Friday, August 01, 2008

It has the feel of the Bioweapons presentation Powell made ......BUT how can you ignore this stuff

The one and only Bill Gertz:

Iran's high-altitude test was 'consistent with EMP attack' on U.S.

WASHINGTON -- A congressional commission warned that Iran is developing an advanced missile and a nuclear warhead meant to paralyze the United States.


The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse has concluded that Iran was planning to conduct a nuclear attack that could disable U.S. infrastructure.


Reported here before


The commission said Iran could install a nuclear warhead on a Shihab-3 missile that would result in an electromagnetic pulse that would destroy power, software and electronics.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seen here in 2007, said the country will not retreat in the face of demands by world powers for Teheran to halt sensitive nuclear work. AFP/ISNA
"Iran has also tested high-altitude explosions of the Shihab-3 a test mode consistent with EMP attack, and described the tests as successful.

Iranian military writings explicitly discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States," commission chairman William Graham said. "While the commission does not know the intention of Iran in conducting these activities, we are disturbed by the capability that emerges when we connect the dots."

In July 10 testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Graham said Iran has already conducted missile tests from ships in the Caspian Sea. He said Iran could achieve the capability to conduct an EMP attack from a freighter in international waters off the coast of the United States.

"A determined adversary can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication," Graham said. "For example, an adversary would not have to have long-range ballistic missiles to conduct an EMP attack against the United States. Such an attack could be launched from a freighter off the U.S. coast using a short- or medium-range missile to loft a nuclear warhead to high-altitude. Terrorists sponsored by a rogue state could attempt to execute such an attack without revealing the identity of the perpetrators."

This kind of attack doesn't exactly need to have pinpoint accuracy either, does it?
What communications, besides hardened military communication would survive?
The far fetchedness of this idea derives partly from it's sheer horrifying impact on our ECONOMY and daily life. Forget those those electronic deposits, boyz & girlz. Forget starting your car. Forget the web. Forget TV. Forget radio. What's Farraday cage hardened in YOUR house?
I thought so.
If your work requires any kind of 'tech', well then, happy ditch digging at those temp stafffing jobs, IF YOU CAN GET THE GIG.
Someone had better get the hard intelligence to rule this out before it's mere possibility results in casus belli based on speculation. Retaliation by our military even if no two bricks stand on top of each other in Iran will not make up for the quadrillions of damage to our economy, and property, or the decades it will take to rebuild (but there will be plenty of oil, since no car or oil burner will be working)

The commission said a relatively low-yield nuclear weapon, including one installed on a Scud B, can be employed to generate an EMP attack over a huge area of the United States. The panel said Iran and other countries could acquire foreign assistance to complete development of a nuclear weapon.

"Potentially hostile states, such as North Korea and Iran, may also be developing the capability to pose an EMP threat to the United States, and may also be unpredictable and difficult to deter," Graham said. "With a Scud B, they could cover the east coast and the west coast [of the United States]."

There is only one question in all this ..can Iran be deterred from using nuclear weapons?

Or will this kind of thing be viewed as paralyzing the great satan to get at the little one.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Forget those those electronic deposits, boyz & girlz. Forget starting your car. Forget the web. Forget TV. Forget radio. What's Farraday cage hardened in YOUR house?

What difference would my protected equipment make when nothing else will survive such an attack?

It is extraordinarily frustrating that - at minimum - our national electric grid (basic connections) may not be hardened.

I can't be certain, but everything I read indicates an awareness of critical vulnerablities, but no pro-active means are openly discussed.

The national electric grid must be protected. Yet so many lines remain above ground, vulnerable to typical storm damage.

Are the buried lines protected from such an EMP attack? If so, are the sources to these lines hardened?

At minimum, hardening our electric grid is essential to survival. Communications networks too.

Epaminondas said...

Who is there to even call?

This is regarded as 'alarmist freak' territory.

midnight rider said...

Even alarmist freaks are right sometimes. They've been warning about this for a few years now but no one seems to be listening. This is no longer just a fantasy from Goldeneye, it exists, and is only a matter of time before the wrong people get it right.

Pastorius said...

Hell, Ahmadinejad is visiting the U.S. soon.

He doesn't necessarily have to be on that incoming jet, but his friend the EMP attack could be sitting there in his place.

Is that not, also, possible?

midnight rider said...

When he was here a year or 2 ago I remember a stink about his people were going to remain on the plane or we weren't going to be allowed to search the plane etc. while he was at the U.N. Something along those lines. We said no, don't think so, because we were worried about either EMP or full nuke hanky panky while he prattled on. You would hope between that and this security would be even better. Hope, I say, hope. If you go over to www.worldnetdaily.com they have had a lot of articles on this very thing over the years.

Pastorius said...

Midnight Rider,
I didn't realize that. I guess my question wasn't as crazy as I thought it was.

midnight rider said...

Pastorius,

Yeah I was just out there trying to find that article. If I do I'll put the link in here. I really think it had more to do with not letting normal security procedures look over the plane once here. If you do go over to WND search for electromagnetic pulse & you'll get a bunch of articles. Searching EMP will return none.

midnight rider said...

Dang. Best I could do for now was this from March 16 2007. This is the story, or the very early part of it. A few bloggers ran with it and in the end he wound up cancelling his trip because he couldn't get the visas for these people. Drudge had it but that's not where I saw it since I don't read Drudge often. Anyway, best I could do for now at least get you started if you wanted to look. Alas, real work beckons. Here's the link: http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/03/15/ahmadinejad-plans-trip-to-new-york-city/

Pastorius said...

I see.

Well, if you think about it, would the U.S. be worried if Sarkozy wanted to bring 25 security agents in on a private plane?

I don't think so.

Clearly, we treat this guy with kid gloves.

midnight rider said...

The issue was not the 25 agents as much as it was they wanted to stay on the plane. "What for?" says we "you bunch of scum suckin' lillybellied ne'er do wells." We've been treating him with kid gloves and that's the problem. They need a bit of rough treatment. Can't remember the exact quote from the movie Munich but, towards the end "Your little tribe has had it rough and sometimes rough treatment needs to be returned in kind". That's really roughly paraphrased. Put a brick or some brass knuckles in those kid gloves. Back to the payin' gig. Got a call center to create.