[New York Sun] Eli Lake - President Bush's nominee to be defense secretary, Robert Gates, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that he would counsel against a military strike targeting Iran except as a last resort and says he does not think the Iranian regime would use nuclear weapons in a first strike against Israel. Gates said he believed that Iran desired nuclear weapons and that Iran's president was "not kidding" when he spoke of his desire to wipe Israel off the map. But he also cautioned that President Ahmadinejad did not have the final say in the regime and that a nuclear weapon would likely be acquired as a deterrent to attack from others. When pressed, the nominee said, "If Iran obtains nuclear weapons, no one can promise that it would not use them against Israel."
2006-12-06 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive