The danger signs of an impending U.S. and/or Israeli aerial assault on Iran are flashing once again.
On January 7, the Sunday Times of London reported that Israeli pilots have been training to carry out a pin point attack on three Iranian targets in which it is believed that nuclear facilities and uranium enrichment sites are housed. The Sunday Times says that Israeli planes have flown to Gibraltar to practice for the three thousand kilometer return flight to Iran, possibly by way of Turkey. The story included speculation from unnamed Israeli military sources that to destroy facilities housed many meters underground, the Israelis could use low yield nuclear weapons.
Spokespersons for the Israeli government have responded tartly that they don’t comment on articles in the Sunday Times. The Sunday Times story ran just over a week before Dr. Mohammad Al Baradi, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited Paris and warned in a television interview that Iran could be in a position to produce a nuclear weapon within three years.
Meanwhile in Washington, leading Democratic Senators John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Joseph Biden of Delaware have been warning Americans that the Bush administration is preparing public opinion for an attack on Iran at a time when the U.S. does not the possess the military resources for such an attack, does not have the support of its allies and does not have the backing of Congress.
Rockefeller, a man who measures his words, which are taken seriously because as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Intelligence he sees classified documents, was scathing in his assessment of George W. Bush in an interview with the New York Times.
“I don’t think he understands the world,” Rockefeller said. “I don’t think he’s particularly curious about the world. I don’t think he reads like he says he does.”
“Every time he’s read something he tells you about it, I think.”
For the president and his closest collaborators, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the temptation to widen the Middle Eastern regional struggle to include Iran is readily understandable. At best, the Bush administration’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have bogged down and could well be headed toward irreversible disaster. Moreover, the administration has been repudiated by the American people in last November’s Congressional elections and by establishment heavyweights James Baker and Lee Hamilton in their Iraq Study Group Report.
For the White House, the prospect of unleashing America’s awesome air power beckons. Pinpoint, but massive, bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities could advance a number of objectives simultaneously.
The attack could destabilize, even topple, the belligerent regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad. It would demonstrate to the Europeans, who are now inclined to turn up their noses at the U.S., that American firepower can get the job done in a way that European talk cannot. And a successful attack would reinforce the position of Israel as the regional top power, teaching lessons to Palestinians and Iraqis alike.
For the Bush administration and the Olmert government in Israel, the prospect of a glittering win that would wipe away recent defeats, shines before them.
It is precisely these sorts of delusional fantasies that have the Democratic senators worried.
It wouldn’t be the first time that an American president decided to widen a war that was going badly. Richard Nixon tried it in South East Asia when the Vietnam War was careening toward defeat. Steeling himself with repeated screenings in the White House of the movie Patton, starring George C. Scott, Nixon launched his secret and unauthorized assaults on Cambodia and Laos. It was all for naught. The Americans continued down the road to final defeat in Vietnam.
Bush and his desperate entourage could be on the verge of a similar reckless gamble. It is to be hoped that a sufficient volume of warnings against such a course will have an effect.
On January 7, the Sunday Times of London reported that Israeli pilots have been training to carry out a pin point attack on three Iranian targets in which it is believed that nuclear facilities and uranium enrichment sites are housed. The Sunday Times says that Israeli planes have flown to Gibraltar to practice for the three thousand kilometer return flight to Iran, possibly by way of Turkey. The story included speculation from unnamed Israeli military sources that to destroy facilities housed many meters underground, the Israelis could use low yield nuclear weapons.
Spokespersons for the Israeli government have responded tartly that they don’t comment on articles in the Sunday Times. The Sunday Times story ran just over a week before Dr. Mohammad Al Baradi, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited Paris and warned in a television interview that Iran could be in a position to produce a nuclear weapon within three years.
Meanwhile in Washington, leading Democratic Senators John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Joseph Biden of Delaware have been warning Americans that the Bush administration is preparing public opinion for an attack on Iran at a time when the U.S. does not the possess the military resources for such an attack, does not have the support of its allies and does not have the backing of Congress.
Rockefeller, a man who measures his words, which are taken seriously because as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Intelligence he sees classified documents, was scathing in his assessment of George W. Bush in an interview with the New York Times.
“I don’t think he understands the world,” Rockefeller said. “I don’t think he’s particularly curious about the world. I don’t think he reads like he says he does.”
“Every time he’s read something he tells you about it, I think.”
For the president and his closest collaborators, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the temptation to widen the Middle Eastern regional struggle to include Iran is readily understandable. At best, the Bush administration’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have bogged down and could well be headed toward irreversible disaster. Moreover, the administration has been repudiated by the American people in last November’s Congressional elections and by establishment heavyweights James Baker and Lee Hamilton in their Iraq Study Group Report.
For the White House, the prospect of unleashing America’s awesome air power beckons. Pinpoint, but massive, bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities could advance a number of objectives simultaneously.
The attack could destabilize, even topple, the belligerent regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad. It would demonstrate to the Europeans, who are now inclined to turn up their noses at the U.S., that American firepower can get the job done in a way that European talk cannot. And a successful attack would reinforce the position of Israel as the regional top power, teaching lessons to Palestinians and Iraqis alike.
For the Bush administration and the Olmert government in Israel, the prospect of a glittering win that would wipe away recent defeats, shines before them.
It is precisely these sorts of delusional fantasies that have the Democratic senators worried.
It wouldn’t be the first time that an American president decided to widen a war that was going badly. Richard Nixon tried it in South East Asia when the Vietnam War was careening toward defeat. Steeling himself with repeated screenings in the White House of the movie Patton, starring George C. Scott, Nixon launched his secret and unauthorized assaults on Cambodia and Laos. It was all for naught. The Americans continued down the road to final defeat in Vietnam.
Bush and his desperate entourage could be on the verge of a similar reckless gamble. It is to be hoped that a sufficient volume of warnings against such a course will have an effect.
2 comments:
What do you think of Segolene Royal's recent support for Quebec sovereignty?
Firstly, the USA did not "lose" in Vietnam.
They may not have "won" but they destroyed Vietnam using chemical weapons (Agent Orange)and dropping twice the tonnage of bombs as were dropped on Germany in WWII. How many millions of Vietnamese were killed?
Where is Vietnam today?
If Iran does not capitulate totally it will be attacked.
A propaganda campaign is being conducted against it and the reports of Israeli training flights are part of this.
There are two US Carrier Task Forces in the Persian Gulf including HMCS Ottawa.
Who or what will/can stop an Israeli/USA attack on Iran if Bush/Cheney/Olmert decide to proceed?
Certainly not the US Congress which has voted the money to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The rhetoric of the new Congress "controlled" by the Democrats is unlikely to prevent an attack.
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