By Stan Goodenough
Jul 10, 2007
Time is running out for an effective military response to Iran's aggressive nuclear pursuit program, according to a former head of Israel's military intelligence research division.
The Jerusalem Post quoted Brigadier-General Yossi Kuperwasser, who resigned last year, as warning that the Iranian program’s vulnerability to a military operation "is diminishing as time passes."
"They are very close to the point that they will be able to enrich uranium at an industrial level."
From there, the manufacture of a nuclear bomb was just three years away.
Kuperwasser argued that international sanctions by themselves would not be able to effectively stop Iran, especially because Russia – which has its own, renewed ambitions in the Middle East – was not willing to join the world in applying this pressure.
"For significant sanctions to be effective the world needs to at the same time threaten the use of military force," he said.
"Iran needs to be made to understand that if the sanctions won't work, the world is prepared to use military force to stop the nuclear program."
There is little indication that the world is willing to take such a stand, or even threaten to.
Meanwhile, Iran is racing to position itself as the number one Islamic superpower in the Middle East.
Simultaneous with their quest for the atom bomb, Tehran’s mullahs are fueling the insurgent war against the US in Iraq, aiming to drive out the American troops and move in to fill the vacuum that will be left behind.
Back in America the Democrat-controlled Senate and Congress are helping facilitate Iran's ascension by increasing the pressure on President George W. Bush to "bring our boys back home."
Analysts believe that, if the White House buckles under these demands, the forces of committed (radical) Islam will consolidate their hold over the Middle East, quickly terminating any regional trend there may be towards moderation.