Excellent Article From Herald Sun (Australia): "Why Iran Is A War Too Far"

http://www.news.com.au:80/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21318076-5006016,00.html

Why Iran is a war too far
Correlli Barnett

March 04, 2007 12:00am

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Yet he had to admit that he didn't know whether President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had ordered their supply. "What matters is that we are responding," he blustered. Responding? But how? That raises another question: Is Bush simply using the Iranian nuclear program and the story about the Iranian supply of explosive devices as cover for a real purpose -- that of launching a massive attack intended to topple the present Iranian state?

The answer to that is truly terrifying. Because we know from recent Pentagon leaks that "Centcom" (the Central Command, responsible for US strategy and operations in the Middle East) is engaged in detailed military studies for a "shock-and-awe" aerial onslaught aimed at destroying not only Iran's nuclear facilities, but also her entire military infrastructure.

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To achieve its targets, the Pentagon would have to unleash waves of attacks by more than 100 aircraft on the 20 widely dispersed plants of the Iranian nuclear industry. Prolonged bombing of military bases, barracks and air-defence systems, many of them in or near great cities, would be needed. We saw it all before, in much smaller and less populated Iraq.

The loss of life among civilians would far exceed the 7000 slaughtered during the "shock and awe" blitz on Baghdad that heralded the invasion of Iraq. If the bombers struck an already "live" nuclear plant, the result would be another Chernobyl. In addition, such an onslaught would inevitably mean war.

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