Is Bush Sure He Isn't Planning To Invade Iran?

Despite reassurance from President Bush that we are not targeting Iran for invasion, there seems to be a lot of pre-invasion indicators lining up.

Israel Seeks All Clear For Iran Air Strike

In this case it looks like we are already lining up a "new coalition" effort to tackle the problems we face when dealing with Iran. Given that Iran has refused to deal with the pressure from the US and the UN to cease and desist from developing further nuclear weapons capabilities and resources, the rhetoric in favor of an invasion seems to be mounting momentum and reaching a crescendo. But Israel, a nation that is as untrustworthy in its belligerent behaviors as any other nation in the Middle East, is actively seeking a go-ahead from the US to use Iraqi air space to conduct surgical strikes on Iranian nuclear development sites. And the US can sit back and blame Israel without too many repercussions, especially if the Israelis employ their usual military efficiency.

Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon.

A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Teheran developing nuclear weapons.

"We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important," said the official, who asked not to be named.

"The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other."

As Iran continues to defy UN demands to stop producing material which could be used to build a nuclear bomb, Israel's military establishment is moving on to a war footing, with preparations now well under way for the Jewish state to launch air strikes against Teheran if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the crisis.

The pace of military planning in Israel has accelerated markedly since the start of this year after Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, provided a stark intelligence assessment that Iran, given the current rate of progress being made on its uranium enrichment programme, could have enough fissile material for a nuclear warhead by 2009.

But Israel is not alone in its pre-invasion momentum. The US--under the guise of legitimate leadership from Bush, Cheney and the leftovers from Rumsfeld--is actively ramping up the war of words between us and them.

US Steps Up Rhetoric Against Iran

Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, has stepped up the pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme by renewing a warning that military action remains a possibility.

Mr Cheney, speaking to reporters in Australia, said that diplomacy was the preferred course, but that all options remained on the table.

He backed comments made by John McCain, the senator and presidential hopeful, who said that the only thing worse than military engagement with Teheran would be an Iran with nuclear weapons.

The United States, France and Britain have called for tougher UN Security Council sanctions on the Islamic Republic, while Germany, China and Russia have taken softer stances.

"It would be a serious mistake if a nation like Iran were to become a nuclear power," Mr Cheney said during a joint press conference with John Howard, the Australian prime minister.

"All options are still on the table."

Our forces are even gearing up for the possibilities of war that Cheney has assured the world remains on the table.

American Armada Prepares To Take On Iran

It is four and a half acres of American power in the middle of the Arabian Sea but the influence of USS Dwight D Eisenhower stretches for hundreds of miles.
American armada prepares to take on Iran

The aircraft carrier, backed by its sister vessel, a handful of destroyers and a shoal of support ships, has placed a maritime ring of steel around an increasingly unstable region.

While the Eisenhower is ostensibly assisting US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is the looming threat of Iran that increasingly occupies its attention.

Recent tensions between America and Iran over Teheran's attempts to develop a nuclear weapon have raised the prospect of its third regional war in a decade.

The addition of a second aircraft carrier to its strike groups has fuelled the belief that America is gearing up for a fight with Iran. Not since the Iraq war in 2003 has America amassed so much fire power around the Gulf.

As flagship of the Fifth Fleet, the Eisenhower welcomed the arrival of a second Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, and its accompanying destroyers on Tuesday.

But on top of all that, we seem to be losing our grip on the ground we have already covered and cleared in Iraq AND Afghanistan.

Almost five and a half years ago, America — united by the shock of 9/11 — understood exactly what it needed to do. It had to find, thwart and take down the command structure of Al Qaeda, which was responsible for the deaths of 3,000 innocent people on American soil. Despite years of costly warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, America today is not significantly closer to that essential goal.

At a crucial moment, the Bush administration diverted America’s military strength, political attention and foreign aid dollars from a necessary, winnable war in Afghanistan to an unnecessary, and by now unwinnable, war in Iraq. Al Qaeda took full advantage of these blunders to survive and rebuild. Now it seems to be back in business.

As our colleagues Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde reported last week, American intelligence and counterterrorism officials believe that Al Qaeda has rebuilt its notorious training camps, this time in Pakistan’s loosely governed tribal regions near the Afghan border. Camp graduates are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq — and may well be plotting new terrorist strikes in the West.

The same officials point to more frequent and more current videos as evidence that Al Qaeda’s top leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri — once on the run for their lives and unable to maintain timely communications with their followers — now feel more secure. Al Qaeda is not as strong as it was when its Taliban allies ruled Afghanistan. But, the officials warn, it is getting there.

So, can we really be sure that President Bush and his gang of lying bastard fascist thugs isn't giving us the old run-around again when he says that we are not planning to invade Iran?

My real "big question" is, CAN WE DEAL WITH ANOTHER MAJOR BATTLE FRONT GIVEN OUR DIMINISHED MILITARY CAPABILITIES? I think not since the conference of US governors has identified that billions of dollars of National Guard equipment that was shipped off to Iraq and Afghanistan is not coming back (or coming back in an unusable condition) and is seriously undermining the readiness status of the National Guard for homeland defense, disaster response and federal activation.