Rich Winkel thusly scribed the follwoing highly entertaining diatribe:

rich@math.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel) wrote in message news:<cg39l0$1m29$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>...

IRAN WARNS IT COULD PREEMPTIVELY ATTACK!

"We will consider any strike against our nuclear installations as
an attack on Iran as a whole, and we will retaliate with all our
strength. Where Israel is concerned, we have no doubt that it is
an evil entity, and it will not be able to launch any military
operation without an American green light. You cannot separate the
two."

Iranian Defense Minister

Mid-East Realities - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - 19 August 2004:

This is how World Wars begin -- arms races, threats, counter-threats,
continual provocations, growing fears of first strikes or pre-emptions.

The Americans have in fact since 9/11 declared 'pre-emptive war'
legitimate, even if in fact the provocations upon which such wars
are based later prove to be illusory or duplicitous.

The Israelis already possess a considerable nuclear arsenal including
hundreds of warheads coupled with by far the largest array of modern
jet fighters as well as both land and sea-based missiles in the
Middle East. Indeed, the Israeli army is said to be fully eight
times stronger than all of the combined armies of all the Arab
States, thanks to the U.S.

Backing them up the Americans of course are the world's only
superpower at the moment with a vast arsenal of all kinds of the
most sophisticated weapons systems and surveillance technologies,
including massive numbers of weapons of mass destruction.

Other countries are arming -- especially China on the international
stage -- but in the Middle East there are only Iran and Syria at
the moment that try to minimally stand up to American and Israeli
machinations. For the moment at least, all other regional states
have been either co-opted, infiltrated, bribed, or one way or another
not allowed to possess seriously threatening armaments.

The Iraqis never threatened to attack the U.S. nor in fact did they
have any such capabilities.

The Israelis have repeatedly threatened to strike Iran and thanks
to the Americans they have considerable capabilities to do so --
not to mention what they continually do to the Palestinians and not
that long ago did to the Lebanese.

Add to this situation the major escalating anti-Iran propaganda
campaign underway in the U.S., with roots in the 'Axis of Evil'
designation made by the President himself, and you clearly have a
situation in which the Iranians are understandably wary, anxious,
and on guard.

Two years ago Walter Cronkite publicly warned that the U.S. could
be leading the world to World War III. About the same time one
of Ariel Sharon's most trusted advisers off the record declared
that he was "sure World War III was coming" and everyone should
prepare.

With the threats and counter-threats of the past year since the
Iraqi invasion/occupation, and indeed with the events right now
taking place in historic Iraq and Palestine, we are all moving
closer to the Midnight conflagration hour.

Iran warns of preemptive strike to prevent attack on nuclear sites

DOHA (AFP - 18 August) - Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani
warned that Iran might launch a preemptive strike against US forces
in the region to prevent an attack on its nuclear facilities.

"We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will
do to us. Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that
preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their
monopoly," Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera TV when asked if Iran would
respond to an American attack on its nuclear facilities.

"America is not the only one present in the region. We are also
present, from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan; we are present in
the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq," said Shamkhani, speaking
in Farsi to the Arabic-language news channel through an interpreter.

"The US military presence (in Iraq) will not become an element of
strength (for Washington) at our expense. The opposite is true,
because their forces would turn into a hostage" in Iranian hands
in the event of an attack, he said.

Shamkhani, who was asked about the possibility of an American or
Israeli strike against Iran's atomic power plant in Bushehr, added:
"We will consider any strike against our nuclear installations as
an attack on Iran as a whole, and we will retaliate with all our
strength.

"Where Israel is concerned, we have no doubt that it is an evil
entity, and it will not be able to launch any military operation
without an American green light. You cannot separate the two."

A commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted in the
Iranian press earlier Wednesday as saying that Tehran would strike
the Israeli reactor at Dimona if Israel attacks the Islamic republic's
own burgeoning nuclear facilities.

"If Israel fires one missile at Bushehr atomic power plant, it
should permanently forget about Dimona nuclear center, where it
produces and keeps its nuclear weapons, and Israel would be responsible
for the terrifying consequence of this move," General Mohammad Baqer
Zolqadr warned.

Iran's controversial bid to generate nuclear power at its plant
being built at Bushehr is seen by arch-enemies Israel and the United
States as a cover for nuclear weapons development.

The latest comments mark an escalation in an exchange of threats
between Israel and Iran in recent weeks, leading to speculation
that there may be a repeat of Israel's strike against Iraqi nuclear
facilities at Osirak in 1981.

Iran insists that its nuclear intentions are peaceful, while pointing
at its enemy's alleged nuclear arsenal, which Israel neither confirms
nor denies possessing.

Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera it was not possible "from a practical
standpoint" to destroy Iran's nuclear programs because they are the
product of national skills "which cannot be eliminated by military
means."

He also warned that Iran would consider itself no longer bound by
its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
in the event of an attack.

"The execution of such threats (to attack Iran's nuclear installations)
would mean that our cooperation with the IAEA led to feeding
information about our nuclear facilities to the attacking side,
which (in turn) means that we would no longer be bound by any of
our obligations" to the nuclear watchdog, he said.

Diplomats said in Vienna Tuesday that the IAEA would not say in a
report next month whether Iran's nuclear activities are of a military
nature, nor will it recommend bringing the case before the UN
Security Council.

The IAEA board is due to deliver the report on Iran's nuclear
activities during a meeting at the organization's headquarters in
Vienna from September 13 after the last of a group of IAEA inspectors
returned from Iran last week.

The UN's nuclear agency is conducting a major probe into Iran's bid
to generate electricity through nuclear power.

The Islamic republic has agreed to temporarily suspend uranium
enrichment pending the completion of the IAEA probe, but is working
on other parts of the fuel cycle and has recently resumed making
centrifuges used for enrichment.

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Won't happen.......just another example of nuclear brinkmanship....

If such a thing were to happen (God fobid), then U would see tit for
tat vengeance between Islam & Jews globally -- not a very nice prospect....

Urgent action *must* be taken to ensure that the
UN be involved IMMEDIATELY to de-escalate the situation, otherwise
dire consequences would prevail for the world.....
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