Planning for Iran

U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran
Fri Jan 19, 2007 Reuters

U.S. contingency planning for military action against Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst said on Friday.

"I've seen some of the planning ... You're not talking about a surgical strike," said Wayne White, who was a top Middle East analyst for the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research until March 2005.

We're not talking about just surgical strikes against an array of targets inside Iran. We're talking about clearing a path to the targets" by taking out much of the Iranian Air Force, Kilo submarines, anti-ship missiles that could target commerce or U.S. warships in the Gulf, and maybe even Iran's ballistic missile capability, White said.

The Bush administration and many of its Gulf allies have expressed growing concern about Iran's rising influence in the region and the prospect of it acquiring a nuclear weapon. More.....

A satellite image shows the Natanz facility with circles marking the fighting positions used to fend off a ground attack.

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This one scares me! We are not done in Iraq and we might need to further expand our military actions. Our soldiers and Marines, while the finest fighting force ever, are only human.

What worries me is that Iran has been making friends with other known enemies of the United States. They are already infiltrating into Iraq to support the insurgency there.

I can envision, Iran, Iraq and Syria teaming up against the United States in the Middle East with North Korea supporting them and waiting in the wings.

We have Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega and Evo Morales, all sworn enemies of the United States and friends with Iran to the south. We also know that Russia is in support of Iran and has supplied Iran with nuclear weapon technology.

The threat we face is real! The threat we face will not go away by ignoring it. Unfortunately, I do not think there will be diplomatic resolution to this threat. Diplomacy does not appear to be on the agenda of any of the countries listed above.

I think our country needs to infiltrate and support the students/dissidents in Iran. They are continually getting louder and louder. It appears this may be the only non-violent option we have. There are some internal groups in Iran that want change, we need to strengthen their efforts.

The other thing that emboldens these countries is how when we are only in the planning stage of our options and we have the new Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Senator Rockefeller (D) already attacking the President.

Even though the Intelligence Committee heard testimony from John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, that an emboldened Iran was casting a shadow across the Middle East and could decide to send Hezbollah operatives on missions to hit American targets.

It is actions like this that show other countries, we do not have the will to stand up against them. These terrorists are not stupid and are fully aware of the recipe it takes to beat the United States. That recipe is, we are our own worst enemy.

General Patton said - “It’s the unconquerable soul of man, not the nature of the weapon he uses, that insures victory.”