Ehud Olmert
Obama won’t rule out Iran strike
Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) purportedly told House Democrats in a private meeting Tuesday that Israel may strike Iran if sanctions on the country fail to prevent development of nuclear technology.
According to an attendee who spoke to ABC News’ Jake Tapper, Obama quipped, “Nobody said this to me directly but I get the feeling from my talks that if the sanctions don’t work Israel is going to strike Iran.”
An Israeli air strike on Iran has long been floated among DC circles, with the idea that Israel will strike if the US fails to act. Many in Washington see the move as political suicide, since Israel’s policies are linked by Arab states to the United States. Recently, Tapper notes, an Israeli military exercise employed 150 aircraft flying over the Mediterranean in “what was seen as a dress rehearsal for an air strike.”
Israel bombed Iraq’s Osirak light water nuclear reactor in 1981 to prevent then dictator Saddam Hussein from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“Now that the Bush administration is engaged in diplomatic efforts with Iran, many Israeli officials are worried the US is getting soft on Iran, prompting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to travel to the US this week to meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley,” Tapper adds.“Obama’s office released a statement saying ‘a policy that consists of keeping all options on the table must be maintained.'”
Obama also apparently remarked that Arab states have come around to the notion that Iran’s nuclear ambitions place their region’s stability in danger, because an Israeli strike would escalate tension in neighboring countries.
The Obama campaign had no comment, according to ABC.
John Byrne
Published: Wednesday July 30, 2008
Source: The Raw Story