By Stan Goodenough
Oct 19, 2007
As war words swirled around the Middle East this week, a respected analyst for the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post wrote Friday that in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had put the military option against Iran on the table.
Whereas Olmert had, at a meeting with Putin a year ago, alluded at the possibility of such an option, the Israeli this week let it be known that it exists.
Wrote Keinon: "Olmert ... went [to Moscow this time] to underscore Israel's sense of urgency in taking action now."
According to an official in Olmert's entourage, the two leaders extensively discussed the Iranian nuclear issue in a three-hour meeting that was almost entirely held in private.
Keinon recalled Olmert's words to Putin on October 18, 2006 when the Israeli told the KGB officer made president Iran had better reverse its nuclear course or "something will happen to them that they don't want."