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Hillary Clinton campaigning in Pennsylvania (AP)
Last update - 17:47 22/04/2008
Clinton: If Tehran nukes Israel, U.S. could 'totally obliterate' Iran
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
Tags: Clinton, nuclear, Gates, Iran

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, facing a crucial primary in Pennsylvania Tuesday, said that if she were in the White House and Tehran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, the United States would be able to 'totally obliterate' Iran.

Interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America program, Clinton was asked what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.
"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton replied. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."
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Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he believes Iran is "hell-bent" on acquiring nuclear weapons, but he warned in strong terms of the consequences of going to war over that.

"Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need and, in fact, I
believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels," he said in a speech he was delivering Monday evening at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

The defense secretary said he favors keeping the military option against Iran on the table, given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat, either directly or through proliferation.

Gates also said that if the war in Iraq is not finished on favorable terms, the consequences could be dire.

"It is a hard sell to say we must sustain the fight in Iraq right now, and continue to absorb the high financial and human costs of this struggle, in order to avoid an even uglier fight or even greater danger to our country in the future," he said.

He added, however, that the U.S. experience with Afghanistan - helping the Afghans oust Russian invaders in the 1980s only to abandon the country and see it become a haven for Osama bin Laden's terrorist network - makes it clear to him that a similar approach in Iraq would have similar results.

Gates said the U.S. military was not organized or equipped for the kind of wars it finds itself in today. "The current campaign has gone on longer, and has been more difficult, than anyone expected or prepared for at the start," he said. "And so we've had to scramble to position ourselves for success over the long haul, which I believe we are doing."

UN investigator ends talks with Iranian officials

AlsO Tuesday, The UN atomic watchdog's top investigator ended two days of talks with Iranian officials that sought explanations of Western intelligence that suggested Iran secretly studied how to design nuclear bombs.

"The talks with (Olli) Heinonen were positive," a senior Iranian nuclear official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters after the talks.

Iranian officials had said Heinonen's visit was intended to advance cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, the UN body investigating Iran's disputed nuclear ambitions.

Iran says its nuclear program is a peaceful drive to produce electricity so that the world's fourth-largest crude exporter can sell more of its oil and gas abroad.

But it has failed to convince the West, which believes Tehran is seeking technology so it can build atomic weapons.

U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week vowed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, possibly by expanding sanctions.

The UN Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions on Iran since 2006 because of its inadequate cooperation with IAEA investigations.

"The second day of talks with Heinonen and Iranian officials finished after five hours without any results being announced," ISNA reported without giving a source.

Heinonen raised a diplomatic stir in February with a presentation that indicated links in Iran between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.

Iran has dismissed the intelligence as baseless, forged or irrelevant. But the IAEA wants substantive explanations to enable it to wind up a long inquiry into Iran's secretive quest for nuclear power.

IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei has said the world "needs to make sure Iran did not have a weapons program."

IAEA officials stress that the intelligence details about weapons studies, many of them from a laptop computer spirited out of Iran by a defector in 2004 and handed to the United States, remain unverified but warrant thorough investigation.

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      1.   Iran doesn`t have to nuke Israel 10:42  |  spyguy 22/04/08
      2.   HILLARY, A ZIONIST PUPPET 10:43  |  indrajaya 22/04/08
      3.   US needs Iran 10:44  |  MiddleStanian 22/04/08
      4.   PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL 10:45  |  indrajaya 22/04/08
      5.   Clinton, jumping through the necessary hoops 10:49  |  Clickfool 22/04/08
      6.   Is there no depth to which ... 10:49  |  The Prince 22/04/08
      7.   she just got my vote 10:53  |  don 22/04/08
      8.   A "kindergarten" called U.S. politics........ 11:01  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08
      9.   Sort your own country out first! 11:18  |  danalogue 22/04/08
      10.   Iran 11:22  |  Gregor 22/04/08
      11.   She Doesn`t Look Like Curtis LeMay 11:48  |  Mark of Lewiston 22/04/08
      12.   Problem is that Israel would be obliterated and response by US 11:48  |  lily 22/04/08
      13.   Clumsy choice of words, Hillary... 11:53  |  Johnboy 22/04/08
      14.   #1 dear old spyguy and more total crap 11:55  |  v hardman 22/04/08
      15.   #7 Well, gosh, don, and why do you think she said it? 12:01  |  Johnboy 22/04/08
      16.   Pandering to the bigot vote, inciting genocide 12:03  |  Tarik 22/04/08
      17.   That`s fair enough! 12:03  |  Joe 22/04/08
      18.   I always liked Hillary 12:04  |  Sarah 22/04/08
      19.   Poor Hillary 12:12  |  Mark B. 22/04/08
      20.   anything for a jewish vote 12:16  |  moon 22/04/08
      21.   Israel is the one who starts wars 12:17  |  El-Birawi 22/04/08
      22.   Too droll for words 12:19  |  Natallie Durson 22/04/08
      23.   Cheney wants to obliterate Iran now, so ... 12:20  |  The Prince 22/04/08
      24.   Take the M out of M A D 12:21  |  Navy Vet 22/04/08
      25.   12 million Jews - do you never wonder 12:22  |  Allon 22/04/08
      26.   #15, manic john, it is not as if she did not mean every word 12:40  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 22/04/08
      27.   Shame on Hilary 12:42  |  Coldstream 22/04/08
      28.   Clinton stop it 12:45  |  farid 22/04/08
      29.   And Clinton (& Obama) would wiat for it to happen first 12:56  |  Kobi 22/04/08
      30.   `Could` is meaningless. `Would` is a war-crime. Neither`s good. 12:59  |  Michael 22/04/08
      31.   CFOOL If it is"necessary" why haven`t the others said it. 13:27  |  PETER SM 22/04/08
      32.   so why does israel need a N dterrent??? 13:28  |  Rob of melbourne 22/04/08
      33.   Iran is talking too loudly... 13:37  |  georges 22/04/08
      34.   To NUTtily the droll 13:42  |  Joe Moer 22/04/08
      35.   SHE WAS TOTALLY DISORIENTED 13:42  |  indrajaya 22/04/08
      36.   Not just the jewish vote clickfool and indrajaya 13:43  |  Danalogue 22/04/08
      37.   Suspend all Belief Until Election Over 13:51  |  Jane 22/04/08
      38.   ISRAEL CAN LOOK After itself 14:13  |  Smein 22/04/08
      39.   1.Spyguy,quite right! There will be no warning to Russia & China! 14:18  |  lakshmi 22/04/08
      40.   MICHAEL.It`s a message for the Mullahs.It CAN be done 14:20  |  PETER SM 22/04/08
      41.   johnboy do you remember how you swore blind that 14:24  |  liarliar 22/04/08
      42.   Speech for vote 14:24  |  Mary 22/04/08
      43.   Napoleon the pig 14:24  |  Joshua 22/04/08
      44.   johnbot do you remember telling us gaza is occupied 14:26  |  sillyboy 22/04/08
      45.   johnboy and the un resoultions you quoted while the united nation 14:29  |  gadaffi 22/04/08
      46.   Pandering Hillary 14:35  |  Sid Zell 22/04/08
      47.   Is Hillary Running for President of Israel? 14:42  |  Czarlazar 22/04/08
      48.   nukes 14:45  |  colin 22/04/08
      49.   Operative word being COULD 14:47  |  Chris Linthwaite 22/04/08
      50.   The IAF will take care of Iran`s program prior to that 14:54  |  The Equalizer 22/04/08
      51.   qom first to be nuked 14:59  |  harzion 22/04/08
      52.   What a Joke 15:05  |  Aaron 22/04/08
      53.   McCain and Obama would do exactly the same 15:10  |  Murray the Mongoose 22/04/08
      54.   I believe she only said this to get some jewish votes 15:22  |  Rami 22/04/08
      55.   KING MOSHIACH BLESSED US TO OVERTHROW THAT PERSIAN KING BEFORE HE 15:25  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 22/04/08
      56.   Hillary, You Just Lost My Vote. 15:30  |  Cool B 22/04/08
      57.   She is a warmonger like Bush. She will not win the election 15:30  |  POP 22/04/08
      58.   Childish 15:33  |  Harold 22/04/08
      59.   Is a conventional missile attack on Dimona classed as "nuking"? 15:33  |  Chanalau, Tova 22/04/08
      60.   If Teheran nukes Israel. 15:33  |  David Nigel Braham 22/04/08
      61.   and what if Israel nukes Iran? 15:34  |  Joshua 22/04/08
      62.   Go to sleep miss 15:40  |  Someone 22/04/08
      63.   I like her 15:42  |  Joe blow 22/04/08
      64.   El-Birawi # 21. 15:42  |  David Nigel Braham 22/04/08
      65.   Bluffing Yankees, get your tongues off Israel!!!! 15:48  |  Someone 22/04/08
      66.   Clinton must put MORE Brains in her words. 15:54  |  Magnify 22/04/08
      67.   To Allon / the nobel prizes do not quaratee... 15:55  |  Anne 22/04/08
      68.   We should not wait : tomorrow it might be too late. 16:06  |  Jean Van Daem 22/04/08
      69.   #26 Such blind faith, Cipora.... 16:06  |  Johnboy