Contrasting views of a Chief of Staff and feckless "diplomats" Appeasement has consequences.

U.S. May Cede to Iran's Nuclear Ambition - Daniel Dombey

U.S. officials are considering whether to accept Iran's pursuit of uranium enrichment, which has been outlawed by the UN and remains at the heart of fears that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons capability. As part of a policy review commissioned by President Obama, diplomats are discussing whether the U.S. will eventually have to accept Iran's insistence on carrying out the process, which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material. (Financial Times-UK)

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• APRIL 6, 2009

Warnings on Iran

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the nuclear threat from Tehran.

Benjamin Netanyahu formally became Israel's Prime Minister last week, and he could not have been blunter about the strategic challenge ahead: "It is a mark of disgrace for humanity that several decades after the Holocaust the world's response to the calls by Iran's leader to destroy the state of Israel is weak, there is no condemnation and decisive measures -- almost as if dismissed as routine." He added, "We cannot afford to take lightly megalomaniac tyrants who threaten to annihilate us."

Americans in key positions have noticed this Israeli message. In a meeting Thursday at the Journal, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told us that "there is a leadership in Israel that is not going to tolerate" a nuclear Iran. Tehran's atomic designs, he said, were a matter of "life or death" for the Jewish state. "The operative word is 'existential.'" When we asked him whether Israel was capable of inflicting meaningful damage to Iran's nuclear installations, his answer was a simple "Yes."

The Admiral was also clear about Iran's challenge to the U.S. "I think we've got a problem now. . . . I think the Iranians are on a path to building nuclear weapons." For the time being his counsel is diplomacy, noting that "Even in the darkest days of the Cold War we talked to the Soviets." But, he added, "we don't have a lot of time."

If Israel decides to strike Iran the consequences -- intended and unintended -- will be felt far and wide, including in Iraq where, Admiral Mullen says, Iran's ability to cause mayhem "has not maxed out at all." We thought readers might like to know how the Chairman sees the threat, and how well he appreciates Israel's peril.

****And then we have the estimable Joe Biden:

Apr 8, 2009 9:11 | Updated Apr 8, 2009 10:38

Biden warns Israel against Iran strike

By JPOST.COM STAFF

While stressing that it was an unlikely event, US Vice President Joe Biden issued a high-level admonishment to the new government, saying on Tuesday night that Israel would be "ill-advised" to carry out a military strike against Iran.

"I don't believe that Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill-advised to do that," Biden said in an interview with CNN, when asked about a possible Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites...Netanyahu has been very clear that the Iranian nuclear issue is high on Israel's agenda...the prime minister noted that "the Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons."Netanyahu went on to say that the Iranian nuclear challenge represents a "hinge of history" and added that "Western civilization" will have failed if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

"You don't want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran," Netanyahu was quoted as saying of the Iranian leadership.