In "Strongest Language on the Subject", Gates warns against Israeli strike on Iran

LATimes, here

"....Using his strongest language on the subject to date, Gates told a group of Marine Corps students that although a strike probably would delay Tehran's nuclear program one to three years, it would unify Iranians, "cement their determination to have a nuclear program, and also build into the whole country an undying hatred of whoever hits them." Israeli officials fear that the Islamic Republic may gain the know-how to build a bomb as early as this year, and several of them have warned that Israel could strike first to eliminate what it considers an existential threat..........

Gates told students at Marines Corps University in Quantico, Va., that while President Obama "needs the full range of options," in his view "we need to look at every way we can to increase the cost of that program to them, whether it's through economic sanctions or other things." The Defense secretary said other nations need to put more emphasis on arguments that a bomb would diminish, rather than improve, Iran's security "particularly if it launches an arms race in the Middle East."Gates' comments were delivered on Monday and first reported by the Army Times newspaper. A Defense official confirmed their accuracy..."