The whole “shoot them down” scenario is a farce.
Obama can’t react to a dingle-berry without Jarret.
This stuff would be over and done before he could or would issue order one.
zero doesn’t have the sac to shoot any planes down ... except maybe OURS.
Bibi would take the low risk approach; take out the oil and the regime falls. Thirty or forty cruise missiles would probably do it. But, if you think we’re in a depression now these will look like the glory days of the 1920’s.
Or we can let Israel do what they want and suffer the consequence. I don’t care if its Obama or Romney our defense should not be beholden to Tel Aviv. We are the big dog in this relationship and they go when we say or go alone.
I kind of doubt we would be able to see Israeli planes, let alone shoot them down.
“Obama shakes his head. “Voters don’t care about whether the attack was successful. They care about $5 gasoline.””
Isn’t a scenario like this exactly why the Strategic Oil Reserve was created? I suspect that most voters would be willing to accept a temporary spike in gas prices, if it was the price for preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
Longer term — fast-track the pipeline from Alberta & drill baby, drill.
I think the beginning of the conflict will be very much like that.
Another scenario is that Obama ducks the press and boldly plays 36 holes instead of 18.
For those masturbating for ANOTHER land war in the Middle East, please take note that our military is not in the best shape after 10+ YEARS in Afghanistan & Iraq. Just something keyboard commandos should consider.
The Compost scenario is just that, compost.
Taking Iran’s infrastructure down hard is the key.
Some non-nuclear EMP weapons launched from the Arabian sea and shaped to do minimal damage to the neighbors would get the job done. Iran would instantly be pushed back a hundred years.
“I don’t like physics,” Malia says. “It’s too complicated.”
That's sexist. Or is it racist? I'm confused.
There is something that makes me think the strike may be near at hand. The fact that massive amounts of military assets are right now in the area for wargames, training or whatever they are gathered for. They are due to leave before long and I can't imagine Israel would miss the opportunity to strike while so many assets are in the area.
Here is a post by freeper tentmaker... I think it's a brilliant post and it does seem like a very likely time for the strike...and occurs before the arrayed forces leave the area.
Israel will attack Iran next week, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday, while Ahmadinejad is still in NY at the UN, but before Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive. (during Yom Kippur)
Israels hand is being forced by the progress that Iran has made in producing low enriched uranium. They already have over 200 kg of 20% UF6 and that's enough to disperse it to various locations making it much more difficult to destroy, while they finish enriching it to weapons grade.
Israel needs to attack soon, while it can be most effective and they can't count on US support from Obama. They either go now or risk Obama winning re-election or have to wait until next year if Romney wins. The waiting scenarios are not good, either way.
Attacking now offers the element of surprise, with Netanyahu scheduled to be in NY at the UN, Ahmadinejad out of the country and the Jewish holidays. A bonus would be that Ahmadinejad would immediately fly home, putting him in hostile air space at a time when the Israelis can predict where he'll be and make him a target.
Using a nuclear bomb detonated at high altitude over Iran would provide a crippling EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) strike against Irans infrastructure without the negative stigma of the radiation effects of using nukes. Once the electric grid is down, and most of the Iranian defenses, taking out the nuclear development sites becomes much easier.
Israel can cripple the Iranian economy, set back their nuclear program by ten years and destroy most of their military capability and it can be accomplished in 2-3 days.
This is just my personal theory, based on open source knowledge and common sense. It goes without saying that it could be wrong. We'll know in a few days.
p.s. Obama loses more face in foreign policy
It is my opinion that Israel can destroy Iran's ability to build nuclear weapons only if they use unconventional means. This would involve the use of neutron and EMP weapons. EMP to cause mass confusion and loss of communications and neutron weapons to clear the area around nuclear sites so teams can destroy them..
Israel could of course use city-buster weapons but that is very unlikely.
The hope would be that the use of nuclear weapons that did not cause massive fallout would keep the conflict from escalating to WW3....I have no idea how this would play out.
There is one possibility that may help reduce the possibility of escalation to WW3. The Israeli's could mount a very ineffective attack on Iran. The world would immediately point the finger at Israel and laugh at their weakness. Iran and all her proxies would jump in with both feet against Israel and try to take advantage of the moment. They would likely overplay their hand by allowing chemical weapons to be used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon or by Syrian forces.
Everything would change once weapons of mass destruction were used on Israel. At that point Israel could clean house across the ME using whatever force was needed.
If this ploy of using an ineffective strike to cause an attack by Iran's proxies using chem/bio did not work then nothing is lost as Israel could immediately attack using neutron and EMP weapons, such an attack would be successful and in any case Iran would unchain their proxy forces anyway so why not at least try to make them escalate first.
Someone I respect has told me they think the best time for a strike is immediately before we go to the polls in Nov. This does make a certain sense to me.
I suggest every freeper start saying some prayers....I think its going to be a bumpy ride.
Well if someone posts some more Mohammed cartoons on the internet beforehand then the rest of the Arab world would be so busy rioting that they wouldn’t even notice Israel bombed Iran.
This "scenario" is the kind of nonsense you get from beltway desk jockey's whose military experience is that they drive past the Pentagon on their way in to work.
Should that happen, 20+ million of us should go to DC to file a complaint, in person.
If such a scenario were to unfold in October, I don’t think that Obama would do a damn thing, except to make it appear as though he’s engaged.
After the election, win or lose, Obama will have much “more flexibility”.
Actually Obama would go to bed early if the attack started in early evening so he could be ready to fly some where for a fund raising event with his wealthy Hollywood supporter. If it occurred during the day he would not let it interfere with his golf game and fund raising. His spokes people would blame Bush/Chaney and the neocons. They would twiddle their thumbs as the middle east burns. The other alternative would be that they would notify the Iranians of the pending attacks and give them info from our AWACs planes and land based sites to teach the Israelis not interfere with hiscreelection efforts.
Obviously fiction. The real line would be:
"Allahu akbar," Obama fumes under his breath "The infidel dog zionist told me he was going to bomb England".
1. To shoot down Israeli aircraft, they would have to be found, first. We tried to get ‘too close’ in 1967, and they closed that door, rather quickly.
2. Most of the winds that blow across Iran, blow easterly. The radioactive cloud, rising from the remains of the reactor, would not endanger Iraq.
3. A strike against Command and Control would be smart, considering the blustering Iranians talk of new ground-to-air missiles.
4. A strike on the theopolitical heads of government, would be in turn, with Command and Control. This would include all civilian TV and radio communications.
5. Israeli aircraft purchased from the U.S., are capable of Mach 2 sustained flight. As a rule of thumb, for a nuke-loaded and all fuel tanks full, with all fires lit, F-4 Phantom II, during the Cold War, from RheinMein AB, West Germany to Moscow, USSR, was a one-way of 20 minutes!
I’m sure, with the newer jet engine efficiency, and with a flying gas station somewhere, the scenario of 88 minutes could be shaved a bit.
6. Friday is “church day” for Mohammedans. The Jewish ‘shabbatz’, begins at sundown on Friday. I am sure whatever is stewing for ‘shabbatz’, will be well enjoyed by all the returning aircrews, and in time to wash up, and for mama to light the candle.
7. Whatever happens, pay no mind to our effeminate ‘short timer’ President. (Somebody ought to send him an old GI Short-timers Calendar!) I’m sure that the real President, Valerie Jarrett, will be busy with something, and cannot be found right away.
Netanyahu is one of the few leaders in the world who takes his responsiblity to his citizenry seriously. He has to. I have no interest in starting a war with Iran or any other Islamist state, but if Bibi chooses to do so, I would support Israel rhetorically and advocate for US support in the form of financial, diplomatic, and military resources.
I would have no problem playing the kid on the playground that holds everyone back while the two other kids go at it.