Israel: Bush means business on Iran nukes

[Scurrilous]

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"Israel is fully satisfied with the results of the visit of George W. Bush, including policy on Iran's nuclear program, senior officials in Jerusalem said Thursday.

"In talks with the president of the United States during his visit it was made clear that Bush's statements on the subject of Iran's nuclear program are fully backed in practice," a senior official said.

The president's attitude on Iran was well known in Israel, and the expectation had been that he would use forceful language against Tehran, both during talks with Israeli officials and in his address to the Knesset, not only on the nuclear question but on Iran's role in the region.

During meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, more data was presented to back the desire for a reassessment of an American intelligence report which concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program.

One Israeli source said that it is hoped that the new information would influence the administration's stance on Iran's nuclear program."

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[Scurrilous]

1. Bush Birthday Gift to Israel: WAR

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"I know I'm breaking TPM rules by using my space to link to another Cafe piece.

But I have to do it. Everybody needs to read Todd Gitlin's report about the cheerleading conference on war with Iran that is taking place in Israel. The whole war party is there, even President Bush.

Upon landing in Israel, Bush said he had a gift for Olmert and Peres but he could not reveal what it is for security reasons. But I can tell you.

I think it is a promise that either the US will attack Iran sometime in the next 250 days or Bush will give Israel the go-ahead to do it.

That attack, should it take place, would threaten every one of us here -- not to mention the existence of the State of Israel.

But, hell, Bush said in a speech to Knesset that Masada is the example he admires. That is where the Jews committed suicide rather than submit to Roman occupation. Husbands and fathers slit the throats of their wives and kids.

Bush announced: "Masada will not fall again."

Time to get scared, kids. The neocons have 250 days left to bring the temple down on all our heads."

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[Vegasaurus]

3. Time will tell, won't it?

I have heard people, pundits, bloggers, etc., saying that we were going to bomb Iran for over two years, maybe three.

It hasn't happened.

There is nothing happening now that makes bombing Iran more likely now than it was then.

[Scurrilous]

2. PMO: U.S., Israel see need for 'tangible action' on Iran nukes

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"The United States and Israel agree on the need for "tangible action" to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman said Friday, after a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush.

"We are on the same page. We both see the threat ... And we both understand that tangible action is required to prevent the Iranians from moving forward on a nuclear weapon," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said.

Regev described diplomatic efforts so far to exert pressure on Iran as "positive", but added: "It is clearly not sufficient and it's clear that additional steps will have to be taken."

Asked about the option of using military force, Regev said: "Leaders of many countries have talked about many options being on the table and, of course, Israel agrees with that."

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[Scurrilous]

4. Deputy IDF chief, top US military official discuss Iran

Dan Harel meets NATO partners in Brussels in order to discuss Iranian threat. Officials in Jerusalem: Strategic coordination regarding Iran is at its peak

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3544590,00.html

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"IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Major-General Dan Harel met this past weekend with the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, to discuss the Iranian threat, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.

The meeting took place as part of the Meeting of NATO and Partner Chiefs of Defense in Brussels. According to sources, new information regarding Iran’s nuclear efforts cancel out the conclusions reached by the American National Intelligence Estimate, published in December.

The report presented to US President George W. Bush at the end of last year, concluded that Iran halted

its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but is continuing to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.

In the framework of the discussions, Harel also met with the chiefs of staff from 13 different countries. Iran’s nuclear developments and its involvement in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip, arose in each of the respective meetings.

Political officials in Jerusalem said on Saturday, that Israel and the US agreed on vigorous activity against Iran’s nuclear program. According to them, the treatment of the Iranian threat will be much more effective after all the options are placed on the table and the Iranians need to be much more worried now."

[Scurrilous]

5. 'Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term'

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"US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday.

The official claimed that a senior member of the president's entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.

However, the official continued, "the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic, for the time being.

The report stated that according to assessments in Israel, recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah de facto established control of the country, was advancing an American attack.

Bush, the officials said, opined that Hizbullah's show of strength was evidence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's growing influence. They said that according to Bush, "the disease must be treated - not its symptoms."

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[Scurrilous]

6. Olmert to Pelosi: Impose naval blockade on Iran

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"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed in discussions Monday with the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, that a naval blockade be imposed on Iran as one of several ways to pressure Iran into stopping its uranium enrichment program."

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"The Iranian issue was central in Olmert's meeting over lunch Monday with Pelosi, together with 12 other members of Congress in the bipartisan delegation Pelosi led. Among those present were House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, and heads of the House Appropriations Committee, Nita Lowey and Gary Ackerman.

"The present economic sanctions on Iran have exhausted themselves," Olmert told Pelosi, adding that the international community needed to take much more drastic steps to stop Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. Olmert also said there was a great deal of space between the present sanctions and military action. Aggressive action could be taken that was not violent, Olmert told Pelosi.

Olmert's suggestions mainly involved continued efforts to isolate the Iranian regime. Olmert proposed two possible courses of action: first, a naval blockade of Iran using the U.S. fleet to limit the movement in and out of Iran of its merchant ships.

The second option Olmert proposed was to place limitations on Iranian aircraft, business people and senior members of the regime at airports throughout the world. "Iranian businesspeople who would not be able to land anywhere in the world would pressure the regime," Olmert said."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/985421.html

[bemildred]

7. Oh yeah, that'll work.

Someone needs to tell Ehud that the rest of the world is not on board with this.