www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43956
com WASHINGTON -- Iran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy Ame rica's technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world's lo ne superpower, say US intelligence sources, top scientists and western missile industry experts. The radical Shiite regime has conducted successful tests to determine if its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight. Scientists, including President Reagan's top science adviser, William R Graham, say there is no other explanation for such tests than preparatio n for the deployment of electromagnetic pulse weapons even one of whic h could knock out America's critical electrical and technological infras tructure, effectively sending the continental US back to the 19th cent ury with a recovery time of months or years. Iran will have that capability at least theoretically as soon as it h as one nuclear bomb ready to arm such a missile. North Korea, a strategi c ally of Iran, already boasts such capability.
Joseph Fa rah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by WND's founder. Just last month, Congress heard testimony about the use of such weapons a nd the threat they pose from rogue regimes. Iran has surprised intelligence analysts by describing the mid-flight det onations of missiles fired from ships on the Caspian Sea as "successful" tests. Even primitive Scud missiles could be used for this purpose. And top US intelligence officials reminded members of Congress that there is a glut of these missiles on the world market. They are currently bei ng bought and sold for about $100,000 apiece.
"No need for the risk and difficulty of trying to smuggle a nuclear weapon over the border or hit a particular city. J ust launch a cheap missile from a freighter in international waters al -Qaida is believed to own about 80 such vessels and make sure to get i t a few miles in the air." The Iranian missile tests were more sophisticated and capable of detonati on at higher elevations making them more dangerous. Detonated at a height of 60 to 500 kilometers above the continental US, one nuclear warhead could cripple the country knocking out electrical power and circuit boards and rendering the US domestic communications impotent. While Iran still insists officially in talks currently underway with the European Union that it is only developing nuclear power for peaceful civ ilian purposes, the mid-flight detonation missile tests persuade US mi litary planners and intelligence agencies that Tehran can only be planni ng such an attack, which depends on the availability of at least one nuc lear warhead. Some analysts believe the stage of Iranian missile developments suggests Iranian scientists will move toward the production of weapons-grade nucl ear material shortly as soon as its nuclear reactor in Busher is operati ve.
"Atomic Iran," told WorldNetDaily the new fin dings about Iran's electromagnetic pulse experiments significantly raise the stakes of the mullah regime's bid to become a nuclear power. "Up until now, I believed the nuclear threat to the US from Iran was li mited to the ability of terrorists to penetrate the borders or port secu rity to deliver a device to a major city," he said. "While that threat s hould continue to be a grave concern for every American, these tests by Iran demonstrate just how devious the fanatical mullahs in Tehran are. W e are facing a clever and unscrupulous adversary in Iran that could brin g America to its knees." Earlier this week, Iran's top nuclear official said Europe must heed an I ranian proposal on uranium enrichment or risk a collapse of the talks. The warning by Hassan Rowhani, head of the Supreme National Security Coun cil, came as diplomats from Britain, France and Germany began talks with their Iranian counterparts in Geneva, ahead of a more senior-level meet ing in London set for April 29. Enrichment produces fuel for nuclear rea ctors, which can also be used in the explosive core of nuclear bombs. "The Europeans should tell us whether these ideas can work as the basis f or continued negotiations or not," Rowhani said, referring to the Irania n proposal put forward last month that would allow some uranium enrichme nt. If not, then the negotiations cannot continue," he sa id. Some analysts believe Iran is using the negotiations merely to buy time f or further development of the nuclear program. The US plans, according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to allo w the EU talks to continue before deciding this summer to push for Unite d Nations sanctions against Iran. Last month, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology an d Homeland Security chaired by Kyl, held a hearing on the electromagneti c pulse, or EMP, threat. "An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the American homeland, said one of the distinguished scientists who testified at the hearing, is one of only a few ways that the United States could be defeated by its enemies terrorist or otherwise," wrote Kyl "And it is probably the easiest. A single Scud missile, carrying a single nuclear weapon, detonated at the appropriate altitude, would interact with the Earth's atmosphere, produ cing an electromagnetic pulse radiating down to the surface at the speed of light. Depending on the location and size of the blast, the effect w ould be to knock out already stressed power grids and other electrical s ystems across much or even all of the continental United States, for mon ths if not years." The purpose of an EMP attack, unlike a nuclear attack on land, is not to kill people, but "to kill electrons," as Graham explained.
Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack and was director of the White House O ffice of Science and Technology Policy and science adviser to the presid ent during the Reagan administration. Graham told WorldNetDaily he could think of no other reason for Iran to b e experimenting with mid-air detonation of missiles than for the plannin g of an EMP-style attack. He also suggested such an attack makes a US nuclear response against a suspected enemy less l ikely than the detonation of a nuclear bomb in a major US city. A 2004 report by the commission found "several potential adversaries have or can acquire the capability to attack the United States with a high-a ltitude nuclear weapons-generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) A determi ned adversary can achieve an EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication." "EMP is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at ris k of catastrophic consequences," the report said. "EMP will cover the wi de geographic region within line of sight to the nuclear weapon. It has the capability to produce significant damage to critical infrastructures and thus to the very fabric of US society, as well as to the ability of the United States and Western nations to project influence and milita ry power." The major impact of EMP weapons is on electronics, "so pervasive in all a spects of our society and military, coupled through critical infrastruct ures," explained the report. "Their effects on systems and infrastructures dependent on electricity an d electronics could be sufficiently ruinous as to qualify as catastrophi c to the nation," Lowell Wood, acting chairman of the commission, told m embers of Congress. The commission report went so far as to suggest, in its opening sentence, that an EMP attack "might result in the defeat of our military forces." "Briefly, a single nuclear weapon exploded at high altitude above the Uni ted States will interact with the Earth's atmosphere, ionosphere and mag netic field to produce an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) radiation down to the Earth and additionally create electrical currents in the Earth," sai d the report. The former are due to electrical systems, and the latter arise from the damage that 'sh ocked' upset, damaged and destroyed electronics controls then inflic t on the systems in which they are embedded. The in...
|
http://csua.com/feed/