dinsdag 27 februari 2007

Iran 141


U.S. War with Iran would be Navy, Air Force show: Analysts Some point to buildup in Persian Gulf region as precursor to attack The attack would probably come by air. Waves of U.S. cruise missiles and warplanes loaded with smart weapons would swoop into Iran from the sea and land bases to destroy key Iranian nuclear facilities.
Out in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy would wipe out Iran’s navy in a matter of days. Iran’s air defenses could possibly take out a few higher-flying Navy and Air Force tactical jets before being located and destroyed.
In short, the first round would go decisively to the United States.
But it wouldn’t be without serious repercussions. And the Navy would likely take the brunt of those. It’s the unconventional threat that would vex U.S. sailors.
An American public that has turned solidly against the war in neighboring Iraq — according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted Feb. 12-15, 63 percent of those polled oppose sending more troops to Iraq and 56 percent feel the war in Iraq is “hopeless” — may find it hard to believe that the possibility of attacking much larger, more formidable Iran is even being broached.
But the Bush administration claims Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons and has vowed to prevent that from happening. More recently, senior military and intelligence officials say elements within Iran’s government are smuggling to Iraqi dissidents components for ever-more-powerful roadside bombs and are using them to kill U.S. troops.
The administration backed up its tough talk by deploying the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group a week earlier than planned in January and, in a surprise move, also “surging” the Ronald Reagan to the west Pacific and dispatching the Stennis to the Middle East. There, Stennis joined the already-deployed Dwight D. Eisenhower group and doubled the Navy’s combat power in the region.'

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