The U.S. Vice President has instructed the Air Force to start putting plans for an air strike on Iran's nuclear sites using the excuse of the next “terrorist attack.” according to CIA counterterrorism officer Philip Giraldi, now a partner in Cannistraro Associates.
"In Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for Iran. The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing -- that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack – but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections."
So Philip Giraldi is raising concerns that Mr. Cheney and the neocons, the same men who used 9/11 as their excuse to attack Iraq, are pushing for another war against Iran, using the excuse of another “terrorist” attack.
Why would Iran attack the U.S. when they have been doing everything possible to avoid a war that would absolutely devastate their country?
But the U.S. government is following the same script as with Iraq: "This Axis of Evil member has ties to 'terrorism' and a nuclear weapons program, the U.N. won't act, so we have to attack them from the air, if not invade them to plant the flag of “liberty and democracy."
Again, there’s a convergence of interests between those who have a long-term energy strategy and those whose primary objective is protecting Israel.
Giraldi confirmed information about Air Force Intelligence currently in Qatar picking targets. He said that the Special Forces were also already in Iran hunting for "suspected sites."
Last April, former Marine and U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter wrote an article saying that Air Force officers had told him that they were working on plans for war against Iran, that are supposed to be ready by June of this year.
Ritter also stated that the invasion will come from U.S. bases in Azerbaijan, and that the U.S. is already flying drones in Iranian airspace. He writes:
"Americans, and indeed much of the rest of the world, continue to be lulled into a false sense of complacency by the fact that overt conventional military operations have not yet commenced between the United States and Iran.
"As such, many hold out the false hope that an extension of the current insanity in Iraq can be postponed or prevented in the case of Iran. But this is a fool's dream."
Invading Iran through Iraq would be impossible, as Iraq’s Shiites would finally be unleashed against U.S. forces, who would then have to fight from both front and rear. Also a general Shiite uprising in Iraq would be a likely result of bombing Iran.
If the U.S. attacked the Bushehr reactor, not only would radioactive particles blast into the air and fall back down to earth and cause great harm to the environment, but numerous Russians would also be killed.
How is the U.S. going to react if the Russians in retaliation bombed a reactor full of Americans in, say, India?
2.
CHENEY WATCH
Casper Star-Tribune
August 19, 2005
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/08/19/news/wyoming/125901e97f0bf47e87257062000516f2.txt
The veep wound up a busy week Thursday, braving high humidity and temperatures nearing 100 degrees in a flying noontime visit to the national convention of the Military Order of the Purple Heart in Springfield, Mo.
During his 20-minute speech on the war in Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney told 400 members of the organization, "Once again, we're seeing the power of freedom to change the course of the world." He compared American efforts in Iraq to the heroism of George Washington's army.
Windshield protest: Just before Cheney's address, the Democratic National Committee accused the Bush administration of failing to adequately fund veterans benefits. No organized protests were spotted near the Springfield hotel, but fliers left on cars in the parking lot read, "Halliburton funded, veterans not funded."
Bad veep! Legal ethicists say the White House broke the law when Cheney and others interviewed John Roberts Jr. last spring for the Supreme Court while Roberts presided over a challenge to the president's military tribunals.
No free lunch: Veep Watch reveals the details of what dedicated Cheney fans get for their money during stumping stops in Idaho and Montana:
* Ice cream, cake and bottled water in a sweltering airplane hangar -- 60 bucks.
* Chocolate cake and a salad topped with chicken -- $125.
* Photo ops with the veepster -- $1,000 per click.
* Money raised for war chest: Unknown.
-- From wire reports
