 US President George W Bush has given Israel a go-ahead to begin preparations for a military attack on Iran, in case talks over the country's controversial nuclear programme fail to yield results, a media report has said.
Iran's strategy is not military. It is diplomatic and political. You heard read it here first. |
The Bush administration is said to have informed Tel Aviv that he would back an Israeli plan to strike Iran's main nuclear sites with long-range aerial weapons if diplomatic talks over Tehran's nuclear programme broke down, the Sunday Times said quoting a Pentagon official.
| Iran is pursuing a "ragged edge" policy with regard to the U.S. in particular and the West in general. They don't intend to go to war -- for one thing, they have to realize that militarily they're duckshit. They don't even know the meaning of the words "combined arms," which in Farsi would probably include donkeys if concept existed. They fought a ten-year war with Iraq to a draw. The U.S. ground forces stomped Iraq twice in two weeks or less, once in 100 hours even. Their missile program has been shown to be a bluff in the past week. But every time oil prices start to stabilize a little bit, they grimace fearsomely and threaten some sort of militarily stoopid action that impacts the price, driving it up again. |
The American President has given Israel an "amber light" to start preparing for a possible offensive, the official told the Sunday Times. "Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you're ready," the official as quoted as saying to The Times.
| After that it's puce, and we all know what that means, unless they go directly to magenta or turquoise. |
The US President's voice of support comes despite his military officials' opposition to an attack on Iran, given the risks of an aerial strike. However, the US would not deploy American forces for such a strike nor would Israel be able to depend on its military bases in Iraq for logistical support, the official said.
| Nor would they be required if a strike is followed by 30 days of non-stop Tomahawks. |
Washington would also not give a "green light" to the attack without unquestionable proof that the Islamic Republic is involved in military preparations of its own, the report said.
| You mean watch what they're actually doing, rather than listen to the incessant stream of threats and invective? |
Iran last week test launched a series of medium-range ballistic missiles it claimed were capable of striking Israel.
| They were proven a Photoshopped bluff. The U.S. announced that they actually launched one missile, and it was short-range. |
The tests prompted a threatening message from Israel defence minister Ehud Barak, who said that the Jewish state will not hesitate from taking military action against Tehran.
| They've been hesitating all this while, letting the Euros try to cajole the ayatollahs into magickally turning into reasonable fellows. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda's got Sonny bin Laden and Saif al-Adel and a few of the other large cheeses in Iran, coordinating policy with them, policy that's directed at destroying the U.S. and the West economically, rather than lining up large numbers of cannon fodder with AK-47s. |
On the other hand Iran vows it will "cut off the hands" of any enemy that attacks the country over its controversial nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Sunday. "Before the enemies touch the trigger, Iran's armed forces will cut off their hands," Ahmadinejad said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
| They may have in mind to attempt a Hezbollah-style sustained missile attack, but the net result of that was more nuisance value than military. |
His comments came after Iran intensified tensions in the nuclear standoff by conducting two days of missile tests, which included the firing of a missile whose range it says includes Israel.
| We have several missiles whose range includes Qom. |
"This is only a small part of Iran's defence capabilities and in future we will unveil more of our defence capabilities if it is needed," Ahmadinejad said.
| "We've got more copies of Photoshop on order!" |
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