“Right now, we think it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously we don’t want to cut it too close,” he said.
A college friend of mine from ASU is the Air Force guy who has been planning the Iran attack, for the last decade or so. I hope he knows what he is doing.
Western Air-forces around the world have contingencies dating back decades for this one to start.
Skeeter needs a diversion right about now! Odds are that he will blow it!
Your humor is like mine, I see again–yes, he will blow it, guaranteed; but how many on his side will even see the mushroom cloud, of blatant lies, coverups and self-humbling of the country, that will mark his blowing.
He will receive a lifetime achievement award from the UN for his contribution to World Peace. Because he started WW3 by his ineptness or deliberately. Bush, McCain, Boehner, NRA, Tea Party, you, me, Republicans in general, Israel or any group that disagrees with his actions.
Attacking the nuclear facilities isn’t going to be enough. Besides, most of the research might be going on in N. Korea or Venezuela for all we know. Knocking out some centrifuges just means they will have to be replaced and will be harder to knock out the next time. This would have to be a strike aimed at taking out the regime. We had our chance to do that with some effect back during the Green Revolution but sat on our hands. Iran will have elections in June, maybe Obama will wait and see who comes out on top, not that it matters all that much, but maybe he will see how things go after the Dinner Jacket is gone.
They have a room full of PhDs working on the problem.
What could possibly go wrong?
This is another “Saddam and weapons of mass destruction”, when will you people learn ?
Iran has not attacked anyone, there is no evidence that they are attempting to build a nook, infact “Developments in Iran’s nuclear capabilities intended to “enhance its security, prestige, and regional influence” would ultimately “give the Islamic Republic the ability to develop a nuclear weapon,” US National Intelligence Director James Clapper told a Senate panel during an annual report on global threats on Tuesday.
Despite these advances, “we assess Iran could not divert safeguarded material and produce a weapon-worth of WGU (weapons-grade uranium) before this activity is discovered,” he continued.
Clapper further said “we do not know if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons.” http://rt.com/news/iran-bomb-clapper-assessment-174/
You idiots don’t help world peace by shitting in your pants everytime your warmonger leaders wave a boogyman at you, who is the terrorist nation that is currently killing innocent men women and little children with missiles launched from drones, this is sooo gutless and cowardly.
Should we? In 1935 the liberal west refused to take action to stop Hitler. 30 million or 60 million people lost their lives. The Germans had set up their factory for murdering in Dachau in 1933. We knew what they were doing, they were doing it. The air reeked with the smell of burnt flesh. Yet Germany was weak. We (the future United Nations) could have put an end to it. It would require spending blood, but nowhere near the cost to the US or Europeans. Now we are confronted with the Iranian “Mein Kampf”. They constantly threaten Israel and the US (and their Islamic neighbors too). It will be costly in lives. But what if they sail boats with nukes into the harbors of San Francisco or LA or Hawaii or Haifa? Then we have to act. The cost will be much greater: to us and to them.
That is one possibility. The other possibility is that you have the roles reversed.
Mike says:
March 15, 2013 at 1:29 pm
Your argument is a joke.
1984: West German intelligence sources claim that Iran’s production of a bomb “is entering its final stages.” US Senator Alan Cranston claims Iran is seven years away from making a weapon.
1992: Israeli parliamentarian Benjamin Netanyahu tells the Knesset that Iran is 3 to 5 years from being able to produce a nuclear weapon.
1995: The New York Times reports that US and Israeli officials fear “Iran is much closer to producing nuclear weapons than previously thought” – less than five years away. Netanyahu claims the time frame is three to five years.
1996: Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres claims Iran will have nuclear weapons in four years.
1998: Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claims Iran could build an ICBM capable of reaching the US within five years.
1999: An Israeli military official claims that Iran will have a nuclear weapon within five years.
2001: The Israeli Minister of Defence claims that Iran will be ready to launch a nuclear weapon in less than four years.
2002: The CIA warns that the danger of nuclear weapons from Iran is higher than during the Cold War, because its missile capability has grown more quickly than expected since 2000 – putting it on par with North Korea.
2003: A high-ranking Israeli military officer tells the Knesset that Iran will have the bomb by 2005 — 17 months away.
2006: A State Department official claims that Iran may be capable of building a nuclear weapon in 16 days.
2008: An Israeli general tells the Cabinet that Iran is “half-way” to enriching enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon and will have a working weapon no later than the end of 2010.
2009: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak estimates that Iran is 6-18 months away from building an operative nuclear weapon.
2010: Israeli decision-makers believe that Iran is at most 1-3 years away from being able to assemble a nuclear weapon.
2011: An IAEA report indicates that Iran could build a nuclear weapon within months.
2013: Israeli intelligence officials claim that Iran could have the bomb by 2015 or 2016.
RE: Karen –
Read more, lecture less. Most of Saddam’s WMD drove right across the border, and Syria made good use of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Orchard
I agree drones are cowardly. Like shooting from behind a tree, or wearing body armor. Bombing subways, cowardly. Bombing trains, cowardly. Using jets as bombs, cowardly. Sarin gas in Japan, cowardly. Shooting a mother from a safe sniping position while she holds her child, cowardly. Gassing Kurds, cowardly. Dropping nuclear weapons, cowardly. Walking up to a group of teenagers while wearing a suicide belt, cowardly. Killing innocents, cowardly.
But I am glad that al-Zarqawi was taken out, so that he could no longer bind men like Nick Berg, take out a dull knife, cut off the head, hold it up to the camera, and upload the video to the internet.
https://globalecco.org/from-al-zarqawi-to-al-awlaki-the-emergence-and-development-of-an-online-radical-milieu
The world is waiting to hear your solution to the collateral damage problem.
Looking at Libya and Syria and Lebanon today, it’s quite obvious that Barack Obama is the Al-Qaeda supremo, whom the Congress can capture and put on trial any time they want. We the people should not allow our Congressmen one second of peace or rest or relaxation until they do. See larouchepac.com/obamawatch
The Evil Empire says “attack first, lest ye be attacked. Attack without investigating. Attack without thinking. Your enemy breeds like flies and attacks without thinking; you don’t have any time; attack now!” That is how the Evil Empire preserves its good name, and hides its presence among you. The Evil Empire hates the U.S. Constitution, saying that it’s old and obsolete. It also says that the British Empire no longer exists, so the U.S. need no longer be wary of its former enemy. Tony Blair: Attack! David Cameron: Attack! Prince Philip: There are far too many people. I’d like to help get rid of them. Queen Elizabeth II: Rule Britannia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Lam9V_9tE&feature=player_embedded
Do you think progressives will believe Obama’s WMD story and will Dems recruit Colin Powell to present the case for war?
Reblogged this on Climate Ponderings.
This is a local difficulty between Shia and Sunni, strategically speaking and on a purely pragmatic level, on a RealPolitik basis, the USA and its two allies would do extremely well to steer clear completely and allow them – Saudi Arabia and Iran to get on with it.
I’m no expert, but I have noticed that the “moderate” Arab states like Saudi Arabia have wanted the US to spend its men and resources, and take all the chances of direct confrontation, instead of shouldering their own responsibilities, for a long time; so I don’t know whether the word, to “allow” them, applies. They have an ingrained fantasy of superiority–see the “Arabian Nights”, and the blessed lives of Kings and Princes–like the plantation owners of the Old South towards their slaves, and at some subconscious level, at least, they know those fantasies must one day be “Gone With the Wind”, should they again have to go to war themselves. And the everlasting blood feud between Shia and Sunni is not local, but the dirty secret, the shame of the “worldwide brotherhood” of Muslims, which they don’t like airing in front of all of us indifels (it spoils their “narrative”, their fundamental fantasy, of the superiority of Islam).
…”infidels”, I know (to which the wit replies, “but what about us indifels?”)
I believe, and we came first, how can we be the infidel?
Strategically, America and the West are no longer so reliant upon the black gold of the barren lands of Araby, the Gulf and land bridge to the Subcontinent should now be left to its own devices, the Chinese have more at risk – let them be the peace brokers for a change.
Edward. says:
March 15, 2013 at 5:45 pm
Strategically, America and the West are no longer so reliant upon the black gold of the barren lands of Araby, the Gulf and land bridge to the Subcontinent should now be left to its own devices, the Chinese have more at risk – let them be the peace brokers for a change.
Sage advice. But maybe you are sane.
It’s about profit and control. We cannot allow Chinese companies to profit, Chinese banks to profit, and China in general to profit.
Primarily, our hand on the spigot is a tourniquet around the Chinese Economy.
RE: Phodges – “Primarily, our hand on the spigot is a tourniquet around the Chinese Economy.”
What good is a spigot in one hand, when we have opened the spillway with the other? Trade imports nearly quadrupled from 2001 to 2011.
https://www.uschina.org/statistics/tradetable.html
US imports from China form 2001-2011 (in billions)
102.3 125.2 152.4 196.7 243.5
287.8 321.5 337.8 296.4 364.9 399.3
Some tourniquet. Fastest growth rates the past 30 years, average growth rate is 10%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China
This is a vexing problem. The nuclear genie is truly out of the bottle and there will undoubtedly be more regimes in the next decade who will develop nuclear capabilities. How can you stop them all and even if you tried, how can you ever be sure some weapons didn’t escape? You could be left with rogue elements, bent for revenge, with a nuclear payload. Yowza.
Personally, I would not go to war against Iran. They have not attacked another country in over 400 years and if America couldn’t succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq, why should we think we can do better in Iran?
“if America couldn’t succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq, why should we think we can do better in Iran”
True. Best leave the job to someone who knows what they are doing. The Israelis.
The Israelis ?
First and foremost they should be relieved of their nuclear arsenal, then pushed back behind the 1967 boundary and made to compensate the Palestinian’s for the crimes they have committed against them. I could go on…….. but I’m sure it would be a waste of time
Dear Karen,
In 1967, Israel’s neighbors attacked Israel at the 1967 boundaries, and declared their intent to drive the Jews into the sea. Very convenient of you to forget that minor attempt at genocide.
Just following in Hitler’s footsteps.
RE: Karen – “I could go on…….. but I’m sure it would be a waste of time”
No, please go on. Will you ignore Hebron 1929, while mentioning Cave of the Patriarchs massacre? Will you ignore suicide bombings of little kids, while sharing the story of Rachel Corrie? Will you ignore the Coastal Road massacre, while sharing how Israel targeted a humanitarian Turkish ship headed to Gaza?
Whatever you do, make sure to avoid balance and only give us one side please.
The floor is yours.
I was once in training for a job at the Defense Mapping Agency. I had ex spooks for professors, and yes, they know what they are doing. If the politicians would ‘release the hounds’ and then stay out of it, things would go ever so much better. But our military draws up stellar plans, and then the politicians second guess and worry about reelection, and F everything up.
Iran should have been dealt with long ago.
Iran was dealt with along time ago — we installed a Shah to get access to oil for ourselves and the British. That wind on your cheek is the blow back from our wonderful Iranian adventure of decades earlier. Another adventure now could become the stiff breeze your grandchildren will be feeling on their cheeks.
Yes, a leftist would believe that was a solution. Now you know why we don’t want you idiots running things.
I don’t believe I have ever been called a leftist in my life before. Shall I call you a war monger?
The trouble with thinking that the end justifies the means, is that there is no end.
Do you prefer ‘progressive’? I am not for interfering in the affairs of other countries, but I do know when an ass needs kicking.
Why did you change the subject to meddling in political affairs? Strawman much?
Why ask me? You started this thread.
All this macho talk reminds be of the time before the Irag invasion when we had such “certain intelligence” of WMDs. This time our intelligence is less certain, our wealth and energy is diminished (with very little to show for it), our soldiers are on their 3rd, 4th or 5th deployments or homeless on the streets, our friends and allies are exhausted from 10 years of war but still the macho talk sounds just the same.
And will an attack guarantee a nuclear-free Iran? No one can say. And what of the next county that gets the nuclear capability or the one after that or the dozen who will have it in 20 years?
I don’t have any answers, but what I do know is that Iran is an enemy today because of our intervention in their country 60 years ago.
Why are you continually yapping about the destruction politicians have wrought.
Strawman much?
RE: Yowza – “Iran is an enemy today because of our intervention in their country 60 years ago.”
There is a much longer history than that Yowza
May I fill in a few of the missing pieces?
Lets go back further. Americans first shed blood in Iran by taking up arms to protect Iranians during the first decade of the 1900s, when 4000 Russian troops invaded and bombed Tabriz. Our shed blood earned their trust.
But even before that, Iran/Persia first sought us out way back in 1856, to help them break away from Britain and Russia. We were invited in. Almost 100 years later, we accomplished what they asked for, independence. Yes the Shah was friendly to us, all of Iran was… but the earlier goodwill, purchased with blood, was soon forgotten.
Read the biography of Howard Baskerville, who fought and died, on their side.
Ben,
The Shah was friendly to us because we gave him greater power when the US orchestrated the overthrow of the democratically elected government. And we did that at the bequest of the weakened British (from WW2) who had lost control of the oil (what is now called BP) when it was nationalized.
This is historical fact. The United Kingdom called it Operation Boot and the United States called it the TPAJAX Project.
For almost 30 years America supported one of the most tyrannical regimes on Earth with a secret service more feared than East Germany’s Stazi. Hatred of the US built up over generations because of our intervention and that is why they now consider us their enemy.
So we are currently faced with the prospect of a nuclear enemy. Perhaps if we hadn’t intervened in the 50’s we may now have a nuclear friend. Who can possibly know?
And I have no idea how to tackle the problem of Iran getting the bomb, but I don’t think a pre-emptive attack is the answer because nuclear technology is becoming impossible to contain and it is simply not feasible to attack every country that becomes nuclear. Besides, no one wins a nuclear war.
The genie is out of the bottle and he is radio active.
RE: Yowza – “the US orchestrated the overthrow of the democratically elected government”
Mossadeq was appointed prime minister by the Shah. He was not elected to the position.
Ben,
No one disputes that the US created the coup and put the Shah into autocratic rule. No one but you it seems. The fact remain that the US created an enemy because of our intervention many years ago and now this enemy is on the verge of nuclear capability. More countries will be on that same verge in no-so-many years. Shall we make them all enemies?
Ok. so tell us yer story on it then?
And I don’t want yer story from above here, that is the PC version of it!
Me,
I don’t have an answer. All I know is that the U.S. needs another conflict like we need a bigger deficit. I also believe that we cannot stop nuclear proliferation. We have the Sword of Damocles over our collective heads and I can’t see a way out.
RE: Yowza – “The fact remain that the US created an enemy because of our intervention many years ago”
It is more complicated than intervention years ago. We intervened in all of the countries below, and not a single country below held our hostages for 444 days.
Germany, Italy, Japan, Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Mexico, Phillipines, Spain
Think harder. What is the real reason they hate us? Read the quotes of their leaders even prior to the coup. (That’s a big clue)
Yowza, don’t bring problems to the table that you don’t have an answer to then!
Libya, Syria, Iran…mere stepping stones to the Prize…China and Russia.
Both of which have repeatedly warned that Syria and Iran are redlines.
I think We will cross that red line and regime change Iran in about four or five years. China and Russia wont stop us.