idiotic. Basically saying "nuclear weapons are so horrendous, we can't risk having anyone using them on us... thus we are justified in using those same horrendous weapons against someone who we think might be developing them, thus proving they were right in seeking them out to begin with".

 

[cybrsage]

How do the Iranians create nuclear weapons w/o weapons grade material?

They make weapons grade material. How do you make pot pie if you do not have noodles? You make noodles.

How will they create it when their enrichment facilities are monitored by the IAEA?

They make it in one of the places they refuse to let the IAEA in, such as Parchin.

And, uhh, don't try to tell us that the IAEA "left Iran" as that scurrilous claim has already been debunked...

When the IAEA is not allowed to inspect probably nuclear development sites, they might as well not be in the country at all. You agree, yes?

The IAEA and Iran were expected to sign an agreement“quite soon” to broaden inspectors’ access to suspected nuclear sites, including Parchin, Director General Yukiya Amano said May 22 after he returned from Tehran.
Skepticism that the deal will be signed in the near future is growing, according to the senior Western official.

Iran backed off earlier statements that a trip to Parchin could be arranged when Fereidoun Abbasi, head of the Islamic republic’s Atomic Energy Organization, said on May 27 that the IAEA hadn’t convinced him of the need to visit.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-01/iran-clean-up-won-t-hamper-iaea-s-bomb-hunt-at-parchin

Satellite photos published last month by a Washington-based research institute showed razed structures and streams of water running out of a building at the Parchin military complex thought to house a test-blast chamber. The UN International Atomic Energy Agency reported in November that the Persian Gulf nation used the facility for atomic-bomb tests.

Parchin, 30 kilometers (18 miles) southwest of Tehran, is the military base where IAEA inspectors said they have“credible” evidence showing Iran built a container inside of which scientists studied blast patterns useful for assembling a nuclear weapon. Iran says the evidence given to the IAEA was falsified by intelligence agencies.

 

[Texashiker]

Is nuclear weapons the next step in warfare?

We have gone from men running across a field at each other with spears, to aircraft carriers and tanks.

 

[zsdersw]

given that the UN, EU, and the Obama US only send strongly worded messages,

What should they do?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Well, if that could be proven, and they really wanted an all-out war over it, that would be justified, I agree.

Of course, that's not what anyone is talking about. What they are talking about is a country that is widely known to have nuclear weapons launching an attack on another country because it (maybe) wants nuclear weapons.

Weapons transfers count?

Israel does not want an all out war; they just do not trust Iran with any potential for a nuclear weapon given Iran's actions.

Iran has legal obligations w/ respected to nuclear power and they seem to be pushing the envelope on what is allowed.

What they are doing is more than what is needed for what they "claim" they want.

 

[cybrsage]

What should they do?

Put a full embargo on Iran, allowing no goods or items to enter or leave Iran. Any nation which does not enforce this embargo will have the embargo placed upon them as well.

The embargo can be lifted after inspectors are allowed full access to any facility they request and access must be granted immediately.


An alternative is to have the UNSC authorize missile strikes on any facility suspected of being used to develop nuclear weapons but Iran refuses access to the IAEA. We did the same type of thing in Iraq when Clinton was President.

 

[Jhhnn]

You can't be that naive can you? The IAEA doesn't have access to all the sites, and even when they do get access they get it after months of "negotiation" over that access. During those months, Iran does all sorts of cleaning to get rid of the evidence, and sometimes they still get caught.

That said, the OP logic is idiotic. Basically saying "nuclear weapons are so horrendous, we can't risk having anyone using them on us... thus we are justified in using those same horrendous weapons against someone who we think might be developing them, thus proving they were right in seeking them out to begin with".

You conflate sites where research has been alleged with sites where production of enriched material occurs.

We agree wrt your second paragraph, however.

 

[Jhhnn]

They make weapons grade material. How do you make pot pie if you do not have noodles? You make noodles.

They make it in one of the places they refuse to let the IAEA in, such as Parchin.

When the IAEA is not allowed to inspect probably nuclear development sites, they might as well not be in the country at all. You agree, yes?

You also conflate supposed past related research with production of weapons grade material. Take that away, and your argument is empty.

No credible source has alleged that Iranian enrichment is occurring outside of sites monitored by the IAEA.

 

[zsdersw]

Put a full embargo on Iran, allowing no goods or items to enter or leave Iran. Any nation which does not enforce this embargo will have the embargo placed upon them as well.

The embargo can be lifted after inspectors are allowed full access to any facility they request and access must be granted immediately.

Unicorns farting rainbows is more likely than that.

 

[sportage]

The idea of nuclear power is and should only be as a deterrent.
Any country that believes differently is doomed to die by their own hand.
At least that was the original idea during the cold war....

 

[Lemon law]

How about making the Mid-east a nuclear weapons free zone.