Moves toward War with Iran: In the Event of War, Part 3
By William R. Polk
Mr. Polk was the member of the U.S. Policy Planning Council responsible for the Middle East from 1961 to 1965. Subsequently, he was professor of history and director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago and later president of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. Author of many books on international affairs, world and Middle Eastern history, he recently wrote Understanding Iraq (HarperCollins, New York and London 2005 and 2006) and, together with former Senator George McGovern, Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2006).
Editor: This the third in a series: Part 1. Part 2.
The Iranians believe that American threats and moves are a bluff. That is what I have been told authoritatively by a senior official of their government. But, if they are wrong, something like the following will probably happen.
The first step, in fact, has already happened. Unmanned drones and probably some manned aircraft have been identifying targets in Iran for at least the last year. Allegedly also, reconnaissance teams have been operating on the ground. While the information they have assembled, indeed even their existence, is secret, leaks to the press suggest that they have found upwards of 1,000 sites that have been selected for attack.
 As in Iraq, an attack would begin with a massive aerial bombardment. In my previous article, I described the scale of such an attack. B2 and B52 bombers would converge on Iran from bases in America and the Indian Ocean. Other aircraft would deploy from Central Asia, the Persian Gulf and Iraq. Both planes and cruise missiles would be launched from the armadas built around the giant aircraft carriers Eisenhower and Enterprise. Thousands of missiles and millions of kilograms of high explosives would rain down on the country. Since many of the suspected nuclear sites are in urban areas, there would be considerable “collateral damage� in Tehran, Isfahan, and other cities. [more]
October 30th, 2006 at 11:29 am
Hasn’t war on Iran already started? It seems that the Navy is in place. What passes for an Army is in place in Iraq. The media is poised and in place. Excuses and rationale are flying fast and furious. Spurious curious and certainly suspicious reports are sprinkled here and there and around the web. Hasn’t war on Iran already started?