Thursday, November 17, 2011

US-Israel-Qatar ‘Bunker Bomb Axis’ against Iran?

The US is considering arming Qatar with huge bunker buster bombs, raising the possibility of an American-Israel-Arab attack on Iran.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
First Publish: 11/16/2011

The Obama administration is considering arming Qatar with huge bunker buster bombs, raising the possibility of an American-Israel-Arab attack on Iran.

The U.S. Air Force has received a shipment of 30,000-pound bombs, six times larger than those now in use, which can penetrate concrete bunkers. Iran has buried new nuclear plants in rocky mountainous areas and has buried them so deep under concrete to minimize the damage of an aerial attack, even if bunker buster bombs are used. The Air Force began receiving the new monster bombs in September, and Boeing may build as many as 16 of the weapons, a U.S. military spokesman told Bloomberg News.

The B-2 stealth bomber will carry the bombs, which give “the war-fighter increased capability against hardened and deeply buried targets,” according to Air Force Lieutenant General James Kowalski.

Israel has received the older bunker bombs and may be armed with the new ones. Media reports, possibly trial balloons, once again brought up the possibility that Israel is planning to attack Iran’s nuclear plants. If war is necessary, neither Israel nor the United States wants to be the lone attacker.

The timing of the reports with the delivery of the new monster bunker buster may not be coincidental.

Qatar, part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also may be next in line to receive them, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Qatar is a key American ally and, along with Saudi Arabia, fears the Islamic Republic’s desire to dominate the Muslim world. Iranians are Persians and do not consider themselves Arabs.

Other Gulf states – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait – have signed up with the United States to receive more than $60 billion of advanced F-15 airplanes, bombs and other weapons, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), which converts unguided “dumb” bombs into "smart" munitions that are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system.

The proposed sale of the new bunker buster bombs to Qatar “represents one way the Obama administration intends to keep Iran in check,” the Journal reported.

The UAE has a vested interest in diminishing the Iranian nuclear threat – the Persian country claims sovereignty over three of the UAE's Persian Gulf islands.

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