Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites - Times Online
Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal....The four main targets for any raid on Iran would be the uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Qom, the gas storage development at Isfahan and the heavy-water reactor at Arak. Secondary targets include the lightwater reactor at Bushehr, which could produce weapons-grade plutonium when complete.
The targets lie as far as 1,400 miles (2,250km) from Israel; the outer limits of their bombers’ range, even with aerial refuelling. An open corridor across northern Saudi Arabia would significantly shorten the distance. An airstrike would involve multiple waves of bombers, possibly crossing Jordan, northern Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Aircraft attacking Bushehr, on the Gulf coast, could swing beneath Kuwait to strike from the southwest.
Opening moves in this year's "Summer Games" in the mideast? Likely.
Retired army officer Donald Sensing, after visiting Israel, has laid out probable scenarios for the coming war in two recent articles. The first,Sense of Events: Middle East's fuze is very short
This battle is brewing, the only question is when. Will it be this summer? Israel will take the first hit this year, but next year probably will hit first. And as Daniel pointed out, the US will not be able to sit it out. Our troops and naval vessels are targets for Iran if the balloon goes up at all.Does the Obama administration foresee any of this and is it taking actions to reduce the likelihood? No and no. For this is a president of ceremony, not substance. For the first time, the United States has a chief of state but not a head of government. There's a dark cloud forming in the East and a blood moon is coming.
The second, from early May, Sense of Events: The Summer Games
It's a two by two table. Either Israel takes the first round or strikes first. Either Tel Aviv gets the first BIG hit or Jerusalem. While the obvious scenerio is with Tel Aviv, the market center getting hit, there is far more potency for Iran to strike Jerusalem hard. I'll come back to this later. No one here has any doubt that Iran has a big weapon and that they will use it. To play the American Game (like in 1991) will mean that Israel will have to wait for Iran to fire first. The longer that time plays out, the greater the risk that the first strike will be atomic. A Hiroshima sized weapon will hurt.Why is it that, this morning, in the back of my mind I keep hearing that dulcet computer voice from WarGames saying, "Shall we play a game?" Posted by Vanderleun at June 12, 2010 10:15 AMFor Israel to attack first will immediately set off rocket bombardments from Syria and Hizbullah. The lunatics in Hamastan will also join in but they will be the first to feel the IDF fist. There will be no pulling punches this time. The question is whether the West Bankers will also open fire. The general Israeli feeling, given their training, is that the expectation is that all hell will break loose.
I heard Alan Dershowitz say that if Iran tries to break the blockade, this constitutes an unambiguous act of war, and that Israel will have full justification to respond with force. He added that the two countries are technically in a state of war anyway, ever since Iran bombed the Israeli embassy and Jewish Community Center in Buenos Airies.
Payback time.
Posted by: Gagdad Bob at June 12, 2010 11:01 AMIf Iran targets Jerusalem with a nuke it means the Dome of the Rock gets hit. How is the Moslem world going to take that?
Posted by: Alan Kellogg at June 13, 2010 5:12 PM"Does the Obama administration foresee any of this and is it taking actions to reduce the likelihood? No and no."
I believe the answer is: yes and no. Post-Christian America does not know or understand Democrat President Barack Hussein Obama. The slow-motion bankruptcy of America, the siphoning of middle class wealth and the ambivalent response to the calamitous tragedy taking place in the Gulf of Mexico all point to a controlled burn by person (or persons) dedicated to destroying something old undesireable and replacing it with something more to their liking.
Throwing Israel to the dogs is small potatoes when you're focused on disassembling and remaking a 230 year old republic.
"Does the Obama administration foresee any of this and is it taking actions to reduce the likelihood? No and no."
I believe the answer is: yes and no. Post-Christian America does not know or understand Democrat President Barack Hussein Obama. The slow-motion bankruptcy of America, the siphoning of middle class wealth and the ambivalent response to the calamitous tragedy taking place in the Gulf of Mexico all point to a controlled burn by person (or persons) dedicated to destroying something old undesireable and replacing it with something more to their liking.
Throwing Israel to the dogs is small potatoes when you're focused on disassembling and remaking a 230 year old republic.
While Fernandez' essay "Three Conjectures" was written about a nuclear war between terrorists and the United States, it also applies to Israel and Iran. If Israel is bombed with a nuclear weapon, they know who their enemies are, what their desires are, and what they are capable of. There is no stopping point short of annihilation, either of Israel or Islam.
"How is the Moslem world going to take that?"
I believe the 3rd mostly holy place in Shia Islam is somewhere different. This is Islam's hour. It will not pass without mass murder.
Posted by: tehag at June 14, 2010 7:12 AMMore likely Obama will tell the US military to "take decisive action against the Israeli agression against the peaceful people of Iran", even if Iran strikes first.
I think Iran lobbing rockets towards Israel is proof positive that no one likes the Palestinians. They are just pawns in a game.
Now consider alternatives: suppose Iran attacks Saudi Arabia? The oil fields would be a good place to start. And the closing of offshore exploration in America is a good opening move.
What would the Israeli riposte be? Take out Iran's refinery capacity.
As much as I disliked McCain I would prefer to have a warrior at the helm at such a time.
Posted by: M. Simon at June 21, 2010 1:48 AM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.
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