As Israel prepares to strike Iran, Obama goes on vacation

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United nations, says Israel will likely attack the Iranian nuclear reactor at Bushehr sometime next week.

Bolton bases his remarks on the announcement that Russian technicians will load fuel rods into the reactor on Aug. 21 – a week from tomorrow.

Bolton believes the Israelis must strike before the fuel rods are loaded in order to avoid a release of deadly radioactive materials that could cause widespread civilian deaths and pollute the Persian Gulf.

The Israelis attacked Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor outside Baghdad in 1981 and a reactor being built by North Koreans in Syria in September 2007. Both attacks, Bolton noted, occurred before fuel rods could be loaded.

Once the reactor is operational, it can begin producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Read the details here.

As Armageddon looms in the Middle East, President Obama plans to vacation with his family at Martha’s Vineyard until Aug. 29.