"I wonder how it would read if they focused their creativity upon Clinton's remark. " (Wolfgang 23 Apr 08 - 07:21 AM )

I ignored Clinton's remarks because they are basically pretty meaningless - they don't change the situation in any way, except insofar as they might win a few votes for her. I don't think there is in fact any prospect of an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel. And I think that Clinton's remarks here are essentially electioneering waffle.

I think there is a very real possibility of an attack by Israel or the United States on Iran. I doubt if that would be likely to involve nuclear weapons, because there would no advantages in that and very serious disadvantages (even aside from the resulting Iranian deaths).

The persistent attempts to paint Ahmadinejad's rhetoric as much more directly threatening than they have actually been is dangerous, and that is why I focused on that. In the same way it would be dangerous if people in Iran build too much on the basis of Clinton's electioneering talk about "obliterating Iran". Unfortunately I suspect that that is just what will be happening.