A nuclear bomb has just gone off in Israel!

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Dixie - In Memoriam

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Fortunately, this headline is false, and we all consider this the 'unthinkable', but what if you woke today to this news? What would be the reaction from you, from your political party, from your political leaders? What actions would the US take? How would things go moving forward? I realize this is all highly speculative, and I don't expect to find honest answers here, but I think it's worth thinking about and discussing. Do you think this might have an effect on the presidential campaign, given the Democrats and administration's lukewarm support of Israel?

What would be the reaction of Liberals? Would they side with the radical Islamists, who would undoubtedly be dancing in the streets? Would their 'environmentalist' side kick in and be appalled at the radioactive fallout? How would they spin their recent lack of concern over this horrifying possibility? Could they somehow find a way to blame it on Bush? Would the GOP candidate even bring it up, for fear of being accused of 'politicizing' the event? Where would all the left-wing Jew haters go? Or would they go? Would we hear a chorus of "Good Riddance!" from the anti-Semites?

I am guessing that Democrats and the administration would make the typical political gestures, condemning the act, reaffirming our commitment to our ally, and promising to stand with them in this hour of darkness. But other than a few speeches and statements, our reaction wouldn't be much from this administration. We certainly wouldn't extend any military assistance or take any action related to it. Within a few weeks, the MSM would push the story to the back, and it would be mostly forgotten. If anyone on the right expressed too much outrage, they would be painted as extremists who were the cause of this, and castigated for their opposition to whoever did the deed. Like the recent attacks on our Embassies, the left would literally take sides with the attackers, and find fault with the US and our policies, instead of actually condemning those responsible.

Considering the relatively tiny country would be obliterated, and most of the inhabitants dead or dying, the question would quickly turn to whether or not Israel was worth salvaging? Perhaps the argument would be made, this is a good time to correct the 'injustices of history' and get rid of the source of most contention in the Middle East? Would Israel become the unoccupied radioactive portion of the Palestine state? Would we send Jimmy Carter over to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians and promise to help them rebuild?

Speculative? Yes! But I believe it's speculation worthy of discussion.
 
More of the same crap the right spews...is it any wonder no one listens to these cretins?
 
If, if, if, if your aunt had a mustache she'd be your uncle.

If something like this would happen it would assure the sitting president would be re-elected. This country doesn't like to change leadership in the middle of a crisis. Whether real or in GWB's case imaginary.

Booga booga be afraid, be very afraid the brown skins are coming to get you.
 
Bogus argument Dixie. The principle of MAD sitll applies. Any nation with a nuclear weapon would be insane to use it. Even the US. Well ok....I don't think too many people would lose sleep over nuking michigan.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Bogus argument Dixie. The principle of MAD sitll applies. Any nation with a nuclear weapon would be insane to use it. Even the US. Well ok....I don't think too many people would lose sleep over nuking michigan.
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The concept of "MAD" presumes there will be an identified enemy. In the scenario above, we'll assume the bomb came from a Palestinian militant, who is going to be targeted for retribution? And who is going to do the targeting? Are you suggesting the Anti-Israel Obama administration would abandon their hatred of Jews to go after their attackers with a nuke? Or maybe you think the tiny and obliterated nation of Israel would be able to mount some kind of retaliation? But again, who are they going after?
 
Dixie said:
The concept of "MAD" presumes there will be an identified enemy. In the scenario above, we'll assume the bomb came from a Palestinian militant, who is going to be targeted for retribution? And who is going to do the targeting? Are you suggesting the Anti-Israel Obama administration would abandon their hatred of Jews to go after their attackers with a nuke? Or maybe you think the tiny and obliterated nation of Israel would be able to mount some kind of retaliation? But again, who are they going after?
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Assumption would be that the country nuked(presuming it wasn't Palestine, Israel or India who would just immediately attack their enemy full force no matter what) would freeze until it found out where the bomb came from, in the case of a missile delivery system the place of origin would be looking at severe retaliation.

I suspect that if a bomb went off in Israel, the following headline would read "Israel nukes Tehran". Then we would really see how much crap the world would put up with from Israel.
 
Disillusioned said:
Assumption would be that the country nuked(presuming it wasn't Palestine, Israel or India who would just immediately attack their enemy full force no matter what) would freeze until it found out where the bomb came from, in the case of a missile delivery system the place of origin would be looking at severe retaliation.

I suspect that if a bomb went off in Israel, the following headline would read "Israel nukes Tehran". Then we would really see how much crap the world would put up with from Israel.
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I'm not sure how big you think the nation of Israel is, but I assure you, if a nuclear bomb detonated in one of their major cities, I doubt they would be doing much retaliation. Couple this with the fact they wouldn't KNOW where the bomb originated for days, maybe ever! IF a Palestinian militant covertly planted it, did they get it from Iran or Pakistan, or hell, even the Russians? You think ANY nation is going to launch a nuke at someone without knowing this for certain? Unless Iran did it and there was no doubt, there wouldn't be a "MAD" type response.
 
Dixie said:
The concept of "MAD" presumes there will be an identified enemy. In the scenario above, we'll assume the bomb came from a Palestinian militant, who is going to be targeted for retribution? And who is going to do the targeting? Are you suggesting the Anti-Israel Obama administration would abandon their hatred of Jews to go after their attackers with a nuke? Or maybe you think the tiny and obliterated nation of Israel would be able to mount some kind of retaliation? But again, who are they going after?
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Dixie you're using the same flawed logic you did in supporting the Iraq invasion. Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.
 
Dixie said:
I'm not sure how big you think the nation of Israel is, but I assure you, if a nuclear bomb detonated in one of their major cities, I doubt they would be doing much retaliation. Couple this with the fact they wouldn't KNOW where the bomb originated for days, maybe ever! IF a Palestinian militant covertly planted it, did they get it from Iran or Pakistan, or hell, even the Russians? You think ANY nation is going to launch a nuke at someone without knowing this for certain? Unless Iran did it and there was no doubt, there wouldn't be a "MAD" type response.
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Israel wouldn't care, they'd immediately assume Iran and go for it. Same response Iran would have if the they ever got bombed. Read Sum of All Fears for a reasoned example.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
OK, I'll be fair to you and say I'm reading between the lines that you are advocating a pre-emptive strike on Irans nuclear facilities?
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???? Where did I advocate that? I posed a hypothetical about Israel being targeted with a nuke, and I didn't stipulate it came from Iran. In fact, I went on to add that under my scenario, we will presume it came from a Palestinian, smuggled into Israel as a 'suitcase' bomb. Iran wouldn't rush out there and take credit for supplying the bomb, I wouldn't imagine. It's more likely some terrorist group would claim responsibility, so... who are we going to Mutually Assure Destruction on? And would WE be the ones doing that, since Israel would be obliterated?

My guess is, if this were to happen the way I've described, the initial response from the administration and liberals would be to run out there and "condemn" it in the "strongest of words" but the actual RESPONSE to it, would be virtually NOTHING. Within a few weeks, it would be a forgotten matter to Democrats and Liberals, as they diverted the topic back to Romney's taxes and Class Warfare. As time passed, the brazen anti-Semitic liberals would chortle "who cares?" and "they had it coming!" The "spin" would be... That's what you get for pissing them off, righties! Even IF they somehow pieced together what country was responsible for the nuke, Israel would be so crippled they would probably not be able to retaliate.

To be completely honest regarding preemptive strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, I am far more worried about radical Islam in Pakistan, who already HAS nukes! Iran doesn't pose that much of a threat, really. Whenever Israel is attacked, I predict it will be uncertain as to exactly WHO did it, and that will be the major contention with any sort of 'retaliation' or counter-attack. You can't go nuking someone who you SUSPECT was responsible, that ain't cool.
 
Disillusioned said:
Israel wouldn't care, they'd immediately assume Iran and go for it. Same response Iran would have if the they ever got bombed. Read Sum of All Fears for a reasoned example.
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I disagree, unless the nuke came from a missile launched from Iran, or Iran stupidly claimed responsibility. We live in a different age, the "enemy" very often doesn't have a national flag. There would be all kinds of questions that needed to be answered before any sort of retaliation, and even then, what sort of retaliation would the tiny country that had just been nuked, be able to mount? Depending on the logistics, such a bomb might completely wipe out Israel's capability to respond. Would WE jump in to do the dirty work? What would the UN have to say about it? These are all valid questions, and it's worth discussing the 'what ifs' regarding this. To assume that if Israel were attacked, we'd know exactly who did it and how, is a bit presumptuous, and given the lukewarm attitude of this administration toward Israel, I'm not so sure we'd even involve ourselves.
 
Dixie said:
I disagree, unless the nuke came from a missile launched from Iran, or Iran stupidly claimed responsibility. We live in a different age, the "enemy" very often doesn't have a national flag. There would be all kinds of questions that needed to be answered before any sort of retaliation, and even then, what sort of retaliation would the tiny country that had just been nuked, be able to mount? Depending on the logistics, such a bomb might completely wipe out Israel's capability to respond. Would WE jump in to do the dirty work? What would the UN have to say about it? These are all valid questions, and it's worth discussing the 'what ifs' regarding this. To assume that if Israel were attacked, we'd know exactly who did it and how, is a bit presumptuous, and given the lukewarm attitude of this administration toward Israel, I'm not so sure we'd even involve ourselves.
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I stand by my position. Israel and Iran have been making faces at each other for a while. If something were to nudge their elbow, they'd fire at each other on pure reflex. They'd assume(rightly or wrongly) that their enemy was behind it, and go active. The problem with all those "contingency plans" is that they make people start thinking of each other as natural and automatic enemies.
 
the amazing ability of liberals and conservatives to cling to the wall of denial in the face of completely plausible, yet improbable scenarios such as the one in the OP, is only superceded by their complete and total shock and surprise when said scenario actually happens.
 
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