TA and USN targets? You don't say.

Not to be outdone by the Israelis, both Iran and the US Navy have begun their own war game exercises. Yesterday, July seventh, the Allies began a series of defensive maneuvers to protect oil and natural gas installations.

Monday, July 8 (sic), the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet announced American, British and Bahraini vessels were to launch a new exercise in the Gulf called “Stake Net,” to practice tactics and procedures for protecting maritime infrastructure such as gas and oil installations.

The exercise was launched in response to threats by more than one Iranian military chief to control shipping in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz if Iran was attacked or its regional interests jeopardized.

The ball was picked up by the Revolutionary Guards which launched a retaliatory naval maneuver the next day.

Tuesday, too, the New York Times ran an article called “Nearer to the Bomb” by nuclear physicist Peter D. Zimmerman, former chief scientist of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He wrote that all of Iran’s activities, especially in uranium enrichment, are evidence that its “near-term ability to make nuclear weapons is gathering strength.” He further warned that once Iran begins enriching uranium to weapons grade on an assembly-line basis, “it could transfer this material to groups such as Hizballah and Hamas.” They could then “fabricate low-technology nuclear explosives with yields nearly as high as the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima.”

Today, Iran began their own exercises with missile squads and the Revolutionary Guard.

The Web site of the elite Iranian force posted a statement late Monday announcing the military drill, which it said involved "missile squads," but did not say where it was taking place. Iran's guards and national army hold regular exercises two or three times a year, but the statement did not say whether this drill was one of them or if it was a special exercise.

The Iranian Web Site quoted guard official Ali Shirazi as saying that Israel's coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv and US warships in the Gulf would be among the first targets if Iran comes under attack.

"The Zionist regime is pushing the White House to prepare for a military strike on Iran," Shirazi was quoted as saying. "If such a stupidity is done by them, Tel Aviv and the US naval fleet in the Persian Gulf will be the first targets which will be set on fire in Iran's crushing response."

Of course, what is not said here is that the US Navy and Tel Aviv are targets anyway--when the Iranians get and use their A-Bombs, these are the addresses to which they will be sent.


Speaking of addresses, there was an old routine by Carol Burnette about a visiting monarch interviewed before her address to a joint session of Congress. As she gets more and more snockered, she begins to giggle about "'dressing" the Congress. Today's AP file photo of the Revolutionary Guard in the Jerusalem Post brings back Ms Burnette's routine, prompting one to wonder just where did they get those cute headbands and color coordinated outfits. Of course, what with the world of digital fauxtography, as near as I can tell, this picture suggest the Guard is made of 16 or 17 guys, at max, dressed up like Girl Scouts.