Quote from deadbroke:
a_p, combining this with your later post on US support for a strike; if as you say there is little support for Iran, why hasn't Israel already attacked? Put another way, if the world would tacitly nod, its hard to believe Israel would pass up such a free ride.
Hmm let me first mention that the timing of the strike is a totally separate issue that has nothing to do with the point I was making, that there will be no WWIII. Just because we don't know the strategic thinking behind the timing issue does not mean my other assertions are incorrect.
Having said that here is what I think on the timing of the strike - there is absolutely no downside to delaying it to the very last moment and yet there are lots of advantages. Here is just some of them in no particular order
- Nuclear sites can be wiped out a year before they build their first nuke or an hour before it. The end result will be the same but if it's done at the very last moment, more money will have been invested in the construction of the site, therefore the damage will be heavier and less money will be available for a rebuilding effort.
- I am sure Israel still hopes that the US (the big Satan) not Israel (the little Satan) will carry out the bombing. Certainly the US is more powerful and better equipped militarily, economically and politically to carry out a successful attack. For political reasons an American strike will resonate better in Europe and the Islamic world than an Israeli attack.
- Israel wants to show the world that all diplomatic options are indeed exhausted. If Israel attacks a year or two before the first nuke, the hysterical anti-Israel fringe that you belong to will be screaming at the top of their lungs that Iran was on the brink of disarming. You will still whine and try to rewrite history anyway of course but if the attack is carried out a day before the first nuke is built no serious open minded person will buy your hysterical rants.
- Israel wants the rest of the world and especially the arab/sunni world to be scared shittless that a nuclear Iran is imminent before they attack which will make them more favorably predisposed toward Israel and its military action.

