Pentagon already planning for strikes against Iran and Syria according to senior officials

Schwartz (credit: S. Vemmer/Times News Service)

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer

According to senior Pentagon officials, American military forces are already planning for possible strikes against Iran and Syria utilizing both conventional weaponry and cyber warfare as the situation in both nations only seems to be getting worse by the day.

Lieutenant General Herbert Carlisle, deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements with the U.S. Air Force informed a March 8 investors conference sponsored by McAleese and Associates and Credit Suisse that the Department of Defense is exploring their options for military actions.

Carlisle’s statement came on the heels of an interview with the U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta for the National Journal during which he confirmed that the Pentagon is indeed planning for strikes on Iran.

This also came in the wake of Panetta saying that he thinks that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should begin debating the issue of military intervention in Syria, although NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen claims that that discussion has not yet begun.

While Iran repeatedly denies any intent to develop nuclear weapons and Panetta himself has confirmed that they are not currently developing weapons on two separate occasions, the alleged developments in their program continues to give lawmakers and others the fuel they need to call for war.

In the case of Syria, the entire fiasco has been rife with blatant propaganda (and poor attempts at damage control), predictions of a military coup d’état, reports that the West is already discussing a no-fly zone, reports of cross-border attacks coming from Turkey, reports of Mossad, CIA and Blackwater already operating, even reports of undercover French army officers being captured and much more.

In the case of Iran, Carlisle refused to provide specifics on their planning, citing limitations due to the classified nature of the subject.

“I won’t get into any details on that, obviously, because it’s ongoing operational planning,” he said, according to Defense News.

However, he did confirm that cyber warfare is an option that they are currently considering.

“There [are] … electronic warfare pieces. There are offensive cyber operations. There are defensive cyber operations. Without stepping over any line of classification, I would say again, everything is on the table. That could be a component,” he said.

Thankfully, it appears that these military officials are aware of the fact that invading Syria would be an entirely different beast than the Libyan operation.

“It requires thought and deliberations,” Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz said at the same conference. “A key challenge is that Syria is not Libya. Syria is a much more demanding air defense environment as a case in point and would require a level of effort far in excess of what we did in Libya.”

The country has a somewhat outdated Soviet-era surface-to-air missile system which would likely require the American military to utilize stealth aircraft like the B-2 bomber and F-22 fighter.

While the F-22 has yet to be used in a combat operation, the B-2 was used at the beginning of the bombing campaign in Libya as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In November of last year, it was reported that Russian ships entered Syrian waters, not only delivering advanced S-300 missile systems, but also the technical advisers who would assist in setting up the anti-aircraft missile array.

Israeli news sources called the S-300 one of the most powerful anti-aircraft missile systems available and it was also reported that Russia is installing advanced radar systems throughout Syria to complement the missile system.

In January of this year, Syrian media also reported that a Russian naval flotilla had arrived in the Syrian port city of Tartus in addition to another report in November of last year which said that Russian ships had entered Syrian territorial waters in order to prevent Western military intervention as the opposition called for a no-fly zone.

Both Russia and China have been some of the strongest opponents of military action in Syria, with China even setting forth a diplomatic plan, which of course the West is completely uninterested in.

Carlisle said that the Department of Defense is already engaging in efforts to prepare for intervention in Syria but claimed that it was not unusual for them to do such a thing.

“In standard military fashion, we plan,” he said. “That’s what we do. So we’ll think about everything and every eventuality. We’ll think about what would be required of us and how we would accomplish it.”

If the reports I have been covering for so long are accurate, they have been planning for intervention in Syria for much longer than they are making out.

At this stage all we can do is hope that the plans to attack both Iran and Syria will never materialize. If anything is certain, it is that both events would be disastrous for everyone involved and both have the unfortunate possibility of starting a much larger and deadlier regional – perhaps even global – conflict.

This article first appeared at EndtheLie.com. Read other contributed articles by Madison Ruppert here.

Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on Orion Talk Radio from 8 pm — 10 pm Pacific, which you can find HERE. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at [email protected]