uncle wally ☻.hooroo !²ö«�«^uç™·«ûmvé¨h¡æ

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Hi peoplez ~!

These two articles from the Times Online indicate that maximum
frickability could be attained pretty frickin' soon ~!!!

Up sh!t creek without a paddle ~!

Hell in a handbasket & not a snowflake's chance anyone can do anything
about it ~!

Cue Mr Hankey ~!

Cue the Fat Lady ~!

HOOROO


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3868063.ece


From The Sunday TimesMay 4, 2008

United States is drawing up plans to strike on Iranian insurgency
campMichael Smith

Read Mick Smith's defence blog at www.timesonline.co.uk/micksmith

The US military is drawing up plans for a “surgical strike” against an
insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with
attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last
week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at
the involvement of the Guards’ special-operations Quds force inside
Iraq, training Shi’ite militias and smuggling weapons into the
country.

Despite a belligerent stance by Vice-President Dick Cheney, the
administration has put plans for an attack on Iran’s nuclear
facilities on the back burner since Robert Gates replaced Donald
Rumsfeld as defence secretary in 2006, the sources said.


However, US commanders are increasingly concerned by Iranian
interference in Iraq and are determined that recent successes by joint
Iraqi and US forces in the southern port city of Basra should not be
reversed by the Quds Force.

“If the situation in Basra goes back to what it was like before,
America is likely to blame Iran and carry out a surgical strike on a
militant training camp across the border in Khuzestan,” said one
source, referring to a frontier province.

They acknowledged Iran was unlikely to cease involvement in Iraq and
that, however limited a US attack might be, the fighting could
escalate.

Although American defence chiefs are firmly opposed to any attack on
Iranian nuclear facilities, they believe a raid on one of the camps
training Shi’ite militiamen would deliver a powerful message to
Tehran.

British officials believe the US military tends to overestimate the
effect of the Iranian involvement in Iraq.

But they say there is little doubt that the Revolutionary Guard
exercises significant influence over splinter groups of the radical
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, who were the main targets of
recent operations in Basra.

The CBS television network reported last week that plans were being
drawn up for an attack on Iran, citing an officer who blamed the
“increasingly hostile role” Iran was playing in Iraq.

The American news reports were unclear about the precise target of
such an action and referred to Iran’s nuclear facilities as the likely
objective.

According to the intelligence sources there will not be an attack on
Iran’s nuclear capacity. “The Pentagon is not keen on that at all. If
an attack happens it will be on a training camp to send a clear
message to Iran not to interfere.”

President George W Bush is known to be determined that he should not
hand over what he sees as “the Iran problem” to his successor. A
limited attack on a training camp may give an impression of tough
action, while at the same time being something that both Gates and the
US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, could accept.

=================

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3867880.ece

From The Sunday TimesMay 4, 2008

MI6 chief visits Mossad for talks on Iran's nuclear threatUzi
Mahnaimi
THE head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, is to visit Israel later this
month as Britain forges closer links with Mossad, the Israeli
intelligence service.

Iran’s nuclear programme is expected to be high on the agenda in an
intelligence-sharing process described by Israeli officials as a
“strategic dialogue”. It is building on long-standing cooperation
between MI6 and Mossad, both of which have extensive spy networks in
the Middle East.

Scarlett, 59, is likley to be briefed by Meir Dagan, 63, the head of
Mossad, on Israel’s latest information about the Iranian nuclear
programme. It is understood that Israel has made a breakthrough in
intelligence-gathering within Iran.

There is mounting concern in Israel that Iran’s nuclear capability may
be far more advanced than was recognised in a declassified assessment
by the US National Intelligence Estimate last December, which
concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons development
programme in 2003 in response to international pressure.

Related Links
US warns Iran of retaliation over Iraq
Iran: we now have 6,000 nuclear centrifuges
Nuclear watchdog: Iran a year away from bomb
One source claimed the new information was on a par with intelligence
that led Israel to discover and then destroy a partly constructed
nuclear reactor in Syria last September.

Israeli officials believe the US will revise its analysis of Iran’s
programme. “We expect the Americans to amend their report soon,” a
high-ranking military officer said last week.

Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, briefed Gordon Brown and David
Miliband, the foreign secretary, on Israel’s findings during talks on
the Middle East in London last week. Israeli intelligence officers, en
route from Washington where they had been outlining their latest
information to American officials, joined Livni for the briefing.

It is thought that if Israel were considering military action against
Iran over its nuclear programme, it would want to ensure it had
diplomatic support in London and Washington because of the danger of
triggering a wider Middle East conflict.

“We’re doing a lot of things about Iran,” Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence
minister, said last week. “We say we shouldn’t rule out any option.
Not ruling out options means action, but the worst thing to do at the
moment is to talk [about it].” Whitehall officials said Scarlett’s
visit was “routine”.

hooroo

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