U.S. Plans Military Buildup To Warn Iran

CBS News: Pentagon Officials Consider Sending Message To Defiant Tehran

(CBS/AP)  The Pentagon is planning to bolster its presence in the Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran's continuously defiant government, CBS News reports.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin says the U.S. military build-up, which would include adding a second aircraft carrier to the one already in the Gulf, is being proposed as a response to what U.S. officials view as an increasingly provocative Iranian leadership.

Recent Iranian naval exercises, support for Shiite militias in Iraq, and Tehran's allegedly peaceful nuclear enrichment program — which U.S. intelligence believes is designed to produce a bomb — have all lead to the planned changes, Martin reports.

Military officers say the build-up would take place after the first of the year, not with the aim of actually attacking Iran, but strictly as a deterent.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that U.N. sanctions would not stop the Islamic republic from enriching uranium.

The United States and its European allies are seeking sanctions against Iran because of its refusal to stop uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for civilian purposes or fuel for a nuclear bomb.

A draft U.N. resolution would order all countries to ban the supply of specified materials and technology to Iran that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs. It also would impose a travel ban and asset freeze on key companies and individuals in the country's nuclear and missile programs who are named on a U.N. list.

"A nation whose youth have been able to achieve the nuclear fuel cycle with empty hands — rest assured that it will be able to capture other peaks of (progress)," Ahmadinejad told a large crowd in the western city of Kermanshah.

The hardline president spoke a day after election results indicated his allies suffered an embarrassing defeat in last week's local council elections, an apparent sign of voter discontent with his policies.

Ahmadinejad, however, has had success in gaining support among Iranian citizens by emphasizing the struggle with the West over the country's nuclear program, a source of Iranian pride.

[gary-hamm]

about time

[jonw1115]

Someone needs to shut this guy up! What is it with leaders in the Middle East who don't know when enough is enough?

[Syndicate]

We had to wait for the Iranian election to end. It is a shame when our actions help the hard liners.

[patriotic9]

Iran is the real danger to US interests in that region.We were supposed to attack RADICAL ISLAMIST IRAN but we attacked one of the MOST SECULAR COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST and turned it into an IRANIAN STATE under those IRANIAN AYTOLLAHs who call us the GREATEST SATAN.If US doesn't attack Iran,it will be impossible to stop the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED RADICAL ISLAMIST REGIME in IRAQ to take US tax dollars and to use em against US,to take WEAPONS from us and to use them against our soldiers.It was not a right decision to invade Iraq but it's very important for us to invade and destroy Iranian regime to have a better control on IRAQI insurgency.

[patriotic9]

jonw1115
I am so sorry to see that you don't belive in FREEDOM of SPEECH and FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.I am just wondering,are you a TALIBAN.
We have no right to shut anybody up.If we are right,we should bring up reasons to prove our points and denounce the points of our enemies otherwise we better shut the heck up.This backward cowboy mentality has hurt our cause world wide.

[ddkem]

Finally! I don't know why we waited this long, but at least we're building up presence in the Persian Gulf now. The Iranian regime has got to be shut down before they do something really stupid...

[olebd]

I agree Iran needs to be contained and quickly BUT:

Why are we not trying to rally support from OTHER countries first before anouncing this brilliant plan? HOW are we going to pay for this? Does this country have a money tree that sprouts never ending cash flow? Last I heard, we were in a deep debt hole and China was helping us spend more. We have got to stop before it's too late and our government runs this great nation into the ground!!!

[jonw1115]

patriotic9

He can say whatever he wants, obviously! I just in my heart of hearts that the people of Iran realize he is steering their country in the wrong direction. He has the nerve to claim the holocaust didn't take place. Are you telling me you support this loon?

[macusweil]

"W" has run the truck off the road and blown the tires in Iraq.. maybe for another couple trillion dollars we can create a civil war in Iran too.

[jonw1115]

olebd

I agree with you, we as a nation need to find more support in other countries before we take actions. This is how we get involved in conflicts where we see little support from other governments.

[random_radar]

Wait! Didn't people vote Democrat to stop this imperial adventurism? Aren't the Demorcrats going to do something? I mean, besides Charles Rangel proposing to reinstate the draft to supply more troops?

[frankly6]

In light of the fact that we have already invaded it's neighbor and have hundreds of thousands of forces deployed throughout the region, this will only make them more desperate to develope a nuclear weapon.

[frankly6]

random_radar

The Dems haven't even taken office yet.

[observantx]

Oh boy. What a brilliant plan. We are going to put on a scary dog and pony show for the Iranians. Hey look! Look over here! See? Mine%u2019s bigger than yours, so go run away now.

Pointless expensive saber rattling. If these clowns had put the necessary forces into Iraq to maintain order at the get go we wouldn%u2019t be playing insurgent whackamole now and watching the country crumble to pieces. Now that everything there is totally FUBAR, nothing we do is going to matter. That means we pack up and leave and let the Saudis (Sunni) and Iranians (Shia) fight a proxy war in Iraq. Nice going PNAC! Thanks for the murder and mayhem.
Some, but not all of PNAC's members
Donald Rumsfeld,
I. Lewis Libby
Paul Wolfowitz, President World Bank
Robert B. Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Cheney
John R. Bolton
Richard Armitage
Elliott Abrams
Gary Bauer, former presidential candidate,
Abram Shulsky, former Director of Office of Special Plans,
William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education
Ellen Bork, deputy director of PNAC, and wife of failed Reagan Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork
Rudy Boschwitz, former US Senator from Minnesota
Jeb Bush, governor of Florida
Steve Forbes, multi-millionaire publisher of Forbes Magazine,
Charles Krauthammer, conservative columnist
William Kristol, a PNAC founder and chairman, editor of the Weekly Standard
Richard Perle, a PNAC founder
Dan Quayle

I think we are headed for WWIII, it's not too far fetched either

[notohp2002]

The U.S.A. build up with an extra aircraft carier will intimidate Iran for sure, but will these extra fighter jets on hand be able to stop an attemp by Israel to attack Iran with a flight of bombers carrying nuclear war heads....
.....Some bloggers say Israel has promised to do this.......

[bluestardad]

Congress should warn Bush that if he starts something with Iraq he will go to Jail!

[noomgod]

PNAC, those people are very dangerous.Kinda like what the communist did during the 20th century, take over countries and turn them communists. That is what we are doing with democracy right now.Let the people of that particular country figure out what they want to do as countrymen and control their own destiny.All this infighting in Iraq was always there, they just needed a dictator to put them in line

[kpokey]

What happened to the old republican ideals of no nation building, smaller government, fiscal conservatism? They are gone, if they ever existed. The republican party has been hijacked.

[bluestardad]

Iran sorry

[mjv2944]

How can we have a buildup when we can't provide enough soldiers for the great "I'll show daddy" debacle in Iraq. We have no friends any more as Dubya and his boys have lied and bullied their way into the mess we are in today. Hopefully the Iranian people figure this character out. We do not need any more Dubya diplomacy. As for oldrepub values, they are replaced with greed and corruption. They have sold us out!!!!

[bluestardad]

We must have someone step up to stop this madness! Bush is going to start WW3 for the sake of OIL for GOD sake!

[sim828524s]

The biggest threat that Iran has is the United States. Soon they will has enough urainium to build four very powerful nuclear bombs. Each of them will be enough to wipe out a very large city the size of Paris.

They will give each one to suicide bombers. The terrorist will set out and make their way to Washington DC, New York, Chicago,
and Los Angeles. There, they will detonate these bombs.

During that time while the United States is licking it's wounds trying to survive, the iranians will have made two more bombs to be delivered to the U.S., and detonate each in Atlanta, and Dallas.

Finally, just when Iran completes an additional nuclear bomb, the United States will declare an unconditional surrender.

[jonw1115]

sim828524s

Do you work for the Pentagon? I am sure they won't like you giving away all their top secret intelligence to us average Joes. You should really keep that locked up.

[jonw1115]

sim828524s

Do you work for the Pentagon? You should really keep that top secret stuff to yourself. You are going to blow the cover on Iran's plans for world domination.

[jonw1115]

Sorry I didn't think the first post went through.

[jonw1115]

In all seriousness, do you think that things would actually escalate to that? I sure hope there is enough opposition to what Iran is doing with uranium enrichment and we squash this before it comes to such a dramatic point.

[bluestardad]

sim828524s
I can't wait then we can settle some scores!

[notblue]

Why is it When the Iranian president spews vitriolic rhetoric like "Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth" he gets a free pass from the left and it's Bush's fault? Diplomacy hasn't worked, Iran won't stop the enrichment process for even a day to sit down and talk. The rest ofthe world including the U.N. are impotent in regards to confronting evil whether it's in the middle east or Africa. The left in this country has no realistic solutions. The left blames Bush and anyone right of center for all the worlds problems and would sacrifice Israel to support it's own pascifistic isolationist agenda. What would the left have the U.S. do if diplomacy doesn't work with Iran, cross our fingers and hope for the best?

[talkingham]

Buildup in the Persian Gulf? Gee, I thought we already would have done that since we've been at war so long in Iraq. Does anyone think this will make a difference to Iran and their oil-rich buddies in the hood?

Right, we need to isolate Iran- well that's really worked for the last 25 years. Last time we talked to Iran was when Reagan/Bush and his CIA buddies did the Iran-Contra scandal and lied about giving weapons to terrorists- this was orchestrated behind the scenes even before Reagan took the oath of office- he was or should I say daddy Bush was president. Bush really had 3 terms when you count the two Reagan presidencies, so the Bushes have had 20 of the last 28 years running foreign policy. All hail King Bush- how can they blame democrats for anything. Now the same crew is running things for Bush Jr. and they have to prop up the Iran boogey man for us all to be scared of. Meanwhile we sign this stupid treaty with Idnia to "give" them nukler technology and they aren't even signees to the nukler nonproliferation treaty. Go figure. Wonder who in the Bush admin and Goldman Sachs is going to make a mint off of this one. The military industrial complex (the news media never use that term anymore) is riding high. Weapons are about the only manufacturing sector left in the USA and we do that very well.

[tomar0317]

I'm pretty sure we gave our electors a message last month that we are not happy with war, among other things. Why please tell me are we now getting ready to jump into battle with the Iranians? Let the Iranian people deal with their leadership. Seems to me they're telling their leadership the same thing we told ours...Knock it Off!!!

[Syndicate]

sim828524s: your forgeting about all our ICBMS and our nuclear armed Boomers. Besides I think Israel would read the writting on the wall and take Iran out. But, Hezbollah is suppose to have sleeper cells here.

mjv2944: The build up will be mostly naval assets. Iraq is tying up some ground forces. We can put a couple carrier task forces in the gulf and that would be enough to send Iran back to the stone age. Perhaps they'll send the Ronald Reagan :)

[bluestardad]

We won't talk to them but we will send a battle group! Send this Dicktater back to Spudsville Texas!

[agnim]

"Iran is the real danger to US interests in that region.

Posted by patriotic9 at 10:48 AM : Dec 19, 2006"

The US does not own the planet!

We can't be using the childish excuse of 'US interests' to bully, meddle and intimidate in every spot and every event on the planet just because we have global reach.
That's how we wind up with 911?
912 will be a lot worse.

[agnim]

"We won't talk to them but we will send a battle group!

Posted by bluestardad at 12:59 PM : Dec 19, 2006"

You taking good notes we see? LOL

If one Iraq is bad, then let's have two or three. LOL

[agnim]

You can bet your last dollar that the Koreans will find every reason for keeping and increasing their nukes and nuke-delivery express. LOL

[Syndicate]

We don't own the planet? Since when? We saved this dirt ball so many dam times its ours. Everyone else should be paying rent.

sim828524s has been watching too much television, do you have any idea what a portable nuclear warhead would do to you if you carried it around in say something like a backpack? You would be dead in a matter of hours. The casing on a nuclear warhead is there for two reasons, to penetrate the earth for (optionally) underground burst and to protect loaders/maintenance personell from the radiation.

I saw the movie you speak of, it was called the Peacemaker that starred George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. But not a very good movie for realism

[jhindson1]

Here we go again PLAYING RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ISLAMIC RADICALS by giving them all the proof they need to frighten their people into supporting the radicals as protectors against the EVIL SATIN.

THIS DOES NOT WORK AND BACKFIRES EVERY TIME !!!

Meanwhile the President of Iran*s Party was losing in their recent elections - this will help him gain support and win next time.

BUSH AND CHENEY AND THE NEOCONS ARE SO DUMB !!!

[williamcrou1]

CONTINUAL WAR AND FIGHTING IS THE WAY OF CAIN, AND THE IDEA OF PEACE THROUGH MILITARY STRENGTH DATES BACK TO NIMROD. THE ONLY WAY TO PEACE IS THROUGH THE 613 LAWS OF PEACE. WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS IS THE PEACEFUL SOLUTION.

[grazinggoat]

NO WONDER WHY OIL PRICE AT STOCK EXCHANGE AND GAS PRICE AT THE PUMP WENT UP...

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/commodities/energyprices.html

[sim828524s]

ncolsens

Don't be an idiot. Not this time around. That is a condition that this country can no-longer afford.

I didn't see a movie

They will not be carring it in a "back pack" or "something"

I do most of my watching and reading on documentations and such.

They will delivery it. They just want to know how soon.

One thing is certain, there are several senators out here that are pretty scared over it.

[grazinggoat]

Cbscrash07,
seems to everyone here (most of us at least) that such an arrogant creature like you should belong to the Arrogant Walking-Liar Bush clan. Is he (Walking-Liar) your natural father? Ask your mom, just in case. If she says yes, then you should disappear in the depths of this earth and never return... Only Nimrod and the Pharaos have got to your level of arrogance.

[jonw1115]

grazinggoat,

Is this 5th grade all over again? You have a knack for making up great nicknames for people. Keep up the positive vibes, it is creating a feeling of euphoria for all of us.

[grazinggoat]

jonw1115
Honestly, don't know how to accept this honour from you, but thanks. For the grade five thing, well we all have this nostalgy to that age when dealing with such schoolyard bullies as Cbscrash07. Right?

sim828524s your living in a cardboard world, the next time it rains it will fall in you.

you have no idea what you are talking about.

Ever serve your country? I doubt it..

I have and recently too I might add, the US is the most powerful country in the world today whether you like it or not.

The idea that someone is going to transport nuclear weapons around without being known about is without a doubt the dumbest thing I have heard in this forum yet.

go back and play some Quake and leave the rest to us

[omded]

The President will send United States soldiers anyplace as long as his children don't have to go with them. Let's face it. If you're not a close relative or friend of the President, you mean nothing to him.

[patriotic9]

Better late then never.We were supposed to attack the RADICAL ISLAMIST IRAN but we attacked one of the most liberal countries in the MIDDLE EAST and turn the southern part of it into a STATE of RADICAL ISLAMIST IRAN and the western part of it into the WORLD'S BEST TRAINING CAMP for RADICAL SUNNI EXTREMISTS specially Alqaeda.If we don't attack Iran which is the source of TERRORISM,every DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PRIME MINISTER of IRAQ'll practically beGOVERNOR from those IRANIAN AYATOLLAHs who call us the GREATEST SATAN.We'll have to see a day when those AYATOLLAHs will get the control of all the OIL FIELDS in the MIDDEL EAST and we'll be sent beack to the STONE AGE.
We should avoid the mistakes we did in IRAQ though.While attacking Iraq,we were focused mostly on BAGHDAD which had very little to do with INSURGENCY and forgot AL ANBAR PROVINCE which came up as a FACTORY OF SUICIDE BOMBERS and INSURGENTS.If we attack Iran,we have to focus on palces like QOM more then the CAPITAL TEHRAN which is the AL ANBAR PROVINCE OF IRAN.

[patriotic9]

Better late then never.We were supposed to attack the RADICAL ISLAMIST IRAN but we attacked one of the most liberal countries in the MIDDLE EAST and turn the southern part of it into a STATE of RADICAL ISLAMIST IRAN and the western part of it into the WORLD'S BEST TRAINING CAMP for RADICAL SUNNI EXTREMISTS specially Alqaeda.If we don't attack Iran which is the source of TERRORISM,every DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PRIME MINISTER of IRAQ'll practically beGOVERNOR from those IRANIAN AYATOLLAHs who call us the GREATEST SATAN.We'll have to see a day when those AYATOLLAHs will get the control of all the OIL FIELDS in the MIDDEL EAST and we'll be sent beack to the STONE AGE.
We should avoid the mistakes we did in IRAQ though.While attacking Iraq,we were focused mostly on BAGHDAD which had very little to do with INSURGENCY and forgot AL ANBAR PROVINCE which came up as a FACTORY OF SUICIDE BOMBERS and INSURGENTS.If we attack Iran,we have to focus on palces like QOM more then the CAPITAL TEHRAN which is the AL ANBAR PROVINCE OF IRAN.

[shingles1]

I'm with jhindson1 on this.
The DAY AFTER Ahmadinejad and his allies suffer a defeat at the polls, the US does this. Is our government TRYING to make Ahmadinejad more popular?!