US has plans to Nuke Iran

[newharper]

Given their domestic problems the Saudis will need to be seen to be doing something for their Sunni brothers.

 

[oi2002]

It has to be said that Israel is the main beneficiary of the US invasion of Iraq. Its most powerful enemy has been rendered incapable of threatening it militarily.

Well the Israelis have been getting increasingly unhappy with the outcome. You have to balance up losing a weak enemy, Saddam, gaining a possible friend, Kurdistan with a signifigant loss in American prestige and power and an apparent strengthening of it's worst enemy Iran by alignment with a Shi'a dominated Iraq. If Iraq goes tits up and a regional war kicks off it's likely to engulf Israel as well.

Desert Storm left Saddam with no airforce, a broken army, no nuclear program and in the process of what we now know was a well policed bio-weapon decomissioning, a marginal threat to Israel ranking well below Syria in capability and terrorist links. Syria's retreat from Lebanon isn't a bigger deal than Israels own retreat and this probably had more to do with Saudi ceasing to bankroll Syria's occupation of Lebanon than the fall of Baghdad. Iran has headed Israels threat list for some time and it's Iran that ended up as beneficiary of this war.

The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies is also are none too pleased with what its done to the terrorist problem:

Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli army general, said the U.S.-led effort was strategically misdirected. If the goal in the war against terrorism is ``not just to kill the mosquitos but to dry the swamp,'' he said, ``now it's quite clear'' that Iraq ``is not the swamp.''

Instead, he said, the Iraq campaign is having the opposite effect, drawing Islamic extremists from other parts of the world to join the battle.

``On a strategic level as well as an operational level,'' Brom concluded, ``the war in Iraq is hurting the war on international terrorism.''

 

[FruitandNut]

laptop - In regard to the UK being 'targetted' by the US:-

I think you may find that the UK was more valuable to the US as it's own 'aircraft carrier' and forward base. The UK in worst case scenario would already be a smouldering cinder before the Yanks could ever get in a nuke shot. Any consideration like that would also run a great risk of being 'leaked' and seriously damaging relations. Furthermore we had nukes of our own which were just as capable of being fired or flown westward as to the east.

ps. Back in the 1960s the RAF flew a Vulcan over the States to test the state of readiness, only the President and very senior members of the US forces knew what was happening. The defence systems heard something and scrambled several squadrons of interceptors, but failed to locate it. It was rather a sobering experience for those involved.

 

[laptop]

I think you may find that the UK was more valuable to the US as it's own 'aircraft carrier' and forward base.

Yes, and if your aircraft carrier is at risk of being captured, you scuttle it. That's what "area denials" plan are about... and they're reasonably well-documented with regard to Germany.

I'm not suggesting that this was rational - they were after all planning to fight the First World War (in the Fulda Gap, instead of Flanders, if they could) but with nukes.

Back in the 1960s the RAF flew a Vulcan over the States to test the state of readiness, only the President and very senior members of the US forces knew what was happening. The defence systems heard something and scrambled several squadrons of interceptors, but failed to locate it. It was rather a sobering experience for those involved.

Interesting. Would the be before the "chicken run" up into the Arctic to test the Soviet response?

 

[FruitandNut]

It would not have been 'scuttled', it would have been targetted by the Ruskies first!

I lived through the MAD period in West Germany and Bristol. Both places would have seen me cremmed by the Warsaw Pact, long before Uncle Sam may make any such consideration. The US would be looking to their own backdoor across the Baring Straits as well and consider taking out Alaska and western Canada.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Some interesting stuff from the archive. Seymour Hersh with what he claims to be the inside story on Rummy's plans for attacking Iran.

There has also been close, and largely unacknowledged, coöperation with Israel. The government consultant with ties to the Pentagon said that the Defense Department civilians, under the leadership of Douglas Feith, have been working with Israeli planners and consultants to develop and refine potential nuclear, chemical-weapons, and missile targets inside Iran. (After Osirak, Iran situated many of its nuclear sites in remote areas of the east, in an attempt to keep them out of striking range of other countries, especially Israel. Distance no longer lends such protection, however: Israel has acquired three submarines capable of launching cruise missiles and has equipped some of its aircraft with additional fuel tanks, putting Israeli F-16I fighters within the range of most Iranian targets.)

“They believe that about three-quarters of the potential targets can be destroyed from the air, and a quarter are too close to population centers, or buried too deep, to be targeted,” the consultant said. Inevitably, he added, some suspicious sites need to be checked out by American or Israeli commando teams—in on-the-ground surveillance—before being targeted.

The Pentagon’s contingency plans for a broader invasion of Iran are also being updated. Strategists at the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, in Tampa, Florida, have been asked to revise the military’s war plan, providing for a maximum ground and air invasion of Iran. Updating the plan makes sense, whether or not the Administration intends to act, because the geopolitics of the region have changed dramatically in the last three years. Previously, an American invasion force would have had to enter Iran by sea, by way of the Persian Gulf or the Gulf of Oman; now troops could move in on the ground, from Afghanistan or Iraq. Commando units and other assets could be introduced through new bases in the Central Asian republics.

source

 

[El Jugador]

Under Rumsfeld’s new approach, I was told, U.S. military operatives would be permitted to pose abroad as corrupt foreign businessmen seeking to buy contraband items that could be used in nuclear-weapons systems. In some cases, according to the Pentagon advisers, local citizens could be recruited and asked to join up with guerrillas or terrorists. This could potentially involve organizing and carrying out combat operations, or even terrorist activities. Some operations will likely take place in nations in which there is an American diplomatic mission, with an Ambassador and a C.I.A. station chief, the Pentagon consultant said. The Ambassador and the station chief would not necessarily have a need to know, under the Pentagon’s current interpretation of its reporting requirement.

The new rules will enable the Special Forces community to set up what it calls “action teams” in the target countries overseas which can be used to find and eliminate terrorist organizations. “Do you remember the right-wing execution squads in El Salvador?” the former high-level intelligence official asked me, referring to the military-led gangs that committed atrocities in the early nineteen-eighties. “We founded them and we financed them,” he said. “The objective now is to recruit locals in any area we want. And we aren’t going to tell Congress about it.” A former military officer, who has knowledge of the Pentagon’s commando capabilities, said, “We’re going to be riding with the bad boys.”

So now they can create the cause for their war as well as the solution. Wouldn't even be surprised if 9/11 itself was merely "black reconnaissance".

 

[Kaka Tim]

Going back to the original post - this 'leak' of US plans to nuke iran could very well be a little message to Tehran.

The UK did something very simialr during the Falklands. An unconfirmed, report popped up in the media that one of britians nuke submarines had been dispatched to the south atlantic within striking distance of Buenos Aries.

Seems like very Dangerous games of bluff and chicken are being played in Washington and Tehran. Both have serious interests at stake that are going to have a huge effect on the future of both countries for generations.

A calculated, logical and calm assessment really leaves the US no option but to take it on the chin, get the fuck out of Iraq and do a deal with Iran. But I really dont trust those willfully ignorent, killer goons in the bush gang to come to the same conclusion ...

 

[kyser_soze]

On the carrier/sea war stuff...why would the US bother keeping it's most precious naval assets, the carrier groups, in the gulf anyway? They've got plenty of airfields to use to the North in the other 'stans, and could just as easily run a sea/air war from the indian Ocean and launch the fighters from the mouth of the gulf and use subs to keep the shipping lanes clear.

What I'd do anyways...

 

[likesfish]

could just bomb the crap out of iran
there armys big but its not capable of fighting on a modern battlefield
they spend $9billion compared with the uks $31 billion that means you have lots of old tanks and loads of guns but not enough decent comms.
the iraininas may have a few subs but the us navy have loads and loads of experince as well

 

[FruitandNut]

That'd be the notable exception to your general rule.

"Commander, we have received the launch code and it is ZZ 666 xXX 23"

* tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap *

"Ready to launch, Commander"

"You know what to do, Sailor"

* click *

* nothing *

I think you might find that Uncle Sam's and Bill Gates' 'backdoors' have been bricked up and spoiler programmes (or is it programs) defused.

ps. I remember the West Germans being a bit twitchy about Uncle Sam's 'plans' to have their patch as a tactical (and not so tactical) nuke chess board. They didn't like the short ranges of Honest John, Lance and Pershing missiles.

pps. I think it is about time that Blair got the balls to tell Bush that unless his good friend The Almighty sends down some legions of angels to reinforce the 'good guys', he had better sort out Afghanistan and Iraq before he gets stuck into the task of policeman and enforcer to the rest of the world.