Joint Chiefs Head Warns Against Iranian ‘Third Front’
WASHINGTON — An Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities would be a high-risk move that could destabilize the Middle East, the Pentagon’s top military officer said today.
At a Defense Department press conference, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, refused to say what Israeli leaders told him during meetings last week about any intentions to strike Iran.
But asked whether he was concerned Israel would strike before the end of the year, he said: “This is a very unstable part of the world and I don’t need it to be more unstable.”
The American military is severely strained already by wars on two fronts — the nearly seven-year-old campaign in Afghanistan and more than five years in Iraq.
“Opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us,” Admiral Mullen said.
The Bush administration and other world leaders allege Iran is seeking to produce nuclear weapons and Iran says its nuclear program is aimed only at generating electricity.
“I believe they’re still on a path to get nuclear weapons and I think that’s something that needs to be deterred,” Admiral Mullen said, adding that it should be done through diplomatic, financial, and economic actions by America and other nations.
But, he added, “I think that just about every move in that part of the world is a high-risk move.”
In a press conference earlier in the day, President Bush also was asked about increasing speculation that Israel will launch a military strike, saying that all options are on the table but that military action would not be his first choice.
“I have made it very clear to all parties that the first option ought to be solve this problem diplomatically,” Mr. Bush said. “And the best way to solve it diplomatically is for the United States to work with other nations to send a focused message — and that is, you will be isolated, and you will have economic hardship, if you continue to enrich” uranium for a bomb.
(AP)
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Send the Marines and the Army’s 7th Cav. to Iran for Fallujah the III!
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 pmAsking the world to deter Iran on a unified front is much like asking me to miraculously design a space suit out of pixie sticks and napkins as they shove me into the Airlock of a deployed space shuttle…
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:24 pmI would like to see the above picture after a Daisy Cutter drops in.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:32 pmWoops! Upon closer examination, strike that!
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:35 pmIslamic leaders are known for their big talk and very short sticks….Saddam fought Iran for many years in a stalemate…Iran has had a few years now to rearm and regroup, but they are no match for a massive air strike followed by ground troops, as strained as we are, we would prevail. If they get the bomb…all bets are off…they will use it or give it to someone who will in their stead.
God help us if the messiah is in office then….
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:51 pmWhat the general is not telling us is that the Israelis in no uncertain terms and words told him how badly they were going to mess up Iran. We are luckey to have such a wonderful ally in Israel to do our bidding.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:57 pmHoly cripes!!
I was gonna say!!!!
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 pmTotal brick. Doing too many things at once when I posted and did not look at photo closely. Sorry.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:45 pmDon’t forget, you can’t unpush the red button.
The only diplomacy we need with Iran is Gun Ship Diplomacy.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:55 pmhttp://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh307/T-BaggsPhotos/Peace-1.jpg?t=1209118895
I’ll give ya a ‘take-back’ on this one … I stared long and hard at the pic before choosing it … making certain [they] were who I thought [they] were …
The desert has a way of making everyone look the same.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 pmThe clock has been ticking since 1979, the time is now.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:33 pmIt’ll take more than a loud “BOO!” to knock over the Mullahs — but not all that much more. Their mosques are built on sand, methinks.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 amyou know…i’m starting to think that we should just make the US an enclave, put up our missile shield and let everyone else kill each other.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 amThere has never been and never will been a war that was not “High Risk”. No one wants war and all negotiations to avoid it should be made.
If little Hitler keeps making threats toward Israel and the US, those threats are certainly not positive. We don’t threaten in the US unless it is our last option of negotiation. We certainly can back up what we say. Lets see what Iran does after the long term plan for the US in Iraq are finally agreed upon. I think they are already planning
for this, and once they acquire nukes, we will be in real trouble. To them it will be a holy war against the Sunnis and Americans.
If it comes to war, then we need to include Hamas and Hizbollah as targets.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:00 amNow we know where all the cowards end up…in the GD Joint Chiefs, they seem to always be looking in the rearview mirror…these numbnut bureaucrappers don’t know how to do anything right, they think we should not fight at any time…don’t want to lose that valuable hardware….where are the Warriors with sime intelligence?
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:20 amI believe the two biggest mistakes since 1979 were 1) allowing Iran to keep Americans prisoner for 400 some days, and 2) not listening to Schwartzkopf at a critical juncture in GWOT
(1991)
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 pm