Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 34

Thread: Crikey...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,160

    Crikey...

    The Sunday Times is today reporting that Israel is planning some pre-emptive small scale nuclear attacks against Iran, targeting Iran's fledging nuclear infrastructure.


    Quote Originally Posted by Sunday Times
    Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran

    Uzi Mahnaimi, New York and Sarah Baxter, Washington

    ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

    Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

    The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.

    Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels” into the targets. “Mini-nukes” would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.

    “As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources.

    The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.

    Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70ft of concrete and rock. However, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined to intervene, senior sources said.

    Israeli and American officials have met several times to consider military action. Military analysts said the disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.

    Some analysts warned that Iranian retaliation for such a strike could range from disruption of oil supplies to the West to terrorist attacks against Jewish targets around the world.

    Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are believed to be involved in Iran’s nuclear programme:

    # Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment

    # A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a statement by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels

    # A heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough plutonium for a bomb

    Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear programme indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a “second Holocaust”.

    The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that “Israel must be wiped off the map”.

    Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, has described military action against Iran as a “last resort”, leading Israeli officials to conclude that it will be left to them to strike.

    Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible routes have been mapped out, including one over Turkey.

    Air force squadrons based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, have trained to use Israel’s tactical nuclear weapons on the mission. The preparations have been overseen by Major General Eliezer Shkedi, commander of the Israeli air force.

    Sources close to the Pentagon said the United States was highly unlikely to give approval for tactical nuclear weapons to be used. One source said Israel would have to seek approval “after the event”, as it did when it crippled Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak with airstrikes in 1981.

    Scientists have calculated that although contamination from the bunker-busters could be limited, tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be released.

    The Israelis believe that Iran’s retaliation would be constrained by fear of a second strike if it were to launch its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles at Israel.

    However, American experts warned of repercussions, including widespread protests that could destabilise parts of the Islamic world friendly to the West.

    Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Pentagon adviser, said Iran could try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the route for 20% of the world’s oil.

    Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the nerve to attack Iran. However, Dr Ephraim Sneh, the deputy Israeli defence minister, said last month: “The time is approaching when Israel and the international community will have to decide whether to take military action against Iran.”
    You gotta love the logic at work here. "We don't believe Iran should have any sort of nuclear capability as nuclear weapons are potentially hugely dangerous and threatening to our security. Our solution: nuke 'em!"

    The twisted irony would actually be quite funny if it weren't for the fact it'll probably send us spiralling toward WW3 if this story turns out to be true.

    source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...5310_1,00.html
    uәʞoɹq spɹɐoqʎәʞ ʎɯ

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Calgary AB
    Posts
    1,580
    hopefully it won't be true

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Northampton, Pennsylvania
    Posts
    7,989
    Here's a better idea- let's bomb everything east of, say, Poland; and west of, eh, Hawaii. Then they all can go back to fighting each other with sticks and rocks like they did 500 years ago.
    [O o)O=\x/=O(o O]

    The things we do for girls who won't sleep with us.

    Patrick says:
    dads is too long so it wont fit
    so i took hers out
    and put mine in

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    1,350
    I saw this a couple of minutes ago on digg. Also found it interesting of Israel to try and discourage Iran from making Nuclear Weapons by using Nuclear Weapons on them...

    What are they trying to say? You can't have uranium because it can be used to make this (*Israeli pointing to nuke*).
    Or: "We're not 100% sure if you're trying to produce nukes, but in case you are, here... Have some of ours."

    Something else I saw over at Digg was a high-up Iranian that made a statement of Iran only wanting to use Nuclear power for peaceful purposes, but if it becomes necessary they'll use Nuclear weapons... Do they have some already?


    Erm... have to save up for that trip to Mars now I guess.


    Sidenote:
    Here's an interesting factoid if it happens to be true: I heard once that for some extreme high-precision items requiring pure steel/ metal or whatever, no metal on the planet's surface will do as it's too atomically polluted due to the stuff they've already exploded over the years. Now there's a comforting thought, eh?
    Last edited by Kooper; 01-06-2007 at 10:45 PM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    2,697
    Well, it was bound to happen sometime.
    2011 Honda Civic Si

    ATHEIST and damn proud of it.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Mexico City, Mexico
    Posts
    4,708
    If thid turns out to be true, GWB won't be the biggest idiot on the block anymore.
    "NEVER ALLOW SOMEONE TO BE YOUR PRIORITY, WHILE ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE THEIR OPTION"

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Idaho
    Posts
    6,369
    Why not bomb them with some NuclearCrap?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    10
    Even the isrealis couldnt possibly be That stupid could they??!
    ~A tree never hits an automobile except in self defense~

    ~You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.~

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    1,288
    Quote Originally Posted by d3vine_brown
    Even the isrealis couldnt possibly be That stupid could they??!

    they think its an "them or us" situation. And in this case they may just be right. Although im hoping for a better solution.

    One bad result of this that i'd be worried about is the show of power b/c of the technology may further the drive of some other unsavory characters to get their hands on it, by any means necessary.
    You can call me scott.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    St Marys Western Sydney
    Posts
    20,953
    So much for the Cold War being over

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    6,534
    All it would take is open opposition to it from the US for Israel to pull its head in. But I imagine the US'd secretly love for this to happen, because it gives them something to distract the world from Iraq, and somewhere to play afterwards.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    hamilton, ontario, canada
    Posts
    792
    Something important to remember with Israel is that the fear of a bombing or a shooting is an everyday reality for them. This is how they survive. I spent my entire summer in that country and spent 5 weeks in a war. Life went on like everyday business for them. They have become this way due to pure circumstance.
    The McLaren F1- The most fun you can have with your clothes on


    "Live Fast, Die Young, and Leave a Good Looking Corpse" -James Dean, weeks before dying in a car crash at the age of 24

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Rozenburg, Holland
    Posts
    27,329
    Quote Originally Posted by Quiggs
    Here's a better idea- let's bomb everything east of, say, Poland; and west of, eh, Hawaii. Then they all can go back to fighting each other with sticks and rocks like they did 500 years ago.

    no questioning what was the best contribution so far in this thread...
    "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
    Posts
    7,833
    Just a quick thought:
    Israel is allready disliked by almost all it's neighbours. They bomb Iran and these countries may just invade Israel then in a "us or them" moment

    Maybe the best solution would have been to not even have allowe the state Israel to emerge long ago It would have saved many problems,deaths and regional instability.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    brisbane - sub-tropical land of mangoes
    Posts
    16,251
    Quote Originally Posted by drakkie
    Just a quick thought:
    Israel is allready disliked by almost all it's neighbours. They bomb Iran and these countries may just invade Israel then in a "us or them" moment
    i remember the outcome the last three times that was tried...
    Quote Originally Posted by drakkie
    Maybe the best solution would have been to not even have allowe the state Israel to emerge long ago It would have saved many problems,deaths and regional instability.
    not much point in lamenting about that now, what's done is done. you'd have to demolish the state of israel to reverse that decision..
    Andreas Preuninger, Manager of Porsche High Performance Cars: "Grandmas can use paddles. They aren't challenging."

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •