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September 28, 2004
Is Iran Next?The Pentagon neocons who brought you the war in Iraq have a new target
By Tom Barry
Shortly after 9/11, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith began coordinating Pentagon planning for an invasion of Iraq. The challenge facing Feith, the No. 3 civilian in the Defense Department, was to establish a policy rationale for the attack. At the same time, Feith’s ideological cohorts in the Pentagon began planning to take the administration’s “global war on terrorism,” not only to Baghdad, but also to Damascus and Tehran.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1114/------------
Middle East Features
U.S. preps Iran strike
By Martin Walker
Dec 30, 2005, 19:00 GMTWASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The Bush administration is preparing its NATO allies for a possible military strike against suspected nuclear sites in Iran in the New Year, according to German media reports, reinforcing similar earlier suggestions in the Turkish media.
The Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel this week quoted \'NATO intelligence sources\' who claimed that the NATO allies had been informed that the United States is currently investigating all possibilities of bringing the mullah-led regime into line, including military options. This \'all options are open\' line has been President George W Bush`s publicly stated policy throughout the past 18 months.
But the respected German weekly Der Spiegel notes \'What is new here is that Washington appears to be dispatching high-level officials to prepare its allies for a possible attack rather than merely implying the possibility as it has repeatedly done during the past year.\'
http://mehr.org/US_Iran_strike.htm---------------------------------------------
Now US ponders attack on Iran
Hardliners in Pentagon ready to neutralise 'nuclear threat' posed by Tehran
Julian Borger in Washington and Ian Traynor
Tuesday January 18, 2005The Guardian
President Bush's second inauguration on Thursday will provide the signal for an intense and urgent debate in Washington over whether or when to extend the "global war on terror" to Iran, according to officials and foreign policy analysts in Washington.
That debate is being driven by "neo-conservatives" at the Pentagon who emerged from the post-election Bush reshuffle unscathed, despite their involvement in collecting misleading intelligence on Iraq's weapons in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.
Article continues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1392750,00.html--------------------------------------------
U.S. studies Iran threat scenarios as Bush talks tough
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, February 10, 2005
The U.S. Central Command has been closely monitoring and updating plans for an attack on Iran.Although the Pentagon has emphasised that the process is routine for the military, the muscular rhetoric coming from President George W. Bush and Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice has served to underscore the U.S. attentiveness to the range of threat scenarios in the Middle East and other regions.
"The Iranians just need to know that the free world is working together to send a very clear message: Don't develop a nuclear weapon," President George Bush said on Wednesday. "And the reason we're sending that message is because Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a very destabilizing force in the world.
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/breaking2453412.047222222.html----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wary Iran readies for guerrilla war if U.S. invades
Sunday, February 27, 2005By Borzou Daragahi, Special to the Post-Gazette
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran has begun publicly preparing for a possible U.S. military attack, announcing efforts to mobilize recruits in citizens' militias and making plans to engage in the type of "asymetrical" guerrilla warfare which has bogged down American troops in neighboring Iraq.
"Iran would respond within 15 minutes to any attack by the United States or any other country," said an Iranian official close to the conservatives who run the country's security and military apparatus.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have been escalating over Iran's pursuit of nuclear technology. Tehran insists it needs nuclear power to meet its burgeoning domestic energy needs and to bolster its scientific community. Washington accuses Iran of using nuclear energy as a fig leaf for a weapons program.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05058/462990.stm--------------------------------------------------
December 30, 2005
THE US AND IRAN
Is Washington Planning a Military Strike?
Recent reports in the German media suggest that the United States may be preparing its allies for an imminent military strike against facilities that are part of Iran's suspected clandestine nuclear weapons program.It's hardly news that US President George Bush refuses to rule out possible military action against Iran if Tehran continues to pursue its controversial nuclear ambitions. But in Germany, speculation is mounting that Washington is preparing to carry out air strikes against suspected Iranian nuclear sites perhaps even as soon as early 2006.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,392783,00.html------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. plans naval buildup in Gulf
CENTCOM plans to use 'gunboat diplomacy,' officials tell NBC News
NBC News and news services
Updated: 10:53 a.m. ET Dec 19, 2006WASHINGTON - The U.S. Central Command is aggressively planning a naval buildup in the Persian Gulf, including the addition of a second aircraft carrier, in response to a series of aggressive actions by Iran, U.S. military officials told NBC News on Tuesday.
The officials pointed to Iran's interference in Iraq — including its support for Shiite militants and shipments of improvised explosive devices into the country — recent military naval exercises in the Gulf, and its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The attempt at "gunboat diplomacy" is in its final planning stages. Although it has not been approved yet, it appears likely the increase in U.S. warships into the Gulf could come as early as January, the officials said
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16281057---------------------------------------------------------------------
US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites
By Philip Sherwell in Washington
Last Updated: 1:34am GMT 14/02/2006'10,000 would die' in A-plant attack on Iran
Weblog: A sobering view of Iran
Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.
Central Command and Strategic Command planners are identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation, the Sunday Telegraph has learnt.
They are reporting to the office of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, as America updates plans for action if the diplomatic offensive fails to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear bomb ambitions. Teheran claims that it is developing only a civilian energy programme.
"This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment," said a senior Pentagon adviser. "This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/12/wiran12.xml-----------------------------------------------
Iran attack? Plans are well underway
Matthew Fisher, National Post
Published: Monday, March 20, 2006http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/archives/story.html?id=c63e8419-1562-4a83-8f34-b225c1235385&k=73525RAMSTEIN, Germany - Scores of camouflaged, over-sized U.S. Air Force transport aircraft lumber into the sky every day from this U.S. air base, hauling troops and war materiel to and from the battles now raging in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Nobody knows yet what, if anything, George W. Bush intends to do about the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear ambitions. However, if Bush does give his forces the green light to attack Iran, this air hub in the western Rhineland, which has been vital to sustaining the furious tempo of the U.S. President's global war on terror, could become even busier.
The talk about Iran from the West, and especially from Washington, is getting more incendiary by the day. But many military experts doubt whether the United States can successfully land knockout punches on all of Iran's many and disparate nuclear facilities. However daunting an attack on Iran may be, though, war planning is undoubtedly well underway.
"A sudden unexplained explosion at a U.S. embassy, a clash with militias in Basra, or a thousand other things could call the administration's bluff," according to Sick. "(T)here are certainly individuals in and around the administration who would not hesitate for a second to recommend a bombing attack on Iran." (END/2006)
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Report: Israel pressuring U.S. over Iran attack
The Washington Post reports that despite fact U.S. intelligence sources believe that Iran needs another 10 years before having nuclear weapons, Israel believes critical breakthrough will happen within months, and is therefore pressuring the Americans
Yitzhak Benhorin
Published: 04.09.06, 11:02 / Israel NewsWASHINGTON - The U.S. government is continuing to aspire for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear problem, but doubts for chances of success are growing, a Washington Post article published on Sunday said.
According to the paper, Israeli officials who visited Washington recently gave the Americans an urgent message regarding Iran: The Islamic Republic was closer to developing a nuclear bomb than Washington realizes, and the moment of decision is approaching quickly.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3237839,00.html--------------------------------------------------------------------
William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security
Despite Denials, U.S. Plans for Iran War
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/04/despite_denials_us_plans_for_i.html
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has been conducting theater campaign analysis for a full scale war with Iran since at least May 2003, responding to Pentagon directions to prepare for potential operations in the "near term." The campaign analysis, called TIRANNT, for "theater Iran near term," posits an Iraq-like maneuver war between U.S. and Iranian ground forces and incorporates lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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In February 2005, after a similar flurry of news reporting on U.S. military options for Iran, the Deputy Commander of CENTCOM Lt. Gen. Lance Smith was asked at a Pentagon briefing if the Tampa based command was in any kind of heightened state of planning when it comes to Iran.
"We plan everything," Smith responded. "We have a requirement on a regular basis to update plans. We try to keep them current, particularly if -- you know, if our region is active. But I haven't been called into any late-night meetings at, you know, 8:00 at night, saying, 'Holy cow, we got to sit down and go plan for Iran.'
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POLITICS-US: Psy-War or Serious? Washington Mulls Iran Attack
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Apr 10 (IPS) - Three years after the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces, Washington is abuzz about new reports that the administration of Pres. George W. Bush is preparing to attack Iran, possibly with nuclear weapons. Indeed, as in Iraq, hardliners in and outside the administration may be embarked on their own psy-war campaign against more moderate forces within the administration, either to counter European pressure on Washington to engage Iran in direct negotiations, to provoke Iran into an overreaction that would offer a pretext for an attack, or to rhetorically box the administration into a position where it would look unacceptably weak if it did not take action.
(END/2006)http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32849-----------------------------------------------------
U.S. said to speed plans for Iran attacks
Eric Schmitt
International Herald Tribune
04-10-2006Scott Shane contributed reporting for this article.* The Bush administration, which publicly advocates negotiations to halt Iran's nuclear program, is accelerating military planning for possible attacks against Iran, and has not ruled out using tactical nuclear weapons, according to a new article.The article, by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker, asserts that the Pentagon last winter presented the White House with an option to use bunker-buster nuclear bombs against Iran's underground nuclear sites. When the Joint Chiefs of Staff later ...
Read the rest of this article
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-121599126.html-------------------------------------------------
U.S. poised to attack Iran?
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 17, 2007Hasan Suroor
10,000 targets can be hit in a single air raid
LONDON: American plans for a military strike on Iran are "complete'' and the attack is to be launched "any day'', New Statesman magazine has said.In an alarming cover story in its latest issue titled "Attack — Revealed: America's plans to invade Iran'', the Left-wing journal claims that American preparations "extend far beyond'' targeting only Iran's suspected nuclear sites. What Americans are planning, it says, is a "major conventional war'' that will "enable President Bush to destroy Iran's military, political and economic infrastructure overnight using conventional weapons''.
In a report, "Ready to Attack'', Dan Plesch, a leading defence and security expert at the School of Oriental and African Studies, quotes British military sources as saying that the U.S. has been preparing for an armed confrontation with Iran for four yearshttp://www.hindu.com/2007/02/17/stories/2007021703151800.htm--------------------------------------------------------------------------
US 'Iran attack plans' revealed
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 February 2007, 10:28 GMTUS aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis (file picture)
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.
The BBC's Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says the news that there are now two possible triggers for an attack is a concern to Iranians.
Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says.
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Earlier this month US officers in Iraq said they had evidence Iran was providing weapons to Iraqi Shia militias. However the most senior US military officer later cast doubt on this, saying that they only had proof that weapons "made in Iran" were being used in Iraq.
Gen Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said he did not know that the Iranian government "clearly knows or is complicit" in this.
At the time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the accusations were "excuses to prolong the stay" of US forces in Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6376639.stm-------------------------------------------------------------
January 19, 2007
WASHINGTON (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.
"You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years, White told the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington think tank
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/20/us_plans_envision_broad_attack_on_iran_analyst/-------------------------
Feb 20, 2007 6:43 pm US/Pacific
Report: U.S. Ready With Plans To Attack IranHank Plante
Reporting
(CBS 5) The United States reportedly has contingency plans for a military attack on targets in Iran, but one expert believes having the plans does not indicate the U.S. intends to strike.
http://cbs5.com/national/local_story_051215650.html
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