"Eyeing Iran Reactors, Israel Seeks U.S. Bunker Bombs"

[GreenPartyVoter]

JERUSALEM - The United States plans to sell Israel $319 million worth of air-launched bombs, including 500 "bunker busters" able to penetrate Iran's underground nuclear facilities, Israeli security sources said on Tuesday.

The Haaretz newspaper quoted a Pentagon report as saying the planned procurement sought "to maintain Israel's qualitative advantage and advance U.S. strategic and tactical interests."

The U.S. embassy in Israel had no comment, referring queries to Washington. Israel's Defense Ministry also declined comment.

But a senior Israeli security source who confirmed the Haaretz story told Reuters: "This is not the sort of ordnance needed for the Palestinian front. Bunker busters could serve Israel against Iran, or possibly Syria."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0921-20.htm

[msmcghee]

1. This is ominous.

The hardliners in Iran are likely to see this as cutting off their options. They may well decide that a nuclear attack on Israel (or possibly Israel's supplier of munitions) is justified before Israel gets those bombs.

What the holy warriors (American as well as Muslim) never consider is that you can't be a little bit war-mongering. Once you start down that road each side will either have to escalate or appear as appeasers to their own people - who they have already convinced that war is necessary. There will always be a series of escalations until finally, enough people are killed that it is impossible to go on.

Bush has put us squarely on that road and has pushed the accelerator to the floor. The Middle East has become a hell. The neo-cons and the fundies are in ecstasy.

Hold on to your asses, folks. This is going to get a lot uglier before it's over. In a few months we could be wishing for the good old days when all we had to worry about was the complete take-over of our nation by the radical right.