 Critics of the Bush administration have expressed alarm over reports that the president is considering a military strike to knock out Iran's nuclear programme. Anthony Zinni, a retired general and former head of US Central Command, told CNN on Sunday that a pre-emptive strike on Iran would be extremely risky "Any military plan involving Iran is going to be very difficult. We should not fool ourselves to think it will just be a strike and then it will be over," said Zinni.
| Actually, that's precisely what we should do: Strike them to take out the nuclear facilities and decapitate the ayatollahs, use ground troops only if necessary, and then leave it to the Iranians to clean up the mess, with the proviso that we'll hit them again if they don't. |
"The Iranians will retaliate, and they have many possibilities in an area where there are many vulnerabilities, from our troop positions to the oil and gas in the region that can be interrupted, to attacks on Israel, to the conduct of terrorism."
| And we have an equally wide range of options available to us. We don't have to waste time or resources occupying them, and without the ayatollahs' regime Israel becomes safer and the Shiite strain of terrorism loses its drivers. It'll wither and die. |
But he said he had no detailed knowledge of the alleged military plans.
 John Kerry, a democratic senator and former presidential contender, also assailed the White House for what he said was its over reliance on military might. "That is another example of the shoot-from-the-hip, cowboy diplomacy of this administration. For us to think about exploding tactical nuclear weapons in some way is the height of irresponsibility. It would be destructive to any non-proliferation efforts and the military assessment is: It would not work," he told NBC television.
| The only people who've talked about using tactical nuclear weapons are Seymour Hersch and a few other people whose opinions don't count. Bush hasn't been waving nukes and we don't need them. Our military has the capability to take out the Iranian regime just as quickly as we threw Sammy out. And after our experience in Iraq, I don't think we'll be as squeamish about inflicting large numbers of casualties on the enemy. |
Both men made their remarks after the publication of two media reports this weekend that said George Bush, the US president, was seriously considering military action against Iran, including using nuclear weapons, amid a stalemate in diplomatic efforts. |