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Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran

Uzi Mahnaimi, New York and Sarah Baxter, Washington


ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.

Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels” into the targets. “Mini-nukes” would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.

“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources.

The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.

Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70ft of concrete and rock. However, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined to intervene, senior sources said.

Israeli and American officials have met several times to consider military action. Military analysts said the disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.

Some analysts warned that Iranian retaliation for such a strike could range from disruption of oil supplies to the West to terrorist attacks against Jewish targets around the world.

Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are believed to be involved in Iran’s nuclear programme:

# Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment

# A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a statement by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels

# A heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough plutonium for a bomb

Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear programme indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a “second Holocaust”.

The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that “Israel must be wiped off the map”.

Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, has described military action against Iran as a “last resort”, leading Israeli officials to conclude that it will be left to them to strike.

Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible routes have been mapped out, including one over Turkey.

Air force squadrons based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, have trained to use Israel’s tactical nuclear weapons on the mission. The preparations have been overseen by Major General Eliezer Shkedi, commander of the Israeli air force.

Sources close to the Pentagon said the United States was highly unlikely to give approval for tactical nuclear weapons to be used. One source said Israel would have to seek approval “after the event”, as it did when it crippled Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak with airstrikes in 1981.

Scientists have calculated that although contamination from the bunker-busters could be limited, tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be released.

The Israelis believe that Iran’s retaliation would be constrained by fear of a second strike if it were to launch its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles at Israel.

However, American experts warned of repercussions, including widespread protests that could destabilise parts of the Islamic world friendly to the West.

Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Pentagon adviser, said Iran could try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the route for 20% of the world’s oil.

Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the nerve to attack Iran. However, Dr Ephraim Sneh, the deputy Israeli defence minister, said last month: “The time is approaching when Israel and the international community will have to decide whether to take military action against Iran.”

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The oil market is not worried. Oil has sharply declined over the last two or three days. Gold is down, also. If there was really going to be a war, would not the Big Boys already know about it, as they did before the last two Gulf wars?

Dragon

Rupert Murdoch owns the London Times.

It's likely that Murdoch is helping to incite Iran to strike Israel first, or at least to draw Iran into preparations for a strike that Neocons can point to as "proof" that Iran is the aggressor and Israel/U.S. the victims.

What's important here is victimization. Israel/U.S. must not be seen as the aggressor -- even though the new chief of CENTCOM is a Navy Admiral (replaced 1/05/07), the Persian Gulf Naval buildup continues apace, and multiple pieces of evidence seem to indicate a planned strike.

Also this from 2005:

The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons.

Scott Ritter, interviewed by Seymour Hersh, recently was quoted:

SEYMOUR HERSH: So the question then is -- we go to war -- tell us what happens next, in your view.

SCOTT RITTER: I'll give you my best analysis. The Iranians will use the weapon that is the most effective weapon [oil]... [The Iranians saw what happened to Saddam, so] So the Iranians realize that they have to inflict pain upfront. The pain will come economically.

Our oil-based economy is operating on the margins, as we speak. We only have 1.0% to 1.5% excess production capacity. If you take the Iranian oil off the market, which is the first thing the Iranians will do, we automatically drop to around minus-4%, which means there ain't enough oil out there to support the globe's thirst for oil, especially America's thirst for oil. And we're not the only ones drinking it? You think for a second the Chinese and the Indians, the world's two largest developing economies, are going to say, "Hey, Uncle Sam, we'll put everything on hold, so we can divert oil resources, so you can feed your oil addiction, because you attacked Iran"?

And it's not just Iranian oil that will go off the market. Why do you think we sent minesweepers up there? We've got to keep the Straits of Hormuz open. The Iranians will shut it down that quick. They'll also shut down oil production in the western oil fields of Saudi Arabia. They'll shut down Kuwaiti oil production. They'll shut down oil production in the United Arab Emirates. They'll shut down whatever remaining oil production there is in Iraq. They'll launch a massive attack using their Shia proxies in Iraq against American forces. That will cause bloodshed.

The bottom line is, within two days of our decision to initiate an attack on Iran, every single one of you is going to be feeling the consequences of that in your pocketbook. And it's only going to get worse. This is not something that only I recognize. Ask Dick Lugar what information he's getting from big business, who are saying, "We can't afford to go to war with Iran."

SEYMOUR HERSH: Final question: given all this, are we going to do it?

SCOTT RITTER: Yes, we're going to do it.

ritter has been peddlin the Iran hit since feb 2005

I guess IF you say somethin enuff it could come true in the majic kingdum

OK?
I and my crystal mud ball

HI HUGH!!!

I said all of 2006 that Iran would NOT be hit.
ritter is sellin books
Sorry ..seymour hersh is what ???
the only honest journalist in Washyourcesspool DC
not likely..

Jan and Feb are critical months
Iraq got lit up in Mar 2003

Izreal hit Iraq and their mickey mouse nuke facilities in 1982 or so

so there is a real possibilty for a 2007 attack


I will consult my crystals

eenie meanie chillie beaney

dbeach wrote: I and my crystal mud ball

HI HUGH!!!

I've got mudball fatigue, dbeach.

Seems that the nuclear threat against Iran from Hersh and Ritter in succession comes from leaking to them as conduits for psy-ops pressure against the Iranians to see if they'll give and cry Uncle (Sam.)

The Israelis play the bad cop for now. If nukes, even 'mini-nukes' fly, there will be an uproar that noone in any country is ready for. This county will hit the streets like the 60s, guaranteed. And lots of others will, too. So keep an eye on FEMA to see if they're putting extra towels in their guest rooms.

This repeated mal-translation about "wiping Israel off the map" is bothersome. Taking advantage of language barriers to mislead isn't surprising though. Not with the petrodollar at stake.

Anybody watch that joking-on-the-square movie, 'Network' lately? This whole scenario is layed out in 1977 as if it's 'just a movie.'

But "mini-nukes" sound so cute! ^___^ Why not let them drop a couple?

judasdisney wrote:Rupert Murdoch owns the London Times.

It's likely that Murdoch is helping to incite Iran to strike Israel first, or at least to draw Iran into preparations for a strike that Neocons can point to as "proof" that Iran is the aggressor and Israel/U.S. the victims...

3-years later and Rupert still has his incites set on Iran (Why would the Shiia Iranians shelter the Sunni family?):

Osama bin Laden's missing family found in secret compound in Iran - Times Online

Clockwise from top left: Osama Bin Laden and his 10-year-old son Ali; Saad bin Laden; Omar Ossama bin Laden with his wife Zaina; Ossman bin Laden; and Muhammad and Bakr bin Laden

Osama bin Laden’s closest relatives are living in a secret compound in Iran, members of the family said last night. They include a wife and children who disappeared from his Afghan camp at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

There has been uncertainty about the family’s whereabouts for the past eight years, with reports that some of the children had been killed in bombings, while others had joined their father in planning terrorist attacks. However, relatives said that they found out last month that the group, including one of Osama’s wives, six of his children and 11 of his grandchildren, had been kept in a high-security compound outside Tehran.

They have been prevented from contacting the outside world while Iran has repeatedly denied that any of the relatives were living in the country.

Members of the bin Laden family are now appealing for the group to be allowed to leave Iran and described them as the “forgotten victims of 9/11”.

Omar Ossama bin Laden, 29, the al-Qaeda leader’s fourth-eldest son, said he had no idea that his brothers and sisters were still alive until they called him in November. They told him how they had fled Afghanistan just before the 9/11 attacks and walked to the Iranian border. They were taken to a walled compound outside Tehran where guards said they were not allowed to leave “for their own safety”. The eldest of the children, Saad, was 20 at the time, Ossman 17, Muhammad 15, Fatma 14, Hamza 12, Iman 9, and Bakr, 7.

There had been speculation that Muhammad was second in command of al-Qaeda and that Saad also instigated and plotted terrorist attacks until he was killed about 18 months ago by an American drone. The relatives, however, said that Muhammad is still living in the compound and that Saad ran away less than a year ago in an attempt to find his mother.

A week after making contact with her brother, Iman escaped during a rare trip outside the compound and made her way to the Saudi Arabian Embassy. She is now living there while seeking permission to leave Iran.

Mr bin Laden said that his relatives live as normal a life as possible, cooking meals, watching television and reading. They are allowed out only rarely for shopping trips. As a number of families are being held in the compound some of the older siblings have been able to marry and have their own children. “The Iranian Government did not know what to do with this large group of people that nobody else wanted, so they just kept them safe. For that we owe them much gratitude, and thank Iran from the depth of our heart,” he said.

Mr bin Laden, who had lived with his father in exile in Sudan and Afghanistan but left before the 9/11 attacks, now hopes that the family will be given permission to leave Iran and join his mother, brother and two sisters in Syria, or himself and his wife in Qatar.

He said: “They are all just innocent victims, just the same as anyone else hurt by the dreadful events of 9/11 and 7/7. These babies and children have never had any education, never hurt a single soul, never trained with any weapons or ever been part of al-Qaeda. We just want to be together as a family. I have now got 11 nieces and nephews, born either in Afghanistan or Iran that I have never seen.

“Some may find this story unnerving, but the child can’t be judged by the sins of their father.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 965756.ece

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi had secret £1.8m - Times Online

aangirfan: MARK MACASKILL AND LOCKERBIE LIES

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