Norman Podhoretz, wrote World War IV in September 2006. In the June 2007
issue of Commentary he published an article entitled, "The Case for
Bombing
Iran."
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.html?id=10882
Bush has been long suffering, but time is running out for Iran. Like John
McCain said, the only thing worse than bombing Iran is for Iran to get the
bomb. Podhoretz said in a CSPAN2 discussion of his book that he believes
Bush will bomb Iran soon. Apparently that view is also widely held in
Iran
as one can see in the following article sent me by a lurker [Lawrence]:
http://www.ocnus.net/artman2/publish/Analyses_12/Silence_in_Syria_Panic_in_I
ran.shtml
Silence in Syria, Panic in Iran
By Dr. Jack Wheeler, To The Point News 19/9/07
Sep 25, 2007 - 12:09:27 PM
"Everyone in the government and military can only talk of one thing,' he
reports. 'No matter who I talked to, all they could do was ask me, over
and
over again, 'Do you think the Americans will attack us?' 'When will the
Americans attack us?' 'Will the Americans attack us in a joint operation
with the Israelis?' How massive will the attack be?' on and on, endlessly.
The Iranians are in a state of total panic.'
And that was before September 6. Since then, it's panic-squared in
Tehran.
The mullahs are freaking out in fear. Why? Because of the silence in
Syria. On September 6, Israeli Air Force F-15 and F-16s conducted a
devastating attack on targets deep inside Syria near the city of Dayr
az-Zawr. Israel's military censors have muzzled the Israeli media,
enforcing an extraordinary silence about the identity of the targets.
Massive speculation in the world press has followed, such as Brett
Stephens'
Osirak II? in yesterday's (9/18) Wall St. Journal. Stephens and most
everyone else have missed the real story. It is not Israel's silence that
'speaks volumes' as he claims, but Syria's.
Why would the Syrian government be so tight-lipped about an act of war
perpetrated on their soil? The first half of the answer lies in this story
that appeared in the Israeli media last month (8/13): Syria's
Antiaircraft
System Most Advanced In World. Syria has gone on a profligate buying
spree,
spending vast sums on Russian systems, 'considered the cutting edge in
aircraft interception technology.' Syria now 'possesses the most crowded
antiaircraft system in the world,' with 'more than 200 antiaircraft
batteries of different types,' some of which are so new that they have
been
installed in Syria 'before being introduced into Russian operation
service.'
While you're digesting that, take a look at the map of Syria: Notice how
far
away Dayr az-Zawr is from Israel. An F15/16 attack there is not a tiptoe
across the border, but a deep, deep penetration of Syrian airspace. And
guess what happened with the Russian super-hyper-sophisticated cutting
edge
antiaircraft missile batteries when that penetration took place on
September
6th. Nothing.
El blanko. Silence. The systems didn't even light up, gave no indication
whatever of any detection of enemy aircraft invading Syrian airspace, zip,
zero, nada. The Israelis (with a little techie assistance from us)
blinded
the Russkie antiaircraft systems so completely the Syrians didn't even
know
they were blinded. Now you see why the Syrians have been scared
speechless.
They thought they were protected - at enormous expense - only to discover
they are defenseless. As in naked. Thus the Great Iranian Freak-Out - for
this means Iran is just as nakedly defenseless as Syria.
I can tell you that there are a lot of folks in the Kirya (IDF
headquarters
in Tel Aviv) and the Pentagon right now who are really enjoying the
mullahs'
predicament. Let's face it: scaring the terror masters in Tehran out of
their wits is fun. It's so much fun, in fact, that an attack destroying
Iran's nuclear facilities and the Revolutionary Guard command/control
centers has been delayed, so that France (under new management) can get in
on the fun too. On Sunday (9/16), Sarkozy's foreign minister Bernard
Kouchner announced that 'France should prepare for the possibility of war
over Iran's nuclear program.' All of this has caused Tehran to respond
with
maniacal threats. On Monday (9/17), a government website proclaimed that
'600 Shihab-3 missiles' will be fired at targets in Israel in response to
an
attack upon Iran by the US/Israel.
This was followed by Iranian deputy air force chief Gen. Mohammad Alavi
announcing today (9/19) that 'we will attack their (Israeli) territory
with
our fighter bombers as a response to any attack.' A sure sign of panic is
to
make a threat that everyone knows is a bluff. So our and Tel Aviv's
response to Iranian bluster is a thank-you-for-sharing yawn and a laugh.
Few things rattle the mullahs' cages more than a yawn and a laugh. Yet no
matter how much fun this sport with the mullahs is, it is also deadly
serious. The pressure build-up on Iran is getting enormous. Something is
going to blow and soon. The hope is that the blow-up will be internal,
that
the regime will implode from within. But make no mistake: an all-out full
regime take-out air assault upon Iran is coming if that hope doesn't
materialize within the next 60 to 90 days. The Sept. 6 attack on Syria
was
the shot across Iran's bow.
So - what was attacked near Dayr az-Zawr? It's possible it was North
Korean
'nuclear material' recently shipped to Syria, i.e., stuff to make
radioactively 'dirty' warheads, but nothing to make a real nuke with as
the
Norks don't have real nukes (see Why North Korea's Nuke Test Is Such Good
News, October 2006). Another possibility is it was to take out a stockpile
of long-range Zilzal surface-to-surface missiles recently shipped from
Iran
for an attack on Israel. A third is it was a hit on the stockpile of
Saddam's chemical/bio weapons snuck out of Iraq and into Syria for
safekeeping before the US invasion of April 2003. But the identity of the
target is not the story - for the primary point of the attack was not to
destroy that target. It was to shut down Syria's Russian air defense
system
during the attack. Doing so made the attack an incredible success. Syria
is
shamed and silent. Iran is freaking out in panic. Defenseless enemies
are
fun.
