Free Republic

TEHRAN, Iran: Iran test fired a long-range, radar-evading missile on Sunday from a submarine in the Gulf as part of war games that began earlier this month, state television reported. The missile was called Sagheb, which means Piercing, but the report did not give the missile's range. "Minutes ago it was launched from a submarine in the Persian Gulf and it hit the target," television reported. Western nations have been watching developments in Iran's missile capabilities with concern amid a standoff over the country's nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building atomic bombs. Iran says the program...

 EVENTS ARE CONVERGING TO ELEVATE the nuclear crisis with Iran into the central crisis of the Bush presidency. War presidents are graded not by circumstances they inherit, including those that lead to war. They are judged by how they react to those circumstances.Franklin Roosevelt as a war president is defined not by the attack on Pearl Harbor, but by the radical war aim he laid out against Japan and Germany in the wake of Pearl Harbor--unconditional surrender--and by his relentless and successful pursuit of that war aim until the day he died.When Lyndon Johnson became president in November 1963, he...

On March 29, 2005 the London Arab daily Al-Hayat published a report on Iran’s current preparedness for an American or Israeli attack. The report was translated by www.memri.org (Middle East Media Research Institute). MEMRI introduced the report as follows: “In recent months, commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and armed forces have announced their complete preparedness for a possible military attack on Iran’s nuclear installations and other sensitive sites. Iranian spokesmen have declared that Iran’s response would be formidable.” The interview indicates the hostility, confidence, determination and intractability of the Iranian leadership. Following are excerpts from that article: “Iranian military sources...

On 7 June 1981, Israeli pilots flying F-16s, escorted by F-15s, bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak, near Baghdad. Though almost universally condemned at the time, for the most part the world later realized that it owed these pilots a great debt of gratitude, for they prevented Saddam Hussein from obtaining nuclear arms. Had Israel not destroyed that reactor, the course of history could have been far different. Kuwait would probably now be a province of Iraq and Saddam Hussein might also be the most powerful man in the Middle East, instead of a prisoner. Of course, the Israelis were...