Bomb Iran

Michael van der Galiën blogged The liberal part of the blogosphere has its panties up in a bunch, because more and more people report that the US is preparing for war (against Iran). Maccabee writes at Daily Kos that (s)he had a conversation with a friend - a friend who “is an LSO on a carrier attack group that is planning and staging a strike group deployment into the Gulf of Hormuz.”

That is what they should be doing, rattling sabers and making Iran think they might attack. But the command to actually do so will come a lot higher in the chain of command than an LSO.

.... According to Barnett, the White House planned a major PR offensive right after Labor Day, after which the US will act.

It sounds like the PR offensive has already started. And no bombs have been dropped.

Now, I understand that this is fascinating for political analysts (to think about), but once again it seems to me that all these people are doing right now is ringing the alarm bells, saying ’stop the war’ without offering a valid alternative. Once again it seems that they are more busy opposing Bush than thinking about possible solutions for the problem with Iran.

Which is what they usually do.

The problem surrounding Iran has escalated today: Ahmadinejad announced that Iran now has 3,000 centrifuges. In other words, Iran is now able to enrich uranium on a fairly big scale. Meanwhile, one should also not forget - as Jason Steck often reminds me - that the Pentagon makes plans for attacks all the time. Not having a plan ready, especially in this situation, would be ludicrous.

Precisely. And the command to implement will not go to an LSO.

The plan in itself sounds perfectly sensible to me: it will not be a ground invasion. Instead, it will be a major air operation, aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, governmental buildings and the army itself. The idea is basically to destroy Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities in a few days time. From a military perspective, this makes sense. For one thing, the US doesn’t have the forces to go into Iran. If something happens, it has to be done by airpower (sounds like a Rumsfeld war).

Having said that, it seems to me that the time has not yet come to use force against the Mullahs. There are, at this point in time, other ways to get Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Like getting the left side of the blogosphere to rattle Iran's cages.

The West can still opt for more severe economical measures. We have to make sure that Iran does not get any money anymore. Furthermore, Iran has to be actively opposed in Iraq and the US should try to isolate Hamas and make sure that it does not get much financial and military support from Tehran.