US drawing plans to bomb Iran - report

[brettdale]

US drawing plans to bomb Iran - report


http://www.stuff.co.nz/3973748a12.html


NEW YORK: Despite the Bush administration's insistence it has no plans to go to war with Iran, a Pentagon panel has been created to plan a bombing attack that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from President George W Bush, The New Yorker magazine reported in its latest issue.

The special planning group was established within the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent months, according to an unidentified former US intelligence official cited in the article by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh in the March 4 issue.

The panel initially focussed on destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and on regime change but has more recently been directed to identify targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq, according to an Air Force adviser and a Pentagon consultant, who were not identified.

The consultant and a former senior intelligence official both said that US military and special-operations teams had crossed the border from Iraq into Iran in pursuit of Iranian operatives, according to the article.