NY Times: Four officials deny report U.S. considers nuking Iran

RAW STORY
Published: Saturday April 8, 2006

An article set for Sunday's edition of the New York Times calls into question a magazine article which claims that the U.S. is considering a nuclear attack against Iran, RAW STORY has found.

"One of the military’s initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites," wrote Seymour Hersh for New Yorker magazine.

Along with relying on claims from unnamed officials to refute the article, the Times adds that some critics see Hersh as "too eager to report assertions critical of the government that are difficult to fully substantiate."

Excerpts from the article written by Eric Schmitt:

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But four Pentagon, military, and administration officials who participate in high-level deliberations on Iran and who were granted anonymity to speak candidly rejected the article's contention that the Bush administration was considering nuclear weapons in a possible strike against Iran.

The article asserts that American carrier-based attack planes have been flying simulated nuclear-bomb runs within range of Iranian coastal radars. A Pentagon official said he was unaware of any such flights, but added that within the last three weeks Iran had ratcheted up its air defenses so high that it accidentally attacked one of its own aircraft.

Senior administration officials, while emphasizing that their preferred path is diplomatic, have not ruled out military attacks if negotiations should fail.

Senior officers and Pentagon officials said that war planners, in particular Air Force targeting teams, have updated contingencies for dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions, as they periodically do. But they emphasized that this did not reflect any guidance from the civilian leadership to prepare for military confrontation.

Hersh is a well-known journalist credited with uncovering major stories including the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1969 and details of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. Some military and political officials have contested details of some of his articles, and some critics say he is too eager to report assertions critical of the government that are difficult to fully substantiate.

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FULL STORY HERE