To recap a
previous post, there have been more and more interesting deployments by the USAF to the Middle East, both in number (a wing has 72 planes; we just sent 5½ × 72 over there) and in kind (F-117a, F-16C/D, F-15E, A/OA 10). Five entire fighter wings:
the 388th, the 49th, the 122nd, the 4th and
the 18th. On top of that, two fighter squadrons (four=a wing, I think, so this is another half-wing) have deployed for four month rotations in recent days:
the 336th and
the 355th. And now, Israel is making far more belligerent noises than we've been accustomed to hearing with regard to Iran. We've gone from Israel saying "this is the whole world's problem" to this:
Israel prepares to launch attack on Iran nuclear sites. Things are heating up fast.
correction: the 336th is part of the 4th wing, and therefore redundant, being already included in the count. The 355th is part of the 3rd Wing (which is under the Pacific Command and not CENTCOM, interestingly enough) and therefore is "interesting".ISRAEL is set to strike nuclear targets in Iran if the United Nations fails to take action against the rogue state, intelligence sources claim.
Military chiefs have told the United States that they are ready and able to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons facilities - with an attack as early as March.
Israeli military chiefs say their plans to strike Iran's nuclear sites are "feasible", say intelligence sources.
They claim the Israelis are certain that an attack by their military machine would be as effective in destroying the Iranian project as it was against the Iraqi Ossiraq nuclear site in 1981. An Israeli missile attack would be expected to set back Iran's nuclear weapons programme by up to 10 years. The new government of acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also wants President Ahmadinejad to understand that the incapacitation of Ariel Sharon, following his stroke, would not affect Israel's state of military readiness.
A recent statement by the Israeli military chief of intelligence, General Aharon ZeeviFarkash, indicated that Israel had set a March 1 time limit for diplomatic means to deter Iran's plans. Sources in Tel Aviv say the general's remarks were based on a military planning timetable and could indicate a likely date for the missile strike. General Dan Halutz, Israel's chief of staff, said last week that there were several military means to deal with the problem.
He ordered a report as part of strategic cooperation talks with the United States and it was discussed recently when senior Israeli military figures met the heads of several US intelligence agencies.
Israeli air force fighter pilots have been training for the past 10 years to survive antiaircraft and radar threats from Soviet antiaircraft systems which have been sold to Iran and other Middle Eastern states.
The Israelis have also received help from former Soviet or Russian anti-aircraft officers who emigrated to Israel.
The Israeli air force also chose recently to reveal details of its cooperation with Iran's neighbour Turkey, including the deployment of Israeli fighter jets there and Turkish squadrons in Israel as part of a joint training programme.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the Security Council talks (if Iran is referred to the UNSC it would be in the beginning of February and this sounds like it would happen immediately after.)
That date is quickly approaching. The Turks are training with the Israelis, and the U.S. is moving a massive amount of air power.
Buckle up.
I just read the article that was linked in #1. It was chilling.
True!
But why did the words "Custer's last stand" just pop into my head?
Well - here's hoping the US backs its ALLY Israel more honestly in coming days, huh? They'll need it.
Who knows what will happen once this thing is launched. At a guess, Israel is gonna have some problems with a few of its less-than-neighborly neighbors.
Olemrt has a saber? WHo knew. WHat's it made outta? Spaghetti?
Ooooh - I got a cognac! How kewl! ;O)
I would agree with that.
But no matter how tough the talk leading up to it, as soon as we/they/us take out the damn threat the rest of the world (rather than being grateful) will be up in verbal arms (because they wouldn't DARE the real thing) over our "rush to war" and evil racebaiting, and "murdering innocent women and children who were living the traditional Persian life" on top of whatever it is we shoot down.
Maybe we'll see a few more baby formula signs in English, too.
As an aside... I had to buy some more scrub last weekend, and when I saw a booth in the mall for Dead Sea scrub (Israeli owned and the franchise was owned by an Israeli living in the US also) I bought there.
Good stuff.
But it left me feeling vaguely uncomfortable (the proprietor and I talked for about 45 minutes - and haggled, which he seemed inordinately pleased to do but I got 10$ off)to be more hawkish than the Israeli I was buying my products from.
Yep I've been trying to tell my lib friends(I am surprised I still have them) that they need to develop a stronger stomach.
Arab countries HATE Turkey with a passion, just wait untill they are with us in the war against Iran and the mad mullahs.
Please get your protective mask and read the instructions on what to do if a nuclear disaster is imminent.
Iran TV Discussion on the Myth of the Gas Chambers and the Truth of Protocols of the Elders of Zion; "The Only Solution for This Cancerous Tumor [Israel] is Surgery"
I read Monkeyweather's link in #1 and it took me half way through the article before I realised they're an "anti-war" site. (OK, I'm only on my first coffee of the day, that's my excuse.) I can hardly beleive people can be such idiots. Do they think the Iranians will spare them if, Heaven forfend, they win the nuclear war?
They are so twisted in their anti-Americanism they can't see beyond the end of their own noses.
As to the rest of the post, I sincerely hope all these different nations can coordinate properly. Last time Israel held military exercises with the Americans, they won by mistake :-D They finished the whole war game before the Americans had got off the ground. That tends to happen in real time too with the Israelis, so I hope there's a "conductor" in place who'll know how to keep everyone in tune.
I tend to agree with you, but I also note Rumsfeld's cautionary comments yesterday, captitalizing on the movements, none-the-less. Pragmatically, if an overt action is undertaken, it very likely will be with assets in place, on both sides of Iran, with back filling as necessary. I would certainly hope the assumption is not being made that we are safe in place if another nation acts pre-emptively.
My best to your husband and the forces in which he serves. Many of us forget just why it is we are at liberty in the first place.
Interesting. Confirms yet-again that Sunni Deobandists readily make common cause with mahdaviat Shi'ites against the Great/Little Satans.
Sorry to hear it. Hope the day goes better from now on.
Anyhow, thanks for keeping on top of the Iran stories.
Not that I ever have. But I can empathize, now.
So basically like being in college, week before finals kinda thing?
Yes, I led a sheltered life...
Yes, I led a sheltered life...
Want some brownies?
Yes, I led a sheltered life...
Not as an oldster either.
*old hippies are exempt, since they lack all sense of shame
Not as an oldster either.
When hubby and I were discussing the kids' plan I said, Wouldn't it be a hoot if they just baked some regular brownes, told me they were regular brownies but were laughing their heads off to make me think they were "special," and then stood back to see if I'd have a psychosomatic reaction.
Creater and destroyer, alpha and omega. :P
I smoked one cigarette one time, and I didn't inhale it, and I burned a hole in the carpet and almost set the house on fire and my mom beat my ass. Good times.
G'night ev (I'm sure it's night-time somewhere..)
That was all that it ever did for me. I like real life-sober, warts and all.
On second thought, the composition of these units is still interesting. We're prepositioning exactly the right assets for a strike on Iran. That's much too coincidental to be a coincidence.
"It perhaps then, no accident that the nation's newest and largest aircraft carrier, CVN 76 Ronald Reagan has deployed to the western Pacific, where it could reposition to the Persian Gulf region relatively quickly. We also know that the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Indiana ANG is deploying up to 72 F-16s to "southwest Asia" in their largest deployment since the Berlin Crisis in 1961."
I had coke twice in high school - it seemed nice, but not worth the price, so I didn't touch it again until my Bolivia trip. Since I got it for free this time, I thought it was nice - more mellowing than stimulating. I wanted to listen to Stairway to Heaven (which just happened to be inspired by Andean music).
I tried speed twice - the first time it made me jittery and sick and I hated it, the second time I had it after a few beers and that took the rough edge off and it was cool, but I never used it again.
Never had acid, but I wouldn't mind having it once (and only once).
lady red, Tom was telling me tonight that the destroyer USS Monson and the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln just left port (he works at the same waterfront).
We both think they are headed to the ME.
I was present at a formal social function, and President Bush walked up to me, grabbed my arm, and walked me aside and said in a low voice that I should take it easy with the blog posts putting together the pieces about which US military assets were headed to Iran. I said yes, mister President, and he squeezed my arm and walked off.
ev, it might have been your dream, but it was my thought.
Until I realised that, genius though you be, if you can put two and two together, probably so can one or two others.