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'US doesn't want Israel to start a war with Iran – yet'
Yitzhak Benhorin
Published: 13.02.12, 09:35
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47 Talkbacks for this article
1. "White House doesn't want Israel to start a war"
Noodles ,   Coney Island   (02.13.12)
Scratch that from your wish-list, as it will probably go unanswered.
2. Israel: Not 51st state!
Aviv ,   Israel   (02.13.12)
I love how the article assumes that the natural state of things is for Israel to be "managed" by the U.S.! let me clue you in: You don't own us. We are our own country and we look out for our own interests.
3. Yea right.
John Doe ,   Santa Barbara, USA   (02.13.12)
Is that why they need 3 billion dollars a year in military aid? Right.
4. timing
hal ,   coos bay oregon   (02.13.12)
So is it better for the US Sec of Defense to declare Israel will strike in April, May, or June? Nice giving away the timing Panetta. So if Israel strikes in March, the war takes two weeks, and Obummer has a chance to still win if he plays his cards right. Iran already has all the parts and the N Korean and Chinese trainers. All they lack are the eggs.
5. It's all about Obama getting re-elected.
Devorah   (02.13.12)
"We often held things back from them [Israel] – satellite imagery and other kinds of intelligence that could have helped them with their activities." If the U.S. has satellite imagery and intelligence further confirming the development and/or existence of nukes in Iran and is withholding this info from Israel, what does that say about our "best ally?" It says nothing is more important than Obama getting re-elected. Israel is being sabotaged by the U.S. while Iran is being protected, and the entire U.S. fleet in the Strait of Hormuz cannot mask this lie. I stated before that it would not surprise me if Israel went ahead with the attack, and the U.S., being conveniently situated in the most tactically efficient location, shot our planes down. I still stand by that.
6. Obama wants a war in the Fall since a sitting US President
Rivkah   (02.13.12)
during a declared war gets elected, at least so far that has been true. "Wag the Dog" is about a country starting a war and making it look like the other country started it, to get re-elected when that was not possible otherwise.
7. All things considered, the lesser we talk about the Iran...
Jehudah Ben-Israel ,   Qatzrin, Israel   (02.13.12)
...issue the better we are...!! US officials know it, so, why do they talk, one wonders...??
8. what can usa expect from Israel
su ,   Jerusalem   (02.13.12)
Israel rose up from the ashes of the holocaust and will never see eye to eye with the American vision. and it can't be expected to take any chances.
9. #6. Rivkah, absolutely right
Enzo ,   Rome & Tel Aviv   (02.13.12)
This is a very intelligent analysis. Obama is engineering his re-election by delaying the war with Iran or at least the support to Israel's attack to the fall. That's what Margareth Thatcher did with the Falkland war. She was going to lose the elections but she engineered the phoney Falkland war and all the British cheered and felt important. She got reelected by a large majority.
10. Wars and Rumours of Wars
EHAI ,   London, England   (02.13.12)
Israel's chiefs of military staffs and their political masters are much more intelligent than they are credited with being. They will not launch a military strike against Iran because it would solve absolutely nothing. Such an action would create more hostility in the region. Hezbollah would rain down rockets onto Israel from Lebanon and Hamas would do the same from Gaza. The USA armed forces would have to get involved and that would be that folks. It would not end lightly or quickly. It would be a bigger conflict than has been seen in Iraq. The plain truth is the concern over Iran's development of nuclear power and weapons is not being addressed enough by the world community in general. Nobody really wants to support Israel against Iranian threats and Iranian involvements in Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran will build it warheads. Iran will test atleast one bomb. Then the world community will vociferously jump on them and a new nuclear forum concerned with arms control will open up in the Middle East. It will take time but it will happen. Israel is already triumphant becaue Israel is absolutely justified in its stance against Iran. The Islamic regime in Iran will fall. It will be overthrown inside Iran by Iranians. The world community and its leaders should put intellectual cultural pressure on Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. That is the only solution. Israel will prosper anyway. It's the world which will continue to suffer moral and intellectual impoverishment. WE ARE JEWS. WE PRAISE GOD. NOT WAR.
11. It's Jima Carter that got Khomeiny into power in Iran
ab   (02.13.12)
by prohibitting Shah from using force against pro-Mullahs demonstrators. Poor Shah obeyed and was about to be extradited to Mullahs if not Mubarak granted him asylum. Many of Iranian intellectuals demonstrating against the Shah and for Khomeiny ended up in US ,but the rest of the World must bear consequences of their pro-Mullah folly. Jima Carter couldn't even rescue US hostages and his pupil Bambi the Annointed One took revenge on Mubarak. No chance of him taking on the Mullahs.
12. "yet" ahahahahah
ale ,   italia   (02.13.12)
dear Nobel for Peace obama, first to strike iran, please don't put VETO over ONU decision to put internacional forse between israelis and palestinians. with army on the green line, settlers violence and illegal occupation stops. so iran verbal aggression vs israel stops too.
13. What's this good puppet bad master..
Chris.B ,   Australia   (02.13.12)
routine again. Watch how a welfare state with 200+ illegal thermonuclear weapons tries to blackmail its closest ally(wink wink nudge nudge) to attack its enemies once again.
14. #3 Reality check
Menachem ,   Israel   (02.13.12)
Firstly, the US military "aid" to Israel constitutes 1% of Israel's growing GDP so don't inflate your ego. Secondly, the "aid" to Israel is in reality a profitable US investment in a valuable and loyal ally which provides the US with invaluable first class intelligence and cutting-edge technology as well as secures thousands of jobs in the US defense industry.
15. #13 Chris B. - "Blackmail?" Please explain what kind.
Devorah   (02.13.12)
16. #15 he means
israel israeli ,   tel aviv   (02.13.12)
Chris B is condemning Saudi Arabia because the US attacked Iraq twice on Saudi command, and may also attack Iran for the same reason. I am not sure why Chris B is so angry, US power (and Australian welfare) is in a large part dependent on control of oil.
17. #15 Have your shades handy just in case...
Noodles ,   Coney Island   (02.13.12)
the "blackmailing" doesn't work and a few of those "illegal" weapons need to be employed.
18. #16 Israel Israeli
Devorah   (02.13.12)
Chris B is angry because he/she is a social outcast who doesn't have a Valentine.
19. Why attacking Iran will not be catastrophic
G ,   Toronto   (02.13.12)
The whole world is expecting it and while an Israeli, American (or both) attack would rile markets if decisive and limited in duration would not necessarily lead to global upheaval. My thoery (just a theory) is predicated on a limited war where the US likley intervens and there is decisive destruction or Iran's facilities and no major oil targets outside Iran are destroyed such Kuwaiti or Saudi oil fields.
20. Without US Approval Israeli Planes Will Never Reach Iran
World Citizen ,   the world   (02.13.12)
The Americans already have a radar base inside Israel. Those carriers in the Persian Gulf are there to prevent Israel from attacking Iran as well as prevent Iran from attacking Israel (fat chance of that, Iran hasn't attacked any country in over 200 years). Or the Americans would just give the Iranians your ETA. American killer subs are tailing the Israel navy's every move.
21. Obama KNOWS that if he Delays Long Enough
Linda Rivera ,   New York, USA   (02.13.12)
Iran will strike Israel with a massive nuclear attack. Time is of the essence. Delay will ANNIHILATE Israel. Israel act quickly before it is too late! Obama ignores or does NOT care that Iran also hates America as much as they hate Israel and that Iran has vowed to DESTROY America.
22. #5 Get out much?
cynthia ,   Canada   (02.13.12)
Tell me you're a troll and not an Israeli--you're almost stereotypical in your fear and ungrateful attitude. The US for DECADES has gone out of its way to help Israel (billions of dollars a year and dozens of UNSC vetoes amongst many, many other things.) Then you have people like the person who posted #5--whining incessantly and so friggin paranoid she thinks the US is going to shoot down Israeli planes! Truly beyond delusional. Obama has done more than any other world leader to try and prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. And the thanks he gets? People so full of cynicism they think all he's concerned about is getting reelected.
23. Ensuring peace or delaying the inevitable?
Henry from New York ,   USA   (02.13.12)
We don't want a War, but sometimes the other guy leaves you with no choice/ It happened before WWI and WWII. Often times, you not only delay the inevitable, but you also allow your future enemy to gather strength, sometimes through your own policies of appeasement (as happened before WWII). So, is our President ensuring peace or is he only delaying a war with Iran and strengthening them in the process? If a war is going to happen, I'd prefer fewer of our soldiers dying to many (or none at all if we could do it like the Kosovo Intervention).
24. #14 - We have a saying about talking to brick walls.
Henry from New York ,   USA   (02.13.12)
25. #20 knows stuff we don't.
Henry from New York ,   USA   (02.13.12)
It appears that World Citizen is really Martin Dempsey. There is no other way he could know all this with such certainty.
26. #22 - Saying much and doing much are not the same.
Henry from New York ,   USA   (02.13.12)
Our Congress has put sanctions in place (as it says in our Constitution, only Congress can do this), but the President has just been talking like he always does. He wields words like a sword, but it's a dull sword. I'm worried by his ineffectiveness as an American, a person who voted for the guy, and as an American Jew who loves Israel.
27. #19 - Either way our oil stocks go up.
Henry from New York ,   USA   (02.13.12)
I imagine that other people who put much more of their money in oil than my family has will not be against this attack. A lot of people would stand to make a good quick buck off this, and there's the ones with the power.
28. Worthless leader...Worthless President.
Steven Wilson ,   Anchorage, Alaska   (02.13.12)
Obama just wants the amenities of golfing and sitting in the White House another 4 years. Other than that...he is pretty much good for nothing.
29. The US walways wants a war!
manicdrummer ,   Galilee, Israel   (02.13.12)
War is necessary to keep the US economy up and running. It's countries like Israel that have to bear the brunt of consequences for everything the US does. I think Israel would be better off cutting all ties with the US and relying on the Lord for guidance.
30. Was Bin Laden death US legal?
Joe ,   Canada   (02.13.12)
It seems US politics can find twists to overlook legal prohibitions against summary executions of foreign ennemies. With regard to the bigger issue of putting a military clamp on the Iranian nuclear program, US internal politics related to the coming presidential elections are the main deciding factor, not the rational evaluation of the risks of delaying action until November
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