A private door opens from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in central Jerusalem directly into a long, modestly furnished, half-paneled room decorated with modern paintings by Israeli artists and a copy of Israel’s 1948 declaration of independence. It contains little more than a long wooden table, brown leather chairs and a single old-fashioned white projector screen.

This inner sanctum at the end of a corridor between Netanyahu’s private room and the office of his top military adviser, is where one of the decade’s most momentous military decisions could soon be taken: to launch an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

Time for that decision is fast running out and the mood in Jerusalem is hardening.

Iran continues to enrich uranium in defiance of international pressure, saying it needs the fuel for its civilian nuclear program. The West is convinced that Tehran’s real objective is to build an atomic bomb – something which the Jewish state will never accept because its leaders consider a nuclear armed-Iran a threat to its very existence.

Adding to the international pressure, U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said this week American military plans to strike Iran were “ready” and the option was “fully available”.

The central role Iran plays in Netanyahu’s deliberations is reflected in the huge map of the Middle East hanging by the door of his office. Israel lies on one edge, with Iran taking pride of place in the centre.

Experts say that within a few months, much of Iran’s nuclear program will have been moved deep underground beneath the Fordow mountain, making a successful military strike much more difficult.

CONTINUED at Reuters.

Nato’s plans to upgrade the US’s estimated 180 tactical nuclear weapons in western Europe are unnecessary, expensive and likely to exacerbate already difficult relations with Russia, according to a report.

The alliance is preparing to replace “dumb” free-fall nuclear bombs and ageing delivery aircraft with precision-guided weapons that would be carried by US F35 strike aircraft, according to a report from the European Leadership Network (ELN), a thinktank supported by former UK defence ministers including Lord Des Browne and Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

The report, Escalation by Default?: the Future of Nato Nuclear Weapons In Europe, is by Ted Seay, who until last year was arms control adviser to the US mission at Nato headquarters in Brussels.

CONTINUED at The Raw Story.

Vice President Joe Biden spoke out forcefully against the Iranian government Tuesday at the Rabbinical Assembly Convention meeting, saying actions taken by the Obama White House were preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. But the Romney campaign was quick to disagree.

Military assistance, coupled with financial and oil sanctions passed by the U.S. and the European Union, would cripple the Iranian economy, Biden promised.

“When we took office, let me remind you, there was virtually no international pressure on Iran. We were the problem,” Biden said. “We were diplomatically isolated in the world, in the region, in Europe.”

Biden continued, “We were neither fully respected by our friends nor feared by our opponents. Today is it starkly, starkly different.”

The other side of the aisle struck back at Biden’s comments, with GOP presidential candidate and presumptive nominee Mitt Romney’s Policy Director Lanhee Chen calling foul on the placement of blame, and stating the vice president’s words were “wrong and completely inappropriate.”

CONTINUED at CNN. Video at link.

Israel’s military chief toned down the rhetoric over Iran’s nuclear programme on Wednesday, describing the Iranian leadership as “very rational” and unlikely to take the decision to build a bomb.

Speaking to the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said Iran was systematically approaching the point at which it would be able to decide on whether to build a bomb, but had not yet made that decision.

“It still hasn’t decided yet whether to go the extra mile,” he said.

CONTINUED at the Raw Story.

Israelis have begun intensive social networking efforts to promote the notion that their country does not want war with Iran. There will be a mass rally on Friday, March 24th at 7PM in HaBima Square in Tel Aviv. There is also a Facebook event page,Israelis Against War with Iran. It has 764 Going currently. I wish it had more, much more. There is a Facebook group, Israelis Against the War, with 2,800 Likes. This is the statement that accompanies it:

It appears that as far as PM Netanyahu is concerned, everything’s prepared for an attack on Iran. Except for us – we’re neither prepared nor willing.

We will not agree to an irresponsible Israeli attack in Iran, leading to a war with an unknown end-date and casualty count. Polls show most of the Israeli public opposes the attack being planned by Netanyahu. Even the leading brass of the Israeli security establishment, past and present, opposes such an attack. U.S. intelligence agencies assert that Iran is not on the path attributed to it by Netanyahu (an assertion supported by the Mossad). Netanyahu, however, possibly fearing another “social summer”, appears eager to launch a war which might even give a boost to his election campaign.

Hardly anyone was surprised this week by the reports that Israel is not equipped to protect its citizens from missiles targeted at the cities. It is also not surprising that those least protected are the weaker populations of the Israeli periphery. This is exactly how much our leaders value us, when they don’t hesitate to take us on an unnecessary war that will inflame the region, supposedly for our protection. Not to worry – they’ll be safe and sound in their bunkers. The billions that this war will cost will be paid by us – in health, education, housing – and in blood.

CONTINUED at Richard Silverstein.

Israel has asked the United States for advanced “bunker-buster” bombs and refueling planes that could improve its ability to attack Iran’s underground nuclear sites, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

“Such a request was made” around the time of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week, the official said, confirming media reports.

But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue, played down as “unrealistic” Israeli reports that the United States would condition supplying the hardware on Israel promising not to attack Iran this year.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked whether the Israelis had made such a request to U.S. officials during the visit, said “there was no such agreement proposed or reached” in President Barack Obama’s meetings with Netanyahu or his aides.

But when asked if the matter was raised with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta or other U.S. officials, Carney told reporters he had no information on that. “I would refer you to other officials,” he said.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that military capabilities came up in discussions between Netanyahu and Panetta but did not elaborate. No deals were struck during those talks, the official added.

Netanyahu made clear to Obama at a White House meeting on Monday that Israel had not yet decided on military action against Iran, the White House has said.

CONTINUED at Reuters.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s best and brightest have an idea on how to deal with Iran’s imaginary nukes – starve the Iranian people to death.

“North Korea is halting its nuclear program in order to receive aid in food, and this is what should be done with Iran as well,” an unnamed official told Ynetnews.

“Suffocating sanctions could lead to a grave economic situation in Iran and to a shortage of food,” the source explained. “This would force the regime to consider whether the nuclear adventure is worthwhile, while the Persian people have nothing to eat and may rise up as was the case in Syria, Tunisia and other Arab states.”

“The Western world led by the United States must implement stifling sanctions at this time already, rather than wait or hesitate,” the official continued. “In order to suffocate Iran economically and diplomatically and lead the regime there to a hopeless situation, this must be done now, without delay.”

Starving a civilian population is prohibited under Article 54 of the Geneva Convention.

The Israeli government honed this brutal practice in the Gaza Strip. “Documents, whose existence were denied by the Israeli government for over a year, have been released after a legal battle led by Israeli human rights group, Gisha,” the International Middle East Media Center reported in November of 2010.

The documents reveal a deliberate policy by the Israeli government in which the dietary needs for the population of Gaza are chillingly calculated, and the amounts of food let in by the Israeli government measured to remain just enough to keep the population alive at a near-starvation level. This documents the statement made by a number of Israeli officials that they are “putting the people of Gaza on a diet”….

The documents are even more disturbing, say human rights activists, when one considers the fact that close to half of the people of Gaza are children under the age of eighteen. This means that Israel has deliberately forced the undernourishment of hundreds of thousands of children in direct violation of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

CONTINUED at Infowars. Written by Kurt Nimmo.

Earlier this week, former recess appointed United Nations representative John Bolton wrote an op-ed for the Moonie newspaper The Washington Times. In the article, Bolton once again tries to drum up fear and loathing over the dismal at best prospect of Iran developing a nuclear weapon.

Bolton claims Iran’s “nuclear activities are broad and deep, and it is close to winning the strategically important race to the nuclear-weapons finish line,” a claim completely at odds with the assessment of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies that says Iran is conducting research that could eventually enable it to develop a nuclear weapon, but that it is not doing so.

“I worry the publicly available information is giving only a very small picture and that Iran is actually even much further along,” Bolton told WorldNetDaily’s Aaron Klein in January. All the Iranians need to do, he insisted, is put their noses to the grindstone and they will have a nuke they can lob at Israel.

It’s fantasy, but one the so-called Bush era “Vulcans” consistently harp on from the dotage of their enforced retirement at think-tanks and from limelight bully pulpits at Fox News.

Bolton and his neocon cohorts know all about the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that concluded with “high confidence” that the Islamic republic halted an effort to develop nuclear weapons in the fall of 2003, but that fact – now confirmed by 16 intelligence agencies – will not stop them from engaging in their Chicken Little act.

“Although Iran continues to enrich uranium at low levels, U.S. officials say they have not seen evidence that has caused them to significantly revise that judgment,” the Los Angeles Times reported on February 23. “Senior U.S. officials say Israel does not dispute the basic intelligence or analysis.”

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Kurt Nimmo.

‘LA Times’ reports highly classified US intelligence assessment indicates that Iran is conducting research that could eventually enable it to develop a nuclear weapon, but that it has not sought to do so.

US intelligence agencies do not believe that Iran is actively trying to build a nuclear weapon, The Los Angeles Timesreported on Wednesday, citing a highly classified intelligence assessment from early 2011.

According to the report, the intelligence estimate holds that Tehran halted efforts to develop and build a nuclear warhead in 2003.

The Los Angeles Timesclaims that the report, representing the input of 16 US intelligence agencies, indicates that Iran is conducting research that could eventually enable it to develop a nuclear weapon, but that it has not sought to do so.

The report came as Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were scheduled to travel to Washington next week for discussions with US Defense Minister Leon Panetta and US President Barack Obama in which a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is expected to figure prominently.

Senior officials in the US, Britain and Russia all publicly entreated Israel this week not to attack Iran.

CONTINUED at Jerusalem Post.

“The stupidest thing I have ever heard.” — Meir Dagan, former head of Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, on attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Stupid it may be, but it’s also the hottest trend since the iPhone. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last year that if Iran proceeds toward acquiring a nuclear arsenal, “we will take whatever steps are necessary to stop it.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the same thing.

The Republican presidential candidates (except Ron Paul) strain to outdo each other in bellicose rhetoric. Mitt Romney says, “If you elect me as president, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.” Newt Gingrich promises, “Iran is not going to get a nuclear weapon.” Rick Santorum is prepared to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.

The United States and Israel are keeping their powder dry, but that could change anytime. A report in The Washington Post said, “Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May, or June.”

The prevailing wisdom among policymakers, in short, bears an eerie resemblance to the Iraq consensus of 2002. We and the Israelis allegedly faced an intolerable peril from a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction and a lust for aggression. Fortunately, we were told, it was nothing that a short, sudden military attack wouldn’t solve.

But in Iraq, it turned out the solution was anything but quick or easy—and the danger was vastly exaggerated. And in Iran? Ditto.

“The working assumption that it is possible to totally halt the Iranian nuclear project by means of a military attack is incorrect,” Dagan recently told The New York Times. “There is no such military capability. It is possible to cause a delay, but even that would only be for a limited period of time.”

Another prominent Mossad veteran, Rafi Eitan, said the attack would delay Iran’s nuclear program “not even three months.”

Americans may be led to assume we will pay no price. But Iran has innumerable options for “asymmetric” retaliation—attacking our ships in the Persian Gulf, sponsoring terrorism in Afghanistan or the United States, and ordering its Lebanese Hezbollah ally to rain rockets on Israel. We may find that fighting a war with Iran is like making love to a gorilla: You don’t stop when you’re done; you stop when the gorilla is done.

CONTINUED at Reason. Written by Steve Chapman.