Israeli Plans to Nuke Iran

[theryman]

The Times Reports that, according to secret documents leaked from Israel, and an informant or two, Israel has drawn up plans to use a tactical nuclear strike to cripple or destroy Iran's nuclear enrichment program, a program which could give Iran enough enriched uranium to create a nuclear missile within two years.

According to the report, conventional weapons would first be used to open the tunnels, then a tactical nuke would be dropped in, effectively completely destroying the program, while minimizing fallout. This plan would, of course, be used as a last resort, should diplomatic talks fail and the U.S. fail to take action.

Should this occur, Iran would most likely not retaliate overtly- they do not want to get nuked again, of course. However, they would no doubt resort to many terrorist actions- interfering with oil shipments to the West, terrorizing Jewish groups across the globe, and stepping up it's funding for anti-Israel groups. And, of course, a nuclear detonatino could lesser support for the west in the parts of the Middle East that do support them.

Those are the reported facts, here is the link, and, as always, my opinion will be in the following post.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2535310_1,00.html

[theryman]

Now, should this report be accurate, it could have extremely devestating effects upon the political climate of the world. It would be the first time since Nagasaki and Hiroshima that a nuke was used on an actual target, and would undoubtedly completely destabilize the region.

As I said, this would be last resort. Only if nothing else happened to deter the nuclear enrichment would the nuclear bombs be used.

What I cannot get out of my head, though, is the fact that Machiavelli is not the only political mastermind? What if Israel 'leaked' this 'report' to convince Iran to stop their nuclear program? After all getting hit with one yourself is pretty scary. Worse still, though, is what if someone - or some nation - forged these documents in order to convince Iran that they needed the nuclear missiles to protect themselves, because Israel was such a threat? The Iranian Prime Minister calls for the death of Israel, and he would certainly embrace it.

World War III will not be fought in Europe, gentlemen, or Asia or America. The Middle East will be were the fighting is, because that is the only place worth taking.

All I know is that the gas prices are going to go up again.

[Karl]

Wow. I had assumed the report was correct, but then after reading your post I got a different perspective on it.

What if it is just a ruse to influence Iran and their nuclear weapons program?

So we could potentially see another world war in a few years, assuming peace talks fail and Iran completes their weapons program?

[Squidude]

Iran's gonna nuke Israel first, if either nukes. Anyone remember that guy saying Isreal should be "wiped off the map"? Then mentioning they would retaliate against a U.S. invasion before the idea was really anything? There was a lot more. I tried by best to follow this last year. I may have mixed a few things up, so if anyone remembers the whole story...

[Vagrant]

Iran's gonna nuke Israel first, if either nukes. Anyone remember that guy saying Isreal should be "wiped off the map"? Then mentioning they would retaliate against a U.S. invasion before the idea was really anything? There was a lot more. I tried by best to follow this last year. I may have mixed a few things up, so if anyone remembers the whole story...

Iran's nuclear program hasn't even gotten the uranium yet, so it wouldn't be entirely implausible for Israel to have thought up this plan and execute it, because of what that war-mongering Iranian prime minister said. Those kinds of threats are taken very seriously, and with the nuclear program of Iran in full swing, Israel will take action if there cannot be a resolution.

Now, whether these documents were real documents is another question. How were they leaked?

[Mr. Anderson]

Hmmm...this is very disturbing. A nuke may be dropped within the next couple of years, which would probably trigger another world war...ugh. This is just so unbelievable. Not to mention when Bush leaves office here, the next president would have to deal with it. Everyone invovled has dug themselves into a hole, in my opinion. Irael and Lebanon, us and Iraq and them...oh boy.

[Spectral]

They only drew up plans to use nuclear weapons so that they can be prepared if they ever need to do this in the future, only if the situation becomes dire. Every country with a credible military does the same thing.

Did you know that France has plans drawn up to invade Canada? Does this mean they are scheming and desired to do so? No.

That shows how trivial and meaningless it is if countries just make sure they are prepared for any possible turn in events.

In fact, NATO has plans already set to defend/attack/nuke every scale mile in the entire world just in case it ever needs to be done for self preservation.

That article means nothing, it's just an example of out of context emotional reporting to stir the pot for better ratings.

[theryman]

Exactly, Sprectral. This is a last ditch plan, in case all else fails. But Iran has not cared about internation talks or sanctions yet, and the U.S. is very unlikely to actually invade, so the scenario needed for Israel to actually be forced to use this plan is quite imminent.

On an unrelated note, America's Plan to Invade Canada (http://www.glasnost.de/hist/usa/1935invasion.html)

[Squidude]

Israel's plan is the last ditch thing, etc, etc. But then we have Iran, and we don't actually know where they are with their nuclear program, which is underground, figurativly and literally. When you get someone saying things like that about another country, using the term "wipe off the map" and then starting to develop in the area that could produce weapons to do just that...
Also, I think it was Iran, developed a torpedo shortly after this, and everything about it was unknown. Also, they started talking military. Sounds bad for isreal.

[ehntoo]

The Israeli government couldn't afford to nuke Iran in any circumstance. If that happened, the US would drop all support, and they don't have many big countries for friends.

The entire middle east would go up in war, attacking Israel. We'd have a new world war.

It's not ever going to happen, and I doubt that such a plan even exists.

[minger]

World War III will not be fought in Europe, gentlemen, or Asia or America. The Middle East will be were the fighting is

You know, that is Asia.

[theryman]

Not really, becuase it is hard to lump the Middle East in with any other continent. For one, they have their own ethnicity, being quite distinct from Asians, Europeans and Africans, and, for another, they are at the crossroads of the three continents. So the Middle East is TECHNICALLY Asian, but remains quite distinct from them- after all, Egypt is Middle Eastern, but it is technically in Africa.

Anyways, I have done some more thinking, and I have been wondering, will this actually start a World War? What is to keep it from turning into another Cold War? The two nations will most likely be locked in an arms race with a whole lot of posturing but minimal fighting. Unless one side makes a dramatic moves, this will continue until one of them collapses from the economic stress. Is it likely? Maybe, maybe not, but definitely possible.

[DarkReality]

You've got to admire the irony though. Preventing a nuclear strike by attacking someone with a nuke first? Primitive, if you ask me.

Then again, Iran doesn't have to produce it's own nukes to attack Israel. It could technically illegally obtain them form terrorist groups and then attack Israel. Which is why I doubt that any of this will happen. Not only that, but it would draw the wrath of every ant-nuclear country in the world upon Israel, which isn't a good thing considering the jewish communities found all over the world.

[theryman]

The Times Reports that Israel denies ever drawing up plans to nuke Iran, claiming to keep theri focus on diplomatic options. An Iranian official says that the reports show who the real meance of the middle east is.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2536136,00.html

I saw a better article on it from MSN while at school, but now I cannot find it. If I do, I will update.

EDIT: Found it! The reason I like it so much is because an Israeli defense analsyst thought much the same thing as me:
“It is possible that this was a leak done on purpose, as deterrence, to say: ’Someone better hold us back, before we do something crazy.”’

Great minds think alike.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16509109/ It is about 22 hours old.

[Endless]

If Israel and Iran nuked eachother the world would die. The radiation clouds having such close proximity to eachother would wipe out much of Africa and Asia. Strong winds might even carry it to America.

[theryman]

Hardly. The Israeli nukes would be well underground, so there would be little fallout. The fallout of a few nukes would not be too much to be worried about if you did not live near the detonation sites. Now, if a whole lot of nukes go of, radiation poisoning could be lethal and all encompassing.

"Humanity will end not with a bang but with a whimper."

[Vagrant]

If Israel and Iran nuked eachother the world would die. The radiation clouds having such close proximity to eachother would wipe out much of Africa and Asia. Strong winds might even carry it to America.

Erm... Chernobyl affected a lot of people, but Europe and Russia didn't die... and do you even know the wind patterns of that area? I doubt it would cross the ocean to America from there. Probably into North Africa, but the Sahara would stop a radiation cloud from reaching Southern Africa.

Plus, as Mattz mentioned, the Israelis planned to drop the nukes into holes, which would stop much of the radiation.

[Woolfenstien]

And isn't there also a difference in payload between a tactical nuke and an actual f'n huge missile with a nuclear warhead?