U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran

Reuters: U.S. contingency planning for military action against Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst said on Friday.

"I've seen some of the planning ... You're not talking about a surgical strike," said Wayne White, who was a top Middle East analyst for the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research until March 2005.

"You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years, White told the Middle East Policy Council, a Washington think tank.

"We're not talking about just surgical strikes against an array of targets inside Iran. We're talking about clearing a path to the targets" by taking out much of the Iranian Air Force, Kilo submarines, anti-ship missiles that could target commerce or U.S. warships in the Gulf, and maybe even Iran's ballistic missile capability, White said.

"I'm much more worried about the consequences of a U.S. or Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear infrastructure," which would prompt vigorous Iranian retaliation, he said, than civil war in Iraq, which could be confined to that country.

LSB: He may be an American president, but Bush would be just as certifiable as any third-world despot if this is more than just bluster and posturing… and he’s more dangerous, as he truly does have weapons of mass destruction to rain down on another country.

NYTimes.com: Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, drew a battle line with President Bush on Iran today during a joint appearance with Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats’ leader in the House. As part of the Democrats’ runup to Mr. Bush’s address to the nation on Tuesday night, Mr. Reid reminded the commander in chief that his power does have limits when it comes to military engagement.

“Much has been made about President Bush’s recent saber rattling toward Iran,” Mr. Reid said. “This morning, I’d like to be clear: The president does not have the authority to launch military action in Iran without first seeking Congressional authorization—and the current use of force resolution for Iraq does not give him such authorization.”

Mr. Reid proposed that by reaching out to Iran’s sizable under-30 population, a group he referred to as “a generation of potential reformers,” and by eliminating America’s dependence on foreign oil, the security threat from Iran could be diminished.