Israel rehearses strike on Iran nuclear sites

London Telegraph ^ | 6-20-08 | Tim Butcher

[HardStarboard]

Thanks for posting this article rdl.

I, for one, don't mind a duplicate post when the news is as significant as this article.

Not all of us scan every article in every catagory.

Fortunately, the miniscule amount of extra bandwidth doesn't cost $4.65 a gallon.

I'll send FR an extra $5.00 next fundraiser to cover the costs of duplicate posts I read.

[HardStarboard]

Is there some reason the addition (if any) information couldn’t have been posted to the existing thread?

Doesn't your yard need weeding...or something?

Give it a break....

[rdl6989]

Thanks.

[rmlew]

They would fly over Jordan to Iraq, just like the Osirak raid. Then they would cross into Iran.

[The Wizard]

I wish them the best, let’s get rid of the little dictator and deliver oil at half the price

[tanknetter]

How does Israel get to Iran? How do their helicopters come in to play? WOuld they have to fly over Iraq? I’d think the Iraqi government would be hesitant to give permission at this point. Otherwise, I guess they’ve shown Syria’s air defenses to be wanting- how would Turkey react? How about flying over Saudi Arabia?

My guess is that with the exceptions of Syria (ostensibly an ally) and Iraq (too formative to want to be anything but strictly neutral), every significant country in the region is going to be secretly cheering on the Israelis, even if they publically condemn a raid and start sabre-rattling in return.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Saudis just look the other way and let the Israelis use their airspace. The upper echelon of the House of Saud (as opposed to the bazillion lesser princes) are businessmen first and the nutjobs on the other side of the Persian Gulf are pretty bad for business (high-risk in the long term). An added benefit for them is that having the Israelis manage to "sneak through" their airspace is pretty good justification for speeding up the reequipment of their military (they apparently want Eurofighter Typhoons. Lots and lots of Eurofighter Typhoons).

[tanknetter]

They have 6 or 7 KC-135's, and they can use ours as well.

Take a good look at that Sufa. Notice anything missing? Like the Israeli national insignia on the wings?

Ok, that picture looks like it was taken in Winter somewhere over the Central US, so it's probably a predelivery Sufa on a test flight (predelivery aircraft for foreign export often don't wear their nation's insignia until they make it to their buyer's territory. The Polish F-16s flew out with US insignia and the Polish insignia wasn't unblocked until after the ferry flight). It reminds me of the IMAX "Red Flag" movie (supposedly a documentary, but really a comedy) where they talk about all the nations at Red Flag, listing the nations as they show aircraft from those nation's Air Forces. The narrator gets through six or seven countries and says "and other nations as well" just as a Barak taxis by.

[baclava]

Israel won’t dare do anything without our approval.

WE won’t want to jeopardize our new Iraqi oil fields ventures.

Won’t happen

[Wiz]

I guess it would be much more easier and efficient to lobby in US to do the job than Israel from a distant location with limited resource. However, experts just say it is impractical for a President to do so before leaving the White House. Meanwhile, Chinese firm is taken off the black list of supporting Iran with weapons, meaning there is likely Chinese lobby that is making President Bush nothing but a ChiCom puppet these days. There is a need to get rid of these Chinese lobby from US. I don’t want to see US betraying Israel as a result of China lobbying using US firms doing bussiness with them, putting pressure on the US government.

[Wiz]

Yes, but the fighters might have to cross Iraq. It depends on rather President Bush would allow so. With President Bush moving a Chinese firm off the black list supporting Iran with weapons, I wonder if there is any chance President Bush will come under pressure of Chinese lobby that will deny US support to Israel, so that China will be able to protect their interests in Iran.

[wordsofearnest]

“The Crash of 1979” by Paul Erdman.