[Skybird]

Oberon, you basically confirm my line of reasoning and worries. All your concerns are valid, I share them.

But since I still think this job needs to get done (it'S a war of need to me, not a war of choice), no matter what, this is the reason why I argue in favour of a massive, really huge committment by the US and hopefully (though not likely) the EU states as well, and why I even do not rule out the use of some non-conventional weapons to bust open certain critical sites, and to make access to such destroyed sites as difficult as possible, to make it hard or impossible to save material or components from such sites.

We should also be ready to monitor said destroyed sites and prevent such rescue operations by being ready to fire more cruise missiles if the Iranians launch according activities there. Rescue parties searching for plutonium or machinery, must be targetted.

So we talk about a years-long regime of sanctions and observations, maybe comparable to what there has been in Irak.

For the record: nowhere have I ever and do I speak of "nuking cities". I do not even talk of regular, normal sized small warheads the kind of which you see in SRBMs. I talk of nuclear bunker busters. Rumsfeld I think was said to have stopped their developement, or do I recall that wrongly? But nobody can tell me the military with its big fat pots of black money really has stopped the developement of such a lovely, preferable toy. And who believes Rumsfeld anyhow?

I am telling on this forum since years that just some days of strikes will acchieve close to nothing substantial. But for politicians at home it may be tempting to start a show with bright lights and loud sounds and then sell it as a sign of their determination and committment when the next elections come up. Of all scenarios how it goes and ends, this one is the most likely to me: that some form of insufficient military action gets started as an alibi, and that then any possible improvements once again will get ruined and messed up by politicians.

Saudi Arabia should be sent a good fat part of the bill. Nobody in the region benefits more from a haircutting of Iran, than SA. So make them pay for it, too. They can takje the money from the funds by which they support international Islamic terrorism and extremist recruiting centres in European cities.