Petraeus works to halt foreign fighters.

Would everyone who thinks Iran should be allowed to develop nuclear tipped ballistic missiles with a 4,000 mile range, please raise your hand.

The sources in this London Times story include MIT and Jane's...not to be dismissed as Bush Administration propaganda or hype.

This dovetails with the urgency to get a ballistic missile shield put up in Europe.

THE TIMES (LONDON)
Satellite Photos Show 'Secret Launch Site' for Iran's Long-Range Missiles
Friday, April 11, 2008

The secret site where Iran is suspected of developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching targets in Europe has been uncovered by new satellite photographs.

The imagery has pinpointed the facility from where the Iranians launched their Kavoshgar 1 “research rocket” on Feb. 4, claiming that it was in connection with their space program.

Analysis of the photographs taken by the Digital Globe QuickBird satellite, four days after the launch has revealed a number of intriguing features that indicate to experts that it is the same site where Iran is focusing its efforts on developing a ballistic missile with a range of about 4,000 miles.

A previously unknown missile location, the site, about 143 miles southeast of Tehran, and the link with Iran's long-range program, was revealed by Jane's Intelligence Review after a study of the imagery by a former Iraq weapons inspector. A close examination of the photographs has indicated that the Iranians are following the same path as North Korea, pursuing a space program that enables Tehran to acquire expertise in long-range missile technology.

Geoffrey Forden, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that there was a recently constructed building on the site, about 130 feet long, which was similar in form and size to the Taepodong long-range missile assembly facility in North Korea.

Avital Johanan, the editor of Jane's Proliferation, said that the analysis of the Iranian site indicated that Tehran may be about five years away from developing a 3,728-mile ballistic missile. This would tie in with American intelligence estimates and underlines why President Bush wants the Polish and Czech components of the U.S. missile defense system to be up and running by 2013.

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