U.S.: Iran Can Target Missile at U.S., Europe in Less Than 8 Years

[sabra]

Source: Defense News/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Iran may have a long range missile capable of striking the United States and Europe in less than eight years, a senior State Department official said Thursday.

John Rood, the assistant secretary of state for international security and non proliferation, said the weapon could be wholly obtained from North Korea, which had provided Iran ballistic missiles previously.

The American intelligence community has estimated that Tehran, which has defied UN sanctions to pursue a sensitive nuclear program, could develop long-range missiles capable of reaching all of Europe and the United States before 2015 if it chooses to do so, he said.

“Our intelligence estimates are based on projections of when Iran could acquire this capability on its own, perhaps with some foreign assistance. A key determinant how rapidly Iran might progress of course would be that foreign assistance,” Rood told a congressional hearing.

Read more: http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2733954&C=airwar

[htuttle]

1. So could any other country...

...if they bought the parts from North Korea and Pakistan.

:eyes:

[rfranklin]

3. Russia already has the capability....should we invade?

It would seem prudent, under the preemptive doctrine put forth by George Bush and his cohorts that we cannot let this threat exist to our beloved Homeland!

[Kikosexy2]

6. And so can Israel's...

anyone making big fuss about them?....

[Lord Balto]

20. Israel Has Hydrogen Bomb

Or so said the guy they want to throw back in jail for spilling the beans.

But really, doesn't this all smack of "Wolf! Wolf!" and there was no wolf?

[Oreo]

2. I also heard they have...

drones that are right now hovering off the cost of Delaware.

Same bullshit... different country.

[Lord Balto]

23. No No No!

"...drones that are right now hovering off the cost of Delaware."

That's Dick Cheney's Rapid Escape Vehicle (REV) in case the American people suddenly wake up tomorrow and decide it's time to guillotine the bastard. The REV then swoops in and attaches itself to the exit from his underground bunker hidden somewhere in the state of Delaware, allowing The Big Dick to escape across the Atlantic to the new international headquarters of Halliburton in Dubai from which he will orchestrate the next attack of Al Dickaida on an American skyscraper.

[dave_p]

4. Sounds familiar

"could develop...if it chooses to"... "perhaps" (and note how it's the "key determinant" that's subject to the "Perhaps").

Lots of countries could do the same, if they chose to. Nobody's shown any indication that Iran has any such intention. Why the heck would Iran target Europe anyway? And hitting the US is sheer GOP fantasy.

More scaremongering. There are plenty of real dangers in the world without obsessing over phantom threats.

[Timex]

5. "could be obtained from North Korea" n/t

[subterranean]

7. Even if they do...so what?

Don't we have a defense system for that sort of thing?

[ramapo]

10. Yes, called AO

Our defense against such an attack is called Assured Obiliteration.

What possible motivation would Iran (or any other country) have to launch a missile or two against the US (or any US allie)? There is no question that any such attack would be met with an overwhelming (and likely nuclear) counterattack which would leave little of the attacking entity.

However it makes for great fearmongering so I believe that Iran is probably encouraged to develop such capabilities.

[macllyr]

15. only possible motivation is retaliation

Desperate retaliation after a devastating attack on their country...

Mac L'lyr

[HereSince1628]

11. Time for diplomacy to get Iran to put homing beacons on their missles.

That way our missle defense has a chance to knock them down.

[doublethink]

8. "U.S. can completely annihilate all of Iran in less than 30 minutes"

And we're talking the next 30 minutes, not 8 years from now. Gee in 8 years the U.S. could probably do it in 30 seconds. Soooo does that mean we should 'do it'? Hell no, and I don't see Iran ever lobbing an incoming missile over here ...... more bullshit. The empire wants Iran's Oil and Natural Gas Reserves, plain and simple. :eyes: Peace.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. This reminds me

My wife's boss the other day said that his seven year old was "scared" of terrorists.

My wife and I discussed this, noting that our entire childhoods were spent in fear of nuclear annihilation. Not a terrorist bombing a major city, but utter annihilation of the entire fucking human race and life on Earth.

So Iran can target a missile at the United States, possibly, in eight years. So. Fucking. What.

If my daughter ever tells me that she's scared of terrorists, I'm going to tell her the story about th real bad old days, when the missiles were pointed in scored at every US city - not suitcase nukes, but ICBMs - when megadeath was the order of the day, not "mass destruction," when the slightest movement of tanks on the plains of Central Europe threatened the very existence of humanity, not when some tin pot might possibly, in some unspecified number of years, have the capacity to acquire technology that might lead to the construction of one warhead, someday.

Scared?

Fuck YOU.

We grew up scared, and we hacked it. The panic of Republicans comes off as false, contrived, and ridiculous.

[ramapo]

12. You nailed it

I've reminded people of this for years.

This terrorism stuff is nothing compared to all out thermonuclear war. That was the stuff of nightmares (I had plenty) not to mention bad daydreams.

[EFerrari]

17. Tell the boss to get his kid an old desk with a mess of gum

under it.

Worked for us. :hi:

[liberal N proud]

13. The same no-minds who want to take nukes away from others

supports giving everyone in the US guns.

They use the same fucking logic for both scenarios; "It will keep us safer."

[cqo_000]

14. *Yawn* n/t

[MasonJar]

16. And we can target them today and probably are!

[Lord Balto]

21. You don't suppose...

You're being LIED to again?

[daleo]

18. All any country needs for a missile program is:

A reasonable amount of money.
A certain amount of scientific and technical know-how.
The political will to do so.

There's no point trying to keep every country in the world down through invasion. It just strengthens the political will of those you haven't yet invaded and ties down your military.

[TexasLawyer]

19. Iran : U.S.Can Target Missile at Iran, Anywhere The Hell Else in Less Than 8 Seconds

So?

[seabeckind]

22. missile shield

Didn't I just read somewhere that Congress cut off funding for the European missle shield? These two things aren's related, are they?

[Up2Late]

24. Well that give us at least 6 years to do some serious diplomatic work...

...so get to work State Department! Stop screwing around with all you BS Rhetoric!

[Megahurtz]

25. BOOGA BOOGA!!!

:sarcasm: