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| Iran seeks to adapt its missiles to carry nuclear warheads: Powell | ||
| 2004-11-18 | ||
Washington has information suggesting that Iran is seeking to adapt its missiles to carry nuclear warheads, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday. "I have seen some informations that would suggest that they've been actively working on delivery systems to deliver it," Powell told reporters traveling with him ahead of his arrival here to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. "There is no doubt in my mind ... that they are interested in a nuclear weapon that have utility, meaning that this is something they would be able to deliver," said Powell.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #19 The complicating factor is the report by exiles that they have a secret facility buried beneath Teheran. We would have to be willing to kill a whole lot of civilians to take it out. |
| Posted by: too true 2004-11-18 5:17:21 PM |
| #18 We must destroy the sites (>25 of them!) with whatever it takes. If we do this, we should also decapitate the regime. Perhaps the people could then take over and build a sane country. Faster, please. |
| Posted by: SR71 2004-11-18 5:06:17 PM |
| #17 And get on with the pro-democracy support, already. Faster, damnit. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-18 2:26:43 PM |
| #16 .com Thanks for the money shots, Clear enough for me. only question is ,is it clear enough for the maniacs in Iran :) |
| Posted by: Elder of zion 2004-11-18 2:04:41 PM |
| #15 "I want it to be a veritable uninhabitable site - warning forever to future blackhats" Well...if we do the job *correctly*, there won't be any future blackhats. Or so one would hope. -AR |
| Posted by: Analog Roam 2004-11-18 2:03:32 PM |
| #14 I hope we'll be able to avoid using a nuke on them (but I'd do it in a second if there was no alternative). Underground hardened sites can be proof against a single strike by a bunker-buster. However, since we have air surpremacy, we don't have to limit ourselves to a single strike. We can use large blast conventional bombs to peel away the earth and concrete. With good laser guiding, it's not that difficult to place the bombs in the previous crater (we've done it in Iraq). You have to wait for the dust to settle, but we can stick around, since there's nothing they can do about it. Or, we can bomb the surface installations to hell, then drop people down there to destroy the installations. Or, we can bomb what we can of the installations, then start bombing the government buildings. Kill the ones who ordered this Or maybe we can offer them Uranium fuel... |
| Posted by: jackal 2004-11-18 1:10:35 PM |
| #13 screw the fallout concern - I want it to be a veritable uninhabitable site - warning forever to future blackhats |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-18 12:28:59 PM |
| #12 Third option: use a penetrator tactical nuke small enough to vaporize a 1/2 square mile at most! Ohh, don't forget to drop it while it's raining at the site to minimize or wash down the fallout!! |
| Posted by: smn 2004-11-18 12:23:19 PM |
| #11 Another option: A strike on the facility using a conventional warhead to penetrate and then a secondary explosion releasing effectively a "dirty bomb" rendering the facility unuseable. On second thought...just take the darn thing out! |
| Posted by: Snuck Thruger8442 2004-11-18 10:29:43 AM |
| #10 "...steel reinforced concrete buildings that makes the aerial attacks futile..." Assuming conventional weapons. Force our hand, and we'll have to nuke the lid off. |
| Posted by: Tom 2004-11-18 10:18:59 AM |
| #9 Amir, Saddam also had balistic missiles which he actually fired on Israel in the first gulf war. They didnt kill directly even one person. (two elderly people died of heart attack, due to panic). People tend to exaggurate the importance of a few conventional warheads. Of course if they use non-conventional stuff all hell breaks loose, but the counterstrike would be so devastating that I think they cannot afford to do anything but deliver a token conventional response. |
| Posted by: Elder of Zion 2004-11-18 10:12:38 AM |
| #8 The bad news is this:the mullacracy in Iran has developed a ballistic missile capable of reaching south-east Europe, hundreds of miles further than Israel. So it is naiive to assume the mullah would not retaliate. |
| Posted by: Amir-Ashkan 2004-11-18 7:39:31 AM |
| #7 EoZ -- Here are the money shots: 9/27/2004 - Iran Will Not Get Nuclear Weapon: Bush "In an interview Monday on Fox News, President BUSH said the United States was determined that Tehran not develop a nuclear weapon. 'We’ve made it clear: Our position is that they won’t have a nuclear weapon,' Bush said. 'We are working our hearts out so that they don’t develop a nuclear weapon, and the best way to do so is to continue to keep international pressure on them.' Bush said he hopes to resolve the matter diplomatically. 'All options are on the table, of course, in any situation. But diplomacy is the first option,' he said." Add to that this story: 9/23/2004 - Israel’s bunker bomb buy "Israeli military officials said Tuesday that the Jewish state will receive nearly 5,000 smart bombs, including the 500 one-ton bombs that can destroy two-yard-thick (two-meter-thick) concrete walls." Clear enough, wouldn't you say? |
| Posted by: .com 2004-11-18 5:07:47 AM |
| #6 The needle on my surprise meter just curled back over the zero mark, in an attempt to show a negative value. I toldja guys, the Iranian Mullah's are in a race against time, and they are being helped by the self-serving, impotent European Governments supervised and orchestrated by Kofi Annan and El-Baradei. I hope that now with Condi at the reigns, the revised State Dept. is going to see through their lies. I also hope Dubia is going to go berzerk on them as soon as possible, because if they get operational nukes there is not going to be any middle eastern democracy in Iraq, Heck, I doubt that there will be a middle east at all after the nukes start flying (and believe me they will). The only solution I see in the short term will be a pre-emptive attack now (while we can). My prediction stays firm : in less than half a year there will be a defanging strike either by The USA or, if they delay too much, by Israel. |
| Posted by: Elder of Zion 2004-11-18 4:49:36 AM |
| #5 Repeat after me: Bunker... Buster... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-11-18 4:42:41 AM |
| #4 The problem is Iran building its plants in walled steel reinforced concrete buildings that makes the aerial attacks futile. These plants are structured in a way that protect them from smart bombs or cruise missiles. Amir-Ashkan |
| Posted by: Shock Ulunter3814 2004-11-18 4:30:41 AM |
| #3 It's either Israel of US who will knock out Iran nuke weapons plant. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-11-18 4:17:47 AM |
| #2 More here in BBC story to round out the topic. Of course, there is nothing even remotely surprising in any of this. Suggestions to the contrary or notions that this isn't the logical conclusion of years of effort, much of it followed here on RB (e.g. I posted some links in this RB story last night - ridiculing the Drudge / WaPo "scoop", lol!), is just silly. We knew this was coming, lol, no matter whether Drudge, WaPo, or BBC did. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-11-18 1:45:45 AM |
| #1 Moutafa:"...HHmmmm, Mahmouh, is David coming over the hill yet?" Mahmouh:"Naw, tha coast is clear!" Moutafa:"HHmmm...how do you get this square thing in that round hole?" |
| Posted by: smn 2004-11-18 1:15:40 AM |