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Originally Posted by dalem
But what about storage sites, tunnels, blah blah blah?
Or am I biting too hard on the "It's all hidden" bait?
-dale
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Hi Dale,
If they are known, those types of targets can be hit with weapons that will destroy them. The knowing part can be problematical viz WMD, though, as ODS and OIF have shown.
M21 Sniper has correctly pointed out that some activities in the nuclear business are hard to conceal. However, without good information on the advanced state of the Iranian program, it might be difficult to disrupt as we might not be able to tell which targets are critical at any given moment (i.e. bombing a facility they are already done with for all intents and purposes).
A military effort against Iran by the United States might take any one of several forms and are all probably termed "low risk" from a military standpoint (but not neccessarily from a geostrategic stanpoint!).
I have heard some pretty well informed opinions that a credible baseline air campaign against Iran would involve 300 targets and probably take five days to prosecute. Half of those targets would be weapons facilities and the other half air defense as well as command and control facilities. What other guesses and projections has anybody heard?
In the event of military action against Iran (outside of turning the place upside down with a full court regime changing ground offensive) the big question is probably what are they going to do to offset it?
Iranian air defenses are getting better every day it seems, they have had years to harden facilities, they have had a front row seat to observe the American way of war in neighboring countries, they do have the means to retaliate after a fashion, etc., etc. The longer the situation goes on, the better the position the Iranians will be in, methinks.
Regardless of which course of action you favor regarding Iranian nuclear ambitions, the time to act is now and opportunities are dwindling with each passing day.