`Chatter' hints of strike on Iran's nuclear sites

[spotbird]

`Chatter' hints of strike on Iran's nuclear sites

By Daniel Sneider


Counterterror specialists look for ``chatter'' in Islamic extremist circles preceding an attack. There is a lot of chatter going on today in Washington -- only this time, it is about an American attack on Iran.

In seminars and hallways, there is eager anticipation of an airstrike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Sure, the talk goes, we may not get all those buried nuclear labs. But a few waves of cruise missiles and bombers will set Iran's program back several years, enough time to pursue regime change in Tehran.

The Iran buzz is loud enough to have prompted an unusual statement by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Thursday that any attack on Iran would be ``inconceivable.'' In a message meant for Washington and for countrymen nervous about joining yet another war, Straw added: ``I don't see any circumstances in which military action would be justified against Iran, full stop.''

(more)



http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/10121646.htm?1c

[hedda_foil]

1. Pre-emptive strike on the nascent Ruso-EU-Sino alliance via Iran?

[truthseeker1]

2. you bet

and doesn't China have ties to Iran as well?

[icymist]

10. Yes.

China gets most of it's oil from Iran. Does that sound vaguely familiar to France, Germany, and Russia towards Iraq back in '02?

[VivaKerry]

30. China just signed the largest oil contract it ever did with iran...

last week!

My only question about ww4 is: who will india and pakistan side with? And if india goes with russia, since pakistan will, will india send us back our financial infrastructure docs and machines first? Or will the first strike against us be total annhilation of that financial infrastructure?

the plot is getting thicker. Better than a tv movie!

[Cocoa]

3. lol

lots of such "chatter" on Fox News Channel. :-)

[truthseeker1]

12. the mainstream news is letting the news trickle out,

preparing the sheeple for the inevitable. Their strategy is becoming so transparent.

[lovuian]

4. It will be soon!!! The Way is clear by Bush!!!

America is on a New War Path!!!

[DS1]

5. When did Meet the Press become 'chatter' ?

*snort*

[VegasWolf]

6. Spend that capital to start a new war to get more capital!

[mazzarro]

16. Bingo - use 'capital' to make 'more capital'

Isn't that the capitalist way - eh?

[icymist]

7. Just a couple of days ago I heard a discussion on NPR....

something about the merits of invading Iran. A couple of the people talking were dismayed by the gist of the conversation....I was in shock that we were even thinking this was a consideration. I guess I was wrong.

[DBoon]

9. First annex Austria, then attack Poland...

Then march through Holland and Belgium en route to France.

You start with one country, and gradually work through the rest

[CAcyclist]

14. Some Men Want To Go To Baghdad, Real Men

Want To Go To Tehran.

They've already laid out their plans years ago.

[bamacrat]

8. Isnt this all laid out in the PNAC

[Malva Zebrina]

11. they will--it's been hinted for months

straw is joking right--no circumstances that an attack would be justified.

Easy there Jack--any old lie will do.

[mazzarro]

18. Wasn't that the same false reassurance Tony Blair about Iraq?

This was after the Afghanistan invasion was well underway and Blair was visiting the Middle Eastern capitals to calm down fears of any spreading of the war and to dismiss the notion of war against Islam. Well it turned out that Blair lied and Straw's denial is bound to be the same. I will expect Straw, soon enough, to change his tune and lead the campaign to justify such an attack.

[KayLaw]

13. About PNAC

Does it consider where these troops are coming from?

[The Zanti Regent]

15. We must do as Jesus says!

Jesus says we have to take out Iran and Syria, then round up all the Jews and deport them to Israel. All that has to be done before He returns to Earth.

What is so scary is that 99% of the people who get brainwashed at church beleive this shit!

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Second whicket for the draft was hit on November 4th`

don't worry they are right on schedule for June 15.

We may see it sped along if we loose way too many troops at Fallujah

[VivaKerry]

31. It's easy, iraq has elections in jan, all will be perfect...

and then we will save all that money to have our iraq troops just march right over to iran. See? It's cost saving!

you have to remember that the pnac crowd is crazy, certifiably crazy. No reality based thinking for them, oh no. So, it is not ludicrous to think of rummy and cheney and powell sit around the table and say, "Okay, we will be all finished in iraq before the end of the year--- this fallujah leveling is brilliant, don!--we can start the pre war stuff in iran in december."

They think this way.

[JPace]

19. I think furious george will either take out their nuclear sites

or support Israel when they do it.

Here comes the draft.

[Poll_Blind]

20. Bingo! One of 3 options: We Strike, Israel Strike, Joint Strike.

No Strike appears to be out of the question given the governments and past behavior of both the US and Israel.

PB

[spotbird]

21. What do you mean?

I think we will allow an international coalition to use diplomatic means to force a concession. Certainly if their neighbors pressure them the threat will be negated.

Never mind, I was thinking of North Korea.

[VivaKerry]

32. Oh, I think israel will be just happy as a clam to have us do it.

"after you, dear sir, after you......."

"why thank you."

[Charles19]

40. Israel is going to get spanked by a pretty good barage of

missiles from Iran if either the U.S. or Israel or both attack Iran. So I don't think they will be too happy about their cities being ablaze.

U.S. is leaking this to the media so Iran gives up more in the current meetings with the EU. Any scenario with attacks on Iran leads to the whole region being pulled into war. As much as the apocalypse crowd wants to see this, the thought of 20$ a gallon gas is too much for even them to bear.

[The Zanti Regent]

42. But Falwell says JESUS WILL INTERVENE...

...OOPS, what if he doesn't and Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are blown off the map.

Uh-oh, Jerry's going to have a MAJOR PROBLEM explaining that to the Masses of Asses!

[daleo]

44. He will dig up a passage in Revelations

That book has infinite capacity for interpretation.

[teryang]

22. I think that a "bombardment only" campaign is anticipated

Much like that against Serbia. This will be an even greater blunder than the invasion of Iraq. The Iranians have already indicated that they will retaliate. While Israel and the Pentagon have zero respect for the Iranian military, they are entering the forbidden zone of totally unanticipated consequences as the dictators did before WWII. This is why Britain is hedging and playing its cards close to the vest. Any nuke in a suitcase response needs to go to Tel Aviv or Washington rather than London. They know better, having been at this game for centuries. They know that Iran is a vital interest to the Asian great powers, not a mideast pawn gambit.

The neo-cons and Israel are emboldened by the great power appeasement since 911. They are way overconfident. China and Russia are not going to sit aside and do nothing. They may only respond covertly but there will be huge consequences from this.

[bemildred]

23. Yep, that is my fear.

In a sick kind of way, it will be interesting to watch.

[reprobate]

27. " Any nuke in a suitcase"

Washington DC during the state of the union address would not be a good vacation choice. The whole gov't in one place. And most of the world pissed at us. Wonder who would they blame?

[bemildred]

28. Being hot gas by then, they would blame nobody. nt

[rustydad]

29. Sunburn

Russia and China have already sold to Iran many of their awsome sunburn mach 2 anti ship missles. Were we to attack Iran by air these missles will come out of the deep valleys on Irans north coast where our radar cannot pentitrate. They will hit their tarkets in minuites and every war ship we have in the Red Sea will be toast including the conventional carrier Kennedy. Only the subs will survive. If we retaliate with our or Israely nuks cruise missles with 200 kiloton nuks will rain down on Israely cities, again in minuites. Is this what the neocons aim for? Perhaps. Bob

[teryang]

37. Sunburn info is important

Thanks for the heads up! I took a look at some of the google links and found this rense article.

http://www.rense.com/general59/theSunburniransawesome.htm

Nuclear Anti-Ship Missile
The Weapon That Could
Defeat The US In The Gulf
By Mark Gaffney
11-2-4


I don't agree with all the conclusions but this missile is a big problem. If we didn't have troops on the ground in Iraq, our Navy could simply use its stand off capability to defeat it by moving out of range like a boxer with longer arms. But with troops commited on the ground in Iraq and the need to keep oil flowing to the world it presents some really dangerous challenges. I think that the missiles primary limitation is long range acquisition data. A 90 mile range isn't that great but the gulf is quite limited for naval maneuver. The low altitude ingress requires fairly accurate target location at time of launch because of the missiles short radar horizon. With poor acquisition data at the outset the missile could pop up to see nothing.

The Navy and Air Force have an advantage in big picture acquisition but the proximity of the landmass reduce the American advantage. What it boils down to is a tactical picture in which much rests on the "pre-emptive strike." Whoever strikes first will sustain a marked advantage. The Iranians have mentioned the possibility of pre-emption recently but is their intelligence good enough to make that threat real? Are they really willing to give up their oil revenues?

However I'm not going to minimize this threat. Not only did Argentina almost defeat UK in the Falklands (not just because of exocet but because of limited UK naval air power) but it was a missile technology that saved the outgunned harriers from defeat, the AIM 9G all aspect IR missile, that enabled the inferior harriers to shoot down the more numerous and highly maneuverable A4 skyhawks. This was not the first naval battle to be decided by new military technology.

[VivaKerry]

33. The most interesting thing to watch in this insane leadup to ww4`

is how exactly russia and china will handle this.

I expect that they will both move with much agility, stealth, strategy (like the greatest of chess players), and above all PATIENCE. Much patience. The one quality the 'democratic' west does not have in any degree on an individual or national basis is PATIENCE. The ruskies and the chinese were breastfed on patience.

Maybe the safest place to be on this earth in the coming years is Moscow?

[atreides1]

43. Here's a Possibility

The Pentagon had zero respect for the Iraqi insurgency too, and look at what's been going on with that.

The Iranians have missiles, and easy to reach targets in Iraq, troop
concentrations, supply depots, command and control center. Can anyone here tell me the difference between an Iraqi and an Iranian, bet most of the troops on the ground can't either, after all they all look alike. That visitor from out of town could very well be an Iranian agent, getting all the information that's needed.

The first bomb that drops will be the signal for Iranian missiles to launch at all of the targets that they have coordinates for. I'm willing to bet they know exactly where the US Embassy is located inside of the Green Zone, along with the Army main supply depot, and the Baghdad airport. They are probably zeroing in on most if not all of the US troops concentration points.

Take out the embassy first, then the supply camp, then the airport. Secondary targets will include troop concentrations, and the immediate area surrounding the US Embassy.

The Iranians won't attack Israel, so as to avoid giving Israel a reason to retaliate. So Israel will sit this one out, while the US fights this one all by itself. I'm willing to bet that none of the coalition forces stick around any longer then they have to, none of them signed up for an all out war in the Middle East.

[daleo]

24. Straws says it is inconcievable

So it will happen, and soon. By Christmas I think.

[Massacure]

25. Then watch Iran send a half million man army across the border

[DELUSIONAL]

26. Which is it -- Syria or Iran -- or hit both at the same time

A mini Nuke takes care of Syria and then Iran.

The Neocons have told us what they want to do -- and the few of us who have read their plans -- cannot do a damned thing about preventing the attacks.

How long will it take him to spend his C A P I T A L? The way his says capital -- he makes it sound so obscene. Makes my skin crawl.

[Deja Q]

34. Well Iran, are you happy you endorsed *? Stockholm Syndrome, anyone?

:shrug:

[WCGreen]

35. Iran straight up for Tawain.....

Sandwiched between

Iraq and Afganistan...

Why not take Iran...

Maybe Powell was saying that shit about Taiwan before the election to encourage a swap of sorts with Beijing,,,

You stay out of Iran, We'll stay out of Taiwan...

[snippy]

36. "there is eager anticipation of an airstrike" How very republican. n/t

[halobeam]

38. I'm not able to get full article from this link..

[cassiepriam]

39. Won't take him long too blow up the whole world? nt

[NVMojo]

41. ...and didn't Iran promise to give us a nuclear enema if we do this?