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Did US Really Scupper Israel Attempt To Nuke Iran This Month?
Talk about hogging the limelight.
There have been so many amazing, Israel related reports recently that it's now become almost impossible to ignore them.
But surely this one beats the band; by a long chalk.
Latest Update
Behind The Story Of Israel’s Aborted Nuclear Strike
By William Thomas Jan 25th 2007
What does a reporter do when handed the most incendiary story of his career?
What if it’s wrong? What if it’s true?
When no one else is reporting Israel’s attempted nuclear strike on Iran—and a pair of intelligence agents are tracking your source, “publish or perish” takes on new meaning.>>>
Israeli Nuclear Strike On Iran Turned Back ...
Yeah, when we saw that we both blinked too.
Here's what we found when reading further.
A recent strike by nuclear-armed Israeli Air Force fighter-bombers bound for targets in Iran was turned back after being intercepted by U.S. fighters over Iraq, this reporter has learned.
Two sources have independently confirmed the encounter, which took place on January 7, 2007.Though the first informant offered few details beyond an initial tip, a second source long-known by this reporter to have well-placed U.S. and “non-U.S.” military and government contacts provided specific information regarding the raid, which was aimed at the radical religious ayatollahs holding ultimate power in Iran.
Jaw dropped yet?
Gob smacked yet?
Eyes out on stalks yet?
Mind boggled yet?
Pants pissed yet?
Kecks crapped yet?
All of the above?
And there's more of the same scary sort of stuff where this came from.
Feast your eyes on the following for example.
According to this very reliable source, on two previous occasions Israeli fighter-bombers armed with nuclear bombs have headed “downtown” before being turned back over Iraq.
The January 7th mission, which trespassed beyond 160 station before being recalled by Israeli authorities, comprised three IAF F-16s. Each carried conventional munitions—as well as a single 20-kiloton nuclear bomb.
The atomic detonation that razed the city of Hiroshima and killed 140,000 people outright was a 13-kiloton blast. [Agence France-Presse Aug 6/05]
Even as we type we've not figured out whether we should file what we've found -- under 'fact' -- or under 'fiction'.
Here's the whole hair-raising story.
See what you think.
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posted by Richard at Sunday, January 28, 2007
10 Comments:
Sorry Richard, but the whole thing is failing on the elementary level, and in my opinion it is a disinformation, or a psy-op piece, in order to deceive people (including the potential enemy) and maintain tension.
Where the story 'lost me', is where the author described Israel's strike as an affair involving 3 fighter bombers, armed with conventional, as well as one 'low yield' nuclear bomb. (The quote doesn't make it clear, if it is one nuclear bomb each plane, or one for the whole mission).
That doesn't make sense the same way, as waking up a sleeping lion with a baseball bat would.
Anyone who is just a bit familiar with the Iranian defence knows, that their formidable and dreaded second strike capability, such as their missile installations are dispersed widely, carefully entrenched and concealed. The first strike need to be a massive affair with whole airwings, in order to destroy as many of these as possible, not just the designated targets, and even then, it will possibly fail.
I can not overemphasize the reckless nature of such an attack.
It has been publically declared, that all military installations and nearby Naval units will be targeted for retaliation, as well as Saudi Arabian oilfields, refineries, docking facilities and oiltanker traffic itself.
On top of that, this attack will be a brazen and grave challenge against China, whose oil-supply relies heavily on Iran.
There is a lot more can be said about this whole sorry affair, but I think it is enough already, as it is.
I'm with Tom. It's way OTT. They work hard at "it" though, you have to give them that much credit. But as the old saying goes - once bitten twice shy. In other words I'll take everything else they ever say with a huge pinch of salt.
Here is a copy of my own reaction when someone on another site called my attention to this article and I went and read it:
"....if all that technical information were actually accurate, several governments would have immediately removed it.
"I don't doubt that a mission was aborted, but it may have been only intended as a threat or a reminder."
I am sure it was self-aborted, but throwing in the American heroic rescue makes it more exciting and frightening like a grade-B movie script.
Bsck to quoting what I wrote before....
"As to the rest of the data about arms and defenses and specific locations and specific defensive and offensive plans -- sounds frightening, but as I said, if it were true ..... it would not be there.
"If it is false, it makes for great psychological warfare."
The "psychological warfare" is aimed at all of us, of course.
It appears we are all 3 in agreement.
Could any of this have anything to do with all the raving of the Israeli president?
Holy Shit! We really need to teach these people how to play chess.
The old Brit is still bashing Israel I see.
Richard:
This story is in all likelihood a canard, I'm entirely with Tom on this. And who is William Thomas? An attention seeker? Let's not believe everything we read...
I thank everybody for their agreement, and let me say that I thank Richard warmly for posting this, because it concentrated our mind on this serious issue, which is festering on for a good while now.
During these times the pressure has been maintained, or even increased on the Iranian government, and there is a chance that a huge military conflict may emerge from this zone.
Indeed one of the indication if a conflict is getting 'hotter', is when disinformation pieces like this, are published increasingly. The effort to deceive, to divert attention away, is an integral part of any modern warfare preparation.
Are we still remember the trumpeted public leaking of Marines practicing landing on the beaches, in preparation to retake Kuwait City during the first Gulf War?
That deception helped to keep a large portion of the Iraqi forces in a frontal (and soon to be outflanked) position, while in the same time diverted attention away, from the secret, big flanking maneuver in the desert, in preparation to provide a lethal strategic depth for the attack, which hopelessly outflanked and enveloped the Iraqis.
In conclusion, there is a menace in that 'theater', and the menace is real. There is another US carrier taskforce joined the already stationed groups recently. (3 now?) and -if I'm not mistaken- this one is outside the Strait of Hormuz, in a less vulnerable position, than in the shalow waters of the Persian Gulf, but still in easy striking distance, significantly closer than Israel.
With each carrier, there are around 50 fighter/bombers on board, with a whole coterie of other supporting planes and vessels, (such as 'hawkeye' AWACS planes and powerful missile cruisers) which comes with the 'package'.
That's much more telling to me, than any journalistic piece about this conflict, that it is 'real', and it doesn't show any sign to 'cool off'.
The story may or may not be true but the fact is more than 90% of stories in the two main national papers Canada, The Globe and Mail and the National post, and I am not mentioning here the US where figures are worse, is journalism based on official reports, press conferences, government sources. There is very little investigative journalism or nothing at all. This leaves a huge gap which is filled by the kind of journalism that is in question here.
On the substance, there is no doubt that Israel can do such a thing, and if it can it will...Restraint is not their main quality when dealing with regional problems...
This is a must read - via good friend and kindred spirit Tom Rushing at 'Current Era'. This one - I find very believable.
America ‘poised to strike at Iran’s nuclear sites’ from bases in Bulgaria and Romania
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