Iran's illegal Nuclear Weapons Program

There are and have been people living in the region of Palestine long before the creation of Israel.

Given that Israel has wiped Palestine off the map

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There are and have been people living in the region of Palestine long before the creation of Israel.

In its current form, you are correct.

BUT, all archeological records point to the fact that the Jews were there thousands of years ago, and they never left.
There were Jews living in the region before Israel was created also.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were most likely written by the Essenes during the period from about 200 B.C. to 68 C.E./A.D.

A total of 20 cities were built at Megiddo, one above the other, over the course of 5,000 years of continuous occupation; from the time of the first settlement at the end of the 6th millennium BCE to its abandonment in the 5th century BCE

Megiddo reached its peak under King Solomon in the 10th century BCE. He rebuilt it as a royal city, administering the northern part of the kingdom. The building of Jerusalem, the capital, and of Hatzor, Megiddo and Gezer, as part of centralized urban planning, is recounted in the Bible:

According to historical sources, Ramla was founded at the beginning of the 8th century by the Umayyad Calif Suleiman ibn Abd el-Malik. It served as the Umayyad and Abbasid capital of the Province of Palestine (Jund Filistin), and the seat of Arab governors of the province in the 8th and 9th centuries. In the 14th century, Ramla regained importance for a short time as the provincial capital of the Mamluks.

Abraham and company arrived out of Mesopotamia somewhere likely around 4000 years ago. So there's the likely time frame for Hebrew's in the area of present Israel.

As regards sources for information on archaeology of the area (with legal and political ramifications for all sorts of present disagreements), you probably don't want to be turning to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

There are thousands of archaeological sites in these areas. Finding them isn't a problem.

As regards who you want to turn to regarding accounts of archaeological research, that would be the anthropoligical literature and sources, not a nation's department of foreign affairs where land claims issues are roiling about.

time appears to be running out for george bush to attack Iran. But is it too late?

Adm. William J. Fallon, the top American commander in the Middle East whose views on Iran and other issues have seemed to put him at odds with the Bush administration, is retiring early, the Pentagon said Tuesday afternoon.

The article's author, Thomas Barnett, had predicted that if Admiral Fallon was pushed out of his job "it may well mean that the president and vice-president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don't want a commander standing in their way".

During a news briefing to announce the retirement of Admiral Fallon, a man hailed by the defense secretary as one of the most brilliant strategic minds in the military, Mr. Gates was asked whether the unexpected departure could be seen as a prelude to preparation for a war with Iran.

"It's just ridiculous," Mr. Gates responded.

....Tehran's police chief, Reza Zarei (photo), has been arrested after he was found nude in a local brothel with six naked prostitutes, ..................

Following the raid, Zarei stepped down from his post as police chief...............

Before he was arrested, Zarei was in charge of the programme for the 'moralisation of the city'.

georgeob1 wrote:
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High Seas wrote:

The boy Jonathan and his whole kin should be grateful for that fate - if he had been, say, Iranian, he would have fried; no question about it. Yet Iran never spied on the US, bombarded a US ship, or spent the last 60 years on the beg-borrow-blackmail-steal program. And in the immortal words of Sherlock Holmes: "There is nothing lower than a blackmailer."

Some "elements" (as you put it) in the US are getting so fed up with this monstrous, costly, and cumulative catastrophe in the near East, that Obama, whatever his faults, sounds a lot better than his Republican opponent because he grasps that one single element of foreign policy (and domestic counterintelligence).

That was the point. Sorry I wasn't clearer before.
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georgeob1 wrote:

I believe that the Administration has gone too far in publicly criticizing the government of Iran and in calling for sanctions over their nuclear weapons program, while, at the same time, refusing to speak officially with them -- a self-defeating combination. Their critics here have a real point in noting the contradiction inherent in these two positions and its bad effects. I can also think of many good reasons for avoiding unnecessary public associations with the present government of Iran, whose president has such an evident appetite for theatrics and thumbing his nose at us. It is a complex situation that requires a more complex and subtile policy than what we have done so far.

In contrast, the Administration has very effectively managed a complex dialogue with China, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea; occasionally involving a one-on-one dialogue with Pyonyang, when that was crucial, but otherwise sticking to the five-party talks which have been the key to our strategy. It is unfortunate that this level of skill and subtilty has not also been applied to Iran. (It is possible that the political "third rail" of the Israeli lobby may be involved here. Certainly there is plenty of evidence th believe they have an excessive influence on the Bush Administration.)
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