warpedskydiver 0 #1 February 24, 2007 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/24/wiran124.xml By Con Coughlin in Tel Aviv Last Updated: 3:33pm GMT 24/02/2007 Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon. advertisementA senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Teheran developing nuclear weapons. "We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important," said the official, who asked not to be named. "The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other." As Iran continues to defy UN demands to stop producing material which could be used to build a nuclear bomb, Israel's military establishment is moving on to a war footing, with preparations now well under way for the Jewish state to launch air strikes against Teheran if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the crisis. The pace of military planning in Israel has accelerated markedly since the start of this year after Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, provided a stark intelligence assessment that Iran, given the current rate of progress being made on its uranium enrichment programme, could have enough fissile material for a nuclear warhead by 2009. Last week Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, announced that he had persuaded Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad for the past six years and one of Israel's leading experts on Iran's nuclear programme, to defer his retirement until at least the end of next year. Mr Olmert has also given overall control of the military aspects of the Iran issue to Eliezer Shkedi, the head of the Israeli Air Force and a former F-16 fighter pilot. The international community will increase the pressure on Iran when senior officials from the five permanent of the United Nations Security Council and Germany meet at an emergency summit to be held in London on Monday. Iran ignored a UN deadline of last Wednesday to halt uranium enrichment. Officials will discuss arms controls and whether to cut back on the $25 billion-worth of export credits which are used by European companies to trade with Iran. A high-ranking British source said: "There is a debate within the six countries on sanctions and economic measures." British officials insist that this "incremental" approach of tightening the pressure on Iran is starting to turn opinion within Iran. One source said: "We are on the right track. There is time for diplomacy to take effect." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,119 #2 February 24, 2007 Why aren't they negotiating with the Iraqi government for the right to overfly Iraq? They have their sovereginty, don't they? Or is that a sham? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GQ_jumper 4 #3 February 24, 2007 Why aren't they negotiating with the Iraqi government for the right to overfly Iraq? They have their sovereginty, don't they? Or is that a sham? Quote We still control the airspace in a military sense, Iraq doesn't really have it's Air force up and running at the moment so everything in the sky is American. I'm sure the Iraqi government is involved in these negotiations at some level but if you were going to fly over someone else's airspace who would you be more concerned with talking to, the person that can sit there and complain about it, or the person that can really ruin your day Hmm this reminds me of another Israeli mission to destroy a nuclear facility, I love the way the Israeli's take actionHistory does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. --Dwight D. Eisenhower Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites kelpdiver 2 #4 February 24, 2007 QuoteWhy aren't they negotiating with the Iraqi government for the right to overfly Iraq? They have their sovereginty, don't they? Or is that a sham? Did we ever give it back to them? They gave it up in 1991. That this story is widely deseminated in the press makes me think it's more about trying to convince Iran to change course. If Israel really is on the march already, it would be done more secretly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites billvon 3,119 #5 February 25, 2007 >but if you were going to fly over someone else's airspace who would >you be more concerned with talking to, the person that can sit there and >complain about it, or the person that can really ruin your day. . . If you wanted clearance through Washington, DC airspace, you'd call the US ATC facility, not the Secret Service or the Air Force. Unless, of course, the United States wasn't really in charge - then you'd call whoever the boss was. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites kallend 2,150 #6 February 25, 2007 Quote>but if you were going to fly over someone else's airspace who would >you be more concerned with talking to, the person that can sit there and >complain about it, or the person that can really ruin your day. . . If you wanted clearance through Washington, DC airspace, you'd call the US ATC facility, not the Secret Service or the Air Force. Unless, of course, the United States wasn't really in charge - then you'd call whoever the boss was. When we wanted clearance for a balloon flight through Iranian airspace, we had to call the Iranian govt. in Teheran before their ATC would talk to us. They were, as it happens, very helpful (unlike the Chinese). To overfly Iraq we had to get approval from the US (it was during the time of the No Fly Zones). Chad was the strangest, since rebels held the part of the country we needed to overfly - in the end we just did it anyway, with no-one giving a clearance, since we were told the rebels had no flyable fighter aircraft anyway, and no radars.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
kelpdiver 2 #4 February 24, 2007 QuoteWhy aren't they negotiating with the Iraqi government for the right to overfly Iraq? They have their sovereginty, don't they? Or is that a sham? Did we ever give it back to them? They gave it up in 1991. That this story is widely deseminated in the press makes me think it's more about trying to convince Iran to change course. If Israel really is on the march already, it would be done more secretly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,119 #5 February 25, 2007 >but if you were going to fly over someone else's airspace who would >you be more concerned with talking to, the person that can sit there and >complain about it, or the person that can really ruin your day. . . If you wanted clearance through Washington, DC airspace, you'd call the US ATC facility, not the Secret Service or the Air Force. Unless, of course, the United States wasn't really in charge - then you'd call whoever the boss was. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,150 #6 February 25, 2007 Quote>but if you were going to fly over someone else's airspace who would >you be more concerned with talking to, the person that can sit there and >complain about it, or the person that can really ruin your day. . . If you wanted clearance through Washington, DC airspace, you'd call the US ATC facility, not the Secret Service or the Air Force. Unless, of course, the United States wasn't really in charge - then you'd call whoever the boss was. When we wanted clearance for a balloon flight through Iranian airspace, we had to call the Iranian govt. in Teheran before their ATC would talk to us. They were, as it happens, very helpful (unlike the Chinese). To overfly Iraq we had to get approval from the US (it was during the time of the No Fly Zones). Chad was the strangest, since rebels held the part of the country we needed to overfly - in the end we just did it anyway, with no-one giving a clearance, since we were told the rebels had no flyable fighter aircraft anyway, and no radars.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
