Playing with fire

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Peninsula readers' letters: October 27
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 10/26/2011 06:39:02 PM PDTUpdated: 10/27/2011 12:36:08 AM PDT


Playing with fire
Dear Editor: President Barack Obama may be widely regarded at home as the least pro-Israeli president in decades, but he has secretly approved giving the Jewish state a bunch of special bunker-busting bombs ideal for destroying Tehran's ruling mullahs' nuclear ambitions and so powerful that George W. Bush blocked handing them over.
Capable of penetrating deep beneath the surface, the bunker-busters would be crucial for any air strikes at Iran's nuclear sites. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wanted the bunker-busters for years and, as first reported by Newsweek, Obama agreed to hand over 55 of the sophisticated and powerful weapons.
Given Israel's track record of preemptive bombing strikes to destroy nuclear sites in neighboring nations, and Iran's ambitious and suspicious nuclear program, the American bunker-busters may increase the chance of another Middle East war. Iran's unpredictable and bellicose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. Iran continues to defy international sanctions with a clandestine nuclear program. Meanwhile, Netanyahu now has the means to carry out his threat that "Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out."
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto