Posted on 09/24/2007 2:32:54 PM PDT by presidio9
US Vice President Richard Cheney has considered provoking an exchange of military strikes between Iran and Israel in order to give the United States a pretext to attack Iran, Newsweek magazine reported in its Monday issue.
But the weekly said the steady departure of neoconservatives from the administration over the past two years had helped tilt the balance away from war.
One official who pushed a particularly hawkish line on Iran was David Wurmser, who had served since 2003 as Cheney's Middle East adviser, the report said.
A spokeswoman at Cheney's office confirmed to Newsweek that Wurmser left his position last month to "spend more time with his family."
A few months before he quit, Wurmser told a small group of people that Cheney had been mulling the idea of pushing for limited Israeli missile strikes against the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz -- and perhaps other sites -- in order to provoke Tehran into lashing out, the magazine reported, citing two unnamed "knowledgeable sources."
The Iranian reaction would then give Washington a pretext to launch strikes against military and nuclear targets in Iran, Newsweek reported.
When Newsweek attempted to reach Wurmser for comment, his wife, Meyrav, declined to put him on the phone and said the allegations were untrue, the report said.
A spokeswoman at Cheney's office told the weekly the vice president "supports the president's policy on Iran."
The attack must be well coordinated and the timing exact. I would say the best time would be on or about 10/20/2008. In coordination with the Israeli military a joint attack force will utilize both carrier based aircraft and cruise missiles to effectively reduce the air defense and air force of Iran to smoldering rubble. This will take approximately 4 days. During that time already pinpointed weapons stores will be blown up and when the dust settles the Iranian military will be left dazed and confused while Ahmadinajad will be left standing with nothing more then his d*ck in his hand to fight with. The electorate, loving a winner watch carefully as Democrats scream for an immediate retreat and surrender from Afghanistan, Iraq AND Iran. They are finally seen for the pitiful cowards they are, and they flock to the Republican candidate. He wins by a wide margin, bringing in enough Senate and House seats to return control of Congress to the adults and in doing this, properly scares the living crap out of the terrorists around the world who realize there best friends, the Democrats, won’t be there any longer to help them out.
He sounds more like Bush than Du-Ish. Didn't Bush say America was addicted to Oil?
Puh-leeeeeze. Democrat sleaze machine on OT.
You forgot about the stealth aircraft, which along the cruise missiles would bear the brunt of the SEAD effort. Plowing the way, in effect for the more conventional aircraft, flying from Iraq, the Stans, Diego Garcia, and carriers in the Arabian sea .
I'd say the bulk of the work could be done in two or three days, as long as there is no intent to invade. Maybe add a day to destroy the Revolutionary Guard bases, so that the Iranian people, including much of the regular armed forces, could finish the job.
Be great to see Ahmanutjob and various mad mullahs and angry Ayatollahs take a long drop with a short rope, just like Saddam. But I could live with some of them sharing the fate of Saddam's sons.
The drones will be in service by that date.
Yes, Bush did say that. I think it was during a State of the Union speech. Cheney seemed to have an annoyed expression on his face when Bush said that.
I support drilling in the ANWR but most of the Democrats always prevent there from being enough votes.
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