Iran chatter intensifies.
By on Apr 6th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Iran chatter intensifies.
“In recent months I have grown increasingly concerned that the administration has been giving thought to a heavy dose of air strikes against Iran’s nuclear sector without giving enough weight to the possible ramifications of such action,” said Wayne White, former deputy director at the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
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Here we go again.
April 6th, 2006 at 5:26 pmWe cannot permit this to happen. Georgie has weakened our entire defense system with his vanity war in Iraq.
April 6th, 2006 at 5:33 pmhow do we stop it?
April 6th, 2006 at 5:36 pmwe riot like the french! those kids know how to do it! actually they’ve been host to epic revolutions and uprisings against the government for centuries! =)
April 6th, 2006 at 5:39 pmIt is crazy how the build up to attacking Iran is exactly the same as for Iraq.
When will an ambassador travel to Niger to investigate soemthing and have his wife outted? When will a Bush cabal stoogie get in front of the UN and say mushroom cloud? Do you think Bush will declare Mission Accomplished this time? How long before Iran is in its last throes? Do you think that we will be greeted as liberators?
What a joke.
April 6th, 2006 at 5:42 pmbut according to graham fuller, retired CIA officer, he makes a very cogent argument for this chest-thumping:
“In my opinion,” Fuller wrote in an e-mail, “the proliferation of all these articles on war plans, attack strategies, U.S. generals visiting Turkey to talk of military ‘preparations,’ etc., increasingly shows the fine hand of U.S. (maybe U.K. too) disinformation and psychological warfare against Iran using a variety of newspapers to plant stories of rising threats, time running out, and the urgency of the need to use force to stop Iran. Indeed this campaign may now be intensified, perhaps out of frustration that the ‘real thing’ is not, in fact, on the table any more.”
-from http://www.forward.com/articles/7616
April 6th, 2006 at 5:47 pmThis could be the undoing of the US. Iran has greater reach, depth and patience than other foe. BushCo should not underestimate this nation or the underlying ideology. I sure hope things don’t go the Iraq route…….it’s lose lose all the way.
April 6th, 2006 at 5:53 pmI am sure the Iranians will greet us as liberators
/snark
April 6th, 2006 at 5:54 pmFrom the article:
“In recent months I have grown increasingly concerned that the administration has been giving thought to a heavy dose of air strikes against Iran’s nuclear sector without giving enough weight to the possible ramifications of such action,”
Has this administration done anything that involved weighing, considering possible ramifications?
Also, the article gives credibility to the administration’s claim that the strikes would be in order to prevent Iran from “developing a nuclear weapon”. Iran is ten years away from developing one, according to US intelligence analysts.
This is not about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but about its natural resources. The Bush administration is again following the same modus operandi they used against Iraq. Watch them as they talk about the “threat” Iran poses to the US.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:01 pmPerhaps Iran could do us a favor by nuking the white house.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:07 pmReason 666: “We took on Saddam so we could be in a position to exert military pressure on Iranian WMDs”
April 6th, 2006 at 6:10 pmThis criminal president must be stopped. DEMAND IMPEACHMENT or join in a march on the captol to demand hs resignation.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:14 pm#10 – I know that was sarcasm, but the bushies won’t.
We CAN stop it. We have to make our voices known, not only to our local papers, TV stations, websites but also all our congressmen (both Republithugs & Democrats & Independents).
We have to get loud!
Buscho….they don’t care. They think they’re above it. They’ll only listen to their own, so unfortunately for us, we have to talk to more republican officials than we might like.
Some major demonstrations would help. How bout if we fill the Washington Mall for a bunch of weekends? How bout for a bunch of weeks? make it another Hooverville. We’ll call it Feuhrerville.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:15 pmIraq II — same play, different stage.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:19 pmI join those who doubt that this administration thinks anything through before they act, unless it is a political move – in that case they are meticulous in their planning and contingencies, covering Bush’s ass.
Insofar as the international scene, they are hopeless and hapless.
What this story reaffirms is that the pro-Isreali neo-cons are dictating American foreign policy in regard to the Middle East…and there is not a fuckin’ thing we can do about it. AIPAC and the other Israeli lobby groups have the money and they dictate foreign policy. They own our politicians, including Hillary and Biden and the other neo-con ass-kissing democrats.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:25 pmActually it will probably be;
Reason 665: “We took on Saddam so we could be in a position to exert military pressure on Iranian WMDsâ€
Reason 666: “We took him on, we did it because, well look sometimes you have to catapult the Christ, to bring change, to bring the rapture, if you will, some people still don’t get, get the post 911 world”
Reason 667: “why the fu*k not?”
April 6th, 2006 at 6:31 pmBack in 2002, Bush made reference to a “Crusade”. So, is it really going to go back to the Christians vs the Muslims, again? We know who won that war – Constantinople returned to Istanbul.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:56 pm#13; Who said I was joking?
April 6th, 2006 at 6:58 pmMan….ya just CANT go into someone else’s country and start dropping bombs. They tend to get really pissed about that.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:02 pmAn airstrike on Iran would only hasten Iranian missile attacks on our troops in Iraq and Afganistan. This action will also make China and Russia very unhappy. China has a contract for Iran’s oil and China owns our debt, you know, the one in the trillions… . If China were to call in their debt and/or stop buying US debt, we become a third world country. Actually, we are on the road to becoming a third world country. More and more big corporations are off shoring high paying jobs to India and we will be left squabbling for the jobs that are currently being held by illegal immigrants.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:04 pmHo Chi Minh
“Perhaps Iran could do us a favor by nuking the white house.”
“#13; Who said I was joking?”
What the fu*k is wrong with you?
April 6th, 2006 at 7:06 pmJust to be clear. I’m NOT part of any terrorist organisation(unless an antiwar group is considered as such), but I would not mind some help at this point of ridding the world of Hitler/Goering(Bush/Cheney). I would be deeeeeeeeeeeelighted is someone did take them out, and what I would do on their graves would not be mistaken for flowers.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:08 pm“chatter”
Where does this chatter come?
Laura Bush calls the People the “CHATTERING CLASS”
Is she Americans Terrorists?
This “Chatter” never has a Source, Just like bees buzzing around…Bzzzzzz bzzzz
BFD.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:23 pmAll you weenie libs are the same … you blame Bush first and foremost for everything, and it seems you’d rather have extreme religious mullahs, who believe in a shiite form of Armageddon, have nuclear weapons, rather than, god forbid, we use our military.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:48 pmEven if Iran resigns from the IAEC and violates the non-proliferation treaty, it will be 6 to 10 years before they can possibly produce ten nuclear weapons. This whole Iran nuke charade offers all of us around the world a golden opportunity to MOVE on the nucear disarmament issue! Let’s make nuke disarmament an issue during our April 29 March for Peace, Justice, & Democracy! Info on the march:
http://www.april29.org/
If you’re not in New York, organize locally! And keep the pressure on from wherever you are. For example, here’s a letter I sent to my Senator Barbara Boxer (well, I have two Senators, but still haven’t sent it to the other yet):
Please inform me of your position on attacking Iran.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:07 pmI urge you to include in your position the IAEC recommendations in regards to Iran. I respect your negative response to Bush’s support of India’s nukes in spite of their non-membership in the IAEC, but wish that you and others in the Senate would do something concrete to stop this reward of nuclear proliferation. How can anyone take the Democratic Party seriously unless the Congress back up their words with action?
What we need is a clear plan, led by the USA, and by “led” I mean beginning with US nuclear disarmament, toward worldwide nuclear disarmament. Will you introduce such legislation?
Of course I know that the obscene majority of the members of Congress will never take up anti-nuke legislation, but it’s an isssue worth organizing around, isn’t it? Down with WMDs! From the USA to everywhere else…
April 6th, 2006 at 8:17 pmBefore embarking into yet another colonial, military adventure, the Bush administration better look at what Iraq is becoming now:
The Bush administration’s preferred response to the increasing disintegration in Iraq is to act as if it has a strategy that is succeeding. “More delusion as a solution in the absence of a solution,” a senior State Department official told me. Under the pretense that Iraq is being pacified, the U.S. military is partially withdrawing from hostile towns in the countryside and parts of Baghdad. (…) But the jobs that the military will no longer perform are being sloughed off onto State Department “provincial reconstruction teams” led by Foreign Service officers. (…)
The Pentagon has informed the State Department that it will not provide security for these officials and that State should hire mercenaries for protection instead. Apparently, the U.S. military and the U.S. Foreign Service do not represent the same country in this exercise in nation-building.
Sidney Blumenthal: Cannon fodder at State
“Nation-building”? It’s more like “nation-ruining” -for both the US and Iraq. Soon Iran too, if the neo-cons can get away with it.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
April 6th, 2006 at 9:17 pmObviously you don’t see that you have described this administration, General Boykin, and the religious zealots who aren’t satisfied with 80% of the nation being christian – who want to control all laws, mores, social and personal behavior — much like the mullahs you revile. Extremism is wrong even if you think you’re right.
Don’t worry, the next administration will clean it up. They’ll get us out of hock too.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:55 pmAustralia’s looking real good right now…..
April 6th, 2006 at 10:22 pmWar with Iran will not go well. Consider this link with explanation of a similar underwater missile to what Iran just tested;
If this mentally unhinged pResident decides to push the atomic button the world will see a conflagration unkown for a long time.
I do not understand how any leader who claims to know god can do war. Anyone who knows god will be doing just exactly the opposite; building hospitals, teaching kids, taking care of the elderly. What a world.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:25 pm#32 – by kerryinalaska,
April 7th, 2006 at 1:06 amWe can not be sure if Iran has redeveloped this technology, but the principal is actually very simple. Put an aerator in the nosecone and a wasp belly midsection and terminal velocity in seawater hits about 225 mph or about 360 Klics for our metric fans. US Navy is still trying to find a defense against this class of weapon. compare that to a motor boat slammed into the side of the USS Cole(At maybe 20 knots?) in Yemen and you can comprehend the threat.
INSANE!
April 7th, 2006 at 1:24 am#24 –
#
All you weenie libs are the same … you blame Bush first and foremost for everything, and it seems you’d rather have extreme religious mullahs, who believe in a shiite form of Armageddon, have nuclear weapons, rather than, god forbid, we use our military.
Comment by Mark C. Smith — April 6, 2006 @ 7:48 pm
Mr. Smith, You can’t possibly be that dense can you? I almost don’t know where to start.
First of all, our military is in deep shit. All 4 branches have consistently missed their recruiting goals for the last 24 months and the Reserves/Guard have faired even worse. Most of the soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines are on their 2nd or, in some cases 3rd, deployment in 4 years: they’re tired of it! A recent poll showed that 72% of all US military forces in Iraq think we should withdraw by the end of the year. I have heard the same thing from numerous friends who are either currently deployed in the gulf or have just recently returned. This brings me to my next point. Logistically, our military (the Army in particular) is a mess. The grand majority of their equipment (including lots of guard/reserve equipment) has suffered for 3 years of abuse in the desert. When you drive somewhere in a war zone, you drive as fast as the vehicle and conditions will allow so these vehicles (the humvees in particular) are under an incredible amount of additional occupational stress (not to mention getting sand in EVERYTHING too). Iraq has cost us more than $250 BILLION DOLLARS so far. Where on earth are we going to come up with enough money to take on Iraq’s MUCH LARGER & MUCH BETTER ARMED neighbor? Especially if the Chinese cut us off (which they are likely to do if we attack Iran). Then you have Iran’s involvement in Iraq. The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) holds the most seats in the new government and is the governing block of voters as a result. Many of the leaders of SCIRI, in fact, spent the years that Sadaam was in power in exile in Iran. They have VERY close ties to the mullahs. We have 130,000 troops on the ground in Iraq right now (many of whom are friends of mine). Muqtada al Sadr is a very powerful Iraqi Shia mullah in Baghdad. He is incredibly powerful and, in fact, controls his own army (the Mehdi Army) which is reputed to contain as many as 50,000 members. Muqtada al Sadr has stated that he will order his people to reengage US troops if we attack Iran. Many of the mehdi army members are also members of the Iraqi police force. In other words, the Iraqi police we are training will be engaging our troops. You think it’s hard for our guys to tell who the guys in black hats are so far? If this happens, we will begin to lose much greater casualties. I’ve gotten a little verbose here but, my point is simple:
The President himself has said (although, unfortunately, not followed) that war is always used as a last resort. The Iranians have made 2 offers over the last 3 years to meet with US officials regarding their nuclear program and our government has declined to even discuss meeting with them. Using the military is, sadly, sometimes necessary (I know there are those here who don’t necessarily agree with me on that matter). It should always FOLLOW the complete exhaustion of diplomatic efforts. Being in the military is about many things: camaraderie, esprit de corps, integrity, developing a strong sense of self, etc. In a combat zone, it’s ALL about the guy standing next to you because he just may save your life or vice versa. This is a lesson that the President may have learned had he been flying over Hanoi rather than Lubbock. A wise man once said, “War is hell”. He was absolutely correct! As I said, sadly, war is sometimes unavoidable but, in the case of Iran, I think it may behoove us to at least think about things this time. Before we waltz into a gigantic meat-grinder that will put ALL of our troops in the region in danger, probably result in increased suicide attacks worldwide, and piss off both China and Russia to the point that the Chinese could threaten calling in our debt (the Chinese just inked a multi-billion dollar deal for Iranian oil) perhaps we should weigh the consequences a little more than we did prior to attacking Iraq with not enough and poorly equipped troops. Just a thought
April 7th, 2006 at 2:22 amGOOD
April 7th, 2006 at 4:51 amran does not have a nuclear weapon, and there’s no evidence that she is working on one – only conjecture.
If Iran had a nuclear weapon, why would this be different from Pakistan, India, and North Korea having one? Why does Iran have less right to a defensive weapon than these other countries?
If Iran had a nuclear weapon, the odds of her initiating an attack against anybody – which would guarantee her own annihilation – are zero. And the same goes for the possibility that she would place weapons in the hands of a non-state terrorist group.
Pakistan has spread nuclear technology throughout the world, and in particular to the North Koreans. They flaunt international restrictions on nuclear weapons. But we reward them just as we reward India.
We needlessly and foolishly threaten Iran even though they have no nuclear weapons. –(R) Ron Paul
April 7th, 2006 at 8:08 amPakistan has spread nuclear technology throughout the world, and in particular to the North Koreans.
Pakistan…You Know this Pakistan name come up alot around 911, yet Bush Never enters them into his “Axis of Evil”
I was looking thru Brazils Nuclear History, whom Recently fired up a new Reactor, that Brazil also shipped Uranium to Iraq at one point…15-20 years back. Yet 2 Of Irans Reactors are of Chinese Make, and The Indian (military ones) Don’t come Under the IAEA Inspections. Israel has 100 nukes and also hasn’t allowed any IAEA Inspections. Korea has a Nuke nad China Tested one at Lop Nur way back in 1966. Not to Mention Italies Nuclear Intentions…The Countries with Germ Warfare is even higher.
People dont understand that alot of Uranium occurs naturally, that Lite Water and Heavy Water Reactors are different in that one can produce Plutonium and the Other Can’t. The Iran Nuclear Program, and many others runs straight back to American Plans such as “Atoms for Peace” [more reverse speak]
The Public in General has no Idea about all this Nuclear Stuff, instead they Happily Watch Jerry Springer-filling themselves with Bias of race, color, sex, and belief, enjoying the mayhem it causes onstage but give them swords and Bloody Roman warriors would soon appear.
They call that intelligence in reverse World.
April 7th, 2006 at 8:28 amAre we going to follow the same script until we destabilize the entire Muslim world? Isn’t insanity defined as doing the same thing and expecting a different result?
April 7th, 2006 at 9:56 amBushCo claims that the “intellegence” they based their decision to invade Iraq on was “faulty”, “wrong”, “mistaken”, blah-blah-blah, ad-nauseum. One would think they would be VERY skeptical of “intellegence” they are getting now, about Iran. With Iraq, it turns out that we had PLENTY of time to validate the truth of the intellegence we were so conveniently given by “helpers”, with motives of their own. As the President himself said, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, uhhh… won’t get fooled again!” Let’s hope.
April 7th, 2006 at 11:43 am“In my opinion,†Fuller wrote in an e-mail, “the proliferation of all these articles on war plans, attack strategies, U.S. generals visiting Turkey to talk of military ‘preparations,’ etc., increasingly shows the fine hand of U.S. (maybe U.K. too) disinformation and psychological warfare against Iran using a variety of newspapers to plant stories of rising threats, time running out, and the urgency of the need to use force to stop Iran.
Comment by sedrunsic #6
sedrunsic,
Isn’t this the “moral equivalent” to TERRORISM against the Iranian government and people?
…and by the tenets of the TRAITOR Bushiva’s doctrine of preemption…
…rationale for the Iranian’s pursuit of nuclear weapons…
…preemptive military strikes against the U.S. and Israel by other Asian countries (like say, China) for what they might perceive as American hegemonic imperialistic designs (given the Iraq invasion/occupation and saber rattling against Iran) on conquering the whole of Asia…
…and a perceived preservation of international peace by implementing “regime change” against a dangerous, rogue U.S. administration?
April 7th, 2006 at 1:06 pmIran has no nukes but lots of money. Several former SSRs have lots of nukes and practically no money. Can’t W realize that these shortages on each side could lead to an exchange of sorts? The nukes have trigger guards, but what if all Iran wanted was the weapons grade uranium?
April 7th, 2006 at 2:26 pm“In recent months I have grown increasingly concerned that the administration has been giving thought to a heavy dose of air strikes against Iran’s nuclear sector without giving enough weight to the possible ramifications of such action,” said Wayne White, a former deputy director at the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
Relate that to this article from Jane’s Intelligence Review:
http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir060320_1_n.shtml
Don’t say we weren’t warned.
April 7th, 2006 at 2:41 pmPlease do everything in your power to stop this insanity. The Israeli/NeoCon machine has been planning this for a long time. The level of propaganda increases daily. I admit that Iran has not done anything to win friends or influence people in the west lately. This immoral administration wants to use this issue to ride back into control. A new war is a new public relation campaign. Unfortunately for the rest of the planet, their immediate gain will be our long term suffering.
April 7th, 2006 at 4:34 pmI have nothing else to add to this discussion except a plea to be creative and help derail the mindless herding of the masses into a new war mainia!
Bush has a nasty, NASTY vengeful streak. Anyone who opposes him seems to be on the vicous end of ‘incidents and situations.’ Political opponents, ‘honest, truth-seeking’ reporters,and anti-war opponents.He’s a presidential bully, but the stakes for his boorish behavior are frightfully high. The PEOPLE must fight his agenda at every turn. For our country.
April 8th, 2006 at 6:47 am[...] Iran chatter increases…oh shit…and how are we going to pay for this one? [...]
April 8th, 2006 at 11:34 amwe will be smacking down iranian flyingboats like flys
May 17th, 2006 at 2:13 am