Planning for eventualities that may have a negative impact on US corporate interests is S.O.P. for the Department of Defense (aka the War Department). It is no surprise, then, that Secretary Leon Panetta told the National Journal, "The Pentagon is preparing an array of military options for striking Iran if hard-hitting diplomatic and economic sanctions fail to persuade Tehran to drop its nuclear ambitions." [1]
Diplomacy with Iran is proceeding on the order of that
well-worn example of sophistry where the prosecuting attorney asks the
defendant, "Have you stopped beating your wife? Yes or no?"
Even
though both Obama and Netanyahu face opposition to a war on Iran within
segments of their own military as well as from their civilian populations and
intelligence personnel have concluded that there is no evidence that Iran is
going after the bomb ,
preparations for war have been moving steadily forward, keeping the propaganda
machinery working overtime.
The
imposition of sanctions are supposed to force Iran to the negotiating table.
While they undermine Iran's ability to defend itself as sanctions did in Iraq's
case, they also allow time to put all the pieces in place as US elections go
forward.
Almost
10,000 US forces have already been deployed to Israel -- for the first time
ever. Obviously, to beef up Israeli defense capabilities. The military forces
of both countries will engage in preliminary exercises to insure smooth
operations at a later date. In addition, the Israeli Defense Forces now have a
base in Germany from which to operate. [2]
The
Navy's Fifth Fleet's area of operation from its base in Manama, Bahrain, is the
Persian Gulf, both the Red and Arabian Seas, and part of the east coast of
Africa. The USS
Enterprise,
the aging nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, has been dispatched to join two
other carriers in the Gulf. Two guided-missile destroyers are ready to be
dispatched soon to also join the Fifth Fleet. [3]
In
looking back over the last months, it is now evident that much of Netanyahu's
tough talk about launching an assault on Iran was a lot of bullying bluster.
Israel has not had this capability because its planes could not carry enough
fuel to fly over Iran and make it back. The US will remedy this deficiency by supplying
planes that can be refueled in mid-air.
The fact
that Bibi has no bunker-busting bombs has also been a problem. Sources report
that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who gave his own speech to AIPAC last
week, will send over our latest advanced bunker-busters that may have enough
fire power to reach the many underground laboratories scattered around Iran.
[4]
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