"Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran"

[leftchick]

Wasn't shock n awe the same sort of plan? :nuke:

:scared:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece


THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military,” he said.

Debat was speaking at a meeting organised by The National Interest, a conservative foreign policy journal. He told The Sunday Times that the US military had concluded: “Whether you go for pinprick strikes or all-out military action, the reaction from the Iranians will be the same.” It was, he added, a “very legitimate strategic calculus”.

<snip>

One Washington source said the “temperature was rising” inside the administration. Bush was “sending a message to a number of audiences”, he said � to the Iranians and to members of the United Nations security council who are trying to weaken a tough third resolution on sanctions against Iran for flouting a UN ban on uranium enrichment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week reported “significant” cooperation with Iran over its nuclear programme and said that uranium enrichment had slowed. Tehran has promised to answer most questions from the agency by November, but Washington fears it is stalling to prevent further sanctions. Iran continues to maintain it is merely developing civilian nuclear power.

[rucky]

1. This shit is really going to happen, isn't it? n/t

[Sherman A1]

Don't count on it

I may or may not. That said, we are being run by the gang who can't shoot straight.

[Subdivisions]

27. Count on it.

It's part of the master plan and they are running out of time.

[TheWraith]

32. Not very likely.

The penis-waving around Iran is to distract from and have an excuse for the failure in Iraq.

[Individualist]

35. Yes, it's part of the PNAC plan.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

51. Our dear cabal would not have to go as far as the post suggests to spread the war they want.

Normally, their pattern is attempting to incite reaction, first. That didn't work with respect to Iraq. So, I don't know if they'll try that, again. Next, they lay on heavy propaganda and bullshit tactics on all those from whom they require support. That worked pretty damn well with respect to Iraq. However, their credibility is shit, right now, and I doubt they'll massage that tactic as much (albeit, they will try their best). Thereafter, they display "shock and awe" for the whole world to see. Initially, that worked quite well with respect to Iraq. BUT, Iraq was no formidable force at the time. Hell, Iraq was essentially powerless, militarily. So, why engage in such a display especially when the Iraq war is so unpopular?

I think the plan suggested in the OP is, naturally possible, even plausible with this cabal. However, all they have to do is bomb a few facilities in Iran to propel PNAC and get their BIG war in the M.E. Remember, if they take this thing to another level, it won't be merely Iran that's going to respond and it won't be merely mid-eastern countries pulled into the conflict. The war WILL become a global struggle.

The neocons WANT that global struggle. They have been dreaming of their final war, the next world war, for thirty, give or take, years.

Interestingly, they anticipated and planned for a serious uprising over the Iraq war and that turned out creamy for them. I seriously doubt they're terribly concerned about another revolution in this country because they have everything in place to contain it.

Bottom line: PNAC will be vigorously pursued. I have no doubt.

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

2. God almighty! Will this ever end?

I hope we all make it to January 2009.

I feel as if I'm in a horror film.

Madness reigns supreme.

[BeHereNow]

9. Welcome to DU and the rest of the cast-

We have all felt like we are living in a Twilight Zone episode
for years.
You are among people who agree completely with that sentiment.
Welcome.
BHN

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

10. Thanks ! DU is a welcoming place. n/t

[indepat]

34. I have just liquidated about 85% of my equity position in my 401(k) account in

anticipation this neocon wet dream might come to fruition.

[bahrbearian]

40. smart move

[Just-plain-Kathy]

49. I don't think our nightmare will end in January '09.

... I think George Bush accomplished what his grandfather Prescott set out to do back in the 1930's.

Bush and Cheney staged a coup and most America didn't even realize it. ...Corporate America now runs the show, democrat or republican, I think our next president will be delivered to us by BushCo.

[calimary]

53. Welcome to DU! Your horror film metaphor is spot on.

I feel like I'm a frickin' prisoner of war. This is a real-life nightmare that's dragged on for more than six-and-a-half long, miserable, agonizing years.

And our feeble reps seem to be no match for these bastards.

[Selatius]

3. This won't stop Iran from inciting the Shi'ites in neighboring Iraq to attack US forces

This is what would happen if we hit Iran. They will hit back asymmetrically. If the US government thought dealing with the Sunnis was a problem, then they've got a rude awakening coming to them if they think they can also handle the Shi'ites at the same time.

[leftchick]

12. "pesky details"

said cheney. :(

[markbark]

4. This is potentially VERY ugly

Unlike Iraq, Iran HAS an effective air force. Unless GWB is gonna flip cruise missles (which CAN be shot down) the US is gonna be missing quite a few pilots. Not to mention all the Silkworm missiles that China has so thoughtfully supplied the Iranians with. How popular is Georgie gonna be when he has to explain why there is a carrier or two missing from our inventory?

--MAB

[hobbit709]

14. I'm more worried about the Sunburn/Moskit missiles

That they're supposed to have
Moskit Missile Characteristics
Length (m) 9.385
Diameter (m) .76
Range (km) 120 ground-launched
Speed (Mach) 2.5
Launch Weight (kg) 3,950
Warhead (kg) 300

[gordianot]

47. You are correct the Sunburn and later variants are a real threat.

Although conventional it could force nuclear retaliation. One punched through a nuclear carrier is almost as good a nuclear warhead, What a senseless mess, two megalomaniacs, ideological madmen on a collision course.

[hack89]

56. You simply stay out of range

and there is no threat. There is also the not so minor detail that Iran has no way to target carriers at long range.

[gordianot]

58. Delivery of a sunburn is a suicide mission.

Low level stealth version of Mig 29 or Sukhoi delivers them. The Sunburn missiles are self guided and are supposed to home in on the largest target. No one really knows if they will work. Once launched there are no known counter measures other than a poor design. They are designed to be a cheap deterrent to American carrier groups.

[hack89]

59. Well ...

First of, there are no "Low level stealth version of Mig 29 or Sukhoi" in existence.

Secondly, just how is that airplane going to know where to fly to? How are the Iranians going to locate and target the carriers?

Thirdly, just how long has the US navy been working on a counter to the Sunburn? It is old technology that has been around awhile.

Finally, there is no evidence that Iran even has the sunburn.

[gordianot]

62. As to Mig sold to Cuba and Venezuela with a new paint job and modern avionics.

I had a much better description of what was sold to Venezuela cannot find it now. The advertising of arms dealers is not very reliable. They envision planes flying out of small dirt strips, delivering missiles at low levels out at sea, think carrier battlegroups. I doubt the advertisements give the actual details.

The generic sunburn has been upgraded several times. As to Iran who knows what what is/was sold to Iran they seem to more secretive than Venezuela.

http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Flanker.html

An attack on Iran will spread, and I'm sure the Navy knows much more than is found on the internet and Janes.

[hack89]

63. You are focusing on the least important part

the Iranians have no way to target US carriers - how will the MIGs know where to fly to?

[hack89]

55. Except Iran doesn't have any

as far as I can see. Do you have a link?

[Kagemusha]

25. I don't agree, I don't think that's an effective air force.

I don't think that will ultimately matter. Conveniently for Iran, there's lots of US troops on the ground in a country neighboring Iraq with a large Shiite population. That will be a problem.

[alfredo]

46. It won't be just carriers, it is our troop's supply line, and escape route.

Look up The Anabasis in Wikipedia.

[hack89]

57. No, they have a poor air force

with few modern aircraft and poorly trained pilots. More importantly, their early warning and command and control system is old - Iran's ability to detect US aircraft will disappear in the first minutes of any strike.

[rAVES]

5. Correct me if I'm wrong here..

But, wouldn't a strike on a nuclear facility be a pretty stupid and dangerous thing to do?

Surley there would be fallout...

:scared:

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Unlike Iraq, Iran won't sit there and take it up the ass.

They will be more than ready for an attack. The U.S. forces will be unprepared for the defensive stance.

[bemildred]

7. Three days, my ass.

Any suggestion that this would be "over" is three days is a lie.

[Selatius]

13. Militarily speaking, we could take out their air force in a couple of hours

Three days is likely what is needed to take out their communications grid, their air force, and perhaps most of their radar defense network. The cruise missiles alone will crater aircraft runways before Iranian warplanes are allowed to take off. Nevermind the stealth bombers. However, even in light of this, this won't stop Iran from acquiring the bomb and won't stop them from retaliating by provoking Shi'ite militias in Iraq to rebel against the US occupation.

[TahitiNut]

17. ... and how many thousands of civilians?

It gets really, really disgusting to hear the phrase "collateral damage" so many times in the last 6 years.

[Selatius]

52. I dunno, but if Israel's bombing campaign against Lebanon is any indication, quite a large number.

I look at what happened to Lebanon as a sort of "dry run" of what the US government wants to do to Iran.

[Trajan]

18. Who needs an Air Force ....

when you have a standing army of nearly 1 million soldiers ?

It is the height of folly to believe Persia can be hobbled in three days ....

Amazing .....

[bemildred]

19. Iraq didn't even use their air force, such as it was.

Is it over yet?

I am aware of what we can do with "death from above". I am complaining about the presumption that that will all there is to it. It would only be the beginning of a long and ugly war.

[jgraz]

44. It's not just the C&C

It's their electrical grid, the sewage system, the hospitals and the water supply. Nothing less will bring about the mega-deaths that are rapidly becoming W's signature.

[otherlander]

8. Is this actually going to HAPPEN?

:wow:
At one of the anti-war marches I went to I got this shirt that said "Don't Attack Iran"... And then, a year and a half later, nothing had happened, and I started to feel stupid, thinking, "Oh, why the hell did I buy that? Nothing's actually going to happen."

But now it actually might... o_o

[Trajan]

11. I understand a desire to wipe out nuclear processing ...

I myself would like to see ALL nuclear weaponry outlawed FOREVER .....

Nuclear disarmament begins at home .....

Having read (and loved) 'Report On The Barnhouse Effect' by Kurt Vonnegut as a teen, I wouldn't cry if somehow Iran's nascent nuclear capability were compromised.

But why stop there ? ..... What of Pakistan's ? ..... India's ? ..... Israel's ?

How bout Russia, Ukraine, Britain, France, and the US ?

It would be wise and proper for ALL nuclear weapons to be dismantled NOW, before something actually happens, and they are utilized ...... The results would be catastrophic .....

Having said that: Iran's military will hunker down, and suffer withering fire for 3 days, and then emerge, hobbled but intact, and could cross the porous border into Iraq, and create general havoc for US plans there, even worse than which has been claimed .....

Of course George and his minions have thought out EVERY possible ramification ..... right ?

Righhhhhttttttttt ......

[CoffeeCat]

15. I found this in the Iran Daily...

...a newspaper run out of Tehran. Is it true that what Iran has been saying is what the IAEA found to be true?

If so, how come this was not reported in US media????

-------------

TEHRAN, Sept. 1--The western media has largely ignored the latest report by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad ElBaradei which indeed put America’s baseless accusations against Iran’s nuclear program under a big question mark.
Confirming Tehran’s transparent interaction with the UN nuclear watchdog, ElBradei underlined Thursday what his inspectors reported recently have no contradiction with the Islamic Republic’s rights and legal entitlements, IRIB reported.
In light of all existing information, the IAEA has concluded that Iran’s declarations about the experiments it has conducted as well as quantity and type of materials used in the experiments are the same as the Agency’s findings, ElBaradei said in his report.
The report comes at a time when sections of the western media were expecting a negative finding from the IAEA that would set the stage to push for another anti-Iran
resolution in the United Nations Security Council.
France’s 24 TV channel said Friday that ElBaradei’s report on “significant progress“ visibly disappointed the Bush regime because Washington was hopeful that it could get strong support for a third UNSC resolution on tighter economic sanctions against Iran.
The western media in their news and views this week decided not to reflect on Iran’s close cooperation with IAEA and instead kept on harping about previous UN resolutions passed under strong American pressure.

[cali]

22. I don't know what media

you mean. It's been widely reported in newspapers via Reuters and AP. I've heard it reported on commercial radio, NPR, PBS and on commercial TV. Naturally it hardly gets the press that the departure of Gonzo and and the Craig scandal get.

[Subdivisions]

30. The IAEA finding will prove to have sealed Iran's fate.

darth will have no other choice but to attack very soon while he can still say ElBaradei's announcement was too late to for Iran to submit to US demands that Iran cease and desist their nuclear energy program.

[leftchick]

33. because

the US media is nothing more than pravda for the corporatists who get rich off of war? The same exact thing happened before the Iraq attack and occupation.

[and-justice-for-all]

16. So the US attacks everytime a country says 'Fuck Off!'?

or does not cave to the US Governments will??! Iran has done nothing wrong, other than NOT do what the US wants them to do.

[leftchick]

23. only the countries

Israel claims as a threat. You didn't think this was a US security issue did you?

[and-justice-for-all]

28. 'You didn't think this was a US security issue did you?' Nope.

That would be silly.

[BlooInBloo]

29. Yah... I don't see blaming Israel for what the US does....

... Israel is free to lobby & all, but it's the US' decision, and the US' responsibility - not Israel's.

[bahrbearian]

41. I agree,, just waiting for the flames thought.

[leftchick]

42. no flames

it is the truth.

[bahrbearian]

43. Give it time ,, it is a nice saturday afternoon.

[msongs]

20. so which other political party is complicit in its silence did you say?

or have we heard any congressional democrat warn bush not to do such a thing? Just curious.

msongs

[leftchick]

24. just one

Dennis Kucinich.

[DemGa]

21. Wasn't there an article recently that said the fleet buildup

had been reduced significantly in the region? I wish I would've saved it.

[jody]

26. The air war can go as planned, occupation if attempted will take a little longer -- like never. n/t

[Philosoraptor]

31. Just as we've predicted here, many times.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

36. Could it be possible that BushCo is simply ratcheting...

...up the saber rattling with the aim of intimidating Iran into ceasing any involvement in aiding insurgents in Iraq? All these "really gonna sock it to 'em" headlines and stories over the last week or two kind of smell this way to me.

[leftchick]

38. the thing is...

Iran is no more meddling in Iraq than any other neighboring country. Does anyone doubt the Saudis are aiding the Sunnis of Iraq? That is a red herring IMO. The truth is Attacking Iran has everything to do with the PNAC/AIPAC agenda and nothing to do with our troops' safety.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

39. It's hard to know what to believe in terms of Iranian...

...involvement in Iraq, but I agree that if the PNAC/AIPAC Neocons have their way (and they usually do) Iran is going to be attacked sooner or later regardless of the status of their nuclear programs or their involvement in Iraq.

It's the near term I'm wondering about. These stories just have a planted feel to me -- as thought they're meant to get everyone worked up in anticipation of something that they're not actually ready to do just yet.

[slipslidingaway]

37. Iraq Faces Massive U.S. Missile Barrage Jan. 24, 2003

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2003
Plan Calls For Firing Up To 800 Cruise Missiles In First 2 Days Of War

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/24/eveningnews/main537928.shtml

"They're calling it "A-Day," A as in airstrikes so devastating they would leave Saddam's soldiers unable or unwilling to fight...

The Air Force has stockpiled 6,000 of these guidance kits in the Persian Gulf to convert ordinary dumb bombs into satellite-guided bombs, a weapon that didn't exist in the first war.

"You're sitting in Baghdad and all of a sudden you're the general and 30 of your division headquarters have been wiped out. You also take the city down. By that I mean you get rid of their power, water. In 2,3,4,5 days they are physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted," Ullman tells Martin."

[Gregorian]

45. Hey, I've got an idea!

Why don't we just spend the money on renewable energy research.

I mean, all of the oil in the ME isn't going to help us now. And China and India are going to take it anyways.

Come on, idiots! Wake up. Is Halliburton really worth ruining America over?

[Faryn Balyncd]

48. "Operation Pearl Harbor" ..........

[OneBlueSky]

50. WHERE . . . IS . . . THE . . . CONGRESS???? . . .

either they . . .

a) don't believe BushCo intends to attack Iraq . . . in which case they haven't been paying attention for the past six years and are, therefore, not doing their jobs . . . or . . .

b) do believe that BushCo intends to attack Iraq, and they're okay with it . . . in which case they've ceded their Consitutional power to make war to the Executive and, therefore, are not doing their jobs . . . or . . .

c) do believe that BushCo intends to attack Iraq, and they're so afraid of Bush, Cheney & Company that they are unable to act . . . in which case they are cowards -- and not doing their jobs . . . or . . .

d) don't care . . . attack, don't attack, they just don't give shit . . . just as long as those corporate contributions keep coming in . . . in which case they're bigger whores that we already know and, therefore, are not doing their jobs . . .

whatever the reality, the one common theme is that THEY'RE NOT DOING THEIR JOBS! . . . and that pisses me off . . .

[leftchick]

64. it pisses me off too!

and makes me very scared for my sons. :(

[Downtown Hound]

54. I'm not convinced that even the neocons

are delusional enough to think that they're going to destroy Iran's military in three days. I'm still not convinced that this is going to happen.

That being said, these people are insane and it's not impossible.

[kineneb]

60. Iran is not Iraq

It is a real country, with a long history. I am sure that they understand the threat against them. Don't forget their neighbors and friends: Russia and China. If the US military starts something in Iran, I have no doubt that others will react against us, not just the Iranians.

Call me a traitor, but I will be rooting for the Iranians, some of whom are my relatives. They have done nothing worthy of being "bombed back to the stone age". The dread CheneyBush are war criminals and the real terrorists.

[sarcasmo]

61. D/U members in Alaska better look out for those Russian fighters.