Pentagon ‘three-day blitz' plan for Iran 

THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians' military capability
in three days, according to a national security expert.
Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon
Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for
"pinprick strikes" against Iran's nuclear facilities. "They're about
taking out the entire Iranian military," he said.
Debat was speaking at a meeting organised by The National Interest, a
conservative foreign policy journal. He told The Sunday Times that the US
military had concluded: "Whether you go for pinprick strikes or all-out
military action, the reaction from the Iranians will be the same." It
was, he added, a "very legitimate strategic calculus".
President George Bush intensified the rhetoric against Iran last week,
accusing Tehran of putting the Middle East "under the shadow of a nuclear
holocaust". He warned that the US and its allies would confront Iran
"before it is too late".
One Washington source said the "temperature was rising" inside the
administration. Bush was "sending a message to a number of audiences", he
said ? to the Iranians and to members of the United Nations security
council who are trying to weaken a tough third resolution on sanctions
against Iran for flouting a UN ban on uranium enrichment.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week reported
"significant" cooperation with Iran over its nuclear programme and said
that uranium enrichment had slowed. Tehran has promised to answer most
questions from the agency by November, but Washington fears it is
stalling to prevent further sanctions. Iran continues to maintain it is
merely developing civilian nuclear power.
Bush is committed for now to the diplomatic route but thinks Iran is
moving towards acquiring a nuclear weapon. According to one well placed
source, Washington believes it would be prudent to use rapid,
overwhelming force, should military action become necessary.
Israel, which has warned it will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear
weapons, has made its own preparations for airstrikes and is said to be
ready to attack if the Americans back down.

 

Sarah Baxter, Washington

September 2, 2007