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W. J. Hennigan reports at the LA Times that as diplomats rush to reach an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program, the US military is stockpiling conventional bombs so powerful that strategists say they could cripple Tehran's most heavily fortified nuclear complexes. The bunker-busting bombs are America's most destructive munitions short of atomic weapons and at 15 tons, each is 5 tons heavier than any other bomb in the US arsenal. "The Pentagon continues to be focused on being able to provide military options for Iran if needed," says a senior US official. "We have not taken our eyes off the ball."
Obama has made it clear that he has no desire to order an attack, warning that US airstrikes on Iran's air defense network and nuclear facilities would spark a destabilizing new war in the Middle East, and would only delay Iran by several years should it choose to build a bomb. "A military solution will not fix it," says Obama. An attack "would temporarily slow down an Iranian nuclear program, but it will not eliminate it." That being said the latest iteration of the massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) was successfully tested on a deeply buried target in January at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The test followed upgrades to the bomb's guidance system and electronics to stop jammers from sending it off course. B-2 stealth bombers would be required to drop the MOP, which is designed to burrow 200 feet underground before it detonates. Multiple MOPs probably would be aimed at the same target to bore deeper and achieve maximum destruction. A US attack could spark a broader war in the world's most volatile region. Iran has hundreds of medium-range missiles capable of hitting Israel, Jordan and other American allies, according to defense intelligence estimates. "It would create huge problems," says Michael E. O'Hanlon. "That said, it's hard to rule out if talks fail."
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:30AM
I also know several people from Iran. Wonderful people as you say, but its not the common people of Iran we need to worry about, its the Theocracy in control of the country that is the cause for concern. A government that believes that all the world should be Shiite Muslim, follow Shari laws, and that Jews should be eradicated from the face of the Earth.
Of course the American government is just as bad in similar ways, as are all governments in general, they all believe that the rest of the world would be a better place if everywhere was just like their country.
I've studied Iran's history, and everyone else should too. As you point out Iran has reason to feel the need to arm themselves against Western governments,
Once Iran has nuclear devices there is a great risk that one of them would end up in the hands of some militant group or another. The MAD doctrine during the cold war that kept the USA and USSR in check and prevented the use of nukes by either government no longer applies. I don't support the use of military force, Sun Tzu said that if a leader has to send in the army to win a fight they have failed not only to win a way but also as a leader.
We need to keep working at a diplomatic solution until we work something out, until some group of radicals use a nuke somewhere. And then all F'n Hell is going to break loose.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @05:57AM
[Iran believes] that Jews should be eradicated from the face of the Earth.
Looking back on the last 50 years, one could just as easily substitute "Israel" and "Palestinians" so that's not exactly saying much.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday July 11 2015, @06:25AM
Of course the American government is just as bad in similar ways, as are all governments in general, they all believe that the rest of the world would be a better place if everywhere was just like their country.
I've never ever heard that expressed by any american government official at any level. Are you sure you didn't just make that up out of pure hate? Seems to me the US government goes to extraordinary lengths to preserve other cultures, even to the point of declaring it a hate crime to insult or discriminate against another culture.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by penguinoid on Saturday July 11 2015, @09:12AM
Laws are one of America's few exports.
RIP Slashdot. Killed by greedy bastards.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 14 2015, @05:03PM
The U.S. is the second largest merchandise exporting country in the world:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @10:56AM
What about spreading democracy or instigating overthrow of a country's government?
Political correctness only applies to US citizens. The immigration policies of the US clearly discriminate against some countries and give preferential treatment to others.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hairyfeet on Saturday July 11 2015, @12:49PM
You want to know what the government officials actually believe when it comes to the ME? I live next to a conservative college that cranks out a LOT of government officials as well as government think tank types and their beliefs can be summarized as follows....do what Israel says, no matter what, even if it is harmful to the country, because if you don't? Then Jesus won't have a place to park his fluffy cloud and he won't come back.
Dude I WISH I was fucking joking but I'm not, they REALLY believe that shit hard fucking core. you have people in the halls of power basing decisions that will affect millions of lives and an entire region based on a single bit from a 2000+ year old text written by sheep herders. Say what you want about the Muslims being religious whack-a-doodles but sadly we have just as many in power that is just as whack-a-doodle when it comes to religion and in a way I'd say its worse as at least their religious whack-a-doodle beliefs are based on a kind of nationalism, ours gives us shit like AIPAC and our leaders actively subverting our own interests for the interests of a foreign power half the world away because a book written in that region thousands of years ago says a certain area has to have a certain race on it so a dead messiah can float down from the sky!
So even if we were to switch to 100% renewables, even if we never took a drop of oil from the ME ever again (which last I checked we are getting ours from Canada and South America not the ME) it really wouldn't matter, we'd still be starting shit because a section of the most powerful elites believe it is the "sacred mission" of the USA to be the attack dog for Israel and to do what they say, no matter what.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday July 12 2015, @09:25AM
No, there's not. If there's one thing a fanatic won't trust, it's another fanatic. There's a really good chance the fanatic you want to hand a nuclear weapon to will wind up using it on you because you're not pure enough.
Plus, having invested that much time and energy in developing a nuke, would you just hand it to crazy Bob who probably would fuck it up and nuke himself instead? No, that makes no sense.
A country like Iran, as crazy and irrational as American media likes to make them out to be, is not at all crazy and irrational. First, owing to the aforementioned time and effort to procure those weapons, they're not going to do anything but keep them under their very immediate and very direct control. Second, is it so crazy and irrational, really, to arm yourself against a crazy, irrational regional nemesis that itself has over 200 nuclear weapons and very, very frequently bombs the crap out of men, women, and children who live in adjacent countries (that's Israel, for those of you who missed it)? I think not.
It's not even crazy or irrational to arm yourself against America, which has A) Assassinated your democratically elected leaders, B) incited your regional rival Iraq and that wonderful human being Saddam Hussein to invade you and spark a devastating war that erased an entire generation of your young men, C) has wink-wink given your other crazy regional rival nukes, no questions asked, D) invaded the country on your eastern border once, and E) invaded the country on your western border twice, and F) has undertaken a decades-long jihad to destroy your economy through sanctions. I put it to you that rarely has any country had so many 100% sound causus belli (Latinists check my grammer?...) to get nukes.
Me, taking my 'Murica fuck yeah! glasses off, which I quite like to do on a regular basis, see no reason to do anything with Iran but leave them the hell alone to live in peace.
Washington DC delenda est.