tick tick tick tick...

[Guest guest]

before the end of march....

thats my crystal ball...

 

 

 

 

 

If the price of oil has to go up then that's a consequence we would

have to suffer, "

 

 

 

 

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

 

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic senators said

on Sunday the United States may ultimately have to undertake a military

strike to deter Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but that should be

the last resort.

 

" That is the last option. Everything else has to be exhausted. But to

say under no circumstances would we exercise a military option, that

would be crazy, " Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said on CBS's

" Face the Nation. "

 

Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Illinois, a member of the Senate

Intelligence Committee, said there are sensitive elements of Iran's

nuclear program, which, if attacked, " would dramatically delay it's

development. "

 

" But that should not be an option at this point. We ought to use

everything else possible keep from getting to that juncture, " he said

on CNN's " Late Edition. "

 

A growing nuclear fracas exploded last week when Iran, defying the

United States and major European powers, resumed nuclear research after

a two year moratorium.

 

Iran says it aims only to make power for an energy-needy economy, not

build atom bombs. But it hid nuclear work from the U.N. nuclear

watchdog agency for almost 20 years before exiled dissidents exposed it

in 2002.

 

On Sunday, Iran said that only diplomacy, not threats to refer it to

the U.N. Security Council, could defuse a standoff over its nuclear

work and warned that any Western push for sanctions could jack up world

oil prices.

 

The Security Council's five permanent members and Germany planned talks

in London Monday on a common strategy to tackle the controversy.

 

McCain called the nuclear standoff " the most grave situation that we

have faced since the end of the Cold War, absent the whole war on

terror. "

 

" We must go to the U.N. now for sanctions. If the Russians and the

Chinese, for reasons that would be abominable, do not join us then we

will have to go with the (states that are) willing, " he said.

 

While acknowledging that President George W. Bush has " no good option, "

McCain said " there is only one thing worse than the United States

exercising a military option, that is a nuclear armed Iran. "

 

" If the price of oil has to go up then that's a consequence we would

have to suffer, " he said.

 

Iran is the world's fourth biggest exporter of crude oil and the second

biggest in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

 

Experts and officials say it may be impossible to destroy Iran's

nuclear program because much of it is underground and dispersed at

numerous sites.

 

In addition, they have said an attack on Iran could further inflame

anti-Americanism in the Middle East and prompt Tehran to interfere more

in Iraq and encourage Islamist fundamentalist groups to launch new

attacks on the West.

 

Another Senate Intelligence Committee member, Republican Trent Lott of

Mississippi, said that despite a massive military commitment in Iraq

the United States has the capability to strike Iran but it would be

" difficult " and other options must be tried first.

 

Bayh accused Bush of undermining the U.S. national interest and

creating this " dilemma " by ignoring the problem of Iran for four years.

 

 

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15194172.htm

 

 

1000 miles of endless screams, where all the dead heroes lay

I've got the choice to set my knife, I've got the courage to set my life

I've got the day I'll pick to die. Gotta hate someone, I don't know why

I'll fight for a better way, be a dead hero for the U.S.A.