President Obama and French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Brown have confronted Iran with the fact of a secret Iranian nuclear facility, and the five permanent members of the Security Council (also including Russia and China), along with Germany, are about to challenge Iran at the beginning of October on their intransigence and deception, which destabilizes the Middle East, and is a threat to the entire world.
It is comforting to see that the world’s leading nations seem united on the Iranian threat, and it is time for these countries to draw a line in the sand, and throw down the gauntlet, that they and the world will NOT tolerate a nuclear terrorist Iran.
The strongest sanctions must be imposed, not symbolic, and Iran has to undertand that if need be, the use of military force, highly regrettable, is not off the table. And we cannot expect Israel to stand by and be able to relax and feel safe with the dire and growing threat of a maniacal, fanatical, religiously crazy government that is ready for the apocalypse.
Tough choices are ahead, and President Obama and the other world leaders must stay united to face this challenge, possibly the greatest since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962!
The problem with the military option is that they have 60- 70 facilities (most likely) in fortified positions around the country and a military strike would need to take them all out. I believe if we knew where they all were then this would have already happened.
The other problem is the one that Iraq’s army presents. They are much better soldiers and with a thin line of troops (some having already spent 2-3 tours in the sand) motivation and manpower might be hard to muster. This would be an air war only.
If we did decide to go with the military option we would need the support you mention. Germany, especially, has some of the best trained soldiers in the world along with the UK (as both have received US training for years).
So, this one needs to be a group effort. Since 2007 a report (under Bush) was circulated – it stated:
Any attack is likely to be on a massive multi-front scale but avoiding a ground invasion. Attacks focused on WMD facilities would leave Iran too many retaliatory options, leave President Bush open to the charge of using too little force and leave the regime intact.
US bombers and long range missiles are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours.
US ground, air and marine forces already in the Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan can devastate Iranian forces, the regime and the state at short notice.
Some form of low level US and possibly UK military action as well as armed popular resistance appear underway inside the Iranian provinces or ethnic areas of the Azeri, Balujistan, Kurdistan and Khuzestan. Iran was unable to prevent sabotage of its offshore-to-shore crude oil pipelines in 2005.
Nuclear weapons are ready, but most unlikely, to be used by the US, the UK and Israel. The human, political and environmental effects would be devastating, while their military value is limited.
Israel is determined to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons yet has the conventional military capability only to wound Iran’s WMD programmes.
The attitude of the UK is uncertain, with the Brown government and public opinion opposed psychologically to more war, yet, were Brown to support an attack he would probably carry a vote in Parliament. The UK is adamant that Iran must not acquire the bomb.
The US is not publicising the scale of these preparations to deter Iran, tending to make confrontation more likely. The US retains the option of avoiding war, but using its forces as part of an overall strategy of shaping Iran’s actions.
The fact that we have not acted tells me what I mentioned in the beginning is true. If we can’t take out everything….than we won’t go because most likely they will launch what is left at whomever they can reach.
Iran also has technolgy – U.S. made jet fighters and bombers, Russian-made MiG-29, Sukhoi 24 as well as Iranian Saeqeh, or Thunderbolt.
It’s very probable (90% range) that they have Russian-made Tor-M1 air-defense system meant for defending Iran’s nuclear facilities and plants against air strikes. The Tor-M1 can hit aerial targets flying at up to 20,000 feet. Russia delivered the system to Iran in early 2007. The two countries are now discussing the delivery of a newer version of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile defense system that is capable of shooting down aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missile warheads at ranges of over 90 miles and at altitudes of about 90,000 feet.
Additionally, various types of Iranian missiles, including the Shahab-3 and Sejjil, with a range of 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) and 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) — both putting Israel and U.S. bases in Mideast and Europe within striking distance.
So, if we are going to go….we need to know that we can fully (by air) take out this crazy bastard and everything they have. Our technology is far superior but everything would need to line up perfectly because we would have only one chance.
The word I have from “friends” around the world is that talk is all this is at this point. If we do go in….we won’t even hear about it on the news until 1-2 days later. It will be swift, fast, and there should be very little loss of life in the process IF all targets are hit.
Scary stuff…..the world is really a sad place these days. 🙁