US Report: War on Iran Great Risks and Doubted Results http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2011/06/us-report-war-on-iran-great-risks-and.html

Trying to find an answer to the question "What would an honest assessment of the risks of military conflict with Iran look like?", the defense analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior U.S. intelligence officer Jeffrey White states that "it is disingenuous to try to frame military action against Iran as a simple raid or even a broader operation. We are talking here about war, with attendant potential high costs to all combatants in terms of military casualties, civilian damage and economic disruption."

"While a war with Iran might begin in the military domain, it would likely expand to others, and while it might begin at the operational or tactical level it would soon encompass strategic and political levels as well." White added.Noting that the United States or a U.S.-led coalition must plan for all levels of war and organize itself to ensure unity of command and purpose across those levels, white points out that US will find itself involved in a secret, political, economic, and social war. "Hizbullah can strike targets throughout Israel. Its missiles and rockets are also accurate enough to hit military installations and other important facilities, and it can fire as many as 500-600 per day.

Hizbullah also has the ability to conduct terrorist or special operations against civilian, military and infrastructure targets outside the immediate theater of war. If Hizbullah were to gain access to Syria's P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missile system-a distinct possibility-it could potentially strike targets as distant as 300 kilometers from the Lebanese coast." "Syria's missile systems could target military sites, logistics facilities and airfields in Israel. Syria's Yakhont coastal defense cruise missile system gives it an enhanced capability to threaten naval and merchant vessels in the eastern Mediterranean." White warns.

"In any case, if the United States decides to attack Iran it should certainly look before it leaps and prepares itself for a hard landing. Above all, U.S. leaders should not underestimate the scope or misread the broad nature of war and should therefore organize the U.S. government in advance to prosecute it coherently. In light of how we have fared with whole-of-government approaches and unity-of-command issues in Iraq and Afghanistan, this is clearly a requirement we need to take seriously." The former Intelligence officer concluded.

[UNDERSTAND WHY SYRIA IS BEING TARGETTED?