A Bush pre-election strike on Iran 'imminent'

[Andrej Tisma]

A Bush pre-election strike on Iran 'imminent'
White House insider report "October Surprise" imminent


By Wayne Madsen


10/20/04 "Lebanon Wire" -- According to White House and Washington Beltway
insiders, the Bush administration, worried that it could lose the
presidential election to Senator John F. Kerry, has initiated plans to
launch a military strike on Iran's top Islamic leadership, its nuclear
reactor at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, and key nuclear targets throughout
the country, including the main underground research site at Natanz in
central Iran and another in Isfahan. Targets of the planned U.S. attack
reportedly include mosques in Tehran, Qom, and Isfahan known by the U.S. to
headquarter Iran's top mullahs.


The Iran attack plan was reportedly drawn up after internal polling
indicated that if the Bush administration launched a so-called
anti-terrorist attack on Iran some two weeks before the election, Bush would
be assured of a landslide win against Kerry. Reports of a pre-emptive strike
on Iran come amid concerns by a number of political observers that the Bush
administration would concoct an "October Surprise" to influence the outcome
of the presidential election.


According to White House sources, the USS John F. Kennedy was deployed to
the Arabian Sea to coordinate the attack on Iran. Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld discussed the Kennedy's role in the planned attack on Iran when he
visited the ship in the Arabian Sea on October 9. Rumsfeld and defense
ministers of U.S. coalition partners, including those of Albania,
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia,
Hungary, Iraq, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mongolia, Poland, Qatar,
Romania, and Ukraine briefly discussed a very "top level" view of potential
dual-track military operations in Iran and Iraq in a special "war room" set
up on board the aircraft carrier. America's primary ally in Iraq, the United
Kingdom, did not attend the planning session because it reportedly disagrees
with a military strike on Iran. London also suspects the U.S. wants to move
British troops from Basra in southern Iraq to the Baghdad area to help put
down an expected  surge in!
  Sh'ia violence in Sadr City and other Sh'ia areas in central Iraq when the
U.S. attacks Iran as well as clear the way for a U.S. military strike across
the Iraqi-Iranian border aimed at securing the huge Iranian oil
installations in Abadan. U.S. allies South Korea, Australia, Kuwait, Jordan,
Italy, Netherlands, and Japan were also left out of the USS John F. Kennedy
planning discussions because of their reported opposition to any strike on
Iran.


In addition, Israel has been supplied by the United States with 500 "bunker
buster" bombs. According to White House sources, the Israeli Air Force will
attack Iran's nuclear facility at Bushehr with the U.S. bunker busters.The
joint U.S.-Israeli pre-emptive military move against Iran reportedly was
crafted by the same neo-conservative grouping in the Pentagon and Vice
President Dick Cheney's office that engineered the invasion of Iraq.


Morale aboard the USS John F. Kennedy is at an all-time low, something that
must be attributable to the knowledge that the ship will be involved in an
extension of U.S. military actions in the Persian Gulf region. The
Commanding Officer of an F-14 Tomcat squadron was relieved of command for a
reported shore leave "indiscretion" in Dubai and two months ago the
Kennedy's commanding officer was relieved for cause.


The White House leak about the planned attack on Iran was hastened by
concerns that Russian technicians present at Bushehr could be killed in an
attack, thus resulting in a wider nuclear confrontation between Washington
and Moscow. International Atomic Energy Agency representatives are also
present at the Bushehr facility. In addition, an immediate Iranian Shahab
ballistic missile attack against Israel would also further destabilize the
Middle East. The White House leaks about the pre-emptive strike may have
been prompted by warnings from the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency
that an attack on Iran will escalate out of control. Intelligence circles
report that both intelligence agencies are in open revolt against the Bush
White House.


White House sources also claimed they are "terrified" that Bush wants to
start a dangerous war with Iran prior to the election and fear that such a
move will trigger dire consequences for the entire world.


Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and
columnist. He served in the National Security Council (NSA) during the
Reagan Administration and wrote the introduction to Forbidden Truth. He is
the co-author, with john Stanton of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of
George Bush II." His forthcoming book is titled: "jaded Tasks: Big Oil,
Black Ops, and Brass Plates." Madsen can be reached at Wmadsen777 at aol.com