Cheney considered provoking Iran war with Israeli strikes.
According to Newsweek magazine, Vice President Dick Cheney considered a plan to allow Israel to conduct missile strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites “in an effort to draw a military response from Iran, which could in turn spark a U.S. offensive against targets in the Islamic Republic”:
[T]he magazine quoted David Wurmser, until last month Cheney’s Middle East advisor, as having told a small group of people that “Cheney had been mulling the idea of pushing for limited Israeli missile strikes against the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz — and perhaps other sites — in order to provoke Tehran into lashing out.”
According to the report, “The Iranian reaction would then give Washington a pretext to launch strikes against military and nuclear targets in Iran.”
Newsweek said that it had corroborated Wurmser’s remarks, which it said were first published by Washington foreign-policy blogger Steven Clemons.
UPDATE: The U.K. Sunday Times writes that the U.S. Air Force has set up “a highly confidential strategic planning group” tasked with preparing the perfect plan for Iran.
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45 Responses to “Cheney considered provoking Iran war with Israeli strikes.”
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Wait, Cheney being subversive and warmongering? Say it isn’t so!
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 amSomething these idiots don’t seem to grasp is that Iran is not Iraq. Iraq was a beaten country before the invasion.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:31 amif the USA invades another country, we the people need to invade DC.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:33 amBut MoveOn ran a newspaper ad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:42 amOnly Cheney could come up with a plan like that. After all, it worked with Germany and Poland in 1939. And we all know how well that turned out.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:47 amCheney thought his was a SECRET plan. Hurray for Sunlight. Thankfully, there are people in the Govt. with access to information, who are terrified of the madness coming from Dr. Strangelove.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:47 amSuch miscalculated act will endanger our troops not only in Iraq,but also in all Persian Gulf States.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 amIran will not sit idle,if attacked,and they are extremely capable of a counter attack. That will involve not only Gulf states,but other countries like Syria,Lebanon and others.
It will send the whole area on fire…an area that supplies the world of its 65% of enrgy needs,and considered a large buyer of world commodoties,which will affect world stocks,energy and markets in a very sharp way and a decline that these markets never witnessed anything like it since WW11.
Is that what Neocons want to see?!
Wasn’t Iran the one Muslim country that held mass rallies in support of the US after 9/11?
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:05 amThis is scary stuff people. What are YOU going to do when we hear that Cheney opens war on Iran?
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:11 amHonestly, did this surprise anyone?
Anyone?
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:17 amIran and the United States have not diplomatic relations, but ties have improved dramatically after the Iranian clerical-led leadership condemned the 11 September terrorist operations, imputed to Mr. Osama Ben Laden and offered to participate in an international fight against terrorism provided it is approved and led by the United Nations.
Iran was an enemy of the taliban. America JOINED the efforts of Iran and the Northern Alliance to defeat the Taliban, and drive Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan.
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:23 amDarth Dicky Cheney is insane, but we have known this for past 6+ years. He wants to ignite global nuclear world war three. We are all screwed unless the Congress impeaches him.
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:31 amThe U.K. Sunday Times writes that the U.S. Air Force has set up “a highly confidential strategic planning group†tasked with preparing the perfect plan for Iran.
Hmmmm. Let’s see now. Would this be like “the perfect plan” that GDumbya’s been so incompetently executing in Iraq for the past four-plus years now?
Wonderful. Gee, I’m really looking forward to that! . . . NOT!
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:43 amSo if Iran is attacked and they fight back, that is grounds for the US launching a strike against them? OMG, how sick and twisted is that?
Also, he is willing to allow Israel to be the target of a retaliatory attack. I hope that someone publishes this article in Israel so that the people living there can see that their government is willing to sacrifice their lives in order to provoke a US attack on Iran.
Sick, sick, sick.
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:52 amThe perfect plan:
Offer the otherwise “best ally” in the Middle East as a bait for a military attack, then step in to cause more death and destruction.
If this is how cavalierly this administration treat their friends and allies, then it’s no wonder their enemies are treated as less than human.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:06 pmAnd I bet Israelis are thrilled to learn what uncle Cheney had in store for them.
I mean, there is nothing wrong with being volunteered as a bait between “best allies”, is there?
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:09 pmthank the gods for whistle blowers…
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:23 pmthat’s about all we’ve got left…
…
Cheney was deciding?
Isn’t that alarming enough for Congress to ask questions?
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:29 pmthank the gods for whistle blowers…
that’s about all we’ve got left…
…
Comment by katy — September 23, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
And the foreign press and internet sites like TP. Will this even make a ripple on the main stream tv news where lots of Americans still get their news. It should be front page. Editorials should be demanding immediate resignation since congress refuses to do its job.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:47 pmAnd I bet Israelis are thrilled to learn what uncle Cheney had in store for them.
I mean, there is nothing wrong with being volunteered as a bait between “best alliesâ€, is there?
Comment by Gregor Samsa
___________________________
Yeah, I’m sure Israel is thrilled to know they are just an expendable pawn on Cheney’s evil chess board.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:52 pmWhere are Wolfowitz, Perle, Bremer, Libby, and Rumsfeld when Cheney needs sound, reliable advice on such important foriegn affairs? Oh, I forgot, they slithered away in shame when their neocon failures saw the light of day.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:54 pmWhere are the room temperature IQ trolls to remind us that the US cannot possibly, ever, in a million years, abandon Israel because they are the US’ “best ally” in the Middle East?
I guess not to abandon Israel implies thoughtful and caring treatment such as setting them up as a bull’s eye.
It’s sort of like William Tell, only someone else is doing the shooting.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:03 pmAnd the foreign press and internet sites like TP. […]
Comment by jb — September 23, 2007 @ 12:47 pm
yes yes! … but it all comes back to the whitle blowers…
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 pmand the true journalists and investigators who know what’s right…
…
“…Provocation was one of several actions in Operation Himmler, a Nazi Germany project to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany, which would be used to justify the subsequent invasion of Poland.”
“A few days after the Invasion of Poland, the international public and press realized the huge scale of the German “defensive action” in the days immediately after the Gleiwitz incident meant that the operation had to be planned months in advance.”
America’s leaders, Bush and Cheney, are conducting themselves in the same manner as the Nazi leaders did.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:25 pm_
Another 200 billion dollars are requested for the Iraqi war. It is becoming one of the costliest wars in US history…while our government are now swimming in debt , and again raising the ‘debt ceilings’, this government and the Congress continue to pump more billions into this endless conflict.
Is Cheney and company are now looking for a much bigger and more expensive conflict with Iran?!
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:32 pmThe Sunday Times article stressed the point, that the intention of this so-called “Project Checkmate” was, “not to fight the last war”. They are working on a kind of “cyberwar”. We heard all over the news lately, that the planning was about a beheading strike, to ensure that no reaction whatsoever was possible by Iran.
With the false security in mind, that this is indeed possible to achive, the administration is planning full steam ahead. This is definitely a reason to be deeply concerned.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 pmsorry, typo “achieve”.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:40 pm.
.
.
I would suggest “you the people” invade DC — NOW!!!
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:44 pm.
.
.
Is it a crime of high treason for members of the highest branches of government (*”fourth branch” to be exact) to be plotting ways in which to drag our country into an unwarranted war?
*http://www.drudge.com/news/95818/cheney-starts-fourth-branch-government
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:47 pm“Project Checkmate”!!?? War is not chess. Not when the pawns drive truckbombs.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:49 pmShock and awe was supposed to ensure that no reaction whatsoever was possible by Iraq.
I hope all this madness is just psychological warfare, but with this Administration….who knows till its too late.
Just like in Iraq, the only solution with a good outcome is a POLITICAL solution with Iran. Iran helped us defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Then came the axis of evil speech. Insanity!
BTW, not that it matters what I think, but I predicted this in a post over at RawStory.com, based on how Bush wanted to do basically the same thing in order to launch his Iraq Invasion.
Remember the U.N. plane story?
————————–
Bush ‘plotted to lure Saddam into war with fake UN plane …Bush ‘plotted to lure Saddam into war with fake UN plane’ … with Saddam Hussein’s regime by flying a United States spyplane over Iraq bearing UN colours, …
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:50 pmnews.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article342859.ece
Shock and Awe? It was shock and…
aah, didn’t work as planned….
So they’re trying again.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:51 pmPersonally, this is the way I’d think the planners would bring things about:
1. Israel chooses to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
2. Iran retaliates, striking Israeli targets and US bases in the region.
3. False flag operation by US launches cruise missiles at Al-Aqsa Mosque - destroying it.
4. US launches counter offensive from it’s 3 carrier battle groups softening targets for bomber sweeps.
5. B-52’s, & B-2’s strike inland targets with low-yield nuclear weapons - claiming that radiation in the area is proof of Iran’s nuclear programs.
Results:
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:57 pmA. Iran’s military is rendered useless.
B. Israel Jews can claim the Temple Mount and rebuild the Temple.
C. Sunni tribes sweep and clear Shiite areas of Iraq making Iraq a Sunni nation - stabilizing Iraq after the bloodbath.
D. Work begins on the actual reconstruction of Iraq upon completion of the largest US Consulate in the world (in the Green Zone).
Comment by Badger — September 23, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
Sorry Badger, not my words. You are right, of course. While playing chess, your adversary plays by the same set of rules as you do. And your adversary is not part of a whole group (or, as in this case region) that may feel aggravated if you won and subsequently turn on you.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:03 pmComment by bpg131313 — September 23, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
Sorry, but no! Much too complicated. Remember it’s the Bush administration you’re talking about.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:04 pmdoro, one might not be too quick to assume that this plan is formulated by the Bush Administration rather than carried out, in part, by it’s military. There are other players far more careful.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:14 pmDoro…no need to be sorry, I didn’t think those were your words. I know “operation checkmate” could only be named by an arrogant, delusional, overconfident, and evil vice president.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:24 pmYou gotta love those Republicans and their “fact-finding” trips to Iraq.
The first Republicans coming back from these so-called fact-finding trips, returned speaking wonders of Pres Bush’s strategy in Iraq and how the future looked brighter for Iraqis.
A few years later, they would come back telling wonders about the “surge” -the same one that wouldn’t have been needed, had the Bush strategy for Iraq actually worked in the first place.
Now they come back with the meme that the “surge” is working, but Iran’s meddling in Iraq needs to be stopped. What is almost funny about our little kool-aid drinking friend’s post, is the underlying theme that supporting the troops means leaving them in Iraq, and that Petraeus is beyond criticism.
There was no need for a taxpayer-funded “fact finding” trip to the Middle East just to hide behind the troops and tell us Republicans don’t like criticism or accountability. He could have done that from the comfort of his own home, and save us all some money. What a twit.
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:10 pmRon - were those guys among the 72% of our troops who think we should leave Iraq imediately?
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:12 pmRon prefers hearsay to what our troops actually have to say, like those who wrote thank-you’s to MoveOn for giving them a voice.
Better to listen to a GOP mouthpiece with an agenda than the troops themselves, right Ron?
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:13 pmRighties, more and more, are sounding like the OJ defense team.
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:15 pmOMG!! @ 33 - more chuck norris pipedreams from the game theory faction. a real wolfowitz/perle piece of work there.
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:17 pmIt’s one thing to accept the scary (and unconstitutional) fact that Cheney can give orders to our nation’s armed forces, but am I the only one shocked by the admission (or at least assumption?) that he can command Israel’s military as well?
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:01 pmIf all the so called ‘fact-finding’ trips were accurate as we were told , we would have been be out of Iraq long time ago.
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:37 pmCheney has an addiction to war, and it’s affecting the world. This modern day Dr. Strangelove should NOT be in a position of power of any kind. The carnage resulting from his wet dreams will be with us for years to come.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:06 am