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U.S., Israel Ponder How to Slow Iranian Nuclear Weapons Development By David A. Fulghum and Douglas Barrie 09/10/2006 04:47:58 PM BUSTING THE BOMB The fighting in southern Lebanon revealed Iran's willingness to supply sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah, and one of its ships was intercepted trying to do just that for Hamas in the Palestinian territories. A continuing series of tests has demonstrated Iran's growing arsenal of ballistic, tactical and sea-based weapons, and Western intelligence officials anticipate its fielding of locally built versions of fighter-launched, long-range, air-to-surface missiles. But the real fear is Iran's development of nuclear weapons. Once built, they...

"Coalition air forces have established air supremacy over the entire country, which means the enemy is incapable of effective interference with coalition air operations," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff, told a news conference. He did not mention that an Air Force A-10 warplane was shot down near Baghdad on Tuesday. It is believed to be the first allied aircraft other than a helicopter to be downed by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile since the war began March 20. U.S. Central Command officials said the pilot ejected safely, was recovered by allied ground forces and was...

WASHINGTONI never made it higher than corporal, but it doesn't take a military genius to figure out the strategy when you have air supremacy: break the back of the enemy's armor and its infantry before your big ground assault. A month's bombing worked in the last gulf war and a couple of weeks should "degrade" the Iraqi Army again. Here is a baker's dozen of my snap judgments about this war: 1. Best gamble: jumping our guns a few days early in a daring bid to win all at once. Our air strike to kill Saddam and his gang may...