WHAT IF USA ATTACKED IRAN?

(2006) TIME MAGAZINE. 9/25

 38-42/DUFFY

This is a war game scenario, but it is possible. If the administration can attack Iraq, why not Iran?.

The answer appears to be simple. The military services are exhausted and we are deeply in debt.

However, the future of military history is filled with wild cards and mysteries. Thus, TIME commissioned a retired military officer to outline what might happen. In fact, there is a gnawing feeling that this could occur.

There are roughly 1500 simulated points where a bomb could be made.It would require all the military air power, bunker buster bombs, and related.Two to three days of sorties from the air could delay the bomb by a few years. Iran returns the war by uniting every force that dislikes Bush and if boots are put on the ground, the USA faces a formidable force who know the territory and who have lost relatives and loved ones to American  bombs.

There would be a horrendous traffic jam in the Persian Gulf and the price of gasoline would skyrocket. The opinion of the world would continually spiral downward and it would be hard to gain the trust of ANY country, especially powerful western countries.

The distrust runs both ways so diplomacy may be out of range. It may mean tolerating a nuclear threat or choosing an unimagined nuclear holocaust that Iran really no longer exists. We may win that battle, but lose the war among all other countries.