US 'Iran attack plans' Revealed

[babsbunny]

US 'Iran attack plans' revealed

USS John C Stennis is being deployed to the Persian Gulf
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.

The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc.co.uk%2F2%2Fhi%2Fmiddle_east%2F6376639.stm

[ClintonTyree]

1. Well if Bush insists we have no plans to attack Iran, I believe him.

NOT! This is the opposite administration. They do exactly the opposite of everything they say they're going to (or not) do. Think, "clear skies", "healthy forests", and "we have no plans to attack Iraq". Yeh, we can trust the Bush administration. :sarcasm:

[cui bono]

6. The Bizarro Administration, if you will.

(Seinfeld reference in case you didn't know that.)

[PDJane]

2. One more time.

The New Statesman, a UK paper has a list.

http://www.newstatesman.com/200702190014


The Bush administration has made much of sending a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf. But it is a tiny part of the preparations. Post 9/11, the US navy can put six carriers into battle at a month's notice. Two carriers in the region, the USS John C Stennis and the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, could quickly be joined by three more now at sea: USS Ronald Reagan, USS Harry S Truman and USS Theodore Roosevelt, as well as by USS Nimitz. Each carrier force includes hundreds of cruise missiles.

Then there are the marines, who are not tied down fighting in Iraq. Several marine forces are assembling, each with its own aircraft carrier. These carrier forces can each conduct a version of the D-Day landings. They come with landing craft, tanks, jump-jets, thousands of troops and, yes, hundreds more cruise missiles. Their task is to destroy Iranian forces able to attack oil tankers and to secure oilfields and installations. They have trained for this mission since the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Today, marines have the USS Boxer and USS Bataan carrier forces in the Gulf and probably also the USS Kearsarge and USS Bonhomme Richard. Three others, the USS Peleliu, USS Wasp and USS Iwo Jima, are ready to join them. Earlier this year, HQ staff to manage these forces were moved from Virginia to Bahrain.

Vice-President Dick Cheney has had something of a love affair with the US marines, and this may reach its culmination in the fishing villages along Iran's Gulf coast. Marine generals hold the top jobs at Nato, in the Pentagon and are in charge of all nuclear weapons. No marine has held any of these posts before. Traditionally, the top nuclear job went either to a commander of the navy's Trident submarines or of the air force's bombers and missiles. Today, all these forces follow the orders of a marine, General James Cartwright, and are integrated into a "Global Strike" plan which places strategic forces on permanent 12-hour readiness.

[TheBaldyMan]

8. there are two ther articles worth reading in that special edition

he first, by Andrew Stephen, is a warning to Bush about brinkmanship and how dangerous that can be.

http://www.newstatesman.com/200702190015">This, Mr President, is how wars start

The second and more enlightening than Dan Pletsch's article isn't a list of units but an analysis of the nation of Iran. I wish the President would read it.

http://www.newstatesman.com/200702190022">We are asking the wrong questions of Iran

This second article by Rageh Omaar is well worth reading and has a note of hope if the Chimperor would start acting like a man instead of a petulant brat.

[annabanana]

3. Sweet Jesus he really IS ready to march us off the cliff,

isn't he. This is terrifying.

[PDJane]

4. Yes. He is.

Scares the hell out of me, frankly.

[doublethink]

5. Could be anytime after this sanction deadline is up ...

"The UN Security Council has called on Iran to suspend its enrichment of uranium by 21 February. -snip- lets see that would be two days from now. Look for Condi to ratchet up the "we don't want to wait until a mushroom cloud hits a US city ... bull again" I suppose the propaganda will ratchet up a notch come Wednesday and there-after. Peace.

[ClayZ]

7. More Bloody Murder!

:kick: