Roadmap to war against Iran #02

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Iran has set up a sophisticated intelligence gathering operation in southern Lebanon to identify targets in northern Israel in the event of a military confrontation over its controversial nuclear programme.

Senior Israeli military commanders say Iran has spent tens of millions of pounds helping its close ally, Hizbollah, the Shia Muslim militant group that controls southern Lebanon, to set up a network of control towers and monitoring stations along the entire length of Israel's border with south Lebanon.

Some of the new control towers, which are made of reinforced concrete and fitted with bullet-proof reflective glass, are less than 100 yards from Israeli army positions and are clearly visible for long stretches along Israel's border.

"This is now Iran's front line with Israel," a senior Israeli military commander said. "The Iranians are using Hizbollah to spy on us so that they can collect information for future attacks. And there is very little we can do about it."

The Israeli military has reported a significant increase in Hizbollah activity in southern Lebanon since Syria came under intense international pressure to withdraw its forces from the area last year following the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Israeli military officers report that teams of Iran's Revolutionary Guards travel regularly to southern Lebanon to help train local Hizbollah fighters in terrorist tactics. Tensions between Iran and Israel have intensified dramatically since the election last summer of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's new leader. Israel has repeatedly threatened to take military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and the new Iranian government has responded by calling for Israel's destruction.

Senior Israeli military officers believe Iran is deliberately exploiting the power vacuum caused by Syria's withdrawal to intensify pressure on Israel's northern border.

Hizbollah is aware that Israel is keen to maintain friendly relations with the new government in Lebanon and believes it can act freely in southern Lebanon without provoking retaliatory strikes from Israel.

Officers report a sharp increase in border incidents between Hizbollah fighters and Israeli units on the northern border, with the main flash points located at the disputed Druze village of Ghajar, which is divided by the border between Israel and Lebanon, and Mount Dov, which Hizbollah also claims should be part of Lebanon.

The situation is now regarded as so serious that many senior Israeli officers openly admit to missing the restraining influence of Syria over Hizbollah.

"When the Syrians were in Lebanon it was easy for us to control Hizbollah," said an officer with Israel's northern command. "If things got too tense we could put pressure on Damascus and the Syrians would act quickly to calm things down."

Although the Lebanese government technically controls the border area, its military is not considered strong enough to control Hizbollah, which takes its orders directly from Teheran.

"Iran is playing a very dangerous game of cat and mouse on our northern border and it could easily spiral out of control at any moment," said the officer.

In recent weeks Hizbollah sent unmanned aircraft on reconnaissance missions over the border to photograph sensitive Israeli military installations. The spy planes returned to base before being detected by air defence systems.

In addition to providing intelligence-gathering and communications equipment, Iran has also equipped Hizbollah with improved weapons and ammunition to launch attacks against Israel, including heavy mortars and rockets with a range of up to 30 miles.

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Op donderdag 6 april 2006 23:00 schreef Finder_elf_towns het volgende:
Iran's spies watching us, says Israel
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http://www.telegraph.co.u(...)06/04/04/wiran04.xml

Ik denk dat the-point-of-no-return zo'n beetje al voorbij is gekomen.

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Op donderdag 6 april 2006 23:00 schreef Finder_elf_towns het volgende:
Iran's spies watching us, says Israel
[..]

http://www.telegraph.co.u(...)06/04/04/wiran04.xml

Ik denk dat the-point-of-no-return zo'n beetje al voorbij is gekomen.

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Op donderdag 6 april 2006 23:56 schreef Clourhide het volgende:

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Dus nu heeft de Hezbollah al "unmanned aircraft"?

Man, geloof die crap nu toch niet. Die onbemande vliegtuigjes zijn dezelfde waarvan ze in [TRU] denken dat ze in het Pentagon gevlogen zijn (Global Hawks en dergelijke).

_{ik kan niet wachten tot de Hofstadgroep over mijn huis komt vliegen}

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Op vrijdag 7 april 2006 00:01 schreef Finder_elf_towns het volgende:

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\Ik geloof het ook niet, ik plaats het alleen Het maak-elkaar-zo-zwart-mogelijk spelletje is zeer facinerend.

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Op maandag 3 april 2006 01:28 schreef -Beer- het volgende:
Welk recht hebben de Vs, Engeland en Israel om Iran aan te vallen? Waarom zou Iran geen kernwapens mogen hebben? Amerika en Israel hebben ze ook. De Vs is niet de papa van de wereld die wel even bepaald wie wel en wie niet kernwapens heeft.

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Op vrijdag 7 april 2006 00:10 schreef whispers het volgende:

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Ik deel je verontwaardiging, maar wat je zegt is niet helemaal correct (en dan heb ik het niet over de dt-fout) . Iran mag geen kernwapens hebben omdat dat een schending is van het internationaal recht. Zij hebben destijds immers het Non-Proliferatieverdrag ondertekend.

Dat de VS niet altijd even consequent zijn in hun acties, daar heb je gelijk in, maar Iran is hoe dan ook geen erkende kernmacht. Net zomin als Israël.

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Ontwapening
Het verdrag bepaalt dat de landen die over kernwapens beschikken hun voorraden reduceren. Meer dan 30 jaar na het opstellen van het verdrag is daarvan slechts weinig terecht gekomen.

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Vreedzame toepassingen
Om voldoende draagvlak voor het verdrag te creëren, wordt het gebruik van kernenergie voor vreedzame toepassingen expliciet toegestaan, inclusief het verrijken van uranium. Voor enkele ondertekenaars van het verdrag is dat aan heikel punt, omdat hiermee de ontwikkeling van kernwapens slechts een kleine stap verwijderd is. De enige barrière hiervoor is politieke wil. De directeur van het Internationaal Atoomenergie Bureau is van mening dat door deze regeling 40 landen wereldwijd in staat zijn om (al dan niet in het geheim) kernwapens te ontwikkelen. Volgens Mohamed ElBaradei is het enige alternatief hiervoor het volledig uitbannen van de nucleaire brandstofcyclus.

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Op vrijdag 7 april 2006 00:10 schreef whispers het volgende:
Dat de VS niet altijd even consequent zijn in hun acties, daar heb je gelijk in,

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Op vrijdag 7 april 2006 00:36 schreef whispers het volgende:

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Op donderdag 6 april 2006 19:40 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:

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dan verlioest de kernbom zijn dreigmiddel nog steeds niet.

en kernwapens mogen niet ingezet worden tegen niet kernwapens landen

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Op vrijdag 7 april 2006 00:26 schreef Clourhide het volgende:

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Uit jouw link:
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En nog een mooie:
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Waarom zet de almachtige USA zich daar dan niet voor in, zou je je afvragen?

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Op vrijdag 7 april 2006 09:50 schreef Chadi het volgende:

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ooh ja? de VS staat niet echt te boek als een land dat zich aan internationale verdragen houdt.

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Op zondag 2 april 2006 20:41 schreef renz0r het volgende:
Iran aanvallen is een goed idee. Opgepleurt met die idioten met hun grote bek! En dreigende uitingen. Mond snoeren! Geld ook voor Noord Korea eigenlijk, maar das nog wat minder erg.

Die mensen willen vrijheid en democratie maar worden onderdrukt door zo'n mongool van een president. Veel programma's en stukjes gelezen en alle jeugdigde mensen willen een normaal bestaan. Wat wil je, de bevolking is erg jong.

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Op donderdag 6 april 2006 10:11 schreef Demophon het volgende:

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Je snapt het niet, you're totally missing the point.

Het punt is dat een terroristische groep een kernwapen bemachtigt en deze tegen het westen zal gebruiken!

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Op woensdag 5 april 2006 20:01 schreef nietzman het volgende:

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"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the Leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked. and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Hermann Goering

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THE IRAN PLANS

Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb?

by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
Issue of 2006-04-17
Posted 2006-04-10

The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium.

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Op zaterdag 8 april 2006 19:36 schreef Arendt het volgende:
Kan iemand me uitleggen waarom Iran geen recht zou hebben op nucleaire technologie, en Israël wel?

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Op zaterdag 8 april 2006 19:36 schreef Arendt het volgende:
Kan iemand me uitleggen waarom Iran geen recht zou hebben op nucleaire technologie, en Israël wel?

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Op zaterdag 8 april 2006 20:19 schreef UncleScorp het volgende:
8/4/06 US considers use of nuclear weapons against Iran

WASHINGTON (AFP) -
The administration of President George W. Bush is planning a massive bombing campaign against
Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key Iranian suspected nuclear weapons facility, The New Yorker magazine has reported in its April 17 issue.

The article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said that Bush and others in the White House have come to view Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential Adolf Hitler.

"That's the name they're using," the report quoted a former senior intelligence official as saying.

A senior unnamed Pentagon adviser is quoted in the article as saying that "this White House believes that the only way to solve the problem is to change the power structure in Iran, and that means war."

The former intelligence officials depicts planning as "enormous," "hectic" and "operational," Hersh writes.

One former defense official said the military planning was premised on a belief that "a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government," The New Yorker pointed out.

In recent weeks, the president has quietly initiated a series of talks on plans for Iran with a few key senators and members of the House of Representatives, including at least one Democrat, the report said.

One of the options under consideration involves the possible use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, to insure the destruction of Iran's main centrifuge plant at Natanz, Hersh writes.

But the former senior intelligence official said the attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the military, and some officers have talked about resigning after an attempt to remove the nuclear option from the evolving war plans in Iran failed, according to the report.

"There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing nuclear weapons against other countries," the magazine quotes the Pentagon adviser as saying.

The adviser warned that bombing Iran could provoke "a chain reaction" of attacks on American facilities and citizens throughout the world and might also reignite Hezbollah.

"If we go, the southern half of
Iraq will light up like a candle," the adviser is quoted as telling The New Yorker.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/a(...)sirannuclearmilitary