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.
Last time this urban myth went around, it was a Russian paper that made the assertion.
I strongly doubt the authenticity of this story.
JE.
We’ll know one way or the other in 245 days.
The J Post has some good qualities but I am sad to say that this, Israel’s conservative newspaper, is something of a rag when it comes to reporting unsubstantiated stories. They have cried wolf enough times for me to start ignoring them until I see proof or backup elsewhere.
What happens to Iran, the Arab states, North Korea, Pakistan, etc., will depend on them. There are two countries that (so far, God forbid Obama or Clinton take office) stand behind their statements and principles against aggression and nuclear threat. If violations occur, there will be ‘consequences’ of some sort, overt or covert.
“Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term”
Implausible, particularly if “attack” means invade. The insurgency in Iraq has already stretched the U.S. Army thin. Moreover, President Bush wants to leave office with Iraq stable and on the road to recovery. A U.S. attack would play into the hands of Al-Qaida and toxic gasbags like Moqtada al-Sadr.
Its unlikely this will happen. Iran’s initial response would be to hit all our major bases in Iraq.
And in the Muslim world, an unprovoked attack would just demonstrate that we are an unconscionable power.