America ‘Poised to Strike at Iran’s Nuclear Sites’ from Bases in Bulgaria and Romania

[marmar]

from the Sunday Herald (Scotland), via CommonDreams:


Published on Sunday, January 28, 2007 by the Sunday Herald / Scotland
America ‘Poised to Strike at Iran’s Nuclear Sites’ from Bases in Bulgaria and Romania
Report suggest that ‘US defensive ring’ may be new front in war on terror.

by Gabriel Ronay

President Bush is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of April and the US Air Force's new bases in Bulgaria and Romania would be used as back-up in the onslaught, according to an official report from Sofia.

"American forces could be using their two USAF bases in Bulgaria and one at Romania's Black Sea coast to launch an attack on Iran in April," the Bulgarian news agency Novinite said.

The American build-up along the Black Sea, coupled with the recent positioning of two US aircraft carrier battle groups off the Straits of Hormuz, appears to indicate president Bush has run out of patience with Tehran's nuclear misrepresentation and non-compliance with the UN Security Council's resolution. President Ahmeninejad of Iran has further ratcheted up tension in the region by putting on show his newly purchased state of the art Russian TOR-Ml anti-missile defence system.

Whether the Bulgarian news report is a tactical feint or a strategic event is hard to gauge at this stage. But, in conjunction with the beefing up of America's Italian bases and the acquisition of anti-missile defence bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, the Balkan developments seem to indicate a new phase in Bush's global war on terror.

Sofia's news of advanced war preparations along the Black Sea is backed up by some chilling details. One is the setting up of new refuelling places for US Stealth bombers, which would spearhead an attack on Iran. "The USAF's positioning of vital refuelling facilities for its B-2 bombers in unusual places, including Bulgaria, falls within the perspective of such an attack." Novinite named Colonel Sam Gardiner, "a US secret service officer stationed in Bulgaria", as the source of this revelation.

Curiously, the report noted that although Tony Blair, Bush's main ally in the global war on terror, would be leaving office, the president had opted to press on with his attack on Iran in April.

Before the end of March, 3000 US military personnel are scheduled to arrive "on a rotating basis" at America's Bulgarian bases. Under the US-Bulgarian military co-operation accord, signed in April,2006,an airbase at Bezmer, a second airfield at Graf Ignitievo and a shooting range at Novo Selo were leased to America. Significantly, last year's bases negotiations had at one point run into difficulties due to Sofia's demand "for advance warning if Washington intends to use Bulgarian soil for attacks against other nations, particularly Iran". .....(more)

The rest of the article is at: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0128-05.htm

[twylatharp]

1. I read that 4 strategic locations would "disable" them

and a ground war would not be necessary. Hmm, where have we hear this before?

[PFunk]

2. Am I the only person who thinks that this action will speed up Iran getting nukes..

If nothing else to protect their own butts. And drive other mid-east states to do the same.

[twylatharp]

4. Nothing good can come of it, I agree

except for a few war profiteers.

[GreenZoneLT]

3. That story needs a really big FWIW on it

The Bulgarian news agency gets this as a scoop? Yeah, OK, sure.

I do think it's pretty clear we're positioning ourselves to be ABLE to strike Iran; that doesn't mean we're going to do it. I think it's largely a defensive measure, because we think Israel's going to do it, and we want to be prepared to defend against an Iranian counterstrike. B-2s would be used to take out the Iranian air defense radar network, so that we could destroy their air force and SSM sites with attack jets.

[Capt_Nemo]

5. While I believe that GWB is itching to launch massive airstrikes at Iran

... stationing air refueling assets for B-2 missions in the east Balkans would most likely give
Iran a nice early warning from russian EW and ELINT platforms (and even HumInt).
they might even try a shot at downing one of them with an S-300... (see F-117 downing in Kosovo with a much more primitive missile).
For the USAF to lose a B-2 in combat is almost the same thing as the USN having one of its carriers
sunk, therefore I'm pretty skeptical of the USAF having adopted such risky aprroach.

[ShortnFiery]

6. Oh my dear God! Somebody stop this madness?!? n/t