Is Iran imminent?

[bluevoter4life]

Source: MSNBC

(CBS) A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the "increasingly hostile role" Iran is playing in Iraq - smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.

"What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and -women inside Iraq," said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

U.S. officials are also concerned by Iranian harassment of U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf as well as Iran's still growing nuclear program. New pictures of Iran's uranium enrichment plant show the country's defense minister in the background, as if deliberately mocking a recent finding by U.S. intelligence that Iran had ceased work on a nuclear weapon.

No attacks are imminent and the last thing the Pentagon wants is another war, but Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen has warned Iran not to assume the U.S. military can't strike.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/29/eveningnews/main4056941.shtml

---

Just heard on Countdown that military commanders are being asked to reconsider options following unrest in the Persian Gulf from Iran. Iraqi Prime Minister is expected to demand Iran to stop and, in the event that fails, the State Department is expected to draft a message saying "knock it off or else". More to come as I continue to look for a link to this story. I hope everyone has their draft cards ready.

Though the Source says MSNBC, apparently the webmasters haven't caught wind of this story, nor have the other major news outlets.



Edit: Link, Comments

[ohio2007]

1. as usual No . nt

[rhett o rick]

2. I am thinking yes. And Congress will stand by and say nothing. Kinda like Iraq. nm

[lligrd]

3. According To This It Isn't But......

they already have targets pcked out and we all know Cheney plans to do it before he leaves office.

"Hostile" Iran Sparks U.S. Attack Plan

(CBS) A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the "increasingly hostile role" Iran is playing in Iraq - smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.

"What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and -women inside Iraq," said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

U.S. officials are also concerned by Iranian harassment of U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf as well as Iran's still growing nuclear program. New pictures of Iran's uranium enrichment plant show the country's defense minister in the background, as if deliberately mocking a recent finding by U.S. intelligence that Iran had ceased work on a nuclear weapon.

No attacks are imminent and the last thing the Pentagon wants is another war, but Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen has warned Iran not to assume the U.S. military can't strike.

<snip>

Targets would include everything from the plants where weapons are made to the headquarters of the organization known as the Quds Force which directs operations in Iraq. Later this week Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is expected to confront the Iranians with evidence of their meddling and demand a halt.

More: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/29/eveningnews/main4056941.shtml

[bluevoter4life]

5. Damn

beat me to a link. Thanks :-)

[gordianot]

4. Gotta have a good excuse for $10.00 gallon gas and super recession.

Why not a limited nuclear war, Republicans have wanted this for decades.

[MikeNearMcChord]

11. But Hey!! Look on the bright side.

You might get a job out of it. It might involve carrying an M-16 or M-4 into Iran but just think of as an adventure!:silly: :silly:

[gordianot]

14. Just to damn old. I do have one war to fight.

When my asshole, idiot, neocon Bush Fox news loving, brother in law or his offspring seeks refuge on the farm, on that day I intend to settle some scores. That adventure I will fight with my bare hands or whatever becomes handy.

I do remember Vietnam which today now today looks almost like a minor screwup. Who knows they may become desperate for cannon fodder and take a page out of the Volks movement of the 1940's, send more children and the elderly off on an adventure?

[Trajan]

6. I don't believe it ....

The US Military does not have the resources for such an encounter .... They are shorthanded already, and many in the command structure believe it would 'break' the military to provoke such a confrontation ...

Simply engaging in air strikes will only tease the Bee's nest ....

I don't believe this will happen ...

I believe, if anything, Israel will be given a green light to bomb the nuclear sites ....

[ohio2007]

9. Don't let logic get in the way of a good rumor

that's been going on since June 2004,2005,2006,2007.


This time, it will be a June 2008 invasion because of ( X factor here )


Iran has made demands that Russia complete the delivery of the nuclear fuel they require but I don't know why the Russians are dragging their feet.

Maybe they are going to hedge their bet to see which dark horse might make it into the Whitehouse ?

Besides, as I recall, I think the Chinese plan to invade Taiwan during the olympics.

AT least that was a hot topic rumor back when Kim was trying to blow up nukes in a north Korean mineshaft ( as a distraction to the west )

;)

[bluevoter4life]

10. Yeah, but...

The military knows they have run out of resources to engage in a third war zone. However, we all know the Bush Administration does not care. They have no compunctions of instituting the draft to send more 19 year olds to die for an unjust cause. I hope this is nothing more than lip service to right wing hotheads. Wait for O'Liely and friends to chime in with their "informed" opinion.

[Rick Myers]

7. If Israel feels the need to strike...

CheneyCo has signed off on it... And we will be right there with AID for our allies!!!

[bemildred]

8. Desperate drivel.

Suppose we bomb Iran, which is all that we are up to. Then what? This is the desperate bluster of the weak and disadvantaged, not the studied diplomacy of the strong.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. Scott Ritter said yesterday he positively believes attack is

imminent in " immediate future." "No doubt in my mind"
Said this yesterday on Democracy Now, it should be transcript-ed on the web page.
:( :( :( :( :(

[ohio2007]

13. Google Scott Ritter Iran invasion, He said that in 2004

I see the mods moved the thread out of "breaking news"

[happyslug]

15. Getting late in the year to launch an attack

When we invaded Iraq, one of the comments was the dust storms that start in May and last till fall. These start in Libya and flow eastward to Iran. In Fact some people thought we attacked a little late, out troops had some problems with early dust storms.

More on such Storms:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/sat_training/dust/iraq/index.html
http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/sandstorm.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandstorm
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=7043
http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA429674
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeSEOkcbUQY

Each year there are three bad storms, the first around May 25, the second, the second week of June and the worst one the last week of June (These are approximate dates AND only for what the locals call the three worst storms, such storms occur all year long, but are worse in the Summer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamal_(wind)
http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag86.htm

Thus any Military Operations needs to be done before May 25th. It is getting to late in the year to do one. Now Bush may NOT care about the weather and attack during the worst storm if he thought it was political to do so, but the Military will try to avoid fighting in such a Storm, for almost all of the strengths of the US Military are undo in such a storm.