Joined: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 2089 Location: Arkansas
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:43 pm Post subject: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on Iran
We all know the military is constantly planning for various contingencies, but its taking rhetoric to a much higher level when the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff openly states the US is planning military options against Iran. Coming on the heels of Fallon's departure, its more concerning. Anyway, here's the article:
Quote:
Joint Chiefs Chairman Says U.S. Preparing Military Options Against Iran
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 25, 2008; 1:51 PM
The nation's top military officer said today that the Pentagon is planning for "potential military courses of action" against Iran, criticizing what he called the Tehran government's "increasingly lethal and malign influence" in Iraq.
Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a conflict with Iran would be "extremely stressing" but not impossible for U.S. forces, pointing specifically to reserve capabilities in the Navy and Air Force.
"It would be a mistake to think that we are out of combat capability," he said at a Pentagon news conference.
Still, Mullen made clear that he prefers a diplomatic solution to the tensions with Iran and does not foresee any imminent military action. "I have no expectations that we're going to get into a conflict with Iran in the immediate future," he said.
Mullen's statements and others by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates recently signal a new rhetorical onslaught by the Bush administration against Iran, amid what officials say is increased Iranian provision of weapons, training and financing to Iraqi groups that are attacking and killing Americans.
In a speech Monday at West Point, Gates said Iran "is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons." He said a war with Iran would be "disastrous on a number of levels. But the military option must be kept on the table given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat."
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who was nominated this week to head all U.S. forces in the Middle East, is preparing a briefing soon to lay out detailed evidence of increased Iranian involvement in Iraq, Mullen said. The briefing will detail, for example, the discovery in Iraq of weapons that were very recently manufactured in Iran, he said.
"The Iranian government pledged to halt such activities some months ago. It's plainly obvious they have not. Indeed, they seem to have gone the other way," Mullen said.
He said recent unrest in the southern Iraqi city of Basra had highlighted a "level of involvement" by Iran that had not been understood by the U.S. military previously. "It became very, very visible in ways that we hadn't seen before," he said.
But while Mullen and Gates have recently stated that Tehran must know of Iranian actions in Iraq, which they say are led by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Mullen said he has "no smoking gun which could prove that the highest leadership [of Iran] is involved in this."
In an incident early local time yesterday, a cargo ship contracted by the U.S. military fired "several bursts" of warning shots at two fast boats that approached in international waters off the Iranian coast, defense officials said today.
The unidentified small boats approached the Westward Venture, a ship carrying U.S. military hardware, as it headed north through the central Persian Gulf at about 8 a.m. local time, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the Navy's Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.
The U.S. ship initiated bridge-to-bridge communications, and, after receiving no response, it fired a flare. The speed boats continued to approach, so the ship fired warning shots with a .50-caliber machine gun and M16 rifle. The boats then left the area, she said.
"They fired several bursts, it went pretty quickly," Robertson said.
Soon afterwards, an Iranian coast guard boat queried the Western Venture, Robertson said. It was unclear whether that was one of the small boats.
"There have been some Iranian boats that have operated this way, and some unidentified boats," said Robertson, adding that the crew had no voice communication with the small boats.
In January, five Iranian patrol boats sped toward a U.S. warship and dropped small, boxlike objects in the water, an incident that alarmed military officials and that President Bush called "a provocative act." The objects turned out to pose no threat to the USS Port Royal or two other U.S. vessels accompanying it.
Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Vancouver WA
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:52 pm Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
I really, really, really don't think these idiots will attack Iran. I've read all the background info available, and know about the stockpiling of oil, the extra orders of jet fuel, the changes in command, and the increase in carrier strength. However, an attack would be so disastrous for the economy and so dangerous in the potential for the war to get even more out of control, that the concept is just unbelievable. One question: where in the heck is Congress in this whole thing? And a second question: our Democratic candidates are claiming they will bring positive changes in our relationships with other countries -- well, since they are both in Congress, and on powerful committees, why aren't they getting back to Washington to take action to stop any attack attempt? If they aren't willing to move on this now, what can we say about there leadership abilities?
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3357 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:30 pm Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
And just What leadership qualities would those be? I haven't seen any in....well.... decades.
Nobody thinks it is odd that Bush recently announced there would be no more withdrawals from Iraq until after July? _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
Joined: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 4073 Location: Graceland
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:35 pm Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
The Iran strategy is apparently to appear to be making attack plans so many times that if an attack is ever launched it will be halfway over before anyone even believes it is actually occurring.
I have never seen so many false starts and so much buildup to something.
I will be shocked if some kind of action is not taken before Bush leaves office, though.
Even the skeptics have to regard Fallon's abrupt resignation as very odd.
The job Fallon had is what you work your whole career for--that's the pinnacle of your professional life. People don't RESIGN from jobs like that for the vague reasons that were given.
Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 1542 Location: Nez Perce Nation
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:02 am Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
I believe a limited air attack will occur.
The US has Iran practically surrounded.
We're worried about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran is causing problems in Iraq and perhaps Afghanistan.
It seems likely that there will be a slap down. _________________ "Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett
"It will be a dark time. But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
-- James Lovelock
Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Vancouver WA
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:24 am Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
...and of course, it's only war, and we own the world, right? What in the hell is a limited air strike? If we bomb Iran it will be an act of war -- not a slap in the face. Do you really think any air strike will end there? You don't think Iran will respond? You don't think OPEC will respond? What bombast!!
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3357 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:28 am Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
Some interesting quotes I just saw on another blog:
“We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.”
- Statement made before the United States Senate on Feb. 7, 1950 by James Paul Warburg son of Paul Warburg who wrote the Federal Reserve Act, and nephew of Max Warburg who had financed Hitler.
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected the promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world-government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the National auto-determination practiced in past centuries”
- David Rockefeller, Member CFR, in an address to a Trilateral Commission meeting in June of 1991 _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
Joined: May 27, 2007 Posts: 1203 Location: The Post Peak Oil Historian
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:58 am Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
It would be great if it was run by an intellectual elite - but it won't be - it will be run by men who can't tie their shoes but were born into money, so can pay for someone to tie them for them. _________________ In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
- George Orwell
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 3:07 am Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
Follow the money and you will understand. The "PTB" want to impose paper as money upon the world.
toast
"When they get hold of oil, they assume that oil is a free commodity and belongs to them and has wrongly been placed in other territories. ... This is the spirit of selfishness and arrogance," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
Ahmadinejad called the U.S. currency "a handful of paper" without any global support.
Iran has stopped using the U.S. dollar in its oil transactions with the outside world, switching to currencies such as euro.
"The dollar is not money any longer but a handful of paper distributed in the world without commodity support," the Web site quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Joined: Apr 12, 2007 Posts: 1162 Location: Central NC
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:26 am Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
celticoil wrote:
I really, really, really don't think these idiots will attack Iran. I've read all the background info available, and know about the stockpiling of oil, the extra orders of jet fuel, the changes in command, and the increase in carrier strength. However, an attack would be so disastrous for the economy and so dangerous in the potential for the war to get even more out of control, that the concept is just unbelievable. One question: where in the heck is Congress in this whole thing? And a second question: our Democratic candidates are claiming they will bring positive changes in our relationships with other countries -- well, since they are both in Congress, and on powerful committees, why aren't they getting back to Washington to take action to stop any attack attempt? If they aren't willing to move on this now, what can we say about there leadership abilities?
If you don't understand the actions of those in charge you aren't privy to their agenda.
Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 1542 Location: Nez Perce Nation
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:24 pm Post subject: Re: US Joint Chiefs Chairman preparing military options on I
celticoil wrote:
...and of course, it's only war, and we own the world, right? What in the hell is a limited air strike? If we bomb Iran it will be an act of war -- not a slap in the face. Do you really think any air strike will end there? You don't think Iran will respond? You don't think OPEC will respond? What bombast!!
Speculating about what may likely happen is not advocacy of those actions. So cool your jets and quit bombing. _________________ "Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett
"It will be a dark time. But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
-- James Lovelock
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