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U.S. Understands Israel's "Very Real Security Threats" in "Close-Quarters Geography"; Opening Third Front with Iran Would Be Stressful to U.S.

[U.S. Department of Defense] Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen on Wednesday discussed his recent visit to Israel. "As always, when I visit Israel, I'm reminded of the very real security threats they face and the tyranny of what I call "close-quarters geography" within which they face them. Israel remains a vital and trusted military ally in the Middle East," he said. "We certainly talked about Iran and the degree to which the Israeli military views the Iranian regime as a threat to their security and to the security of the broader Middle East." From the U.S. military perspective, "opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us. That doesn't mean we don't have capacity or reserve, but that would really be very challenging. And also the consequences of that sometimes are very difficult to predict. So I think that, you know, just about every move in that part of the world is a high-risk move. And that's why I think it's so important that the international piece, the financial piece, the diplomatic piece, the economic piece be brought to bear with a level of intensity that resolves this."
2008-07-04 01:00:00
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