"Netanyahu believes Iran is 4 to 8 weeks away from first nuclear bomb"
Options
Swiffness!
Members Posts: 10,128 ✭✭✭✭✭
U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers confirmed that during a meeting held in Jerusalem two weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly criticized U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro over U.S. President Barack Obama's policy concerning Iran.
Speaking to a Michigan radio station, Rogers said Netanyahu was nervous, agitated and frustrated.
According to Rogers, Netanyahu confronted Shapiro after he suddenly lost his temper and began reprimanding Shapiro. The meeting was "very tense," Rogers said, "it was very, very clear the Israelis had lost their patience with the [Obama] Administration… There was no doubt. You could not walk out of that meeting and think that they had not lost their patience with this Administration."
"We've had sharp exchanges with other heads of state and in intelligence services," Rogers said, "but nothing at that level that I've seen in all my time, where people were clearly that agitated, clearly that worked up about a particular issue where there was a very sharp exchange."
Describing what he heard in the meeting, Rogers told how he sees Netanyahu's attitude toward the Obama Administration: "the Israeli position is, 'Hey, listen, you've got to tell us - I mean, if you want us to wait' - and that's what this Administration's been saying, you've gotta wait, you've gotta wait, you've gotta wait… 'but then you've gotta tell us [the Israelis] when is the [American] red line, so we can make our own decisions about should we or shouldn't we stop this particular program."
The senior Republican congressman stressed that Netanyahu thinks that from the moment the Iranians decide to do so, it would only take four to eight weeks until they manufacture the first nuclear bomb, adding that Netanyahu does not believe Obama would attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Right now the Israelis don't believe that the Administration is serious when they say that all options are on the table," Rogers said, "and more importantly neither do the Iranians. That's why the program is progressing."
"At this point they're very frustrated because they don't' know what happens after the election, and their window for impacting the program they believe is starting to close."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-lost-his-temper-reprimanded-u-s-envoy-over-iran-says-congressman.premium-1.463469#
well................? .
Speaking to a Michigan radio station, Rogers said Netanyahu was nervous, agitated and frustrated.
According to Rogers, Netanyahu confronted Shapiro after he suddenly lost his temper and began reprimanding Shapiro. The meeting was "very tense," Rogers said, "it was very, very clear the Israelis had lost their patience with the [Obama] Administration… There was no doubt. You could not walk out of that meeting and think that they had not lost their patience with this Administration."
"We've had sharp exchanges with other heads of state and in intelligence services," Rogers said, "but nothing at that level that I've seen in all my time, where people were clearly that agitated, clearly that worked up about a particular issue where there was a very sharp exchange."
Describing what he heard in the meeting, Rogers told how he sees Netanyahu's attitude toward the Obama Administration: "the Israeli position is, 'Hey, listen, you've got to tell us - I mean, if you want us to wait' - and that's what this Administration's been saying, you've gotta wait, you've gotta wait, you've gotta wait… 'but then you've gotta tell us [the Israelis] when is the [American] red line, so we can make our own decisions about should we or shouldn't we stop this particular program."
The senior Republican congressman stressed that Netanyahu thinks that from the moment the Iranians decide to do so, it would only take four to eight weeks until they manufacture the first nuclear bomb, adding that Netanyahu does not believe Obama would attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Right now the Israelis don't believe that the Administration is serious when they say that all options are on the table," Rogers said, "and more importantly neither do the Iranians. That's why the program is progressing."
"At this point they're very frustrated because they don't' know what happens after the election, and their window for impacting the program they believe is starting to close."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-lost-his-temper-reprimanded-u-s-envoy-over-iran-says-congressman.premium-1.463469#
well................? .
Comments
-
Question: So, is Israel going to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the presidential election on November 6?
Answer: Maybe. But probably not. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would have ordered a strike already if not for the determined opposition of President Obama. That opposition is undiminished. And Netanyahu and Barak may now be thinking that holding off -- agreeing to Obama's wishes, in other words -- may buy them some favor with the President, should he be reelected. This runs counter to an earlier belief, that an Israeli attack before the election would put Obama in a box, that he would have to support Israel for fear of alienating its supporters in America.
Question: According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran is moving more and more centrifuges to the underground, and highly fortified, Fordow site. Didn't Ehud Barak mean exactly this when he said that Iran is entering a "zone of immunity," which is to say, the point at which Israeli bombs couldn't reach the centrifuges anymore?
Answer: Yes.
Question: So?
Answer: The only thing more important to Ehud Barak (apart from Ehud Barak) than shutting down the Fordow facility is keeping Israel (and himself) on the right side of the American president, and the American people. More than Netanyahu, he is worried about the fallout from an Israeli attack, specifically, attacks directed by Iran against American troops and installations. Though Barak also believes that Iran would most likely make the calculation that it can't afford to strike at America in the wake of an Israeli attack, because the U.S., unlike Israel, has sufficient military power to threaten the security of the regime. Barak is probably correct in this analysis, but it's not a sure thing.
Question: Are you saying that Barak is more cautious than Netanyahu?
No, not necessarily. Contrary to the opinion of some people in Israel, neither man is crazy. They understand the consequences of launching, and of not launching. Barak has a better understanding of the tactical and strategic consequences of launching an attack (and the consequences of not launching an attack) and Netanyahu is gripped by the historical consequences of a nuclear Iran. But Netanyahu also has political considerations restraining him. Indyk: "Bibi is facing his own election, probably early next year, and he cannot know what the Israeli public reaction will be to the potential for 500 civilian casualties, capital flight, Tel Aviv under rocket attack, Ben Gurion closed down, etc. He is not a gambler with his own political fate." [I've talked to Israeli ppl who swear it'd be political suicide for him]
Question: If the Israelis don't attack before November 6, will they ever attack?
Answer: Maybe, or maybe not. The Atlantic War Dial, which reflects the thinking of 22 experts on the issue (including yours truly), puts the chance of an Israeli, or American, attack in the next year at 40 percent. I've been going back and forth on Twitter with Laura Rozen, who argues that if the Israelis were to do this, they would have to do it immediately after November 6, because weather conditions wouldn't permit a surprise attack (yes, I know, this is the most discussed surprise attack in history) in the winter months. What is true is that we don't know more than we know -- we don't even know if Ehud Barak secretly believes that it is too late for an Israeli preventive strike, given developments at Fordow.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/answers-to-all-your-questions-about-iran-israel-bibi-and-obama/261906/ -
DEVELOPING.......
JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister, ratcheting up a public feud with the U.S. over Iran, made it clear Tuesday that he was dissatisfied with Washington's refusal to spell out what would provoke a U.S.-led military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Washington wants to give diplomacy and bruising sanctions more time to try to pressure Tehran to abandon its suspect nuclear work. In a message aimed at Israel, it said several times this week that deadlines or "red lines" are counterproductive.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says peaceful methods are not working, and has warned repeatedly that Iran is getting perilously close to acquiring a nuclear bomb. His remarks have generated speculation Israel is readying to strike on its own to prevent that from happening.
"The world tells Israel, `Wait. There's still time,'" Netanyahu said Tuesday. "And I say: `Wait for what? Wait until when?' Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel." -
I wanna comment but you might call me anti-Semitic..
-
He's going to pull the Holocaust card and everyone will come running to help.
-
I thought that comp virus we sent set them back like 5 years in research???
