As Israel gears up for war, US divide appears

[joeblow]

As Israel gears up for war, US divide appears
Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:59:36 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=9 ... =351020104


Admiral Mike Mullen says any military strike against Iran would be "very destabilizing."

As Israel continues its efforts to portray Iran as a regime hell-bent on a nuclear war, top officials in the White House and the US military express contradictory stances on a potential Israeli attack on Iran.

The top US military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, warned on Sunday that any military strike against Iran would have "unintended consequences".

Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Fox News on Sunday that any attack against Iran would be "very destabilizing."

"I've been one who has been concerned about a strike on Iran for some time, because it could be very destabilizing, and it is the unintended consequences of that which aren't predictable," he was quoted by AFP as saying.

Meanwhile in the White House, US Vice President Joe Biden said that the US would not stop Israel if it launches an attack against Iran.

The US "cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do," Biden said, the Associated Press reported.

Israel, the possessor of the sole nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons and drawing up plans to attack the regime.

Iran denies the charges and says under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which the country is a signatory of; it is entitled to conduct a nuclear program for civilian purposes.

The US, Israel's staunchest ally, has for sometime denied Israel a green light to carry out an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Biden, however, told ABC that Israel is able to determine "what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else.''

SB/MD
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