U.S and Israel plan “limited surgical strikes” on Iranian enrichment facilities before presidential elections
October 10, 2012
David Rothkopf (DR), a former Clinton administration official has written an article on the Foreign Policy website stating that U.S. and Israel have decided on a limited surgical strike on the alleged Iranian enrichment facilities.
He quotes a close inside source as saying that the most likely action to be taken is a joint surgical strike as Israel cannot do it alone as it does not have the aircraft to carry the weapons needed to destroy the underground facilities (namely, the huge 30,000 lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator).
DR goes on to say that the strike would take only “a couple of hours” in the best case scenario and a couple of days in the worst case scenario and would be launched from the air using bombers with drone support.
Rothkopf points out that the U.S. Israeli administrations still have differing views on what would trigger the strike but it would seem progress has been made in what type of attack should take place.
The very limited strike would be more palatable for a war weary population in the U.S. (Iraq and Afghanistan) therefore would be less politically risky for the Obama administration which would also disarm some of the comments made by Obama’s political opponent in the lead up to the presidential elections.
The article does not give a time line for an attack but suggests that due to its limited nature, the strike is more likely to take place rather than something more elaborate and risky as a full scale air campaign.
There are rumours on websites that the attack will come before the Nov 6, day of presidential elections in the U.S.
Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com
Image credit: U.S. Air Force
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