Bolton accuses administration of leaking story on Israeli planning along Iran border

[Bailey]

Which nation should the President be concerned about, Israel or his own? If he thinks a war in the Middle East between Iran and Israel (no telling who else gets involved after that) would not be in the interests of the United States of America, shouldn't he work to prevent it?

Ya and Iran getting nuclear bombs that could wipe out Israel is much better then doing nothing. Sure if Iran hit them we'd wipe Iran out but it wont help Israel out any.

[Starbuck]

Which nation should the President be concerned about, Israel or his own? If he thinks a war in the Middle East between Iran and Israel (no telling who else gets involved after that) would not be in the interests of the United States of America, shouldn't he work to prevent it?

You know, that's actually a very prescient question.

But the discussion should be how he should work to prevent it. And turning in Israel for making advance preparations is not my idea of how we should go about it.

[txradioguy]

You really think Iran would have given us a pass had Israel attacked them before this leak (I am going on the assumption it is true .... not always the case with anonymous sources)?

Why should we care whether Iran would "give us a pass" or not?

[AmPat]

I agree. The notion that the President of the United States should be more concerned about another nation than his own, is bizarre. And Israel isn't even a NATO level ally.



Bolton says alot of things .........

Yeah, true, but O Blah Blah blathers more.

[Janice]

Yeah, true, but O Blah Blah blathers more.

Yes. And when they do speak, which ones speech can have a positive or negative impact on the lives of millions? Perhaps even nations.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Bolton is admitting himself that there is no evidence for these claims, it's just pure speculation. It's funny how fast people are willing to take wild speculation as fact as long as they want to believe the conclusion, while actual sourced data is consistently shrugged off whenever the conclusion (or even the reporting source) is disliked.

[Starbuck]

Bolton is admitting himself that there is no evidence for these claims, it's just pure speculation. It's funny how fast people are willing to take wild speculation as fact as long as they want to believe the conclusion, while actual sourced data is consistently shrugged off whenever the conclusion (or even the reporting source) is disliked.

Speculation, sure. But who knew about Israel's activities? Bolton didn't. The Israeli's probably didn't turn themselves in, but now we're just speculating again.

Speculation is perfectly fair. Did you expect that there should be no discussion until the smoking gun is produced? Hold your breath.

[Odysseus]

Bolton is admitting himself that there is no evidence for these claims, it's just pure speculation. It's funny how fast people are willing to take wild speculation as fact as long as they want to believe the conclusion, while actual sourced data is consistently shrugged off whenever the conclusion (or even the reporting source) is disliked.

It is speculation by a career diplomat who understands the details of how things work at the State Department. It is also supported by the MO of prior State Department leaks, included CIA leaks, during the Bush Administration. It was the State Department that set up and leaked the Plame affair, as well as providing the media with the details of the highly classified program of monitoring terrorists' financial transactions, the CIA's detention of al Qaeda operatives overseas and the NSA's tracking of electronic communications between terrorists and their agents in the US.

Let's put it another way: We'd better hope that these leaks are deliberate, because if they aren't, if they are simply how the State Department routinely operates, then we are in far bigger trouble.