US 'planning to bomb Iran'

the age ^ | 4.9.06 | na

[Flavius]

US 'planning to bomb Iran'

THE Administration of President George Bush is planning a massive bombing campaign against Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key suspected nuclear weapons facility.

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, writing in The New Yorker magazine, said Mr Bush and others in the White House had come to view Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential Adolf Hitler.

"That's the name they're using," a former senior intelligence official told the magazine.

A senior unnamed Pentagon adviser is quoted as saying that "this White House believes that the only way to solve the problem is to change the power structure in Iran, and that means war".

The former intelligence official depicts planning as "enormous", "hectic" and "operational", Hersh writes.

One former defence official said the military planning was premised on a belief that "a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government", the magazine said.

In recent weeks, the President has quietly initiated a series of talks on plans for Iran with a few key senators and members of the House of Representatives, including at least one Democrat, the report said.

One of the options under consideration involves the possible use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, to insure the destruction of Iran's main centrifuge plant at Natanz, Hersh writes.

But the former senior intelligence official said the attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the military, and some officers have talked about resigning.

"There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing nuclear weapons against other countries," the magazine quotes the Pentagon adviser as saying.

The adviser is quoted as saying: "If we go (bomb Iran), the southern half of Iraq will light up like a candle."

AFP

[Flavius]

Seymour Hersh Journalist Seymour "Sy" Hersh made his name and career by reporting in 1969 on the U.S. court martial of Lt. William Calley, the commanding officer in what became known as the My Lai Massacre, an incident in South Vietnam where U.S. soldiers tortured and killed nearly 500 civilians. Hersh won the Pulitzer Prize for the story and became one of the most famous journalists in the country. During the 1970s he reported for The New York Times, creating more controversy with reports on the covert operations of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Consistently controversial, Hersh has written books that tell of Henry Kissinger's secret bombing of Cambodia, John Kennedy's wild and reckless White House, Israel's behind-the-scenes attempts to get nuclear weapons and General Barry McCaffrey's behavior during the Gulf War. Held in high esteem by many, he is also considered by some to be an unreliable rogue. In 2001 he came under fire by the Pentagon (again) for reporting on military actions in Afghanistan; in 2004 he reported in The New Yorker that Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad, which focused initially on low-ranking U.S. soldiers (including Lynndie England), could be traced to orders by Donald Rumsfeld -- orders President George W. Bush had been informed of ahead of time. The White House denied the allegations, and Hersh was himself once more the subject of headlines. In August of 2004 he published the book Chain of Command: The Road From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, based on his magazine reports. Four Good Links The Indispensable Seymour Hersh

Brief feature from November 2001 singing his praises The Gray Zone

His 2004 piece on the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib At The Front Lines on War Scandals

Washington Post article from 2004 that includes Hersh's past endeavors On Abuse of Prisoners at Abu Ghraib

NPR audio interview from 2004 Vital Stats Birth

8 April 1937 Birthplace

Chicago, Illinois Death

-- Best Known As

The journalist who broke the story of the My Lai Massacre

http://www.who2.com/seymourhersh.html

[JmyBryan]

They're also planning to bomb Beijing and Moscow. The military always does contigency planning. But if this 'leak' helps dissuade the Iranian nutbars, great.

[EagleUSA]

Tom Clancy doing a new book ??? :-)

[OpusatFR]

"A senior unnamed Pentagon adviser is quoted as saying...

...The former intelligence official depicts...

One former defence official... the magazine quotes the Pentagon adviser as saying..."

ROFLMAO...

Seymour's only info comes from those nasty voices inside his head. More's the pity the voices aren't even drug induced.

Hallucinate on, guy..

[Michael.SF.]

The US Military has all types of contingency plans in place. If this was not one of them, then they would not be doing their jobs. Having such plans in place is different then "planning to" implement such plans.

[bill1952]

>"There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing nuclear weapons against other countries," the magazine quotes the Pentagon adviser as saying.

Begs the question; - why?

And a loaded statement as well - We do not 'brandish' weapons - we use them

[jpl]

Yep, and the old Eugene McCarthy flack seems to be getting battier as time goes by. I'll bet that he gets most of his "inside information" from Janet Karpinski.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

The identical story put out by Rooters and DEBKA was posted 12 hours ahead of this.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

Sy Hersh: all the veracity, intergrity and sincerity of a butterfly fart.

[CyberAnt]

"Seymour Hersh"


This guy is a snake in the grass. I don't know where he got the info - "a former senior intel official" - Valerie Pflame, Richard Clarke come to mind. But whoever gave him the info knew he would put it out in the public.

And being "former" this would mean that HE/SHE MAYBE DIDN'T GET THE GO AHEAD FROM THE BUSH WH TO REVEAL THIS INFO ..??

Or .. it's being leaked by a former somebody close to the WH and the WH WANTS IT LEAKED - hoping it will bring Iran to heal! I sure hope nobody's holding their breath on that prospect.

But .. aren't "war plans" considered CLASSIFIED info ..?? If so .. here we have another case of the dems leaking classified material, while accusing Bush of doing the same - and Bush's leaks were DE-CLASSIFIED MATERIAL.

[Psycho_Bunny]

The overwhelming prevalence for the MSM to use "unnamed" sources is one of the two or three primary reasons the media has lost all credibility.

[coconutt2000]

Well, he's not too far off...

The voices in his head are the remnants of intelligence, long since destroyed by drugs, alcohol, and only God knows what. He refers to these remnants as "former intelligence..."

His conscience and self-preservation instincts are long since corroded after years of associating with dysfunctional cultural elitists that permeate the world of journalism. He refers to these as "former defence..."

And if he hears voices while inside the Pentagon, their advice can be easily construed as being from a "Pentagon insider..." or "Pentagon adviser."

[b4its2late]

Planning is always a good thing.

[SquirrelKing]

The overwhelming prevalence for the MSM to use "unnamed" sources is one of the two or three primary reasons the media has lost all credibility.

I know. An "unnamed" source says that i am the sexiest man alive.

[johnandrhonda]

We better not bomb Iran--they have that new 300 mph torpedo!

[wvobiwan]

Hersh again, eh?

As an agent for all enemies of the US, Hersh will keep saying this regularly so as to hopefully eliminate the possibility of a surprise attack by the US military.

That's ok Seymour, it won't really matter if we can surprise the mullahs in Iran or not. We did Saddam in 4 days without the element of surprise, I bet the military would be willing to even spend a few weeks on Iran - lots of them (and us) still remember the US Embassy hostage-taking...

[trickyricky]

"the former senior intelligence official said the attention given to the nuclear option
has created serious misgivings inside the military,
and some officers have talked about resigning."

If true, let's hope they do resign.
Our military doesn't need weak sisters who are reluctant to use any and all force necessary.
I mean, they are the armed forces, right?

[Reactionary]

Here we go with the liberals acting real cute about national security.

What exactly are the Donkeys planning on doing about Iran? Nothing. That's their extent of their nuclear "foreign policy."

[gaijin]

will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government"

Duh...where have I heard THAT ONE before...?

[wvobiwan]

Oh yeah, and don't forget their new Stealth Swamp Boat! I hear they're mounting AEGIS on their camels...