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WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. defense officials have signaled that up-to-
date attack plans are available if needed in the escalating crisis
over Iran's nuclear aims, although no strike appears imminent.
The Army and Marine Corps are under enormous strain from years of
heavy ground fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, the United
States has ample air and naval power to strike Iran if President Bush
decided to target nuclear sites or to retaliate for alleged Iranian
meddling in neighboring Iraq.
Among the possible targets, in addition to nuclear installations like
the centrifuge plant at Natanz: Iran's ballistic missile sites,
Republican Guard bases, and naval warfare assets that Tehran could use
in a retaliatory closure of the Straits of Hormuz, a vital artery for
the flow of Gulf oil.
The Navy has an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf area with about
60 fighters and other aircraft that likely would feature prominently
in a bombing campaign. And a contingent of about 2,200 Marines are on
a standard deployment to the Gulf region aboard ships led by the USS
Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship. Air Force fighters and bombers
are available elsewhere in the Gulf area, including a variety of
warplanes in Iraq and at a regional air operations center in Qatar.
But there has been no new buildup of U.S. firepower in the region. In
fact there has been some shrinkage in recent months. After adding a
second aircraft carrier in the Gulf early this year-a move that
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said was designed to underscore U.S.
long-term stakes in the region-the Navy has quietly returned to a one-
carrier presence.
Talk of a possible U.S. attack on Iran has surfaced frequently this
year, prompted in some cases by hard-line statements by White House
officials. Vice President Dick Cheney, for example, stated on Oct. 21
that the United States would "not allow Iran to have a nuclear
weapon," and that Iran would face "serious consequences" if it
continued in that direction. Gates, on the other hand, has emphasized
diplomacy.
Bush suggested on Oct. 17 that Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear
arms could lead to "World War III." Yet on Wednesday, in discussing
Iran at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas
Sarkozy, Bush made no reference to the military option.
"The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is dangerous, and,
therefore, now is the time for us to work together to diplomatically
solve this problem," Bush said, adding that Sarkozy also wants a
peaceful solution.
Iran's conventional military forces are generally viewed as limited,
not among the strongest in the Middle East. But a leading expert on
the subject, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, says it would be a mistake to view the Islamic
republic as a military weakling.
"Its strengths in overt conflict are more defensive than offensive,
but Iran has already shown it has great capability to resist outside
pressure and any form of invasion and done so under far more adverse
and divisive conditions than exist in Iran today," Cordesman wrote
earlier this year.
Cordesman estimates that Iran's army has an active strength of around
350,000 men.
At the moment, there are few indications of U.S. military leaders
either advising offensive action against Iran or taking new steps to
prepare for that possibility. Gates has repeatedly emphasized that
while military action cannot be ruled out, the focus is on diplomacy
and tougher economic sanctions.
Asked in late October whether war planning had been ramped up or was
simply undergoing routine updates, Gates replied, "I would
characterize it as routine." His description of new U.S. sanctions
announced on Oct. 25 suggested they are not a harbinger of war, but an
alternative.
A long-standing responsibility of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is to
maintain and update what are called contingency plans for potential
military action that a president might order against any conceivable
foe. The secret plans, with a range of timelines and troop numbers,
are based on a variety of potential scenarios-from an all-out invasion
like the March 2003 march on Baghdad to less demanding missions.
Another military option for Washington would be limited, clandestine
action by U.S. special operations commandos, such as Delta Force
soldiers, against a small number of key nuclear installations.
The man whose responsibility it would be to design any conventional
military action against Iran-and execute it if ordered by Bush-is Adm.
William Fallon, the Central Command chief. He is playing down
prospects of conflict, saying in a late September interview that there
is too much talk of war.
"This constant drumbeat of conflict is what strikes me, which is not
helpful and not useful," Fallon told Al-Jazeera television, adding
that he does not expect a war against Iran. During a recent tour of
the Gulf region, Fallon made a point of telling U.S. allies that Iran
is not as strong as it portrays itself.
"Not militarily, economically or politically," he said.
Fallon's immediate predecessor, retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, raised
eyebrows in September when he suggested that initiating a war against
Iran would be a mistake. He urged vigorous efforts to stop Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons, but failing that, he said, "There are ways
to live with a nuclear Iran." He also said he believed Iran's leaders
could be dissuaded from using nuclear arms, once acquired.
The possibility of U.S. military action raises many tough questions,
beginning perhaps with the practical issue of whether the United
States knows enough about Iran's network of nuclear sites-declared
sites as well as possible clandestine ones-to sufficiently set back or
destroy their program.
Among other unknowns: Iran's capacity to retaliate by unleashing
terrorist strikes against U.S. targets.
Nonmilitary specialists who have studied Iran's nuclear program are
doubtful of U.S. military action.
"There is a nontrivial chance that there will be an attack, but it's
not likely," said Jeffrey Lewis, director of a nuclear strategy
project at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy
group.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SPLTG80&show_article=1
date attack plans are available if needed in the escalating crisis
over Iran's nuclear aims, although no strike appears imminent.
The Army and Marine Corps are under enormous strain from years of
heavy ground fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, the United
States has ample air and naval power to strike Iran if President Bush
decided to target nuclear sites or to retaliate for alleged Iranian
meddling in neighboring Iraq.
Among the possible targets, in addition to nuclear installations like
the centrifuge plant at Natanz: Iran's ballistic missile sites,
Republican Guard bases, and naval warfare assets that Tehran could use
in a retaliatory closure of the Straits of Hormuz, a vital artery for
the flow of Gulf oil.
The Navy has an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf area with about
60 fighters and other aircraft that likely would feature prominently
in a bombing campaign. And a contingent of about 2,200 Marines are on
a standard deployment to the Gulf region aboard ships led by the USS
Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship. Air Force fighters and bombers
are available elsewhere in the Gulf area, including a variety of
warplanes in Iraq and at a regional air operations center in Qatar.
But there has been no new buildup of U.S. firepower in the region. In
fact there has been some shrinkage in recent months. After adding a
second aircraft carrier in the Gulf early this year-a move that
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said was designed to underscore U.S.
long-term stakes in the region-the Navy has quietly returned to a one-
carrier presence.
Talk of a possible U.S. attack on Iran has surfaced frequently this
year, prompted in some cases by hard-line statements by White House
officials. Vice President Dick Cheney, for example, stated on Oct. 21
that the United States would "not allow Iran to have a nuclear
weapon," and that Iran would face "serious consequences" if it
continued in that direction. Gates, on the other hand, has emphasized
diplomacy.
Bush suggested on Oct. 17 that Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear
arms could lead to "World War III." Yet on Wednesday, in discussing
Iran at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas
Sarkozy, Bush made no reference to the military option.
"The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is dangerous, and,
therefore, now is the time for us to work together to diplomatically
solve this problem," Bush said, adding that Sarkozy also wants a
peaceful solution.
Iran's conventional military forces are generally viewed as limited,
not among the strongest in the Middle East. But a leading expert on
the subject, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, says it would be a mistake to view the Islamic
republic as a military weakling.
"Its strengths in overt conflict are more defensive than offensive,
but Iran has already shown it has great capability to resist outside
pressure and any form of invasion and done so under far more adverse
and divisive conditions than exist in Iran today," Cordesman wrote
earlier this year.
Cordesman estimates that Iran's army has an active strength of around
350,000 men.
At the moment, there are few indications of U.S. military leaders
either advising offensive action against Iran or taking new steps to
prepare for that possibility. Gates has repeatedly emphasized that
while military action cannot be ruled out, the focus is on diplomacy
and tougher economic sanctions.
Asked in late October whether war planning had been ramped up or was
simply undergoing routine updates, Gates replied, "I would
characterize it as routine." His description of new U.S. sanctions
announced on Oct. 25 suggested they are not a harbinger of war, but an
alternative.
A long-standing responsibility of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is to
maintain and update what are called contingency plans for potential
military action that a president might order against any conceivable
foe. The secret plans, with a range of timelines and troop numbers,
are based on a variety of potential scenarios-from an all-out invasion
like the March 2003 march on Baghdad to less demanding missions.
Another military option for Washington would be limited, clandestine
action by U.S. special operations commandos, such as Delta Force
soldiers, against a small number of key nuclear installations.
The man whose responsibility it would be to design any conventional
military action against Iran-and execute it if ordered by Bush-is Adm.
William Fallon, the Central Command chief. He is playing down
prospects of conflict, saying in a late September interview that there
is too much talk of war.
"This constant drumbeat of conflict is what strikes me, which is not
helpful and not useful," Fallon told Al-Jazeera television, adding
that he does not expect a war against Iran. During a recent tour of
the Gulf region, Fallon made a point of telling U.S. allies that Iran
is not as strong as it portrays itself.
"Not militarily, economically or politically," he said.
Fallon's immediate predecessor, retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, raised
eyebrows in September when he suggested that initiating a war against
Iran would be a mistake. He urged vigorous efforts to stop Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons, but failing that, he said, "There are ways
to live with a nuclear Iran." He also said he believed Iran's leaders
could be dissuaded from using nuclear arms, once acquired.
The possibility of U.S. military action raises many tough questions,
beginning perhaps with the practical issue of whether the United
States knows enough about Iran's network of nuclear sites-declared
sites as well as possible clandestine ones-to sufficiently set back or
destroy their program.
Among other unknowns: Iran's capacity to retaliate by unleashing
terrorist strikes against U.S. targets.
Nonmilitary specialists who have studied Iran's nuclear program are
doubtful of U.S. military action.
"There is a nontrivial chance that there will be an attack, but it's
not likely," said Jeffrey Lewis, director of a nuclear strategy
project at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy
group.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SPLTG80&show_article=1
