Secret move to upgrade air base for Iran attack plans

[babylonsister]

Comment section is also 'interesting'.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/foreign/display.var.1792035.0.0.php

Secret move to upgrade air base for Iran attack plans
Ian Bruce


The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources.

The improvement of the B1 Spirit jet infrastructure coincides with an "urgent operational need" request for £44m to fit racks to the long-range aircraft.

That would allow them to carry experimental 15-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs designed to smash underground bunkers buried as much as 200ft beneath the surface through reinforced concrete.
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One MOP - known as Big Blu - has already been tested successfully at the US Air Force proving ground at White Sands in New Mexico. Tenders have now gone out for a production model to be ready for use in the next nine months.

The "static tunnel lethality test" on March 14 completely destroyed a mock-up of the kind of underground facility used to house Iran's nuclear centrifuge arrays at Natanz, about 150 miles from the capital, Tehran.

Although intelligence estimates vary as to when Iran will achieve the know-how for a bomb, the French government recently received a memo from the International Atomic Energy Agency stating that Iran will be ready to run almost 3000 centrifuges in 18 cascades by the end of this month. That is in defiance of a UN ban on uranium enrichment and would be enough to produce a nuclear weapon within a year.

more...

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/foreign/display.var.1792035.0.0.php

[Redstone]

1. Absolutely off the mark and untrue, for one simple reason:

I'll leave it for others to explain why, but you can take this bit of advice to the bank: If we were to bomb Iran, we would NOT use B-1s to do it. We'd use B-2s.

Redstone

[babylonsister]

2. I defer to your knowledge as I don't have any regarding this tidbit.

I did question the source in my mind, but I'll leave it up anyway in case someone else wants to weigh in.

[Wcross]

3. B-2's would be used during the initial attack.

You don't think they would use B-1's on the second & third days of the bombing? I wouldn't be surprised if they used B-52's eventually.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. They would use BUFF's...

But only within an area where they have relative air superiority and they would use them as launch platforms for ALCM's.

[mr_hat]

4. But the article calls the B-1 the "Spirit".

So that's goofed up, too.

Also: Fitting racks to a B-2 wouldn't make any sense, would it? I mean, there goes stealth.

[Redstone]

6. The B1 has internal rotary launchers as well...no racks there either.

Redstone

[Emit]

7. "No evidence Iran is making nuclear weapons: ElBaradei " Oct 28/2007

No evidence Iran is making nuclear weapons: ElBaradei by Jitendra Joshi
Sun Oct 28, 12:29 PM ET

Chief UN atomic watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei said Sunday he had no evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons and accused US leaders of adding "fuel to the fire" with recent bellicose rhetoric.

"I have not received any information that there is a concrete active nuclear weapons program going on right now," the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency told CNN.

"Even if Iran were to be working on a nuclear weapon ... they are at least a few years from having such a weapon," he said, citing assessments by US officials themselves.

"At this stage we need to continue to work through creative diplomacy ... as I don't see any other solution than diplomacy and inspections," ElBaradei said.

~snip~

In recent months, Bush has predicted "nuclear holocaust" and "World War III" if Tehran gets atomic weapons, while Cheney has warned of "serious consequences" for Iran if it defies global demands to freeze uranium enrichment -- echoing the UN resolution that Washington says authorized war in Iraq.

ElBaradei said if the United States had more information on Iran's nuclear drive than the IAEA, "I would be very happy to receive it and go forward."

He said "we cannot give Iran a pass right now, because there is still a lot of question marks."

"But have we seen Iran having the nuclear material that can readily be used into a weapon? No. Have we seen an active weaponization program? No," he said.

Merely "exchanging rhetoric" would not resolve the Iranian nuclear case, ElBaradei said, pointing to ongoing negotiations with North Korea as an example of dealing with the Islamic republic.

~snip~

ElBaradei said it is time "to stop spinning and hyping the Iranian issue," warning that military force could spark a global "conflagration."

"It could even accelerate a drive by Iran, even if they are not working on a nuclear weapon today, to go for a nuclear weapon," the IAEA chief added.

"So we can talk about use of force if and when we exhausted diplomacy ... but we are far, far away from that stage."

~snip~

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071028/wl_mideast_afp/irannuclearpoliticsiaeaus_071028162940

[babylonsister]

8. France & U.S. Dismiss IAEA Report on Iranian Nukes

IAEA findings on Iran dismissed


France and the US have dismissed a finding by the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog Mohammed ElBaradei that there is no evidence of Iran building a bomb.

French Defence Minister Herve Morin challenged Iran to allow UN inspectors unlimited access to sites.

A White House spokeswoman said Iran was "enriching and reprocessing uranium, and the reason that one does that is to lead towards a nuclear weapon".

Mr ElBaradei said on Sunday that Tehran was years away from developing a bomb.

Iran denies it is seeking to build nuclear weapons and says it wants only civilian nuclear energy.

Its refusal to stop enriching uranium - a process which can lead to a nuclear bomb - has led the UN Security Council to impose two sets of sanctions, which the US has followed up with unilateral penalties of its own.

French scepticism

"Our information, which is backed up by other countries, is contrary ," Mr Morin told reporters on a visit to Abu Dhabi.

more...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7068478.stm

[Emit]

9. So, is France playing the role for Iran that Britain played with regard to Iraq?

:shrug:

"The French Defense Minister, Herve Morin, when visiting the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, said he possesses information that Iran is developing nuclear weapons." http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=23893


More from last month:

French Defense Minister Hervé Morin on France, NATO and 'New' Security Threats
The Editors | 25 Sep 2007

~snip~

During an hour-long interview on the French talk show "Grand Jury" on Sept. 16, Kouchner appeared momentarily to suggest that France was preparing for a possible war with Iran in the event that Iran did not suspend its program of uranium enrichment. Between the publication of the Védrine Report and Kouchner's remarks, however, an arguably more weighty programmatic statement by new French Defense Minister Hervé Morin went largely unnoticed outside of France.

~snip~

... Morin ... clearly pointed to the potential of war with Iran as an eventuality for which French defense, "without resigning ourselves to the worst," must be prepared.

~snip~

World Politics Review here presents translated extracts from Hervé Morin's speech to the French "Defense University." :

Today we can see that the strategic appetites and the military capabilities -- whether conventional or non-conventional -- of certain world powers are developing. The probability of an open crisis is not equivalent to zero. If Iran, for example, despite our resolute efforts, continues on the path to confrontation with the international community, how can one not fear a destabilization of the region? Who can believe for a single second that the perspective of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon would not provoke a reaction -- notably from certain of its neighbors -- and an unpredictable chain reaction in turn? The North/South divide is increasingly becoming a conflict between the West and Islam. It seems to me that the skies are darkening from year to year in that part of the world. One can even observe an incredible development: a Persian and Shia country is aspiring to become the champion of the Arab and Muslim world. Nobody can guarantee anymore that we are safe from a strategic surprise: it remains, of course, to be assessed within what time period. It could be that the function of Minister of Defense makes one pessimistic, but I feel deeply that considerable sources of destabilization exist. It is our duty, without resigning ourselves to the worst, to prepare ourselves for such possibilities.

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=1172

[babylonsister]

11. I honestly don't know what's going on, but do think it might be cause

for concern. And I'm also concerned that the head shed on Diego Garcia is Looney! :crazy: :hide:

[Emit]

12. Looney!

Yeah, I caught that, too.

[Emit]

10. President Bush (and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice) Visit Diego Garcia 9/4/2007

President Bush Visits Diego Garcia
Story Number: NNS070904-01
Release Date: 9/4/2007 10:28:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael W. Pulley, Diego Garcia Public Affairs

DIEGO GARCIA, British Indian Ocean Terrority (NNS) -- After spending most of Labor Day with U.S. troops serving in Iraq, President George W. Bush made a very brief morning visit Sept. 4 to one of the U.S. Navy’s most remote duty stations in the world: the U.S. Navy Support Facility (NSF) on the island of Diego Garcia, in British Indian Ocean Territory.

“This is the third time now the president has visited a command I’ve been a part of and I’ve always noticed how he gets energized shaking hands and saying hello to our service men and women,” said Capt. Greg L. Looney, NSF Diego Garcia’s commanding officer.

The visit was scheduled with less than 12 hours of notice and a lot of work needed to be done in that short amount of time to prepare for the president’s arrival.

~snip~

In less than 90 minutes, Bush met with more than 100 military members from both the Navy and Air Force and took the time to pose for several group photographs.

~snip~

This was Bush’s first visit to Diego Garcia and the first visit from any U.S. president in quite some time.

Along with meeting many of the Sailors and Airmen of the island, the president took time to speak with Capt. Looney and Royal Navy Cmdr. Gary Brooks, the British Representative for the island, about the many missions of Diego Garcia and its strategic importance in the world.

“He was really interested ... and he understands the importance of our mission,” said Looney.

~snip~

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was part of the official party and also spent time meeting with the military members of Diego Garcia.