Is Israel Preparing An Attack On Iran's Nuclear Facilities?

U.S officials think so:

Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military's capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran's nuclear program.

More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, American officials said.

Israeli officials claim it was routine training. But, the article goes on to say:

...the scope of the Israeli exercise virtually guaranteed that it would be noticed by American and other foreign intelligence agencies.

Was Israel training for an attack on Iran? If they were smart they would. Check out my last post for a perfectly good reason for it.

One official thinks it's purpose was to send a message to other countries that Iran will act militarily if needed. I would hope so. The Iranian government has expressed their desire to "wipe Israel off the map" dozens of times. Nobody can dispute that fact. I just wish the rest of the world were as concerned about Iran gaining nuclear capabilities as Israel seems to be. While it is true that Israel would probably be the first to be attacked, they would not be the only country that gets attacked.

One more thing I would like to discuss about the article:

Iran has shown signs that it is taking the Israeli warnings seriously, by beefing up its air defenses in recent weeks, including increasing air patrols. In one instance, Iran scrambled F-4 jets to double-check an Iraqi civilian flight from Baghdad to Tehran.

"They are clearly nervous about this and have their air defense on guard," a Bush administration official said of the Iranians.

Iran being nervous about this is a good reaction. A lot better than the reaction the U.S. and their counterparts got from their last try at appeasement:

"In the nuclear issue, the bullying powers have used up all their capabilities but could not break the will of the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state television.

World powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- on Saturday offered Tehran a new package of technological and economic incentives in exchange for suspending uranium enrichment activities.

Keep it up Israel. You are proving that some people will not pay any attention to sanctions or bribes. They do seem to respond to the threat of force though.