US Air Force playing cat and mouse game over Iran
/The U.S. Air Force is playing a
dangerous game of cat and mouse with Iran's ayatollahs, flying American
combat aircraft into Iranian airspace in an attempt to lure Tehran into
turning on air defense radars, thus allowing U.S. pilots to grid the
system for use in future targeting data, administration officials said.
"We have to know which targets to attack and how to attack them," said
one, speaking on condition of anonymity. The flights, which have
been going on for weeks, are being launched from sites in Afghanistan
and Iraq and are part of Bush administration attempts collect badly
needed intelligence on Iran's possible nuclear weapons development
sites, these sources said, speaking on condition of strict anonymity.
"These Iranian air defense positions are not just being observed,
they're being 'templated,'" an administration official said, explaining
that the flights are part of a U.S. effort to develop "an electronic
order of battle for Iran" in case of actual conflict. In the event of
an actual clash, Iran's air defense radars would be targeted for
destruction by air-fired U.S. anti-radiation or ARM missiles, he
said. A serving U.S. intelligence official added: "You need to
know what proportion of your initial air strikes are going to have to
be devoted to air defense suppression." [more]
