US 'poised to strike at Iran's nuclear sites'

President Bush is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of April and the US Air Force's new bases in Bulgaria and Romania would be used as back-up in the onslaught, according to an official report from Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. "American forces could be using their two USAF [US Air Force] bases in Bulgaria and one at Romania's Black Sea coast to launch an attack on Iran in April," the Bulgarian news agency Novinite said. Whether the Bulgarian news report is a tactical feint or a strategic event is hard to gauge at this stage. But, in conjunction with the beefing up of US bases in Italy and the acquisition of anti-missile defense bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, the Balkan developments seem to indicate a new phase in Bush's global "war on terror." Sofia's news of advanced war preparations along the Black Sea is backed up by some chilling details. One is the setting up of new refueling places for US Stealth bombers, which would spearhead an attack on Iran. "The USAF's positioning of vital refueling facilities for its B-2 bombers in unusual places, including Bulgaria, falls within the perspective of such an attack." Novinite named Colonel Sam Gardiner, "a US secret service officer stationed in Bulgaria," as the source of this revelation. Curiously, the report stated as a forgone conclusion that Bush had opted to press on with his attack on Iran in April. Before the end of March, 3,000 US military personnel are scheduled to arrive "on a rotating basis" at US bases in Bulgaria. Under the US-Bulgarian military cooperation accord signed in April 2006, an airbase at Bezmer, a second airfield at Graf Ignitievo and a shooting range at Novo Selo were leased to the United States. Significantly, last year's base negotiations had at one point run into difficulties due to Sofia's demand "for advance warning if Washington intends to use Bulgarian soil for attacks against other nations, particularly Iran."