Iranian Nuke ping

“.....will fail to destroy the facilities because neither the CIA nor Mossad knows where every base is located”

Well if they DO attack then the Iranians will know what will happen when bases ARE located, won’t they?

Why the H*LL would “our” Pentagon be publishing this?

It seems like the Administration is looking for excuses to do nothing and is trying to pressure the Israelis to do the same. I pray they don't give in to it.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

Well, I hope some one grows a pair does something about it before it is too late.

I guess ‘our’ Pentagon does not want ‘our’ soldiers in Iraq hostage to the whims of ‘their’ government.

The sexy siren song of the call to inaction is easily bested by the sweeter next-door-neighbor’s call to a cute do-something-nice displacement activity.

But the admiral is at odds with hawks in the Bush administration, led by Vice-President Dick Cheney.

There's just no end to Cheney's mischief in the eyes of the left.

I think everyone agrees that it would be foolish to invade Iran. The thing to do is to bomb all their nuclear and military facilities, sending in special forces if necessary. (I don’t capitalize that because it would probably take a variety of specialists to do it.)

At the same time, they need to kill their leaders and take out the fanatical part of their military.

There are plenty of Iranians who are unhappy with their government. We need to go in, wreck it, and leave it to the Iranians to sort it out and undo some of the damage done by good old Jimmy Carter.

Israel certainly can’t do anything on that scale alone.

But I’m afraid we missed the boat. It should have been done at least four years ago.

Excellent question!

What is the Pentagon hoping to achieve by publishing this?

Are they thinking “If we publicly show our doubts maybe Israel will back off when they realize that we’re not totally behind them on this?”

Or do we have some sort of back-channel deal (in the works) with Iran to get them to stop their nuclear program and we don’t want the Israelis to muck it up?

Either way, I think Iran is hell-bent on their nuclear program and no amount of intl finger-waving or promises of financial aid will get them to stop.

And I believe that Israel will go ahead with the attack - when that time comes. They’ve made it clear, verbally and in actions (Osirak - 1981) that they’ll never allow an Arab country to possess nuclear weapons.

If the Israelis can’t totally wipe our Iran’s nuclear program, then they’ll at least set it back for a long time.

Thank God for Cheney, a National asset!!

Why the H*LL would “our” Pentagon be publishing this?

I.W.T.Y.W.H.T.K.Y.

Good cop, bad cop. The US wants Iran ‘gone’, but doesn’t have the balls to do it for a number of reasons.

“Who will rid me of these meddlesome mullahs?”

Why the H*LL would “our” Pentagon be publishing this?

Because Joint Chiefs Assclown Mullen has made it very clear he wants more TALK with Iran and NO action.

We can’t be sure we’ve got all Iranaian nuclear sites without boots on the ground. In my opinion, what is needed is a joint US-Israeli invasion/occupation force.

Post a shock-and-awe bombing of nuclear and military sites, US forces invade from Iran and Afghanistan, while simultaneously Israeli paratroops land in Tehran and other population centers taking over control of government and communication centers. As you note, many Iranians are unhappy with their leaders and we will be greeted as liberators.

A short occupation will be followed by the establishment of a truly democratic government in Iran. That will give the US an arc of friendly democratic states from Afghanistan to Iran and Iraq. From that base, we can exert influence throughout the Middle East protecting US/Israeli interests and spreading democracy throughout the region.

... they’ll never allow an Arab country to possess nuclear weapons.

Actually, Iran is not an Arab country ....

It’s doubtful whether we can get all the hardened underground facilities without sending in troops, as well. It would be a poor idea to use nuclear bunker busters if we can possibly avoid the precedent of using nuclear weapons again.

But we couldn’t afford to stay in Iran very long. We need to get in, do the job, kill the fanatical Muslim troops, and give the Iranians a chance to overthrow their Muslim overlords.

Unfortunately, there’s not a chance that anything will or can be done now. Bush has lost whatever support he had earlier, congress is controlled by Democrats in a mood to obstruct, and he has not really made the case to the American people.

I also doubt whether Israel can do anything, not with Olmert, Peretz and their pals in charge. They couldn’t even manage a successful attack against Syria, let alone Iran.

Bush missed the best window of opportunity.

The best way to kill the Iranian nuclear program is not to take out the well defended, hardened and dispersed bunkers where the work is taking place. Rather, it is to take out the “soft”, political targets that support it.

We all know that the CIA has an impeccable track record.

The only thing more clueless than the CIA (in my humble opinion) is the State Department.

The thing to do is to bomb all their nuclear and military facilities, sending in special forces if necessary.

I believe that one point the article is making is that nobody knows where all of them are.

//What is the Pentagon hoping to achieve by publishing this?//

Stating the obvious, or trying to lull them into complacency?

Why not? After all, President Obama will fix it all through negotiation and generally making nice while sharing a halil meal with the terrorists....

/sarcasm (was it even necessary/)

Well, it depends on what the meaning of “all of them” is.

As long as they take out enough to make it impossible to build warheads for a good long time, that would be sufficient. And if they effect a change of government by getting rid of the fanatical guard and giving the people a chance to revolt, then probably they can deal with the rest.

I suspect that military intelligence might be able to find things that the CIA can’t, too. In Iraq, the CIA was hopeless at finding any of Saddam’s top guys in hiding, until military intelligence took over. They may know more than they’re saying, but I’m inclined to believe that the CIA is still broken, since Bush made only a brief stab at fixing it.

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

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