John Bolton: Israel must attack Iran within the week

[cosmicalstorm]

He's not quite mustache-twirlingly evil; if he were, he'd argue that Israel should attack after the reactor was online, to assure the release of radiation and the complication of cleanup for the Iranians, as well as waste/destroy the precious fuel.

Actually, I've seen that argument done, but for a different reason.

1.) This way you're sure all Russian nationals are no longer on site -- right now, a lot of Russian nationals are on site finishing the reactor up and starting the fueling process. Once it's fueled; the russians get paid, and every russian goes home.

2.) Any radiation release can then be blamed on the reactor being attacked so theoretically israel could use subcritical 100-200 ton nukes to hit the place and blame all radiation on the reactor being breached.

I was under the impression that it's very hard (impossible?) to hide the detonation of a nuclear weapon from all kinds of satellites, chemical analysis of the atmosphere and so on?

[Elfdart]

It reads as if Israel is a part of America and has its own Senators....

For all practical purposes, that's pretty much how it is. And they're just working busy as beavers to dump us right into the Middle Eastern war that will likely finally break this country financially.

Actually, Israel has about 80+ US senators and 375+ representatives, while California has to make do with only 2 senators and 53 representatives.

[Kanastrous]

It's possible to chemically fingerprint the fallout recovered after a nuclear explosion. With the right records you can determine whose reactor the pit came from.

Given a chemical profile of the reactor fuel - which I bet the Russians would be pleased to furnish - it would likely be possible to determine that there was a separate source of fissionables contributing to the fallout after the attack.

Plus nukes have a characteristic two-pulse detonation signature. If any sensors happen to be pointing the right way - and the USA probably has a number of sensor systems trained upon Iran 24/7 - the record could reveal that signature, too.

[Gil Hamilton]

I'm sure that the US has any number of satellites not just pointed at Iran, but that specific site. There is no way Israel could use a nuclear weapon and keep it secret unless we and everyone else watching that place (like the Russians) keeps mum.