1. Bill Levinson said:

"It's not a target that you can find on the map, send two F15s and solve it," said Itamar Yaar, deputy head of Israel's National Security Council. Both the United States and Israel refuse to say whether a strike plan is in the works."

If Israel does not have runways that will accommodate B-52 Stratofortress, B-1 Lancer, and B-2 Stealth bombers, it really ought to build a couple for us to use. A B-52 can carry at least one 20-megaton gravity bomb, which should make a real mess of Iran's nukes. The B-2 can carry similar loads, I believe.

What Hitler in a Headscarf doesn't realize is that Israel could make a very nice aircraft carrier for the U.S., with the advantage of being able to handle much larger airplanes (and of course it cannot be sunk). The heavy bombers could fly over the Mediterranean (if the Eurabians refused to allow us to use their air bases) and refuel in Israel before continuing to their targets.

Would a nuclear first strike on Iran be justified? In terms of U.S. civilian law, it probably would; you can kill someone if you reasonably believe he is threatening your life. He must have both motive and means. If, for example, someone yells, "I'm going to kill you!" but he has no weapon, you can't shoot him because, although he has announced a murderous intention, he lacks the means with which to carry it out. If he is carrying a weapon (e.g. a hunter with a rifle) but has not threatened you, you obviously can't shoot him because, although he has the means of harming you, he has shown no intention to do so. But if someone yells, "I'm going to kill you!" AND displays a weapon that is capable of doing exactly that, you would probably be within your rights to shoot him first, because he has both the means and the intention of doing so.

Now Iran has already yelled "I'm going to kill you!" at Israel (and may be planning to give terrorists nuclear weapons to use on the U.S.) Iran is also "loading a gun" (i.e. building weapons with which to carry out its threat) so Israel is equally justified in killing Iran first. The same may apply to the U.S. if Iran is planning to detonate an electromagnetic pulse weapon on the U.S.

2. kuhnkat said:

I hope, unlike the US, Israel is working on, if not already developed, bunker buster nukes. They are apparently going to need them.