«
»




Apr

20

Why Bush Is The One — Part 2

Posted By: 'Okie' | 2:49 pm — 4/20/2006 | Comments Off See comments below:

[Another h/t: All Things Beautiful]

In her discussion of the MSM’s new fascination with whether President Bush has the authority to attack Iran or not, Alexandra von Maltzan provides a link to this Kenneth Timmerman NewsMax story from March 1st that should have gotten more attention. I mean, did you hear this from any MSM outlet?

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are making preparations for a massive assault on U.S. naval forces and international shipping in the Persian Gulf, according to a former Iranian intelligence officer who defected to the West in 2001.

The plans, which include the use of bottom-tethered mines potentially capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers, were designed to counter a U.S. land invasion and to close the Strait of Hormuz, the defector said in a phone interview from his home in Europe.

They would also be triggered if the United States or Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on Iran to knock out nuclear and missile facilities.

“The plan is to stop trade,” the source said.
(…)
The source provided NewsMax parts of a more than 30-page contingency plan, which bears the stamp of the Strategic Studies Center of the Iranian Navy, NDAJA. The document appears to have been drafted in September or October of 2005.

So, today we have $70+ per barrel crude oil, and the nutter Iranian President is saying that the price of oil is still much too low. Sounds like strategic planning to me. Make the world crazy by driving the price of oil to extreme heights causing political turmoil in Europe and the US, then shut down the Straight, causing a world-wide energy panic.

Admittedly, the source Kenneth Timmerman relies on in his article is Hamid Reza Zakeri, whose credibility as a witness is extremely controversial to say the least.

So, once the missiles and shells start flying, here is the Iranian battle plan according to documents shown to Timmerman.

The Iranian contingency plan is summarized in an “Order of Battle” map, which schematically lays out Iran’s military and strategic assets and how they will be used against U.S. military forces from the Strait of Hormuz up to Busheir.

The map identifies three major areas of operations, called “mass kill zones,” where Iranian strategists believe they can decimate a U.S.-led invasion force before it actually enters the Persian Gulf.

The kill zones run from the low-lying coast just to the east of Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port that sits in the bottleneck of the Strait of Hormuz, to the ports of Jask and Shah Bahar on the Indian Ocean, beyond the Strait.

Behind the kill zones are strategic missile launchers labeled as “area of chemical operations,” “area of biological warfare operations,” and “area where nuclear operations start.”

Iran’s overall battle management will be handled through C4I and surveillance satellites. It is unclear in the documents shared with NewsMax whether this refers to commercial satellites or satellite intelligence obtained from allies, such as Russia or China. Iran has satellite cooperation programs with both nations.

The map is labeled “the current status of military forces in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, 1384.” 1384 is the Iranian year that ends on March 20, 2006.

Iran plans to begin offensive operations by launching successive waves of explosives-packed boats against U.S. warships in the Gulf, piloted by “Ashura” or suicide bombers.

The first wave can draw on more than 1,000 small fast-attack boats operated by the Revolutionary Guards navy, equipped with rocket launchers, heavy machine-guns and possibly Sagger anti-tank missiles.
(…)
A second wave of suicide attacks would be carried out by “suicide submarines” and semi-submersible boats, before Iran deploys its Russian-built Kilo-class submarines and Chinese-built Huodong missile boats to attack U.S. warships, the source said.

The 114-foot Chinese boats are equipped with advanced radar-guided C-802s, a sea-skimming cruise-missile with a 60-mile range against which many U.S. naval analysts believe there is no effective defense.
(…)
Iran’s naval strategists believe the U.S. will attempt to land ground forces to the east of Bandar Abbas. Their plans call for extensive use of ground-launched tactical missiles, coastal artillery, as swell as strategic missiles aimed at Saudi Arabia and Israel tipped with chemical, biological and possibly nuclear warheads.

The Iranians also plan to lay huge minefields across the Persian Gulf inside the Strait of Hormuz, effectively trapping ships that manage to cross the Strait before they can enter the Gulf, where they can be destroyed by coastal artillery and land-based “Silkworm” missile batteries.

Today, Iran has sophisticated EM-53 bottom-tethered mines, which it purchased from China in the 1990s. The EM-53 presents a serious threat to major U.S. surface vessels, since its rocket-propelled charge is capable of hitting the hull of its target at speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour. Some analysts believe it can knock out a U.S. aircraft carrier.

Pretty scary! It wouldn’t take the sinking of many supertankers or much beyond the near-nuclear blast of an LPG tanker explosion after hitting a mine to cause the shipping of 20% of the world’s oil supply to cease. So, what would Iran gain by this, except for causing world chaos? In Feb. the Washington Times’ Arnaud de Borchgrave wrote:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Shi’ite creed has convinced him lesser mortals can not only influence but hasten the awaited return of the 12th Imam, known as the Mahdi. Iran’s dominant “Twelver” sect holds this will be Muhammad ibn Hasan, the righteous descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. He is said to have gone into “occlusion” in the 9th century, at age 5. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war, bloodshed and pestilence. After this cataclysmic confrontation between the forces of good and evil, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

No matter what happens this fall, and in the fall of ’08, we can’t just MoveOn out of the way of history and destiny. The U.S. and Iran will face off against each other — the only questions are when, and to what result? (db)

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Sphere It
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 20th, 2006 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Iran Threat, Military Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.  |  Print This Post Print This Post  |  Email This Post Email This Post

Recently Posted:


Comments are closed.