BBC: *US 'Iran attack plans' revealed*
[Needless to say Bush will be a menace until his last day in office -- when he most likely will pardon any U.S. war criminals convicted by that time.
The BBC report below on the Bush plan to attack Iran is downright scary. We now have sent 3 U.S. aircraft carrier fleets into the region. The excuses mentioned below offer all too obviously likely occasions for Bush to launch a sneak attack on Iran comparable to that carried out by Israel against Iraq's nuclear capacity back in 1981:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7/newsid_3014000/3014623.stm
The circumstances of that attack were very different than the one being contemplated by the U.S. against Iran today. Israel hit Iraq's single nuclear reactor on a holiday before it was activated and when no personnel were there to be killed. It was a shocking attack, but over and done with suddenly. As the report below suggests, we would be hitting a wide range of targets, launching a war in effect without national or international authorization.
The capacity of Iran to retaliate, even if severely hurt, would not be ended off by such an attack. Iran stands in a position to block the sea routes to Saudi Arabian oil, Iraq, and Iranian oil as well. Such an attack would not only confirm the hostility of the U.S. towards the Muslim countries in that region, but also set off a major economic recession, as nations scrambled to make up for the lost oil supplies.
As the Iranians have recently indicated, they are ready to retaliate -- here there, and wherever. Our national ports are free entryways via shipping crates for any deadly materials a hostile Iran (in conjunction with others) decides to send our way. Our nuclear and dangerous chemical plants are likely targets for "suicide bombers." Our river tunnels and bridges, subways, train lines are virtually unprotected from determined suicide bombers. And we have installations around the globe that would provide equally unprotected targets for same. Bush claims that he is keeping the terrorists tied down in Iraq. A vengeful Iran -- situated squarely between under protected Afghanistan and Iraq would be an unimaginable hazard to our troops and friends located there -- now at the breaking point with indigenous attacks. One would not think Bush could be so stupid as to launch an attack on Iran, but, then, we have the incredibly mindless precedent of Iraq, itself.
One hopes that Bush & Co. are bluffing, but the incompetence and dishonesty shown thus far by this crew are not reassuring. Have we not a flick (I did not see it) of the 'tail waging the dog' of a president trying to reestablish his standing with his fellow citizens with such a diversionary move to war? And with many deaths and a potential spread of nuclear waste . . . ?
Beware the petulant who have been rejected by their own! Ed Kent]
.............................
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6376639.stm
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 February 2007, 10:28 GMT
US 'Iran attack plans' revealed
USS John C Stennis is being deployed to the Persian Gulf
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions.
But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran.
That list includes Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say.
Two triggers
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies.
The Natanz plant is buried under concrete, metal and earth
Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran.
Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called "bunker-busting" bombs in an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards) underground.
The BBC's Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says the news that there are now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians.
Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says.
Deadline
Earlier this month US officers in Iraq said they had evidence Iran was providing weapons to Iraqi Shia militias. However the most senior US military officer later cast doubt on this, saying that they only had proof that weapons "made in Iran" were being used in Iraq.
Gen Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said he did not know that the Iranian government "clearly knows or is complicit" in this.
At the time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the accusations were "excuses to prolong the stay" of US forces in Iraq.
Middle East analysts have recently voiced their fears of catastrophic consequences for any such US attack on Iran.
Britain's previous ambassador to Tehran, Sir Richard Dalton, told the BBC it would backfire badly by probably encouraging the Iranian government to develop a nuclear weapon in the long term.
Last year Iran resumed uranium enrichment - a process that can make fuel for power stations or, if greatly enriched, material for a nuclear bomb.
Tehran insists its programme is for civil use only, but Western countries suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons.
The UN Security Council has called on Iran to suspend its enrichment of uranium by 21 February.
If it does not, and if the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms this, the resolution says that further economic sanctions will be considered.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
The BBC report below on the Bush plan to attack Iran is downright scary. We now have sent 3 U.S. aircraft carrier fleets into the region. The excuses mentioned below offer all too obviously likely occasions for Bush to launch a sneak attack on Iran comparable to that carried out by Israel against Iraq's nuclear capacity back in 1981:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/7/newsid_3014000/3014623.stm
The circumstances of that attack were very different than the one being contemplated by the U.S. against Iran today. Israel hit Iraq's single nuclear reactor on a holiday before it was activated and when no personnel were there to be killed. It was a shocking attack, but over and done with suddenly. As the report below suggests, we would be hitting a wide range of targets, launching a war in effect without national or international authorization.
The capacity of Iran to retaliate, even if severely hurt, would not be ended off by such an attack. Iran stands in a position to block the sea routes to Saudi Arabian oil, Iraq, and Iranian oil as well. Such an attack would not only confirm the hostility of the U.S. towards the Muslim countries in that region, but also set off a major economic recession, as nations scrambled to make up for the lost oil supplies.
As the Iranians have recently indicated, they are ready to retaliate -- here there, and wherever. Our national ports are free entryways via shipping crates for any deadly materials a hostile Iran (in conjunction with others) decides to send our way. Our nuclear and dangerous chemical plants are likely targets for "suicide bombers." Our river tunnels and bridges, subways, train lines are virtually unprotected from determined suicide bombers. And we have installations around the globe that would provide equally unprotected targets for same. Bush claims that he is keeping the terrorists tied down in Iraq. A vengeful Iran -- situated squarely between under protected Afghanistan and Iraq would be an unimaginable hazard to our troops and friends located there -- now at the breaking point with indigenous attacks. One would not think Bush could be so stupid as to launch an attack on Iran, but, then, we have the incredibly mindless precedent of Iraq, itself.
One hopes that Bush & Co. are bluffing, but the incompetence and dishonesty shown thus far by this crew are not reassuring. Have we not a flick (I did not see it) of the 'tail waging the dog' of a president trying to reestablish his standing with his fellow citizens with such a diversionary move to war? And with many deaths and a potential spread of nuclear waste . . . ?
Beware the petulant who have been rejected by their own! Ed Kent]
.............................
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6376639.stm
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 February 2007, 10:28 GMT
US 'Iran attack plans' revealed
USS John C Stennis is being deployed to the Persian Gulf
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions.
But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran.
That list includes Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. Facilities at Isfahan, Arak and Bushehr are also on the target list, the sources say.
Two triggers
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies.
The Natanz plant is buried under concrete, metal and earth
Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran.
Long range B2 stealth bombers would drop so-called "bunker-busting" bombs in an effort to penetrate the Natanz site, which is buried some 25m (27 yards) underground.
The BBC's Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says the news that there are now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians.
Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says.
Deadline
Earlier this month US officers in Iraq said they had evidence Iran was providing weapons to Iraqi Shia militias. However the most senior US military officer later cast doubt on this, saying that they only had proof that weapons "made in Iran" were being used in Iraq.
Gen Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said he did not know that the Iranian government "clearly knows or is complicit" in this.
At the time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the accusations were "excuses to prolong the stay" of US forces in Iraq.
Middle East analysts have recently voiced their fears of catastrophic consequences for any such US attack on Iran.
Britain's previous ambassador to Tehran, Sir Richard Dalton, told the BBC it would backfire badly by probably encouraging the Iranian government to develop a nuclear weapon in the long term.
Last year Iran resumed uranium enrichment - a process that can make fuel for power stations or, if greatly enriched, material for a nuclear bomb.
Tehran insists its programme is for civil use only, but Western countries suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons.
The UN Security Council has called on Iran to suspend its enrichment of uranium by 21 February.
If it does not, and if the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms this, the resolution says that further economic sanctions will be considered.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 9:01 AM
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