Regional war is ahead?

[CEDARLAND]

Cheney’s tour of Middle East raises tensions with Iran
By Peter Symonds 26 March 2008
Related : Cheney's "peace" trip to Middle East prepares new wars
[21 March 2008]
The overriding theme of US Vice President Dick Cheney’s now-concluded trip to the Middle East was to marshal support for the Bush administration’s menacing stance against Iran. Referring to Tehran as the “darkening cloud” over the region, Cheney left no doubt that the Bush administration has not resiled from its oft-repeated threat to keep all options—including the military one—on the table.
Publicly Cheney repeated the mixture of lies and half-truths about Iran’s nuclear programs and its support for “terrorism” that provide the pretexts for imposing sanctions and threatening military strikes against Tehran. Privately, particularly in Israel, the conversations unquestionably dealt more specifically with the Bush administration’s plans for action against Iran.
All the countries on the nine-day itinerary—Iraq, Afghanistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Occupied Territories and Turkey—are either key US allies in the region, or would play a critical role in any attack on Iran. Especially ominous was the visit to Oman, which not only provides logistical support for the US military in the region, but occupies the southern coastline of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The narrow waterway in the Persian Gulf is a central preoccupation for Pentagon’s military planners in any conflict with Iran.

Cheney made absolutely clear, however, that the Bush administration would do nothing to restrain Israel’s provocative attacks in Gaza and the West Bank or in the broader region. America’s commitment to Israel’s security is enduring and unshakeable... The United States will never pressure Israel to take steps to threaten its security.”

In comments to ABC News on Monday, Cheney again raised the Iranian spectre, declaring concern over “everything from their support for Hezbollah, their efforts—working through the Syrians, for example to interfere in the political process inside Lebanon Obviously, they’re also heavily involved in trying to develop nuclear weapons enrichment, the enrichment of uranium to weapons grade levels. So if you put all of that together, and you see that range of activity that Iran is engaged in, it’s very disturbing to many leaders in the region
Behind the scenes, Cheney clearly discussed the possibility of a military strike on Iran with Israeli leaders. While the vice president was relatively guarded in his statements, his Israeli counterparts were not. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu put the matter most bluntly, telling the Israeli press: “I spoke to him about the need to remove the Iranian threat before [Tehran] arms itself with a nuclear bomb.”

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak reportedly told Cheney that Israel supported financial sanctions against Iran but “none of the options should be taken off the table”. Following his meeting with Cheney, Israeli President Shimon Peres chided the US and Europe for ignoring Iran’s development of ballistic missiles. “Iran’s only intentions in developing missiles with nuclear warheads are to destroy Israel and threaten the entire world,” Peres said.

Iran was also high on the agenda in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi monarchy is a longstanding rival of the Iranian regime for regional influence, but in recent months has hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on several occasions. One factor in this more conciliatory approach was the release in December of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) compiled by US intelligence agencies, which concluded that Iran had ended its nuclear weapons programs in 2003.

While in Oman, Cheney effectively dismissed the NIE findings, declaring it was not known whether or not Iran had restarted a nuclear weapons program. Undoubtedly he repeated a similar message in Saudi Arabia in order to scotch any suggestion that the NIE meant a reduction of the US military threat against Iran. Cheney held lengthy talks with King Abdullah over a range of issues, including Iran and global energy market. Washington is seeking a boost in Saudi oil production not only to ease current record oil prices, but with an eye to the potential impact on energy supplies of any military confrontation with Iran.

On the final leg of his trip in Turkey on Monday, Cheney again declared his concerns about Iran’s nuclear program in a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He also met with the Turkish President Abdullah Gul and military chief Yasar Buyukanit. Virtually nothing was reported of the discussions, which included a US request for Turkish troops to be deployed in Afghanistan, energy supplies and last month’s Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Washington has been concerned that its NATO ally has been establishing closer economic and political ties with Iran. Turkish and Iranian forces have cooperated over the past year in operations against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Cheney reiterated American support for Turkish actions against the PKK, but was no doubt looking for a quid pro quo from Ankara—on Iran in particular. If nothing else, by ratchetting up tensions over Iran, the US will force Turkey and other US allies to think twice about expanding relations with Tehran.

The precise nature of Cheney’s discussions in the Middle East about the Bush administration’s war plans is unknown. But one rather chilling exchange took place on Monday during a roundtable interview between Cheney and the accompanying press corps in Jerusalem.

As a final question, an American reporter asked: “You said, when you were standing with Prime Minister Olmert, that you would never do anything that would threaten their own security. And I’m wondering, if they came to you and the President and said, we need to strike Iran to maintain our own security, would you try to stop them?”

After Cheney dismissed the question as hypothetical, the reporter responded by asking: “Did they come to you and [ask]?” Cheney again dismissed the question as hypothetical, but he did not deny the suggestion outright. The whole exchange was accompanied by laughter.
As everyone present was well aware, such a scenario is far from hypothetical. Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not allow Iran to develop its nuclear capacities and the matter may well have been discussed with Cheney during his visit.

[CEDARLAND]

Let us discuss defence tactics now ? How to outsmart smart falling bombs ?

[CEDARLAND]

[quote=CEDARLAND;741030]Some air defence lessons from Serbia

Or the know-how to shoot down stealth B2s

B-2 LO strategic bomber


The loss of the B-2A "Spirit" on May 20, 1999, was confirmed by the Foreign Military Review magazine - the official publication of Russian Defense Ministry. ITAR-TASS report here. Tanjug report here. According to the latest reports, the B-2A crashed near the Obedska Bara Lake in the Dec area (villages of Simanovci and Kupinovo). An eyewitness report by a senior Yugoslav army officer indicates that the B-2A was picked up by a radar and sustained a direct hit. The aircraft caught on fire and crashed not far from where it was intercepted by the missile. Parts of the B-2A, including the forward landing gear cover and pieces of the leading edge of the wing, have been seen at the VTI (Military Technology Institute) research facility in Yugoslavia.

Crew: 2-3 Operated over Yugoslavia by the US. Each aircraft costs $2 billion. Holds a dubious distinction of being the most expensive aircraft in the world. Max speed 915km/h, service ceiling 50,000ft. Combat radius 4,000-6,000km on internal fuel. Can carry 16,920kg of ordnance, including up to 16 AGM-129 ACMs, or 16 B61 tactical or B83 strategic nuclear free-fall bombs, or 80 Mk 82 bombs, or 16 JDAMs, or 16 GAMs, or 16 Mk 84 bombs. May 20 One American B-2A Spirit strategic stealth bomber (possibly AV-8 88-0329 Spirit of Missouri) was shot down on 05-20-99 over Surcin at 01:00 local time. The aircraft crashed near the village of Dec (Detch), Pecinci county (in the field between Simanovci and Kupinovo; map 1; map2; map 3). The flight of three B-2As (normally B-2A fly in pairs, one acting as a backup for another) entered Yugoslavian airspace from the northwest and was escorted by several fighter aircraft (B-2As are usually escorted over Yugoslavia by F-15C fighters and F-16CJ fighter/bombers in SEAD role; every mission of B-2As requires about 50 escort and support aircraft). The B-2As were detected by long-wave early-warning radars. The bombers reduced altitude and attacked its targets in Belgrade. One of the B-2As was hit by a SAM in the area of the cockpit and crashed shortly after. Crew was killed in the crash. The incident was reported by Ilustrovana Politika magazine on 06-01-99.

[CEDARLAND]

B-1B strategic bomberOperated over Yugoslavia by the US. March 29 Five US B-1B strategic bomber have been dispatched to participate in the aggression against Yugoslavia on 03-29-99. Russian doomsayers in the Ministry of Defense always associate appearance of this aircraft anywhere near Russian borders with an open nuclear threat to Russia. It should be expected that Moscow will not be amused at B-1B's appearance over Yugoslavia. No losses so far, but one can always hope...
Conflict in Yugoslavia

One of America's most troubled bomber aircraft projects, the B-1B experienced criticism of its high cost, cancellation, 20-year delay in development and operational serviceability problems. Max speed 1324km/h, service ceiling 50,000ft. Combat radius under 6,000km. Can carry up to 34,020 of ordnance internally, including B-61 & B-83 thermonuclear bombs, up to 8 AGM-86B ALCMs, 24 AGM-69A SRAM-As, 28 B-61 or 28 B-93 free-fall nuclear bombs, up to 85 225-kg Mk 82 conventional bombs and CBU-87, -89 & -97 cluster bombs, currently being upgraded to carry JDAMs, JSOWs, JASSMs.

[CEDARLAND]

[quote=CEDARLAND;741003]U.S. B-1 bomber burns at Middle East base
B-1 bomber that caught fire after landing at an Air Force base in Qatar. The Air Force says the bomber was taxiing after landing at al-Udeid Air Base and caught fire. QUOTE]

[CEDARLAND]

Optoelectronics are also very vulnerable as seen from this picture

[CEDARLAND]

it seems posting videos has been disabled in this thread. A picture is worth a thousand words says a chinese proverb.

[Salome]

Cedarland,

You posted a lot of materials, unfortunately I dont have time to go through all of them, therefore can you sum up your ideas on a regional war?

[CEDARLAND]

Originally Posted by Salome

Cedarland,

You posted a lot of materials, unfortunately I dont have time to go through all of them, therefore can you sum up your ideas on a regional war?

Capsule Summary

A) It seems that a decision has already been made as for going to war In Bush's and Olmert's mind.

B) For those thinking that the outcome is guaranteed just like in 2003, this time the game has many many many players unlike Irak which was left on its own. Russia and China have to all to lose in this game and will fight back desperately.

The master plan for USA is to gain mastery of all mideast oil and it would be wrong to think that only Iran is standing in the way. Since Russian and Chinese interests are at stake, those betting on a technological gap are likely to be the losers.

Greetings to Salome

[Salome]

Originally Posted by CEDARLAND

Capsule Summary

A) It seems that a decision has already been made as for going to war In Bush's and Olmert's mind.

Maybe its more up to how Olmert would decide. Theres a theory that war shall happen before November 2008, which would ensure republican victory on one hand, and Israeli victory on the other. USA would be involved indirectly in the beginning.

How about Iran? What is their strategy?