"Bush Can't Attack Iran"
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--Security Expert Tells Forum: US President Has No Credibility, Unable To Initiate Iran Attack--

Courtesy Of: YnetNews
By Yaakov Lappin
11.22.06

US President George Bush does not have sufficient credit to initiate a military strike on Iran , Giora Romm, senior researcher for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, told a forum attended by members of the Foreign Ministry and delegates from the American Jewish community in Jerusalem Tuesday.

Romm was a former Air Force pilot, Assistant Director of IDF operations, defense attache to Washington and a former head of the Jewish Agency. He recently returned from Washington, and described how senior American officials were completely preoccupied with the war in Iraq.

"Iraq is sitting very heavily on them," Romm said, adding that the problems of the Iraq war
have robbed President Bush of any credibility.

Quoting a senior American official, Romm told the forum, "If Bush does something physical to Iran, he will be impeached."

"Bush has no military credit. Don't delude yourself by thinking that Bush has a military option (regarding Iran). I don't think the average American is convinced that his country is in danger (from Iran), and isn't moved by dangers in the Middle East. After 3.5 years in Iraq, he won't be convinced by wishy washy intelligence," Romm said.

He added that the same source, from the Democratic Party, said, "If there isn't a change in Iraq within six months, I'm told, people will take to the streets like in Vietnam."

Speaking to Ynetnews, Romm said he "could see a situation where we would attack Iran and the United States won't, but I can't estimate that now."

Romm added that the American-Israeli alliance has not been endangered following the Democratic upswing in the US elections.

'Aspects of Lebanon war disturbing:'

Romm launched into a detailed analysis of the Lebanon war, and said that "several operational aspects of the war disturbed me," citing a lack of clear political and military directives.

"If you're setting out objectives, go through with then," Romm said, adding that a change in the land fighting approach was also needed.

"If we know Hizbullah is planning to kidnap our soldiers, we should set out, publicly, on the front page, 20 targets in Lebanon, and say 10 of them will be destroyed, no matter who is there, if the kidnapping takes place. And we should transmit this directive to the Lebanese government, with no secrecy," Romm said.

Source:
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3331138,00.html