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Bush
pre-election strike on Iran 'imminent' By
Wayne Madsen
According
to White House and Washington Beltway insiders, the Bush administration,
worried that it could lose the presidential election to Senator John F.
Kerry, has initiated plans to launch a military strike on Iran's top
Islamic leadership, its nuclear reactor at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf,
and key nuclear targets throughout the country, including the main
underground research site at Natanz in central Iran and another in Isfahan.
Targets of the planned U.S. attack reportedly include mosques in Tehran,
Qom, and Isfahan known by the U.S. to headquarter Iran's top mullahs. The
Iran attack plan was reportedly drawn up after internal polling indicated
that if the Bush administration launched a so-called anti-terrorist attack
on Iran some two weeks before the election, Bush would be assured of a
landslide win against Kerry. Reports of a pre-emptive strike on Iran come
amid concerns by a number of political observers that the Bush
administration would concoct an "October Surprise" to influence
the outcome of the presidential election. According
to White House sources, the USS John F. Kennedy was deployed to the
Arabian Sea to coordinate the attack on Iran. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld discussed the Kennedy's role in the planned attack on Iran when
he visited the ship in the Arabian Sea on October 9. Rumsfeld and defense
ministers of U.S. coalition partners, including those of Albania,
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia,
Hungary, Iraq, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mongolia, Poland, Qatar,
Romania, and Ukraine briefly discussed a very "top level" view
of potential dual-track military operations in Iran and Iraq in a special
"war room" set up on board the aircraft carrier. America's
primary ally in Iraq, the United Kingdom, did not attend the planning
session because it reportedly disagrees with a military strike on Iran.
London also suspects the U.S. wants to move British troops from Basra in
southern Iraq to the Baghdad area to help put down an expected surge in
Sh'ia violence in Sadr City and other Sh'ia areas in central Iraq when the
U.S. attacks Iran as well as clear the way for a U.S. military strike
across the Iraqi-Iranian border aimed at securing the huge Iranian oil
installations in Abadan. U.S. allies South Korea, Australia, Kuwait,
Jordan, Italy, Netherlands, and Japan were also left out of the USS John
F. Kennedy planning discussions because of their reported opposition to
any strike on Iran. In
addition, Israel has been supplied by the United States with 500
"bunker buster" bombs. According to White House sources, the
Israeli Air Force will attack Iran's nuclear facility at Bushehr with the
U.S. bunker busters.The joint U.S.-Israeli pre-emptive military move
against Iran reportedly was crafted by the same neo-conservative grouping
in the Pentagon and Vice President Dick Cheney's office that engineered
the invasion of Iraq. Morale
aboard the USS John F. Kennedy is at an all-time low, something that must
be attributable to the knowledge that the ship will be involved in an
extension of U.S. military actions in the Persian Gulf region. The
Commanding Officer of an F-14 Tomcat squadron was relieved of command for
a reported shore leave "indiscretion" in Dubai and two months
ago the Kennedy's commanding officer was relieved for cause. The
White House leak about the planned attack on Iran was hastened by concerns
that Russian technicians present at Bushehr could be killed in an attack,
thus resulting in a wider nuclear confrontation between Washington and
Moscow. International Atomic Energy Agency representatives are also
present at the Bushehr facility. In addition, an immediate Iranian Shahab
ballistic missile attack against Israel would also further destabilize the
Middle East. The White House leaks about the pre-emptive strike may have
been prompted by warnings from the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency
that an attack on Iran will escalate out of control. Intelligence circles
report that both intelligence agencies are in open revolt against the Bush
White House. White
House sources also claimed they are "terrified" that Bush wants
to start a dangerous war with Iran prior to the election and fear that
such a move will trigger dire consequences for the entire world. Wayne
Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist.
He served in the National Security Council (NSA) during the Reagan
Administration and wrote the introduction to Forbidden Truth. He is the
co-author, with john Stanton of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency
of George Bush II." His forthcoming book is titled: "jaded
Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops, and Brass Plates." Madsen can be reached
at Wmadsen777@aol.com |
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