D
Dr. Jai Maharaj
Guest
Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike
By Sarah Baxter, Washington
THE SUNDAY TIMES, UK
Sunday, September 23, 2007
THE United States Air Force has set up a highly
confidential strategic planning group tasked with "fighting
the next war" as tensions rise with Iran.
Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned
the 1991 Gulf War's air campaign, was quietly reestablished
at the Pentagon in June.
It reports directly to General Michael Moseley, the US Air
Force chief, and consists of 20-30 top air force officers
and defence and cyberspace experts with ready access to the
White House, the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
Detailed contingency planning for a possible attack on Iran
has been carried out for more than two years by Centcom (US
central command), according to defence sources.
Checkmate's job is to add a dash of brilliance to Air Force
thinking by countering the military's tendency to "fight
the last war" and by providing innovative strategies for
warfighting and assessing future needs for air, space and
cyberwarfare.
It is led by Brigadier-General Lawrence "Stutz" Stutzriem,
who is considered one of the brightest air force generals.
He is assisted by Dr Lani Kass, a former Israeli military
officer and expert on cyberwarfare.
The failure of United Nations sanctions to curtail Iran's
nuclear ambitions, which Tehran claims are peaceful, is
giving rise to an intense debate about the likelihood of
military strikes.
Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said last
week that it was "necessary to prepare for the worst . . .
and the worst is war". He later qualified his remarks,
saying he wanted to avoid that outcome.
France has joined America in pushing for a tough third
sanctions resolution against Iran at the UN security
council but is meeting strong resistance from China and
Russia. Britain has been doing its best to bridge the gap,
but it is increasingly likely that new sanctions will be
implemented by a US-led "coalition of the willing".
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who arrives in New
York for the United Nations general assembly today, has
been forced to abandon plans to visit ground zero, where
the World Trade Center stood until the September 11 attacks
of 2001. Politicians from President George W Bush to
Senator Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner in the
2008 race for the White House, were outraged by the
prospect of a visit to New York's most venerated site by a
"state sponsor" of terrorism.
Bush still hopes to isolate Iran diplomatically, but
believes the regime is moving steadily closer to obtaining
nuclear weapons while the security council bickers.
The US president faces strong opposition to military
action, however, within his own joint chiefs of staff.
"None of them think it is a good idea, but they will do it
if they are told to," said a senior defence source.
General John Abizaid, the former Centcom commander, said
last week: "Every effort should be made to stop Iran from
obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world
could live with a nuclear-armed Iran."
Critics fear Abizaid has lost sight of Iran's potential to
arm militant groups such as Hezbollah with nuclear weapons.
"You can deter Iran, but there is no strategy against
nuclear terrorism," said the retired air force Lieutenant
General Thomas McInerney of the Iran policy committee.
"There is no question that we can take out Iran. The
problem is the follow-on, the velvet revolution that needs
to be created so the Iranian people know it's not aimed at
them, but at the Iranian regime."
Checkmate's freethinking mission is "to provide planning
inputs to warfighters that are strategically, operationally
and tactically sound, logistically supportable and
politically feasible". Its remit is not specific to one
country, according to defence sources, but its forward
planning is thought relevant to any future air war against
Iranian nuclear and military sites. It is also looking at
possible threats from China and North Korea.
Checkmate was formed in the 1970s to counter Soviet threats
but fell into disuse in the 1980s. It was revived under
Colonel John Warden and was responsible for drawing up
plans for the crushing air blitz against Saddam Hussein at
the opening of the first Gulf war.
Warden told The Sunday Times: "When Saddam invaded Kuwait,
we had access to unlimited numbers of people with
expertise, including all the intelligence agencies, and
were able to be significantly more agile than Centcom."
He believes that Checkmate's role is to develop the
necessary expertise so that "if somebody says Iran, it
says: 'here is what you need to think about'. Here are the
objectives, here are the risks, here is what it will cost,
here are the numbers of planes we will lose, here is how
the war is going to end and here is what the peace will
look like".
Warden added: "The Centcoms of this world are executional --
they don't have the staff, the expertise or the
responsibility to do the thinking that is needed before a
country makes the decision to go to war. War planning is
not just about bombs, airplanes and sailing boats."
Related Link:
The men planning America's next air war
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2512247.ece
Also from Sarah Baxter:
o Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid
o Snatched: Israeli commandos 'nuclear' raid
o Israelis 'blew apart Syrian nuclear cache'
o Alan Greenspan: "Blair was clearly an aide to Brown"
More at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2512097.ece
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
By Sarah Baxter, Washington
THE SUNDAY TIMES, UK
Sunday, September 23, 2007
THE United States Air Force has set up a highly
confidential strategic planning group tasked with "fighting
the next war" as tensions rise with Iran.
Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned
the 1991 Gulf War's air campaign, was quietly reestablished
at the Pentagon in June.
It reports directly to General Michael Moseley, the US Air
Force chief, and consists of 20-30 top air force officers
and defence and cyberspace experts with ready access to the
White House, the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
Detailed contingency planning for a possible attack on Iran
has been carried out for more than two years by Centcom (US
central command), according to defence sources.
Checkmate's job is to add a dash of brilliance to Air Force
thinking by countering the military's tendency to "fight
the last war" and by providing innovative strategies for
warfighting and assessing future needs for air, space and
cyberwarfare.
It is led by Brigadier-General Lawrence "Stutz" Stutzriem,
who is considered one of the brightest air force generals.
He is assisted by Dr Lani Kass, a former Israeli military
officer and expert on cyberwarfare.
The failure of United Nations sanctions to curtail Iran's
nuclear ambitions, which Tehran claims are peaceful, is
giving rise to an intense debate about the likelihood of
military strikes.
Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said last
week that it was "necessary to prepare for the worst . . .
and the worst is war". He later qualified his remarks,
saying he wanted to avoid that outcome.
France has joined America in pushing for a tough third
sanctions resolution against Iran at the UN security
council but is meeting strong resistance from China and
Russia. Britain has been doing its best to bridge the gap,
but it is increasingly likely that new sanctions will be
implemented by a US-led "coalition of the willing".
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who arrives in New
York for the United Nations general assembly today, has
been forced to abandon plans to visit ground zero, where
the World Trade Center stood until the September 11 attacks
of 2001. Politicians from President George W Bush to
Senator Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner in the
2008 race for the White House, were outraged by the
prospect of a visit to New York's most venerated site by a
"state sponsor" of terrorism.
Bush still hopes to isolate Iran diplomatically, but
believes the regime is moving steadily closer to obtaining
nuclear weapons while the security council bickers.
The US president faces strong opposition to military
action, however, within his own joint chiefs of staff.
"None of them think it is a good idea, but they will do it
if they are told to," said a senior defence source.
General John Abizaid, the former Centcom commander, said
last week: "Every effort should be made to stop Iran from
obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world
could live with a nuclear-armed Iran."
Critics fear Abizaid has lost sight of Iran's potential to
arm militant groups such as Hezbollah with nuclear weapons.
"You can deter Iran, but there is no strategy against
nuclear terrorism," said the retired air force Lieutenant
General Thomas McInerney of the Iran policy committee.
"There is no question that we can take out Iran. The
problem is the follow-on, the velvet revolution that needs
to be created so the Iranian people know it's not aimed at
them, but at the Iranian regime."
Checkmate's freethinking mission is "to provide planning
inputs to warfighters that are strategically, operationally
and tactically sound, logistically supportable and
politically feasible". Its remit is not specific to one
country, according to defence sources, but its forward
planning is thought relevant to any future air war against
Iranian nuclear and military sites. It is also looking at
possible threats from China and North Korea.
Checkmate was formed in the 1970s to counter Soviet threats
but fell into disuse in the 1980s. It was revived under
Colonel John Warden and was responsible for drawing up
plans for the crushing air blitz against Saddam Hussein at
the opening of the first Gulf war.
Warden told The Sunday Times: "When Saddam invaded Kuwait,
we had access to unlimited numbers of people with
expertise, including all the intelligence agencies, and
were able to be significantly more agile than Centcom."
He believes that Checkmate's role is to develop the
necessary expertise so that "if somebody says Iran, it
says: 'here is what you need to think about'. Here are the
objectives, here are the risks, here is what it will cost,
here are the numbers of planes we will lose, here is how
the war is going to end and here is what the peace will
look like".
Warden added: "The Centcoms of this world are executional --
they don't have the staff, the expertise or the
responsibility to do the thinking that is needed before a
country makes the decision to go to war. War planning is
not just about bombs, airplanes and sailing boats."
Related Link:
The men planning America's next air war
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2512247.ece
Also from Sarah Baxter:
o Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid
o Snatched: Israeli commandos 'nuclear' raid
o Israelis 'blew apart Syrian nuclear cache'
o Alan Greenspan: "Blair was clearly an aide to Brown"
More at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2512097.ece
Jai Maharaj
http://tinyurl.com/24fq83
http://www.mantra.com/jai
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
