Trust Intelligence

This from a news digest I read.

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# An Attack on Iran: Back on the Table - Joe Klein
In late 2006, George W. Bush met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon and asked if military action against Iran's nuclear program was feasible. The unanimous answer was no. But when Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Fox News on June 20, "We do not accept the idea of Iran having nuclear weapons," he was reflecting a new reality in the military and intelligence communities. Diplomacy and economic pressure remain the preferred means to force Iran to negotiate a nuclear deal, but there isn't much hope that's going to happen. So the military option is very much back on the table.
    Intelligence sources say that the U.S. Army's Central Command, which is in charge of organizing military operations in the Middle East, has made some real progress in planning targeted air strikes - aided, in large part, by the vastly improved human-intelligence operations in the region. "There really wasn't a military option a year ago," an Israeli military source told me. "But they've gotten serious about the planning, and the option is real now." Israel has been brought into the planning process. One other factor has brought the military option to a low boil: Iran's Sunni neighbors really want the U.S. to do it. (TIME)
    See also A Quiet Axis Forms Against Iran in the Middle East - Alexander Smoltczyk and Bernhard Zand (Der Spiegel-Germany)

(NOTE: The smilies and BBCode options are not appearing on the quick post boxes.)

Last edited by mplaut (2010-07-21 14:54:56)

Some folks are already there. The USS Truman is a Nimitz Class Supercarrier and makes the 3rd Carrier Task Force there. In addition, on 12 Jun I posted #303 – General & Misc Topics:

June 12, 2010
Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites
Hugh Tomlinson

Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defenses to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

Art
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US, Israel Warships in Suez May Be Prelude to Faceoff with Iran
Wednesday, July 21 2010
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Follow Israel news on  and .

Egypt allowed at least one Israeli and 11 American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches Gaza. Egypt closed the canal to protect the ships with thousands of soldiers, according to the British-based Arabic language newspaper Al Quds al-Arabi.

One day prior to the report on Saturday, Voice of Israel government radio reported that the Egyptian government denied an Israeli request not to allow the Iranian flotilla to use the Suez Canal to reach Gaza, in violation of the Israeli sea embargo on the Hamas-controlled area.

International agreements require Egypt to keep the Suez open even for warships, but the armada, led by the USS Truman with 5,000 sailors and marines, was the largest in years. Egypt closed the canal to fishing and other boats as the armada moved through the strategic passageway that connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/138164


Ihe Sunday Times, for example, wrote that Israel had sent three German-made submarines to the Gulf with nuclear cruise missiles on board. The 7th flotilla of Zahal – submarines Dolphin, Tekuma и Leviathan – have been in the Persian Gulf before, the newspaper wrote. Now at least one of them will be on duty in the Gulf permanently. The flotilla commander, named only as Colonel O., referred to his submarines as underwater strike forces operating very far from Israel’s borders.
http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/24- … a_israel-0

A decent article on scenarios:
SCENARIOS-Global impact if Israel strikes Iran
Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:21am EDT
By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE62N1CX20100329

Former US Envoy To UN John Bolton Says "Israel Has 8 Days To Strike Iran"
Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/17/2010 08:03 -0500

In an interview with Fox Business News, former US envoy to the UN, John Bolton, told the channel that if Israel wants to prevent Iran from acquiring a working nuclear plant, then a military strike must be launched against the Bushehr nuclear power facility within the next eight days. Specifically, Bolton was envisioning the projected August 21 launch date of the nuclear power plant, which Zero Hedge noted previously. According to Bolton, once the Bushehr facility is operational it will be too late for a military air strike against Iran because such an attack would affect too many Iranian civilians due to the spread radiation.

    "Once that uranium, once those fuel rods are very close to the reactor, certainly once they're in the reactor, attacking it means a release of radiation, no question about it. So if Israel is going to do anything against Bushehr it has to move in the next eight days."

Bolton simplistic summary is that should Iran launch the reactor, both Israel and the US would be in trouble.

    "Iran will achieve something that no other opponent of Israel, no other enemy of the United States in the Middle East really has and that is a functioning nuclear reactor."

Laslty, Russia was portrayed as evil for daring to go with its own national interest, whatever that may be, over that of the US.

    "The Russians are, as they often do, playing both sides against the middle. The idea of being able to stick a thumb in America's eye always figures prominently in Moscow."

Regardless, keep an eye out on news developments from the Middle East over the next few days.

from Zero Hedge:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/former … trike-iran

I think he is on some Fox "News" program.
They thrive on creating controversy. The US Media in general these days, besides being even more insular than they used to be, are more sensationalistic, having to compete with the apparent insatiable appetite for reality shows and real disasters.

And he may believe what he says too.
These people don't lose their job for being wrong as they attract more viewers the more extreme and outlandish their performance. The ultimate sin would be to be boring the audience so that viewers change the channel.

I expect an attach, if it ever comes, will include Iranian dissidents and others (lots of commandos) that will be on the ground. I have read about the US funding dissident groups doing what the Iranians would call terrorism for years. Obviously intelligence on the ground will be key to success if there is ever an attack.