Panetta concerned Israel months from striking Iran

By Justin Fishel


Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expressing new concerns about Iran's underground nuclear program, this time telling Washington Post columnist David Ignatius he's worried Israel may decide to attack it as early as this spring.

Traveling with the defense secretary in Brussels to cover his meeting with NATO defense ministers, Ignatius writes, "Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June.”

This is the first time we've heard such a specific timeframe. Fox News has previously reported concerns from former members of President Obama's national security team that a unilateral strike from Israel could occur sometime in 2012 and that Central Command has been planning for the possibility the U.S. could be drawn in.

Panetta and the administration have made clear in recent weeks that Iran would cross a "red line" by developing a bomb and that if that occurred, all options, including military action, would be on the table.

But Israel is less patient. It appears Israeli officials' red line would be crossed when Iran has the material to build a bomb. In other words, it appears they believe that by this spring Iran will have stockpiled enough highly enriched uranium to produce a nuclear warhead.

By that point, it will be too late for Israel to act alone. Unlike the United States, Israel does not have the capacity to strike Iran's hardened enrichment facilities 200 feet underground. That, along with Iran's arsenal of missiles that can reach Israel, add to Panetta's concerns that Israel is preparing to strike as early as this spring.

There are essentially two obvious methods for striking the underground facility that could be used. The first involves the Pentagon’s newly developed Massive Ordnance Penetrator, known simply as the MOP. The largest of its kind, it's a 30,000 pound bunker-busting bomb designed to hit underground targets. Yet in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Panetta acknowledged the MOP has some shortcomings and needs further development to reach areas as deeply buried as Iran's nuclear facilities.

Since the MOP is the largest conventional weapon in the U.S. arsenal, the second option could involve using smaller-scale nuclear weapons. It's not likely a card the Obama administration would play, one that would make him the first president since Harry Truman to drop a nuclear bomb.

Another clue about Israel's intent was the sudden cancellation of long-planned joint U.S.-Israeli military exercises that would have culminated in live-fire drills this May. The Israelis apologized for postponing the exercises, and a Pentagon spokesmen said at the time of the cancellation the Israelis explained they needed to postpone in order to "assume optimum participation," suggesting their forces could be needed elsewhere.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked Tuesday about getting into a new war, telling CNN’s John King, "If Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of."

He added, "This is, I think, one of the toughest foreign policy problems I have ever seen since entering the government 45 years ago."

...one of the toughest foreign policy problems I have ever seen since entering the government 45 years ago."

And THAT is the problem

What part of this;-

"If Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of."

..what wasnt known about that BEFORE invading?

All ya had to do was carpet bomb the poppy fields for ten years.

And any "Training camps".

Not one life or limb lost.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expressing new concerns about Iran's underground nuclear program, this time telling Washington Post columnist David Ignatius he's worried Israel may decide to attack it as early as this spring. Panetta said, "There is a strong likelihood Israel will launch a strike on April 15th at 4:00 am approaching Iran from the East at 1000 feet. If we can prevent them from doing this our Iranian friends will be able to finish hardening their nuclear sites to make them invulnerable to the Israeli threat."


As though the Iranians haven't spent the last 10 years hardening and embedding their facilities. They're insane, not stupid.

www.telegraph.co.uk . . .

Iran: We will help 'cut out the cancer of Israel'

Iran will help anyone willing to "cut out the cancer" of Israel, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today.

The religious leader also told worshippers at Friday prayers that the country will continue its controversial nuclear programme.


He warned that any military strike by the West would only make Iran stronger.


"From now on, in any place, if any nation or any group confronts the Zionist regime, we will endorse and we will help. We have no fear expressing this," said Khamenei.


He said Israel is a "cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut"....

Israel making mates wiv their neighbours.

The current bunker buster bombs may not be enough to penetrate the new hardened bunkers in Iran. It is not going to be easy to take these fuckers offline. That is why the concentration of effort has been in killing as many Iranian nuke scientists as possible.

Bat2 wrote:

The current bunker buster bombs may not be enough to penetrate the new hardened bunkers in Iran. It is not going to be easy to take these fuckers offline. That is why the concentration of effort has been in killing as many Iranian nuke scientists as possible.

The nuclear tipped bunker busters Obama prevented the US from building could have done the job quite nicely.

ratman wrote:

Bat2 wrote:

The current bunker buster bombs may not be enough to penetrate the new hardened bunkers in Iran. It is not going to be easy to take these fuckers offline. That is why the concentration of effort has been in killing as many Iranian nuke scientists as possible.

The nuclear tipped bunker busters Obama prevented the US from building could have done the job quite nicely.

Yes, indeed. The great savior did not want us to hurt his muzz brethren and take away their nuclear toys.

Wars are not won by sanitized, surgical strikes against what are essentially agricultural targets.
Wars are won by breaking the enemy's will to fight and depriving him of the ability to wage war.

lookanlearn wrote:

What part of this;-

"If Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of."

..what wasnt known about that BEFORE invading?

All ya had to do was carpet bomb the poppy fields for ten years.

And any "Training camps".

Not one life or limb lost.

GhostDivision wrote:

Wars are not won by sanitized, surgical strikes against what are essentially agricultural targets.
Wars are won by breaking the enemy's will to fight and depriving him of the ability to wage war.

lookanlearn wrote:

What part of this;-

"If Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of."

..what wasnt known about that BEFORE invading?

All ya had to do was carpet bomb the poppy fields for ten years.

And any "Training camps".

Not one life or limb lost.

Essentually I agree; but you have to accept that HEROIN = MONEY and MONEY = Weapons buying power; used to bribe anyone with access to good plastique and timers etc to take out various US tanks and stuff.
How is the US bank balance? Has the muzz almost burst the dollar bubble yet?

Panetta and the administration have made clear in recent weeks that Iran would cross a "red line" by developing a bomb and that if that occurred, all options, including military action, would be on the table.

Heroin is big business, but I don't understand why some of the crops are not used for legitimate medical purposes. Heroin is not the only product derived from the poppy plant, and the legitimate pharmaceutical business dwarfs the illegal drug world- as there are many more patients than there are street addicts. In other words, why couldn't the government negotiate with the Afghans to "go legit"?

lookanlearn wrote:

GhostDivision wrote:

Wars are not won by sanitized, surgical strikes against what are essentially agricultural targets.
Wars are won by breaking the enemy's will to fight and depriving him of the ability to wage war.

lookanlearn wrote:

What part of this;-

"If Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of."

..what wasnt known about that BEFORE invading?

All ya had to do was carpet bomb the poppy fields for ten years.

And any "Training camps".

Not one life or limb lost.

Essentually I agree; but you have to accept that HEROIN = MONEY and MONEY = Weapons buying power; used to bribe anyone with access to good plastique and timers etc to take out various US tanks and stuff.
How is the US bank balance? Has the muzz almost burst the dollar bubble yet?

You could plant Afghan smak in Texas and make amint; and Agent Orange Afghanistan.

Double your money.



No `K` required.