Debka File: Americans Prepare Own Offensive!

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has been outspoken about a possible Israeli offensive against Iran taking place as of April, and one American TV channel theorized simplistically about Israel's tactics. At the same time, no US source is leveling on the far more extensive American, Saudi, British, French and Gulf states' preparations going forward for an offensive against the Islamic Republic. Tehran too is gearing up for conflict: The Iranian Guards Ground Forces chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour announced the start of a three-week exercise in southern Iran and the Strait of Hormuz under conditions of war. The "exercise" is in fact an Iranian military buildup ahead of a possible American or Israeli attack. Their military sources report a steady flow of many thousands of US troops for some weeks to two strategic islands within reach of Iran, Oman's Masirah just south of the Strait of Hormuz and Socotra, between Yemen and the Horn of Africa. This concentration was held by the White House as sufficiently urgent to relent on its refusal to admit the ousted Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Salah to America to America for medical treatment. He won permission in exchange for his consent to the Socotra military buildup. There are now two potential triggers for the Middle East confrontation with Iran. They are closely related: The urgent need for action this year to preempt Iran's nuclear bomb before it is too late.