Nuking Iran. The Drumbeat is more insistent

Vandenberg Missile Defense Site Renamed After President Ronald Reagan 11/4/06 Yesterday, the missile defense facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base in , California were formally dedicated as the "Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Site."

“It was President Reagan's vision that now allows the military to protect the United States from long-range missile attacks, and that is why his name is so appropriate for Vandenberg's missile defense facilities,” said Lt. Gen. Obering. Pic Bikini Attoll showing March 1, 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb crater (see last Paragraph)

USSTRATCOM Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations / Final Co-ordination (2) 15th March 2005

"This publication provides guidelines for the joint employment of ( US ) forces in nuclear
operations. It provides guidance for the employment of US nuclear forces; command and
control relationships; and weapons effect considerations."

"This amplifies the Nuclear Posture Review of December 31, 2001, which stated: “Nuclear weapons could be employed against targets able to withstand non-nuclear attack (for example, deep underground bunkers or bio-weapon facilities).”

See also Walter Pincus WAPO September 11th 2005 Strategy Includes Preemptive Use Against Banned Weapons

Antiwar.com The Real Reason for Nuking Iran / Why a nuclear attack is on the neocon agenda by Jorge Hirsch November 1, 2005
"The strategic decision by the United States to nuke Iran was probably made long ago. Tactics adjust to unpredictable events as they unfold." (note date)

IPS Iran Showdown Tests Power of "Israel Lobby" Jim Lobe April 11th 2006

" Far more visibly than any other domestic constituency, the Israel Lobby (Mearsheimer and Walt), "the loose coalition of individuals and organisations who actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction", has pushed the government -- both Congress and the George W. Bush administration -- toward confrontation with Tehran."

The Progressive The Human Costs of Bombing Iran / By Matthew Rothschild April 11, 2006

"George Bush didn’t deny Seymour Hersh’s New Yorker report the Administration is considering using tactical nuclear weapons against Iran.Neither did Scott McClellan.

Bush called it “wild speculation,” and McClellanclaimed "the US would continue with "normal military contingency planning."

“The number of deaths could exceed a million, and the number of people with increased cancer risks could exceed 10 million,” according to a backgrounder by the Union of Concerned Scientists from May 2005.

The National Academy of Sciences studied these earth-penetrating nuclear weapons last year. They could “kill up to a million people or more if used in heavily populated areas,” concluded the report, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.

IRC : National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP)

In anticipating a review of U.S. nuclear posture by the incoming administration, NIPP President Payne led a team that in January 2001 produced the NIPP study Rationale and Requirements for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control, which shortly thereafter served as a blueprint for the Bush administration’s own Nuclear Posture Review in 2002. NIPP paricipants who entered the Bush administration as officials or advisers were: Stephen Hadley (he took the rap for Nigergate BBC biog) and Stephen Cambone .

The report advocated the use of bunker-busting nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear countries to rid rogue nations of any weapons of mass destruction, such as stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons.

Donald Rumsfeld chaired the Commission to Assess United States National Security, Space Management, and Organization, which released its report on January 11, 2001. Rumsfeld’s staff director was Stephen Cambone.

The Rumsfeld Missile Defense Commission, was directed by Donald Rumsfeld. who used Stephen Cambone as the commission’s staff director. In March 2003 Cambone became undersecretary of defense for intelligence, which was a new position created by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld.


Munich Conference on Security Policy 4/2/2006

NATO's Future Role in International Peace Keeping Senator John Mc Cain US-Senator (Republican), Arizona; Chairman, US Senate Commerce Committee

"Iran. The world's chief state sponsor of international terrorism, the Iranian regime defines itself by hostility to the United States and Israel"

Speech by Donald H Rumsfeld US Secretary of Defense

"Tehran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons plainly poses an unacceptable risk to the international community. Protected by a nuclear deterrent, Iran would feel unconstrained to sponsor terrorist attacks against any perceived enemy."

Speech by Joe Leiberman US-Senator (Democrat), Connecticut

"Iran will test us all. If we ignore the threat it poses, or cover it with endless and hopeless negotiations, we will regret it."


"The Iranian regime is today the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. The world does not want - and must work together to prevent - a nuclear Iran."


Using nuclear weapons against Iran? Anthony D'Amato Northwestern U. School of Law

"A combined US-Israel strike against Iran would have to employ tactical nuclear weapons, and there were signs a month or two ago that the United States was gearing up its military specialists for just such an option."

"A nuclear strike against Iran would have a huge exemplary effect upon North Korea and all future would-be nuclear powers. "

"A military strike against Iran would involve the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the sparsely populated areas where the mobile missiles are located. ....

Nuclear weapons have not been used in warfare since 1945, and again it may be the United States that first uses them."


Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, defying United Nations Security Council demands to halt its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days, a U.S. State Department official said.

Iran will move to ``industrial scale'' uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at its Natanz plant, deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi said on Iranian state-run television today.

``Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days,'' Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters today in

Mean while in the real world ...

Bikinians file lawsuit against the U.S. Government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims [April 11, 2006] [Download complaint in .PDF]

On April 12 [April 11 US date], 2006, the people of Bikini Atoll filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The lawsuit seeks compensation under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution for the taking of their property damage claims resulting from the U.S. Government’s failure and refusal to adequately fund the March 5, 2001 order of the Nuclear Claims Tribunal. Alternatively, the people of Bikini seek damages for the U.S. Government’s breaches of its fiduciary duty to provide just and adequate compensation for the taking of their lands in consideration for their agreement to move off Bikini Atoll and for the breach of the implied duties and covenants integral to that agreement, the Compact of Free Association, and the Section 177 Agreement. The lawsuit will seek compensation and/or damages of at least $561,036,320 (which represents the Tribunal’s original award to the Bikinians of $563,315,500 less the two payments totaling $2,279,180), plus interest as required by law. The total with interest on the filing date of April 11, 2006, is approximately $724,560,902.