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.
Bump for later
Hey Pukin my man,
Do you have anything you can say about this article without giving away classified information???...
What are the countermeasures against an EMP attack?
did the radioactivity kill is in 1945?
EMP you can put your electronics(weather radio etc) in metal boxes or wrap with foil. EMP can go around metal but not through it. toss your watches in there too. Your car's ignition module and rado will be toasted.
Thanks. Now I want a car with an ignition module encased in metal. :)
I hope our military has their vital electronics protected from EMP in some way.
" Then, be it resolved that the USA will respond . . ."
Well, I am normally in the position of being the one who "rants" about these things. I sympathize and agree with your frustration on this issue.
I suppose my response would be this. This is not a case, as with the immigration issue, where the conservative base is well-informed, has raised themselves up as a group to confront the government, and the government is ducking the issue.
This is a case where, almost no one in the whole world, it seems, is aware of the problem. Even on NRO (national review online), this issue would be rarely addressed, if ever.
So, while your position is correct, that is to say, it is insane for us to ignore this problem---it is an insanity that, so far, is gripping nearly everyone.
The fact is, the MSM, the majority of faculty at the universities, the entire State Department, and a significant portion of the CIA, especially the whole Russian section, are, to a large extent, under the control of Putin, his ex-KGB colleagues in the Russian government, and the FSB.
This is nothing more than continuity of the original Soviet Communist penetration of the US, other Western democracies, and Japan. I'm quite sure that Putin his colleagues no longer believe in state control over the means of production, so I won't call them communists anymore.
I'm sure however, that they still retain the core values of communism. I referred to a belief in individual murder, mass murder, terror, subversion, blackmail, and, not to draw it out too far, simply doing anything at all to pursue one's goals. This system of "morality" was originally put in place to pursue the utopian goal of communism. now it is simply serving the goal of providing power, wealth, and privilege to Putin, his buddies, and the many people they need to continue their operation.
I don't think we can be overly bitter about our government's failure to respond to something when the vast majority of conservative Republicans have yet to figure out what is going on.
Having said that, it is nice to see there is somebody else who is aware of the problem.
At the risk of being flamed as a gold-bug, I really think gold and/or mining stocks would be the only real option.
I'll go out on a limb here and say that gold would go up $75 on the day that Israel attacks Iran, whenever that would be.
my car doesn't have a rado.
Blah blah blah. And who is going to do anything about it, Mohamed? The U.N.? Oh, yeah, Iran is really afraid of the U.N.
" we have a large group of fanatics who appear to be, literally, hell-bent on starting Armageddon."
Especially one big fanatic in Iran.
Great site! I'm bookmarking for later review...thx!
I take comfort in the fact that God is sovereign....and we know the final score of a "game" we seem to be falling behind in....!
The most unsettling thing to me is America doesnt seem to be a major player, even unworthy of biblical mention as far as I can see. What happened to the USA by the time the biblical prophecies play out?
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Yes reports from nutty media. None of these reports were backed up by statements from Russia on their sale. The US has always put pressure on Russia in the past ten years to prevent their sale.
If the Russians had supplied S-300 systems to Iran and they deployed them then the US would be vocal in its denoucing of the sale. In reality the Iranians do not operate any S-300 systems or associated radar systems. That is the reason why they don't appear on any threat list for the region.
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