03 August 2012

Good Luck With That, Stoopid

Ahmadinejad: 'World forces must destroy Israel'


Uh, except all the 'world forces' the Iranians will be able to muster-up for the would-be Jew-crushing Jihad would be themselves, Hezbollah, Hamas... maybe what's left of Syria
-not one sovereign country- and Israel will wipe-the-floor
with all of them, anyway.

Alas, the only hope for ME peace this decade was a strong, timely, and principled stand against Iran's rogue atomic weapons program- with Obama, obviously that didn't happen. Rather, feckless appeasement efforts and thinly-veiled contempt for the Jewish state has Tehran smelling weakness- like a red cape to the bull.

In the worst-case scenario -Obama choosing to abandon Israel because they bombed Iran without White House approval- not replenishing planes and weapons spent in the initial IDF strikes would make an Israeli move against Iran all the more risky, as they almost certainly face an all-out war vs Iran and her proxies. And while traditionally no friend of Tehran, what would Egypt do...? How about (Shiite) Iraq?

Regardless, in most any nuclear or conventional scenario, war with the eeevil jooos looks like a real bad bet for Tehran: you hear a lot about population and territorial scale, but the Iranians have almost no chance of defeating Israel in a major conflict- if their youth would even fight hard for the unloved regime.

Unlike recent tepid IDF campaigns -i.e. 'air-only' Lebanon 2006- Israel would fight this one to win -and win BIG- not just bombing them into little smoldering bits but invading Lebanon and/or Syria with infantry and armor from day one. Hezbollah for the most part controls the government in Beirut- would the Lebanese national forces fight hard against the IDF? They could try...
but the IDF has a plan to destroy the entire Lebanese Army in just four hours if they do.



Tehran would have to be nuts to want this fight... sadly, their current leadership is just that. Pushing-ahead with nuclear weapons while lying about it and sneering at all has Israel categorizing them as an 'existential threat'... and that's a very dangerous position to be in.

The state of Israel is thought to have over 200 atomic devices: while Iran may have one or two soon, it would not be weaponized just yet -that's a whole 'nother hurdle- so no way to deliver it to Israeli territory in the near term. 

Even if Iran bought miniaturized nuclear devices for some sort of small-scale 'suitcase' nuke or 'dirty bomb' smuggled in by terrorists, Israel is capable of delivering a devastating retaliation equal to 2,000 Hiroshimas- turning all of Iran into a glass floored, self-lit parking lot. With that sort of advantage, why would Israel sit-back and wait for Tehran to master detonation/weaponization? IMHO a successful test would sound the death-knell of that vile regime- better not even think about it.

The majority of Iran’s industry is actually concentrated near Tehran, which is in a geographic bowl, almost perfectly situated to suffer maximum damage from an Israeli attack: surrounded by tall mountains, the valley could just be flattened wall-to-wall. 

If it ever came to it, Israeli nuclear weapons are all but unstoppable by Iran: Jerusalem has created a system modeled on the US nuclear-deterrent 'triad': nukes thus possible from hardened silos, submarines, and/or aircraft... rendering Iranian first-strike fantasies implausible. 

Israel has deployed mobile launchers for Jericho missiles on underground steel-wheeled transporter-erector-launchers in a sort of military subway system connecting launch and supply sites, making effective pre-emption against them extremely difficult, especially for low-tech military power like Iran. 

The Israeli Defense Forces can also send up to 80 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles launched by submarine -a fleet that continues to expand- in addition to the other 120 warheads delivered by ICBM or F15s/F16s. 

While this capability might not deter the apocalyptic cult in Tehran to the same degree it would more logical, sensible, or moral strategists, any attempted nuclear attack upon Israel would result in instant vaporization of whatever part of Iran the Israelis deem necessary -in minutes- and that's what they really need to know. 

The trouble for the Iranians is that while they're busy betting-the-house on jerry-rigging a bomb ASAP and talking trash like
Dennis Rodman, Israel quietly has their act together...
is comprehensively prepared for any eventuality... and enjoys massive military superiority over them- that's simply the
reality of the situation.



For protecting military installations and population centers, Israel sports the world's most advanced anti-ICBM missle defense... one which may be impenetrable by Iranian missles . Iran will only be able to deliver their 1-2 atomic warheads by ICBMs, once they master the weaponization -mostly involving miniaturization-
of the Iranian bomb- they have no other viable delivery capability.

Over Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force consists of mostly decrepit junk with mediocre pilots, while the IAF is world-class: once SAM sites are taken-out, Israel could count on air superiority deep within Iranian airspace. In front-line aircraft Israel fields 800+ planes, with over 500 of those upgraded F15s and F16s. Israel also possesses in-air refueling capabilities that can support missions of almost any length. A Romney Administration -if they can wait that long- would be sure to supply the Jewish state with the latest super-mega-bunker-buster.

Iran conversely has about 250 front-line combat aircraft consisting mostly of obsolete older American (which we won't ship parts for) and Russian fighters- they have no known in air refueling capability. The Iranians do have 40MiG 29s, but their only AWACS-style early warning radar plane crashed in a mid-air collision at the 2009 Tehran air show, making all such advanced aircraft far less useful. 


And the technological gap between Israel and Iran is stark: Israel has about 10% of the world-wide arms export market, based almost purely on the merits of the product. Were it allowed by the US, the Chinese would keep Israeli plants humming at capacity for years.

Conversely, Iran sells nothing in world wide arms market, except maybe a few carpets for offices, lol. Their much-hyped Shahib 3 missle is actually just a hot-rodded version of the the 70-yr-old German V-2. Meanwhile, Israeli-developed technology is sold to most of the world's top militaries including the USA, India, and China. Israeli UAV drones are perhaps the most-capable in the world, with sales to even Great Britain and the US. 

In terms of conventional  ground warfare, Israel possesses 1500 of the modern and highly regarded Merkava tank, while Iran can only field approx. 500 older (obsolete) units, mostly Soviet models like the T-72. And there are few who would question the superiority of the IDF infantry forces' discipline, training, and equipment, who would likely be invading Lebanon and Syria anyway, not Iran proper.


Israel boasts an astonishing recon system consisting of multiple types of spy satellites with resolution to 10 cm... and with all-weather capabilities. Together with their advanced, long-range UAV drone aircraft fleet -which can reach Iranian territory- Israel can obtain incredibly detailed photos and imaging of all Iranian military installations in real-time. 

Forget talk of Barack Obama not allowing Israeli planes to use Iraqi airspace.- Israel doesn't really need that, she can just-as-well deliver conventional or nuclear warheads via ICBMs and/or cruise missiles from her Dolphin-class submarines. Some or all of these are likely already patrolling the Arabian Sea.

According to a CSIS paper, the propaganda line favored by the Obama Administration -that an attack on Iran is reckless and beyond the IDF's capabilities- is bunk: Israel has enough aircraft as well as the necessary intelligence and electronic resources for the task , contrary to previous estimates. 

 There is 'no need' to destroy dozens/hundreds of sites -as has also been claimed- the destruction of just 7-9 targets would be enough to cripple the Iranian program: 

  •  Lashkar A’bad site of secret uranium enrichment plants in the north near the Turkish border. 
  • Tehranb for the central laboratory for developing atomic armaments as well as more uranium enrichment facilities. 
  • Arak in central Iran, where a heavy water plant is under construction to manufacture plutonium for weapons. 
  • Isfahan in central Iran, near which a small research reactor and a cluster of laboratories for uranium enrichment, centrifuges and weapons development, are situated. 
  • Natanz the main center for uranium enrichment. 
  • Ardekan at the southern tip of Iran, where more uranium enrichment facilities are located.
  • Saghand Iran’s main uranium mining region. 
  • Bushehr on the Persian Gulf shore, Iran’s biggest nuclear reactor built by Russia. 
  • Gachin near the Strait of Hormuz, the site of more uranium mines and enrichment facilities.

The latest Jericho 3 missile provides Israel nuclear strike capabilities throughout the entire Middle East, even Europe (mind your manners, EU!) and most of North America. That long range also provides an extremely high impact speed for closer targets, enabling it to avoid any ballistic missile defenses that may develop in the immediate region. 

The J-3 is capable of carrying a 750kg nuclear warhead over a distance of up to 7,000 km... with a smaller 350kg nuke, the missle’s range can be extended even further. According to the CSIS report, 42 conventional missiles would be enough to 'severely damage or demolish' Iran’s core nuclear sites at Natanz, Esfahan and Arak. 

Iran's government obviously feels that to legitimize the Mullah's power, they need to foment trouble with outside enemies... used to divert attention from Tehran's serial incompetence and cruel, oppressive dictatorship. 

But if these 7th-century savages have any sense under those turbans, they need to stay out of a war they can't possibly win. Taking-on Israel would be a foolhardy endeavor of the first-magnitude: should Bibi feel forced into bombing Iran -which appears more likely than not- it will mean the abrupt end of the Iranian Islamist regime... along with much of the country too if these fiends are not toppled before they succeed in making all of Persia an immediate -and fully legitimate- nuclear target.

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