A Collision Course? at No Man’s Blog

From Haaretz via Cowboy Blob:

Three Arab states in the Persian Gulf would be willing to allow the Israel Air force to enter their airspace in order to reach Iran in case of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reported on Sunday.
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According to the report, a diplomat from one of the gulf states visiting Washington on Saturday said the three states, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace, despite their fear of an Iranian response.
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Al-Siyasa further reported that NATO leaders are urging Turkey to open its airspace for an attack on Iran as well and to also open its airports and borders in case of a ground attack.
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According to a British diplomat who spoke to an Al-Siyasa correspondent, Turkey will not repeat the mistake it made in 2003, when it refused to open its airspace to U.S. Air Force overflights en route to attacking Iraq.
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British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that Israel is negotiating with the U.S. over permission for an “air corridor” over Iraq, should an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities become necessary.

Well, let’s see. Iran just ignored another U.N. deadline regarding their uranium enrichment program. (Wasn’t that the third?) Whatever. It doesn’t help that an Iranian authority as notable as Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi has described Iran’s uranium-enrichment and nuclear-research activities as being “irreversible” (23 April 2006). And let’s also not forget some other uncomfortable facts that are floating around out there—such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments of October 2005. As reported by Al Jazeera:

‘The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world,’ the president told a conference in Tehran on Wednesday, entitled The World without Zionism.
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‘The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land,’ he said.
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‘As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,’ said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayat Allah Khomeini.
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His comments were the first time in years that such a high-ranking Iranian official has called for Israel’s eradication, even though such slogans are still regularly used at government rallies. (Emphasis added by Effluent.)

Is it any wonder that Israel feels threatened by an Iran led by Khomeini and Ahmadinejad? An Iran that openly admits to having missiles with multiple warheads that are capable of hitting Israel…?

To top it all off, an Associated Press article dated yesterday quotes a state radio report as saying:

‘The train of the Iranian nation is without brakes and a rear gear,’ state radio quoted Ahmadinejad as telling a gathering of Islamic clerics. ‘We dismantled the rear gear and brakes of the train and threw them away sometime ago.’
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Ahmadinejad also repeated his call for negotiations, saying the time for ‘bullying’ had expired. (Emphasis added.)

The time for “bullying” has expired, eh? I would say so. It may be time for “kicking butt,” instead. Or, to borrow Iran’s own metaphor, perhaps it’s time for a train wreck?

Israel just might be the right party to do it. And if the predominantly Sunni nations in the region are alarmed enough to go along with it, so be it.

Inline Poll: I’ve had this poll out for a while now, but now’s the time to dust it off and see if I can’t get any more participation (I added the fifth option this morning). So far, the doves are in the majority:

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

I wonder where Saudi Arabia stands on this deal? I was looking at the map, and you’d think that the Saudis would have to agree to overflights, as well. I could be wrong, though, if the U.S. authorizes an air corridor over Iraq. But that seems like an awfully long detour…. Any ideas?

The Persian Gulf and Surroundings