US-Led Military Thrust Focuses Heavily on Broad Naval Deployment - Debka

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Debka is a very rightwing Israeli website with what appears to be privileged access to Israeli intelligence sources. It seems to either tell the truth or to tell the reader what Israeli intelligence would like her to believe is the truth. The naval build up described here is verifiable, the only question is its intention. Is this the "October Surprise"? Will there be an attack on Iran in a desperate attempt to save the election for the Republicans? There is certainly no question by now that they are perfectly capable of something like that. DS

Abstract: Hundreds of US and allied war ships foregathered in the strategic seas of the Middle East and India in the last days of October 2006 for two primary missions: To prepare for a US-led military strike against Iran which has stepped up its uranium enrichment program with a second centrifuge project - undeterred by the prospect of UN sanctions; and measures to fend off palpable al Qaeda threats to oil targets.(...) American, Italy, France, Britain, Australia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are taking part in an exercise practicing the interception of ships carrying nuclear materials or components for use in advanced weapons. The exercise opposite Bahrain is the first to be held in the Persian Gulf under the three-year old proliferation security initiative. It applications could be translated equally into the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, or Iran. On Oct. 27, Robert Joseph, the US undersecretary of state for arms control remarked: “From Iranian news reports we know the exercise got the attention of Iran.” But rather than climbing down, Tehran referred two days later to the war games as “adventurous” and placed its armed forces on a high alert which encompassed the joint naval units of the military and Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, while the Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian army, navy and air force were placed on “yellow” alert, one level short of full war. READ MORE