US PREPARING TO BOMB IRAN? - AT 8:25 A.M. ET:  I'm skeptical, given the mentality of this president, but ABC News is reporting that the Pentagon is taking steps that may be related to a possible attack on Iran:

Is the U.S. stepping up preparations for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities?

The Pentagon is always making plans, but based on a little-noticed funding request recently sent to Congress, the answer to that question appears to be yes.

Be careful here.  We're dealing with informed speculation.

...the Pentagon is shifting spending from other programs to fast forward the development and procurement of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

That's a weapon described to penetrate deeply into a target and produce a huge explosion.

Why now? The notification says simply, "The Department has an Urgent Operational Need (UON) for the capability to strike hard and deeply buried targets in high threat environments. The MOP is the weapon of choice to meet the requirements of the UON." It further states that the request is endorsed by Pacific Command (which has responsibility over North Korea) and Central Command (which has responsibility over Iran).

The report concludes:

This is not the kind of weapon that would be particularly useful in Iraq or Afghanistan, but it is ideally suited to hit deeply buried nuclear facilities such as Natanz or Qom in Iran.

COMMENT:  We'll watch this, but the $51.9-million contract for the weapon is small, and we really don't know what the target is.  It could simply be a psychological step.  The contract calls for integration of the MOP with the B-2 bombers.

The administration has sent numerous signals playing down the military option with Iran, including the nonsensical observation that bombing would only set the Iranian program back a few years.  It's nonsensical because any attack could be repeated.

We should have a clearer picture by the end of the year of where the talks with Iran are actually going.

October 7, 2009