Tuesday, October 31, 2006

A BUSH ATTACK ON IRAN TO SAVE THE PRESIDENCY?

US-Led Military Thrust Focuses Heavily on Broad Naval DeploymentDEBKAfile Exclusive Military Report http://www.debka.com/article_print.php?aid=1223
October 30, 2006, 11:53 AM (GMT+02:00)

Hundreds of US and allied war ships foregathered in the strategic seas of the Middle East and India in the last days of October 2006 for two primary missions: To prepare for a US-led military strike against Iran which has stepped up its uranium enrichment program with a second centrifuge project - undeterred by the prospect of UN sanctions; and measures to fend off palpable al Qaeda threats to oil targets. DEBKAfile’s military sources provide details of the massive deployments: 1. A large-scale US-Indian sea exercise called Malabar 06 is in progress off the Indian coast of Goa, ending Nov. 5. The American vessels taking part are the USS Boxer carrier, the USS Bunker Hill guided missile battle cruiser, the guided missile destroyer USS Howard and the USS Benfold , as well as the Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine Providence and the Canadian guided missile frigate HMCS Ottawa .

Indian maritime might is displayed with its warships like INS Beas , INS Mysore , INS Shakti , INS Ganga , tanking ship INS Gharial , submarine INS Shankush and Coast Guard ship CGS Samar Malabar also involves the landing of large number of soldiers ashore, ahead of the Indian acquisition of the massive amphibious USS Trenton transport dock which can carry six helicopters and about a 1000 soldiers.

Our Tehran sources report that last Thursday, Oct. 26, Iranian officials were seriously rattled by a rumor that an Iranian spy plane had located the USS Boxer heading for the Persian Gulf. It prompted fears of an imminent American military assault to lift Republican prospects in the coming US midterm elections of Nov. 7. In any case, the Iranians suspect that at the end of the joint US-Indian exercise in the Arabian Sea, Boxer will veer west and head into the Persian Gulf.

There would then be four US air carriers with task forces parked opposite Iranian shores, including the USS Enterprise Strike Group, the USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group and the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, which are already in place.

According to the intelligence reaching Iran, the Boxer and its escorts carry 850 Marines who have just spent months in special training for operations on offshore oil rigs and platforms.

2. American, Italy, France, Britain, Australia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are taking part in an exercise practicing the interception of ships carrying nuclear materials or components for use in advanced weapons. The exercise opposite Bahrain is the first to be held in the Persian Gulf under the three-year old proliferation security initiative. It applications could be translated equally into the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, or Iran.

On Oct. 27, Robert Joseph, the US undersecretary of state for arms control remarked: “From Iranian news reports we know the exercise got the attention of Iran.” But rather than climbing down, Tehran referred two days later to the war games as “adventurous” and placed its armed forces on a high alert which encompassed the joint naval units of the military and Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, while the Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian army, navy and air force were placed on “yellow” alert, one level short of full war.
Also Oct. 29, , supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei replaced Iran’s air force chief, Karim Qavami with Brig Gen Capt Ahmad Miqani, on the recommendation of the Revolutionary Guards commander.

DEBKAfile’s Iran sources report that Khamenei did not approve of Qavami’s admiration for America’s military capabilities – especially the US air force’s advanced aircraft and equipment. Qavami was wont to speak out at general staff meetings in favor of procuring a new air fleet the better to stand up to a possible US attack. His successor follows the supreme ruler unquestioningly and has complete faith in the ability

3. Saudi Arabia did not join the multinational Bahrain exercise, but instead mustered its entire navy and all its special forces for deployment in dense defensive array around the biggest oil terminal in the world, at Ras Tanura.

Riyadh acted in response to tangible intelligence that al Qaeda is preparing to attack its oil installations.Warnings have intensified in recent days of impending al Qaeda attacks on the oil fields, oil ports, oil tankers and oil fields of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian oil emirates. One threat specifically targets the Bahraini offices and staff of the Benin Republic’s Societe Togolaise de Gaz and Societe Bengaz S.A. It is not clear exactly why al Qaeda is targeting this African-owned oil company in particular. In addition, the US embassy in Riyadh has warned Americans operating in the Gulf region to stay clear of all oil installations, especially in Saudi Arabia.

Another pointed alert covers Western residential compounds in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, specifying American expatriates as al Qaeda targets. Saudi security forces are standing guard at these compounds which were fatally attacked in November exactly three years ago.

4. The fourth major naval concentration is deployed in the Red Sea along Saudi Arabia’s west coast. The oil kingdom has placed its military and fleet at their highest level of preparedness for Al Qaeda-instigated terrorist attacks along this coast, particularly at the ports of Jeddah and Yanbu.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report: That the Saudis have by and large switched their defenses against al Qaeda to coastal targets indicates the receipt of intelligence input of a new local sea base established by al Qaeda, which enables the jihadist group to stretch its capabilities for assaulting oil and Western shore targets from the sea. This base might be located on the shore of a Gulf nation, somewhere in the Arabian Sea or in the Horn of Africa.Copyright 2000-2006 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.

RE: Naval Interdiction Exercise Said Planned for Persian Gulf By REUTERS
Posted 10/12/06 12:16DefenseNews.com

A BUSH ATTACK ON IRAN TO SAVE THE PRESIDENCY?According to the semi-official DefenseNews.com

(*A&B), a Naval interdiction exercise, (long?) “set for Oct. 31, is the …. first to be based in the Gulf near Bahrain, across from Iran,” “A senior U.S. official insisted the exercise is not aimed specifically at Iran, although it reinforces a U.S. strategy aimed at strengthening America’s ties with states in the Gulf, where Tehran and Washington are competing for influence.”According to former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter: “The path that the United States is currently embarked on regarding Iran is a path that will inevitably lead to war. Such a course of action will make even the historical mistake we made in Iraq pale by comparison.”

(*C)As Zbigniew Brzezinski has said: “In a war with Iran, we'll get dragged down for 20 or 30 years. The world will condemn us. We will lose our position in the world." (*D)Is Bush is operating on the principle that “after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along?” (Articulated by Herman Goering, one of Adolf Hitler’s henchmen.) (*E)Will a “Gulf of Tonkin” incident with Iran do the trick for the President?

Would a 9/11 size casualty loss such as a big carrier be within his budget?
Douglas Marshall, LCDR USN Ret.24
Powderhorn Way
Sandwich, MA 02563
508-429-3151

NOTES FOR BACK GROUND:

A) For the Full Defense News article see:

B) For fuller background on Defense News see:By its own description “Defense News and its Web site, DefenseNews.com, are part of the Army Times Publishing Company, the leading military and government news periodical publisher in the world.”

C) See: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/16/144204

D) See Vanity Fair, 2006: Zbigniew Brzezinski’s "I think of war with Iran as the ending of America's present role in the world. Iraq may have been a preview of that, but it's still redeemable if we get out fast. In a war with Iran, we'll get dragged down for 20 or 30 years. The world will condemn us. We will lose our position in the world."

E) See Scoop New Zealand - 2006-08-28:

(Hermann Goering) as quoted in an article entitled “US vs. Iran - Is An Attack Inevitable?:”

“Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a 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 to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

1 Comments:

Blogger Hepzibah The Watchman said...

Conflict is the result of action and reaction between TWO people or as in the case, countries.

You and Bush are on the same circular path - just walking in opposite directions. I fear you will both end up at the same destination, for it is arrogance to believe that you can control another.

You see - whether we use offense or defense - President Ahmadinejad will not turn away from his belief that his divine purpose is to create the chaos necessary to usher in the end of the world.

May God bless you indeed. May he bless us all!

9:43 AM  

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