Let's see how this plays out.

nothing to see here!!

what ever happened to that guy?

The next guy will accidentally, tragically, cut his head off while combing his hair.

If you were Iran and you suspected this was Israeli intervention, wouldn't you start yelling and screaming and pointing fingers at Israel? Or would it work better tactically to keep quiet about it?

I figure they would try to drum up as much noise against Israel as possible.

Spontaneous human combustion happens all the time, it's just not that widely reported.

You have to admit the Isrealis have style. When they assassinate someone, the explosion is heard 40km away.

I congratulate who ever had the balls to pull this off if it was sabotage. If it wasn't sabotage then whatever.

AgentBang: If you were Iran and you suspected this was Israeli intervention, wouldn't you start yelling and screaming and pointing fingers at Israel? Or would it work better tactically to keep quiet about it?

I figure they would try to drum up as much noise against Israel as possible.

Except if they blame all things on Isreal without actually retaliating against the Isrealis, then the people of Iran perceive the government as weak and try to topple it.

thebpem: I congratulate who ever had the balls to pull this off if it was sabotage. If it wasn't sabotage then whatever.

It was "state-sponsored terrorism".

[Tatsuma's Jumping for Joy pic]

How many times must the US, Israel, and their terrorist clients kill Iranian citizens before the world is convinced of Iran's naked aggression? These inhuman monsters are dying right at us; who knows what fresh perfidy they will sink to next if we do not invade immediately? I promise you, my brave, courageous, fearless fellow citizens, when we are done doing Democracy to them, they will welcomed as liberators!


All satire aside, what does Iran have to gain from pretending this is an accident if it isn't? Iran never misses a chance to accuse us of all manner of things we don't actually do, if they had evidence implicating the MEK -a widely reviled internal terrorist org- in this, with the aid of Israel and the US, why would they hide it? With all due respect to the quality sarcasm and irony provided by previous farkers, munitions improperly handled in an unsafe environment do tend to explode; accidents (and incompetence) happen, and Iran isn't exactly known for its strict work safety regulations and rigorous military training, is it?

I'm just as inclined to believe that if this is foul play, it's internal struggle. The religious leaders and the Revolutionary Guard have been consolidating power, and the civilian government isn't happy with it. Ahmedinejad has been at odds with them for a while. Infighting is always a possibility.

Heron: How many times must the US, Israel, and their terrorist clients kill Iranian citizens before the world is convinced of Iran's naked aggression? These inhuman monsters are dying right at us; who knows what fresh perfidy they will sink to next if we do not invade immediately? I promise you, my brave, courageous, fearless fellow citizens, when we are done doing Democracy to them, they will welcomedwelcome us as liberators!


bah! FTFM

Ah I see the Cross Bow program got the new Long Bow upgrade.

cgraves67: AgentBang: If you were Iran and you suspected this was Israeli intervention, wouldn't you start yelling and screaming and pointing fingers at Israel? Or would it work better tactically to keep quiet about it?

I figure they would try to drum up as much noise against Israel as possible.

Except if they blame all things on Isreal without actually retaliating against the Isrealis, then the people of Iran perceive the government as weak and try to topple it.

Nah, they play the victim internationally precisely for the unifying effect being a country persecuted by the richest and most militarized state in the world creates. There'd have to be some blunder involved on their part, I think, for the guys in Tehran to pass off a genuine Israeli, US, or MEK attack as an accident. It isn't as if they've been trying to pass off the frequent assassinations of their science staff as some bizarre crime-wave, after all.

Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, said: ''You have to take whatever steps are necessary to break its capacity to have a nuclear weapon.'' He also proposed covert actions such as ''taking out their scientists'', to applause.



Stay classy.

In before Tatsu...?

FATALITY!

Heron: How many times must the US, Israel, and their terrorist clients kill Iranian citizens before the world is convinced of Iran's naked aggression? These inhuman monsters are dying right at us; who knows what fresh perfidy they will sink to next if we do not invade immediately? I promise you, my brave, courageous, fearless fellow citizens, when we are done doing Democracy to them, they will welcomed as liberators!


All satire aside, what does Iran have to gain from pretending this is an accident if it isn't? Iran never misses a chance to accuse us of all manner of things we don't actually do, if they had evidence implicating the MEK -a widely reviled internal terrorist org- in this, with the aid of Israel and the US, why would they hide it? With all due respect to the quality sarcasm and irony provided by previous farkers, munitions improperly handled in an unsafe environment do tend to explode; accidents (and incompetence) happen, and Iran isn't exactly known for its strict work safety regulations and rigorous military training, is it?

Because it might not be MEK or another nation state (if it was an assassination). The general was part of the Revolutionary Guard which is at odds with the government. Could be part of the internal struggle between the army and the Revolutionary Guard.

Also, like the airstrike in Syria that Syria never talked about - could be that the Revolutionary Guard doesn't want attention drawn to what the general was working on.

AgentBang: If you were Iran and you suspected this was Israeli intervention, wouldn't you start yelling and screaming and pointing fingers at Israel? Or would it work better tactically to keep quiet about it?

I figure they would try to drum up as much noise against Israel as possible.

If you were Iran and you suspected this was Israeli intervention, you'd be crapping yourself a giant purple twinkie right about now wondering where else the Israelis are at that very moment.

AgentBang: If you were Iran and you suspected this was Israeli intervention, wouldn't you start yelling and screaming and pointing fingers at Israel? Or would it work better tactically to keep quiet about it?

I figure they would try to drum up as much noise against Israel as possible.

They already blame Israel for everything.

Bug in your cereal? The Jews.

Missing your remote control? The Jews.

Constipated? The Jews.

Gloriously well-engineered virus that somehow infiltrated an insanely secure facility that targets the exact hardware you're running? The Jews, with a side of Great Satan America.

Ya know if Israel was doing this shiat to the U.S., Well they'd get a stern lecture to stop and a billion dollars to stop it, again. A republican president would just do Israels bidding and nuke Iran and result in pissing off everyone downwind, including the U.S..

BigNumber12: AN EXPLOSION at a Revolutionary Guard base in Iran killed a senior commander in charge of the country's missile development program.

...

One US-based commentator, Richard Silverstein, who has good sources in Israel's military community, said on his blog he had been told it was carried out by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.


Holy fark. If true, that's some serious reach Mossad's got there.

I think it's much more plausible that Mossad WANTS Iran to think they got that reach. Time for the next round of Iranian purges of their military leadership. Mossad be trolling with their US-based leak.

GAT_00: Marcus Aurelius: What if one of their nukes "accidentally" went off?

Everyone would know the Israelis did it. It's impossible to "accidentally" set off a nuke. You can literally blow one up, and it won't go off.

OUR nukes can be involved in an outside explosion and be fine. They can also be dropped and not go off without the proper authoriaztion. But only because we've engineered those safeguards into them. There's no guarantee that any potential Iranian nukes would have those same stop-gaps employed.

In the interest of self-preservation they probably would, but that can't be known until the things are put together.

JLEM: Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, said: 'You have to take whatever steps are necessary to break its capacity to have a nuclear weapon.' He also proposed covert actions such as 'taking out their scientists', to applause.

Stay classy.

I've been curious about people who are against anyone taking action against Iran while they are seeking to develop nuclear weapons. What do you think there is to be gained by allowing Iran to gain nuclear capabilities. Why do you think it is wise to allow them to do so? What do you think Iran is likely to do with nuclear capabilities once they gain them?

I just wanted someone to explain that to me so I get where people with that point of view are coming from.

Parthenogenetic: [Tatsuma's Jumping for Joy pic]

Close enough...



It certainly reflects my feelings in this matter.

GAT_00: Marcus Aurelius: What if one of their nukes "accidentally" went off?

Everyone would know the Israelis did it. It's impossible to "accidentally" set off a nuke. You can literally blow one up, and it won't go off.

Suppose, just suppose that an Iranian nuke is blown up; not as a nuclear weapon, but as a 'dirty bomb' that would spread radioactive dust all over an Iranian facility. Wouldn't it take a lot of effort just repair the damage and clean things up? I know that the effort to cleanse the explosion site would vary based on what the warhead contained, but still.....

"Mr Romney said: 'If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. If you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.'"

Ah, but then Mitt Romney would have a Nuclear Weapon, you see...

Am I the only one that remembers that we just ended a certain conflict which effectively removed certain dire threats to Iran's national security about a decade or so back? Am I the only one that remembers our galactic lack of follow-through on pursuing what such a gesture might have meant diplomatically in our relations with Iran, you know, BEFORE they even elected Dinner Jacket?

Am I the only one that recalls what the powers-that-been went and did instead of using that rather significant gesture as a landmark opportunity to change our relations with Iran? Because as I recall it involved something pretty typical of your average 3rd-grade sandbox mentality.


Ah well, could'a, should'a, would'a. But I figured so long as we were talking about presidential failings with regards to Iran in our recent past, I just wanted to be topical.

Flashfyr3: GAT_00: Marcus Aurelius: What if one of their nukes "accidentally" went off?

Everyone would know the Israelis did it. It's impossible to "accidentally" set off a nuke. You can literally blow one up, and it won't go off.

OUR nukes can be involved in an outside explosion and be fine. They can also be dropped and not go off without the proper authoriaztion. But only because we've engineered those safeguards into them. There's no guarantee that any potential Iranian nukes would have those same stop-gaps employed.

In the interest of self-preservation they probably would, but that can't be known until the things are put together.

I'm not so sure about this. Nuclear weapons are notoriously difficult to detonate at their intended yield. Doing so successfully requires several variables to fall perfectly into place to detonate the trigger explosives correctly. Nuclear weapons involved in an incidental explosion, even if the shock is enough to detonate trigger explosives in the weapon, are more likely to simply be destroyed, spreading contamination from the fissile material.

cast55: Nuclear weapons involved in an incidental explosion, even if the shock is enough to detonate trigger explosives in the weapon, are more likely to simply be destroyed, spreading contamination from the fissile material.

Stop giving Newt Gingrich ideas.

If this is any indication of how Iran health and safety works. We should help them build a nuke. Problem will solve itself.

*walks away whistling*

Linky pops: TimeWorld - Was Israel Behind a Deadly Explosion at an Iranian Missile Base? (new window)

GAT_00: Flashfyr3: GAT_00: Marcus Aurelius: What if one of their nukes "accidentally" went off?

Everyone would know the Israelis did it. It's impossible to "accidentally" set off a nuke. You can literally blow one up, and it won't go off.

OUR nukes can be involved in an outside explosion and be fine. They can also be dropped and not go off without the proper authorization. But only because we've engineered those safeguards into them. There's no guarantee that any potential Iranian nukes would have those same stop-gaps employed.

In the interest of self-preservation they probably would, but that can't be known until the things are put together.

I'd learn how a nuclear weapon explodes before posting about how a nuclear weapon explodes. Maybe that's just me.

cast55: I'm not so sure about this.

He's completely wrong, so you're right to question it.

arte1953: Suppose, just suppose that an Iranian nuke is blown up; not as a nuclear weapon, but as a 'dirty bomb' that would spread radioactive dust all over an Iranian facility. Wouldn't it take a lot of effort just repair the damage and clean things up? I know that the effort to cleanse the explosion site would vary based on what the warhead contained, but still.....

But that's not a nuclear explosion, that's radiological contamination. Only slightly different, but I'd say that isn't a nuclear explosion.

True. It wouldn't be a *nuclear* explosion, but it would be *very* messy. Just imagine the reaction when the Iranian leadership hears about something like that. The damage may be minimal, but the radioactive material cleanup would be immense. Lots of folks would think that the Iranians couldn't take a leak without soaking their pants.

FTFA...

R.I.P. Brigadier General Hassan goddamn.

It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.

Marcus Aurelius

The Israelis are playing a very dangerous game

More dangerous than having nukes possessed by the guys who vow to annihilate them and supply the missiles to Hamas and Hezbollah used to terrorize, destroy and kill in Israel?

. After Stuxnet and all the assassinations, the Iranians have to be seriously pissed.

You're making some pretty big assumptions about who's responsible for this and other actions. Particularly for actions that require a ground presence, like assassinations and explosions (w/o missiles or airstrikes) Israel is no position to do that. The US and its Western allies, and especially Saudi Arabia and/or Gulf states, are much better positioned for that. And it could have been the MEK or some internal faction, with or without outside involvement.

What if one of their nukes "accidentally" went off?

Very hard for a nuke to go off accidentally, and if the Iranian govt could do that they would have done it already; this action, even if Israel was involved, doesn't make a difference.

grotto_man: Particularly for actions that require a ground presence

Stuxnet didn't require a "ground presence".