Posted on 12/10/2005 6:48:44 PM PST by rhainw
ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed. The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.
Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.
The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was “losing patience” with Iran.
A senior White House source said the threat of a nuclear Iran was moving to the top of the international agenda and the issue now was: “What next?” That question would have to be answered in the next few months, he said.
Defence sources in Israel believe the end of March to be the “point of no return” after which Iran will have the technical expertise to enrich uranium in sufficient quantities to build a nuclear warhead in two to four years.
“Israel — and not only Israel — cannot accept a nuclear Iran,” Sharon warned recently. “We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation.”
The order to prepare for a possible attack went through the Israeli defence ministry to the chief of staff. Sources inside special forces command confirmed that “G” readiness — the highest stage — for an operation was announced last week.
Gholamreza Aghazadeah, head of the Atomic Organisation of Iran, warned yesterday that his country would produce nuclear fuel. “There is no doubt that we have to carry out uranium enrichment,” he said.
He promised it would not be done during forthcoming talks with European negotiators. But although Iran insists it wants only nuclear energy, Israeli intelligence has concluded it is deceiving the world and has no intention of giving up what it believes is its right to develop nuclear weapons.
A “massive” Israeli intelligence operation has been underway since Iran was designated the “top priority for 2005”, according to security sources.
Cross-border operations and signal intelligence from a base established by the Israelis in northern Iraq are said to have identified a number of Iranian uranium enrichment sites unknown to the the IAEA.
Since Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981, “it has been understood that the lesson is, don’t have one site, have 50 sites”, a White House source said.
If a military operation is approved, Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran’s nuclear programme for years, according to Israeli military sources.
It is believed Israel would call on its top special forces brigade, Unit 262 — the equivalent of the SAS — and the F-15I strategic 69 Squadron, which can strike Iran and return to Israel without refuelling.
"This will now start bringing rebukes from other arab nations and could lead to another war in the region if it does happen."
I am trying to figure out where the word other comes from in your sentence that includes: "other arab nations". You do know that Iran is not an arab nation, don't you?
Hey, it took me 14 hours to install my whole-house humidifier. The directions said it should take about an hour. Ruined my whole Saturday and half my Sunday.
A good point. I think it should also extend to members of the press who leak info that can hurt U.S. troops, while conjugating with the enemy, and not divulging information they have obtained which could help us. Like the way they give out US secrets, yet would never dream of doing it against our enemies.
Ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars...
Betting on a Muslim's rationality is a fool's game.
I would say the converse is true, and that any Muslim should be presumed willing to destroy every vestige of Western civilization until proven otherwise.
-ccm
Well, my thought would be more a suitcase nuke type thing, not a missile launch.
Also, don't forget that the population centers of the Middle East are generally confined to a few fertile river valleys. You could kill three quarters of the population of Egypt with one large bomb on the Aswan High Dam. Saudi Arabia would cease to exist as a nation if its handful of large cities were attacked with half a dozen nuclear weapons.
The Samson Option is real, and if exercised, the Arab world would be practically obliterated.
I leave it as an exercise for the reader to decide whether that is a bad thing...
-ccm
I believe that Russia and China are supplying the weapons, as our troops are exposed in Iran. This is WWIII, and Islam is the fall guy.
Freedom of the press is wonderful, however, if you give away locations/names of troops, etc, you've stepped over the line into criminal endangerment. Prosecute.
Your chronology is correct.
The way I learned it from my history teachers, is that WWII actually started right when WWI ended. Just that people didn't know it, even after major hostile actions by the Germans (and later by Japanese) prior to 1939.
I believe that just as the Germans hated the humiliation of their defeat in 1918, there are Russians who hate the humiliation of losing the Cold War in 1990. And that these Russians are actively seeking WWIV to regain world dominance. As stated here on FR, the war's on; most people just aren't aware of it.
I really believe that the North Korean Kook is far more dangerous and looney, and more likely to start a nuclear war.
They don't care, these are the animals who supply the suicide bombers. Sacraficing 3/4 of Iran is low cost, relative to eliminating Israel.
I'm hoping this is misdirection.
Fallout doesn't travel all that far and it's components decay, some rapidly, some more slowly.
To Israel: JUST DO IT!
You MUST stop whatever you are doing and lead your cadre of friends and fellow running dogs and go IMMEDIATELY to Iran to form a "Protect the Nukes" Human Shield Brigade!
YOU, AND ONLY YOU have the charisma and leadership to put a stop to this attack by the Israelis! Really, Cindy, if you go and plunk your lawchair down next to an Iranian nuke factory, and Joan Baez comes and signs some songs, and Mikey Moore comes and films the whole thing, why THEN AND ONLY THEN will the Israelis send out the signal to turn their bombers around! You will have created World Peace in your time, and in the aftermath, you will defeat Hillary in the primaries and go on to be First Commisar of the Peoples' Republic of Vermont or something.
At least that COULD happen.
OR, something else entertaining might happen. In which case you'd probably get the Free Republic's Rachel Corrie Award. Which is a great honor in it's own right.
Mullahs go BOOM?
Iran becomes also-ran?
Tehran torn up?
The 25 F-15Is operational since 1999 [and the 100 F-16Is] were procured first and foremost to deal with the Iranian threat. In August 2003 the Israeli Air Force demonstrated the strategic capability to strike far-off targets such as Iran [which is 1,300 kilometers away], by flying three F-15 jets to Poland 1,600 nautical miles away. After they celebrated that country's air force's 85th birthday, on their return trip, the IAF warplanes staged a fly-past over the Auschwitz death camp.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerMain.jhtml
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