Iran Enriches Uranium- Now's the Time to Strike

[MadMike]

No surprises, but Iran just announced it has enriched it's first samples of uranium.
For those who don't know, "enriched uranium" is the material that was used in the Little Boy atomic bomb. This simple gun type design was modified over the years into a smaller nuclear artillery shell (W33) and man portable nuclear device, the T-4 Atomic Demolition Munition (albeit by a two man team). The Soviets also had a similar ADM. :|\

Satellite imagery of Iran's nuclear facilities can be viewed here-

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/wo...n/facility.htm

Yours, Mike

Bookmarks-

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...ael/index.html

[Skybird]

Oh my God, doomsday is just one day ahead, the sky is falling, we must strike immediately, or we all will be lost...!!! (compare to 2003: "The memo shows that Iraq now has the capability to equip a missile with biological or nuclear material and strike london with only 35 minutes prewarning")

Iran said it had operated 164 centrifuges, creating the cascade required to achieve "industrial output" of enriched uranium.

But the process would only create the low-level enrichment needed for nuclear fuel.

Iran would need thousands of centrifuges to create the highly enriched uranium needed for nuclear weapons.

Experts say Iran is years away from having a nuclear bomb.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4902178.stm

So they have mastered one more step in a longer chain of technical developement, what a surprise. The material they can create by that (so far we only have their word for that, btw.) IS NOT sufficient to build nuclear bombs with it. It is the type of material needed in nuclear powerplants. If they currently can produce even the quantities needed for powerplants - this news does not say, it only says they now know how to do it, and that they have tested successfully their setup. doing something in an experiemntal lab, and doing it so that it produces industrial quantities is seme0thing different. Without doubt they will get there - and still would be years away from producing material that could be sued in weapons technology. An Uran-bomb or even a plutonium bomb needs further refinement of this material. There is no indication whatever that they still are not years away from acchieving that. Months before that would be the right time to give the military a prewarning. Today - probably would be years too early.

I still wait to learn how a military strike could be successful, btw. So far, noone has lined out a plan which chances for failure does not dominate it's chances for success. Players may be satisfied by that. Politicians and militaries should not.

What I say on this? Keep a sharp eye on them, but currently no need to become hysterical. The time to strike - is not now.

[Mike 'Red Ocktober' Hense]

yes... now's definitely the time to strike... by all means, lets unleash a unprecedented attack on Iran... kill off the entire Iranian nation...

what would you suggest we use MMike... nucs, conventionals, biologicals, harsh language...

i dunno... have ya stopped to think past the immediate consequences on this move Mike... i mean, once you irradiate all the oil over there, the cost of that new set of wheels you're gonna want to buy is gonna rocket sky high...

those radiation proof fuel tanks alone are gonna cost a fortune...



--Mike

[XabbaRus]

Not to mention the fact that if the US/UK hit Iran then with the current discontent that that region has towards us will just multiply even more.

So sure keep an eye on them but not take them out.

A strike will acheive nothing but more problems for the west.

[GunnersMate]

Mount an airstrike and blame on the Israelis.

[micky1up]

i dont fear iran but i do fear israels reaction remebers sadams reactor that they attacked israels reaction may start a bigger war!

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Mike 'Red Ocktober' Hense

what would you suggest we use ... nucs, conventionals, biologicals, harsh language...

The choice is obvious: Borg Nanoprobes! :hmm:

[JSLTIGER]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

The choice is obvious: Borg Nanoprobes! :hmm:

Um...isn't assimilation kinda antithetical to the freedom which this country espouses?

At any rate: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by JSLTIGER

Um...isn't assimilation kinda antithetical to the freedom which this country espouses?

At any rate: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Didn't you guys know? The Borg took over America years ago!!

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by JSLTIGER

Um...isn't assimilation kinda antithetical to the freedom which this country espouses?

At any rate: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Actually according to the writers the Borg were meant to represent America, in how we "Assimilate" everyone in to our culture, and can’t be stopped by conventional means.


I wonder if Tribbles could be considered a Biological Weapon? :hmm: I say we drop thousands of them on Iran.

[August]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Actually according to the writers the Borg were meant to represent America, in how we "Assimilate" everyone in to our culture, and can’t be stopped by conventional means.


I wonder if Tribbles could be considered a Biological Weapon? :hmm: I say we drop thousands of them on Iran.

Nah they'll just strap little belts filled with explosives to 'em and get the Chinese to sell them to our kids at Christmas.

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by XabbaRus

Not to mention the fact that if the US/UK hit Iran then with the current discontent that that region has towards us will just multiply even more.

So sure keep an eye on them but not take them out.

A strike will acheive nothing but more problems for the west.

Not to mention that the sudden collapse of security and governmental structures, as in Iraq, would only give terrorists more access to that nuclear material. If one of the engineers, technician or janitor is slightly terror-happy, or cash hungry, he might grab a suitcase and run when the bombs start falling...

[Torplexed]

Iranian uranium drives me insanium.

Everybody say that three times fast.

[Ducimus]

I found this article an intresting read:

http://www.slate.com/id/2139610/

Is President Bush or anyone else in a position of power truly, seriously thinking about dropping nuclear bombs on a country that poses no direct threat to the United States, possesses no nuclear weapons of its own, and isn't likely to for at least a few years? Pre-emptive war—attacking a country to keep it from attacking us or an ally—is sometimes justifiable. Preventive war—attacking a country to keep it from developing a capability to attack an ally sometime in the future—almost never is. And preventive war waged with nuclear weapons is (not to put too fine a spin on it) crazy.

The only time the United States ever used nuclear weapons, in 1945, was at the end of a world war that had been raging for years. And at the time, the bombing was seen as an alternative to an invasion of the Japanese mainland that might have killed hundreds of thousands of American soldiers. In the 60 years since, the world has declared and observed a clear threshold between the use and nonuse of nuclear weapons. To violate that threshold—for a purpose that falls far short of pre-empting an imminent threat or protecting our national survival—would not only be immoral; it would incite outrage across the Middle East and the Muslim world; it would inspire vast recruitment drives by anti-American terrorists (and any resulting sequels to 9/11 would be seen, even by our friends, as just deserts); and it would legitimize nuclear weapons as everyday tools of warfare and spur many nations into building their own arsenals, if just to anticipate and match their neighbors' impending arsenals.

In short, it would be a disaster of head-spinning proportions.

[martes86]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

Iranian uranium drives me insanium.

Everybody say that three times fast.

Oh... complicated... :rotfl: