12 B2 bombers in an airraid aimed at crippling key Iranian nuke facilities

[Flabbergasted]

Use of force debate persist on Iran
Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:46 PM GMT
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By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a private meeting with European diplomats this week, a former senior U.S. official raised the idea of launching a dozen B2 bombers in an air raid aimed at crippling key Iranian nuclear facilities.

The suggestion was at odds with current U.S. and European strategy, which has emphasised patient diplomacy to resolve a major security challenge for Western powers -- keeping Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-10T174612Z_01_N10397757_RTRUKOC_0_UK-NUCLEAR-IRAN-FORCE.xml

[Flabbergasted]

1. Fill your gas tanks!

[AtomicKitten]

2. dumbasses

[okieinpain]

4. uh, could you use a different picture under "dumbasses" n/t

[AtomicKitten]

8. um, OK, just for you

You do know the pic is on my sig line, right?

[okieinpain]

10. yeah but when I opened your post my boy gore, and his lovely

wife were right up under "dumbasses"

[AtomicKitten]

12. no problem - I can see how that could burn your retinas :)

[okieinpain]

23. funny how things like that happen huh!!

[IndianaGreen]

3. and when Iran strikes back at US Fifth Fleet with missiles, what then?

We had one hell of time targeting SCUDs before they launched during the Gulf War, we won't be able to do to Iran what we did to Iraq.

[Flabbergasted]

6. They'll just lock down the strait and Stop selling oil

Its their best weapon.

[RC]

7. Who cares?

The BFEE will make billions of dollars and euros more in tax free profit replacing the damaged and missing war toys. :sarcasm:

[Solo_in_MD]

16. The missiles will miss or be destroyed during the attack.

F-18s will destroy the launchers and Tomahawks will takeout the command & control nodes and key infrastructure, mostly power distribution.

Think about it...bombing nuclear sites is hard to do "cleanly". However, if given justification, such as a missile attack, the counterstrike could be defended to the western world. At that point, the mullahs would have to consider opening for nuclear inspection since they would be unable to repair the damage which would leave much of their nation without power or communication. Europe could say the US over reacted and condom it in public statements, but they want Iran backed down as much as Bush does, if not more.

Would it happen? The Revolutionary Guard is not the most stable command structure out there. All it would take would be one shot at Fifth Fleet...

[IndianaGreen]

19. There are no mullahs in Iran, they do have ayatollahs

Real war is not like a video game!

On a US-Iran war, I'll put my money on Iran. Why? Because the US, and the West, stand the most to lose.

In case you haven't taken notice, we are not winning the war in Iraq and we are starting to lose the one in Afghanistan.

The Germans were equally confident that they could defeat what the viewed as a backwards USSR solely by virtue of their having the superior race and military.

[Solo_in_MD]

21. They have both

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=mullah and http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ayatollah Per my Muslim friends, mullah is more generic, and is the equivalent of muslim clergy.

I agree that ground military action is not tenable due to issues with the occupation like Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether or not Iran can stand up to US military attack is not in question. They can't.

That said, I fervently hope there will be no military action, or if there is, air attacks only. American boots on the ground in a 3rd muslim country would be about the worst thing we could do. Then again I felt that way about Afghanistan and Iraq.

Your original comment that the B-2s would not come back is specious.

[leveymg]

5. There are over 300 nuclear-related targets!

They can't even do convincing psyops, anymore.

Geez.

[fed-up]

9. Glad I read the whole post, I thought it was happening now n/t

[EFerrari]

11. "Patient diplomacy"?

I must have missed that part.

:wtf:

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. Iran probably has countermeasures for a B-2 strike

I doubt that very many of them would make it back & they know it. It was known as far back as 1989 that potential enemies could easily "see" B-2 bombers. That was a long time ago.

[Solo_in_MD]

15. Nonsense

I would like to see something credible to back up such a spureous claim. While we complain loudly about how they are employed and what else is not getting funds due to their cost, the military high tech stuff works very well, espcially things like LO.

[The_Casual_Observer]

17. "military high tech stuff works very well"

SDI, Patriot Missiles in gulf war, Humvee, Abrams Tank, & god knows what other UTTER bullshit. We don't usually know about the weaknesses because these are the some of the deepest darkest secrets held by the US government.


Bombs, Bullets and Bullshit!


We'll see just how well all that shit works we we try and conquer an enemy that isn't a crippled broken shell, it's been a while.

Oh yeah, it's 2006 and everything is different now,it all really works now, no more bogus shit, rumsfeld
wouldn't allow it.

[Solo_in_MD]

20. They do it you understand what really happens in the field

Patriots we not designed to counter missiles but aircraft. They were not effective in the Gulf War against SCUDs as the later analysis clearly showed. That was made public (No deep secret there). They have been updated, and tested, but until tried in combat, actual effectiveness is going to be a question mark.

Humvees work just fine. They were designed to replace Jeeps and light trucks, not as armored scout cars or armored personnel carriers. They are great for what their intended purpose. By armoring them, their mobility, speed, fuel economy, and handling are severely impacted and they wear out much faster due to carry loads well in excess of their design. An argument can be made that the military should have planned to have more APCs.

M-1 is arguably the best tank out there. The German and English designs are also good. Nothing from France, Russia, China, or the old USSR comes close.

Again, the military builds good stuff that works as well as they can make it. Trades have to made, sometimes due to physics, sometimes due to budget. It is the best high tech equipment out there. They also know how to use it, and have doctrine and tactics that make the most of it against known opponents. That does not mean it should be used in Iran...

[teryang]

14. The bs propaganda campaign continues

The next war will be the last for this administration.

[maxsolomon]

18. embargo

remember that word?

its a surprising, foolish plan for oilmongers like our ruling cabal. but it may solve 2 long term problems:

1. iran getting the bomb.
2. our oil addiciton.

[cantstandbush]

22. So now, if Iran launched some kind of attack against the US of allies

as a pre-emptive attack in self defense, would everyone agree that they were justifies. It sounds like more justification than "we think Saddam has WMDs."