It seems we are preparing to deal with the Iranian nuclear program. Not is that the only one we need to take out.

First on Iran.

The United States government reportedly began coordinating with NATO its plans for a possible military attack against Iran.

The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel collected various reports from the German media indicating that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are examining the prospects of such a strike.

According to the report, CIA Director Porter Goss, in his last visit to Turkey on December 12, requested Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide military bases to the United States in 2006 from where they would be able to launch an assault.

The German news agency DDP also noted that countries neighboring Iran, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, and Pakistan were also updated regarding the supposed plan. American sources sent to those countries apparently mentioned an aerial attack as a possibility, but did not provide a time frame for the operation.

Although Der Spiegel could not say that these plans were concrete, they did note that according to a January 2005 New Yorker report American forces had entered Iran in 2005 in order to mark possible targets for an aerial assault.

Given the comments of the Iranian president in recent weeks, it might not be a bad thing to have plans prepared. Especially when he continues to make comments like this.

Iran warned Sunday of a "crushing" response if its nuclear and military facilities are attacked by the United States or Israel.

Top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said, however, talk of such an attack most likely is "psychological warfare."

"Iran has prepared itself...they will get a crushing response if they make such a mistake," Larijani said on Iranian television late Sunday.

Larijani said Israel would "suffer greatly" if it launched an attack.

"If there is any truth in such talks, Israel will suffer greatly. It's a very small country within our range."

"Our (defence) preparedness is a deterrence," he said.

He also said a Russian proposal the two countries enrich uranium on Russian territory could not ignore Iran's right to carry out enrichment at home.

"It's not logical for a country to put the fate of its nation at the disposal of another country, even if it's a friend. You can meet part of your fuel needs from abroad."

"But is there a guarantee that nuclear fuel producers won't play with you over price or other things? History and experience show that if you don't have technology, you will damage your independence," he said.

So what we have is an anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying regime making military threats against Israel and the US -- with US troops on its border. These folks are clearly nuts!.

But the North Korean threat cannot be ignored, either.

NORTH KOREA is working to restart a reactor that would produce enough plutonium to make 10 atomic bombs a year, a leading American nuclear scientist has revealed.

Siegfried Hecker, former director of the US governmentÂ’s top secret Los Alamos laboratory, also said the North Koreans reprocessed 8,000 fuel rods to make up to 14kg (30lb) of plutonium last summer, despite taking part in six-party talks hosted by China to end their weapons programme.

“They have the plutonium,” he said. “We have to assume the North Koreans can and have made a few nuclear devices.”

HeckerÂ’s revelations were based on information gleaned during two visits to North Korea, the last in August 2005, in which he met physicists and, in a pure moment from spy fiction, was handed a specimen of weapons-grade plutonium, stored in a marmalade jar.

His findings are being studied with increasing concern in Washington. North Korea further hardened its defiant stance this weekend by ending all United Nations food distribution to its people and by ordering out aid workers, including a British team from the charity Save the Children.

Thousands will be put at risk by the decision. The UNÂ’s World Food Programme had been feeding up to 6.4m of North KoreaÂ’s 23m people since the famine of the 1990s.

Diplomats believe the expulsions are part of a clampdown ordered by Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s “Dear Leader”, as he prepares to stand alongside Iran to confront the Americans over their right to have nuclear weapons.

Given the clear instability of the North Korean regime, actions will likelyhve to be taken to demilitarize the North Korean nuclear program. the problem is that the North Koreans have already violated agreements on the production of weapons-grade material more than once.

Will we see military actionon one or both fronts in 2006?

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