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Distick
Seeker
Joined: Jan 18, 2008
Posts: 57
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 Posted:
Sep 27, 2008 - 03:09 AM |
 
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| Post subject: Report: Bush rejected Israeli strike on Iran |
U.K. paper: Bush told Israel he was unlikely to change view while in office
REUTERS
updated 5:01 a.m. ET, Fri., Sept. 26, 2008
JERUSALEM - Israel gave serious thought earlier this year to a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President Bush he would not support it, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported Friday.
Quoting what it called senior diplomatic sources who work for a European head of government, the left-leaning Guardian said Bush told Israel he did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency.
Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Israel preferred a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
But Regev added: "All options must remain on the table."
The Guardian said Olmert, who submitted his resignation this week but remains caretaker premier, used the occasion of Bush's trip to Israel for the 60th anniversary of the state's founding to raise the issue in a one-on-one meeting on May 14.
"He took (the refusal of a U.S. green light) as where they were at the moment, and that the U.S. position was unlikely to change as long as Bush was in office," one source told the Guardian. Bush leaves office in January.
Regev said Olmert raises "the need to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons" in every meeting he has with foreign leaders.
Exchange denied
But Regev denied the specific exchange cited in the Guardian.
"The words attributed to the prime minister by the Guardian's anonymous source were not spoken in any working meeting between the prime minister and foreign visitors," the spokesman said.
Israel, widely thought to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, believes Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2010 and says an Iranian nuclear weapon would threaten Israel's existence.
Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, denies seeking nuclear arms and says it is enriching uranium only for use in generating power to meet the demands of its economy.
The Guardian said the European head of government met Olmert some time after Bush's visit and that although their talks were so sensitive that no note-takers attended he subsequently divulged the contents to his officials.
Two main factors for U.S.
Bush's decision appeared to be based on two factors, the sources told the Guardian.
One was U.S. concern over Iranian retaliation, which would probably include attacks on U.S. military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on shipping in the Gulf.
The other was U.S. anxiety Israel would not succeed in disabling Iran's nuclear facilities in a single assault even with dozens of aircraft and that it could not mount a series of attacks over several days without risking full-scale war.
The United States and other Western countries have been involved in a long-running standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, suspecting it is a front for efforts to produce an atomic bomb.
Washington says it wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff but has not ruled out military action as a last resort. |
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bloomark
PopStar
Joined: Apr 28, 2008
Posts: 1019
Location: Reality
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| Posted:
Sep 28, 2008 - 04:28 PM |
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Now Israelis must be pissed off with that. All they are gonna do until the end of short term of acquaintance and adjustment after the inauguration of succeeding U.S. president is to wait and see. The nearing auguration of Bush Administration is granting no room to Israel to take any further action on Iran. |
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Never expect accountable tips from a bitter rumrunner. |
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underh20
Shanghai Royalty
Joined: Sep 27, 2006
Posts: 9932
Location: EOA Seminar
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| Posted:
Sep 28, 2008 - 04:56 PM |
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| Blew Mark wrote: |
| Now Israelis must be pissed off with that. All they are gonna do until the end of short term of acquaintance and adjustment after the inauguration of succeeding U.S. president is to wait and see. The nearing auguration of Bush Administration is granting no room to Israel to take any further action on Iran. |
Hey, shit-for-brains, WTF is auguration?
You're giving braindead rice farmers all across Asia a bad name. |
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بارك الله ، بارك الله |
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bloomark
PopStar
Joined: Apr 28, 2008
Posts: 1019
Location: Reality
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Sep 28, 2008 - 05:13 PM |
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Thanks for your pickon. I'll rephrase. |
_________________
Never expect accountable tips from a bitter rumrunner. |
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bloomark
PopStar
Joined: Apr 28, 2008
Posts: 1019
Location: Reality
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Sep 28, 2008 - 05:16 PM |
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This is not the PIT board, not the the place for flame war.
Regardless, we all know what that means, right? Pony? |
_________________
Never expect accountable tips from a bitter rumrunner. |
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Michael
Moderator
Joined: Mar 22, 2002
Posts: 5297
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Sep 29, 2008 - 10:52 AM |
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I am sure Bush said something like that.. like.. we'll be busy over the next couple months crashing the economy and devalueing the dollars and running our scam on the American people.. if you wait a little while.. we'll help you ! |
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