(Newsmax).Leading national security expert Frank Gaffney tells Newsmax we could be in the "last days" before Iran obtains nuclear weapons — and he warns that if they do, they absolutely will use them.
Gaffney served in the Ronald Reagan administration as assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, and is the Founder and President of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C.
He is also host of the nationally syndicated program "Secure Freedom Radio," a columnist for several Web sites including Newsmax, and co-author of the book "War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World."
Considering Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's constant anti-Israeli and anti-U.S. rhetoric, does it appear he's intent on using nuclear weapons once Iran obtains them? Martella asked.
"I think you couldn't be more clear that he intends to use them," Gaffney said.
"Going back to the '30s, people thought that Hitler couldn't possibly mean what he was saying. Today people are similarly hoping that Ahmadinejad doesn't mean what he's saying. But he certainly says it with conviction. He says it repeatedly. He says it in public. He says it to his own constituency.
"There is I think no basis to [believe] that it is responsible, let alone safe, other than to believe that Ahmadinejad and the mullahs that run him and Iran, if able to get their hands on these missiles and nuclear warheads, will indeed use them."
Asked if the Obama administration can convince Russia and China to go along with harsh sanctions against Iran, Gaffney said:
"I think it very unlikely. I think even if the Chinese and Russians agree to some kind of further sanctions, it will probably be dragged out. It will be designed to continue to do what they've been doing to date, which is to provide political cover for their Iranian clients, or allies, and to buy the time the Iranians need to finish their nuclear weapons development program...
"We may be beyond the point at which sanctions could make much of a material difference. I think we're down to the last days, certainly weeks, maybe months at the outside, before the Iranians get the bomb."
Gaffney served in the Ronald Reagan administration as assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, and is the Founder and President of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C.
He is also host of the nationally syndicated program "Secure Freedom Radio," a columnist for several Web sites including Newsmax, and co-author of the book "War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World."
Considering Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's constant anti-Israeli and anti-U.S. rhetoric, does it appear he's intent on using nuclear weapons once Iran obtains them? Martella asked.
"I think you couldn't be more clear that he intends to use them," Gaffney said.
"Going back to the '30s, people thought that Hitler couldn't possibly mean what he was saying. Today people are similarly hoping that Ahmadinejad doesn't mean what he's saying. But he certainly says it with conviction. He says it repeatedly. He says it in public. He says it to his own constituency.
"There is I think no basis to [believe] that it is responsible, let alone safe, other than to believe that Ahmadinejad and the mullahs that run him and Iran, if able to get their hands on these missiles and nuclear warheads, will indeed use them."
Asked if the Obama administration can convince Russia and China to go along with harsh sanctions against Iran, Gaffney said:
"I think it very unlikely. I think even if the Chinese and Russians agree to some kind of further sanctions, it will probably be dragged out. It will be designed to continue to do what they've been doing to date, which is to provide political cover for their Iranian clients, or allies, and to buy the time the Iranians need to finish their nuclear weapons development program...
"We may be beyond the point at which sanctions could make much of a material difference. I think we're down to the last days, certainly weeks, maybe months at the outside, before the Iranians get the bomb."