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| Europe |
| Bulgaria sez NATO might attack Iran, will join in if it does |
| 2006-02-14 |
| Bulgaria as a NATO member will join a possible strike on Iran if the Alliance is accredited to launch the attack, Bulgarian Defense Minister Veselin Bliznakov said on Monday. Talking to a local TV channel, Bliznakov said that the U.S.-led NATO might attack Iran aiming at stopping it from developing nuclear weapons. "This might happen if the situation becomes really complicated," commented the minister. Bulgaria maintains really good relations with the countries from the Arab world, underlined Bliznakov, but Bulgaria also supports the European standpoint on the "Iran issue", which demands Iran's transparency in the domain of nuclear technology, self-control and guarantees of not developing a nuclear weapon. However, the minister said, there are still not enough guarantees made by the Iranian authorities. The U.S. military are drawing up a plan for attack on Iran with an aim to stop it from developing nuclear weapons, in case diplomatic efforts fail, unveiled the British "Sunday Telegraph" on Feb. 12. The Central Command and Strategic Command planners were "identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation," the newspaper reported. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #8 Perhaps Bulgaria would deliver the Ricin Bumpershoot to Mahdi Mahmoud. |
| Posted by: doc 2006-02-14 12:49 |
| #7 Robert Crawford Hey, good stiletto work there. |
| Posted by: RD 2006-02-14 12:45 |
| #6 Maybe Europe is finally awakening to the danger and the realization that they had better stand together. Standing together with the US is even more promising. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-02-14 12:15 |
| #5 Why? Because Bulgaria was under Ottoman rule for 500 years and was liberated less than 130 years ago. Bulgarian memories of muslim rule/memace are fresher than our civil war, and it's one they don't want to repeat. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-02-14 11:29 |
| #4 The intervention is probably easier to sell in Bulgaria if a treaty obligation can be cited. Otherwise, they'd have to get authorization from their legislature the same as President Bush did in the run-up to Iraq. Chalk it up to the rule of law, which in that area of the world should be encouraged and applauded. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2006-02-14 11:04 |
| #3 Because for one brief, shining moment, everyone came to their senses and realized Iran was a threat to all NATO countries? I'm pretty sure France rejoined NATO to keep things like that from happening. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-02-14 11:04 |
| #2 Does anyone else find this odd? Why would the Iran situation end up as a NATO operation? Because for one brief, shining moment, everyone came to their senses and realized Iran was a threat to all NATO countries? Hey, stop laughing! It could happen. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-02-14 11:02 |
| #1 Does anyone else find this odd? Why would the Iran situation end up as a NATO operation? I would presume that this will be a coalition of countries providing whatever they can bring to the table, even if it's only a public declaration of support. I would think that no one will be judged by their material contribution, but for their common sense and stalwart stance against insane people acquiring nuclear weapons. Only cowards and mercenary shills and other, similarly, rabid dogs would disagree, as far as I can see. |
| Posted by: Snaish Flaving9011 2006-02-14 07:29 |