Brave New World: Mad Men With Nukes

Dan from New York:

There is a yawning gap between Israeli and U.S. intelligence estimates of the Iranian nuclear threat. The former supports the growing need for a strike, the latter supports Obama’s need to dither instead. This makes for the most dramatic strategic cliffhanger since Munich - and for a very delicate dance. There is little chance BHO’s America will attack Iran on its own, or cooperate with Israeli plans. And what little chance there is depends on Israel’s determination to go it alone, and its ability to leave the Obama administration no doubt it is prepared to do exactly that. To put it another way, safeguarding the future is a job for the leader of the free world, but this one's not up to the task. That leaves only Israel and Netanyahu, and that's anyone's guess.

IDF Intelligence chief: Qom facility has no possible civilian use

Nov. 3, 2009

The recently-revealed Iranian nuclear facility in the Shi'a holy city of Qom has "no possible civilian use," Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said Tuesday morning, directly contradicting statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September. Speaking during a briefing of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yadlin said that the Qom facility is designed for enrichment of uranium and at full capacity can hold 3,000 advanced centrifuges.

Yadlin said that the Israeli intelligence assessment was that Iran was interested in a horizontal expansion of its nuclear production capacity, so that when Teheran decides to advance to nuclear weapons capability, it will be able to do so in the shortest possible period of time. Yadlin emphasized that Iran is "competent in enrichment technology" and has not thus far been moved by the international response to its nuclear program.

Yadlin also said that one important goal for Israel was to prevent the entry of any of the 3,000 centrifuges from being installed at the Qom site.

The Arab countries, according to Yadlin, are afraid of Iran's nuclear development and in response are speeding up their own civilian nuclear developments.