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.
That's OK -- they'll do it at night. No one will ever expect that! (or maybe Saturday?)
No, do it right before Ramadan. Speaking of which, every time I see or hear the word Ramadan, my mind goes back to this video clip:
http://www.idleriot.com/media/videos/Funny/1713/The_Osama_Outtakes.html
the media is who they are.....
The headline would probably read....I hate to be the first,
maybe I shall not be....but here goes...
The headline would read....BUSH'S FAULT
Blast it man, do we have to hear this in the news? I would assume this would need to be kept secret. This will now start bringing rebukes from other arab nations and could lead to another war in the region if it does happen.
I agree completely with you. Please reread my post.
IV
Not at all - Iran is at least a year, probably two from having a nuclear weapon -
Israel being so talkative is a sign of what is not to come (anytime soon)
sir: unless you are running static and maybe you are....
running static that is....
I too believe we are on the same heading sir!
They'll "steal" them from us, code for we'll give them to them.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Good... now I've got to go and stock up on popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show.
That was hilarious! Thanks for that. It sounded like a bunch of guys doing some improv- and they just drew the animation around it.
COOL rack ittt Rack Sunday UK Times is that kindly let cat out of the bag NICE GOIN SUNDAY UK TIMES LOL!
Rebukes perhaps but action; no way. The only thing they will do is breath a sigh of relief. NOBODY wants Iran to go nuclear. NOBODY!
I'm stocking my fridge with cokes, sprites, candies, potato chips, notebook w/ freerepublic set as homepage, channel changer with fox news playing, fox news loaded into another tab on firefox, sitting on lazy-boy chair, listening to all of the info soon to be found out about Iran's involvement in terrorism over the past few decades.
Bush's fault? lmao..
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