[Mb-civic] US wants to sell Israel Œbunker-buster¹ bombs

[Michael Butler]

FT.com     
 
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US wants to sell Israel Œbunker-buster¹ bombs
>By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
>Published: April 27 2005 00:59 | Last updated: April 27 2005 00:59
>>

The Bush administration has proposed providing Israel with 100
³bunker-buster² bombs capable of destroying underground targets, a move seen
as sending a message to Iran to halt its nuclear programme.

The Pentagon on Tuesday notified Congress of the possible sale of 5,000lb
GBU-28 bombs, developed during the 1991 Gulf war to destroy Saddam Hussein's
hardened command centres. Congress has 30 days to object.

Any deal would be the first sale of the Lockheed Martin-built munition to a
foreign country.

In January, Dick Cheney, US vice-president, suggested that Israel might take
military action if the US and European Union failed to persuade Iran to give
up its nuclear ambitions.

Ariel Sharon, Israeli prime minister, this month said Israel had no
intention of attacking Iran.

However, Iran will not welcome any sale, which would come as Tehran
negotiates with France, Germany and the UK over halting its nuclear
programme. Iran says the programme is for peaceful purposes.

³It is certainly going to catch the attention of the Iranians who are
concerned that bombs might be used against the kind of facilities that they
have been building,² said Patrick Clawson, deputy director of the Washington
Institute of Near East Studies.

Mr Clawson said the bunker buster could be used against other targets,
including those in Syria.

Some experts doubt that Israel would attack Iran's nuclear facilities, given
their number and the fact that not all locations are known. Others have
argued that striking some facilities could deal a serious setback to any
Iranian attempts to develop a nuclear bomb.

David Siegel, spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, said the
GBU-28 was ³one component in a basket of measures Israel is acquiring².

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