Webb: ‘People In The Administration’ Would Like To Strike Iran Before Leaving Office
Webb: ‘People In The Administration’ Would Like To Strike Iran Before Leaving Office
Last year, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) proposed legislation that would have required the President Bush to “seek congressional authorization prior to commencing any broad military action in Iran,” but the amendment failed in the Senate. On NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday, host Terri Gross asked Webb about the bill and if he thinks “the Bush administration is considering a military strike” before Bush leaves office.
“It certainly seems that it’s on the table,” replied Webb, noting that some in the administration are pushing for it:
GROSS: You also introduced a bill that failed to require congressional approval before any military action in Iran. Do you think the Bush administration is considering a military strike against Iran before President Bush leaves office?
WEBB: Well, it certainly seems that it’s on the table. That there are people in the administration who would like to see that happen.
Listen here:
Yesterday, the White House aggressively pushed back against a Jerusalem Post story claiming that “Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term.” White House Press Secretary Dana Perino called the story “not worth the paper it’s written on.”
But conservatives close to the administration have also gotten the impression that an attack on Iran could still occur before Bush’s term ends.
In April, a day after meeting with President Bush, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said on Bill Bennett’s radio show that he didn’t think “it’s out of the question” that Bush would strike Iran before leaving office because “people are overdoing how much of a lame duck the president is.”
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No kidding.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:00 pmYeah…Tell us a story Bloody Bill. Make it real scary with lots of baaaad brown people, and all american heroes. The right side just does not do reality very well.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:01 pmSomewhat off-topic, but not really:
Bush approval hits 23% in new Zogby poll.
I guess we can now officially call the trolls the “23 percenters”.
It’s getting exhausting trying to keep track of what to accurately label them.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:02 pmSee, that’s exactly the point. The lamer the duck, the less consequences matter. He’s already leaving a puddle, no, a lake, OK, well an ocean of shit behind to clean up, why not whack some Iranian ‘training camps’. Then, when the Iranians retailiate, take out their reactors and spread nuclear fallout all over the ME.
I can just hear the chymp smirkingly say, “Whatta they gonna do, send me to Nam?”
May 21st, 2008 at 5:02 pmralph, just a$$hole will do fine.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:02 pmimpeach, prosecute and execute. Problem solved.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:05 pmI’m shocked. I had no idea. Surely, he’s joking. All kidding aside, this will be the culmination of Cheney’s wet dream.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:06 pmMission accomplished, indeed.
Dubya and the BushCo NeoCon Wack jobs are like those clever Frat Boyz on the last day of the semester; they will leave a huge fart bomb in the Frat house as they drive off on summer vacation, leaving all the underclassmen with watering eyes and having to air out the place.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:08 pmThere must be a better way to deal with impotence.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:09 pmWell, Webb certainly voted, along with his republican buds, to fund bush enough times to finance that first strike (every Iraq funding bill)…along with voting with his republican buds for the FISA screwing and telecom immunity, voting with his republican buds against redeployment and voting with his buddy Lieberman for the MoveOn resolution that Reid was too weak to prevent.
And just think, he sponsored a bill to allow the survivors of bush’s funded debacle to go to college, not come home/redeploy because the war was a sham.
So what, again, was the difference between Macaca and Webb (Macaca jr.)?
May 21st, 2008 at 5:18 pmI suggest to all that you read the following:
Secret Bush “Finding” Widens War on Iran
By ANDREW COCKBURN May, 2, 2008
http://www.counterpunch.org/andrew05022008.html
May 21st, 2008 at 5:19 pmThe only way I’d ever support such action is if Dick, Shrub and Condi were to ride the cruise missiles all the way to their targets, a-la Dr. Strangelove.
Would make PERFECT poetic sense, dontcha think?
May 21st, 2008 at 5:25 pmBomb Iran, George. Do it. Bring it on.
You’ll cement your legacy as the most reviled and incompetent president in US history. As an added bonus, your stench will permeate the GOP brand recognition for the the next genration.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:28 pmThen they are morons. Pure & simple.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:39 pmIt is so mind-numbingly inconceivable, that it is completely probable. We have plumbed the depths of idiocy.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:44 pmThe way to stop an attack on Iran is to begin the process of setting up a war crimes tribunal. This would be an informal effort until January of next year, but it would definitely give the Bushies something to think about.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:48 pmAww, he’s just trying to stay relevant. Can’t blame him for that, right? Remember how he said that the U.N. would be irrelevant if they didn’t OK his Iraq invasion?
May 21st, 2008 at 6:11 pmThe 7+ years of screw-ups won’t be complete until he and Cheney can leave an even bigger mess for the next president, especially if it looks like Obama will win.
How does $8 -$10 sound for a gallon of gas? Count on it if Bush and Cheney attack Iran. Bob Gates won’t like it but he can be replaced.
from leftcoast’s link to counterpunch:
In a widely publicized incident last January, Iranian patrol boats approached a U.S. ship in what the Pentagon described as a “taunting” manner. According to Centcom staff officers, the American commander on the spot was about to open fire. At that point, the U.S. was close to war. He desisted only when Fallon personally and explicitly ordered him not to shoot. The White House, according to the staff officers, was “absolutely furious” with Fallon for defusing the incident.
Blessed are the peacemakers. Fallon for a Nobel Peace Prize.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:13 pm13 Badmoonman-
May 21st, 2008 at 6:15 pmThis is not the way to sent the GOP into the wilderness. If Bush volunteered to ride the bomb down Slim Pickens-style, I’d be more inclined to agree.
Bush is the most evil head of state since Hitler.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:18 pmBush and his neo-con puppeteers might see striking Iran as having two benefits; furthering the neo-con PNAC agenda, and turning the US Presidential election into a contest about how to handle Iran. I wouldn’t put it past Bush to overhype some incident into an “attack” from Iran, and respond with large scale air strikes. The Republicans can then frame the Presidential race as a contest between the guy who wants to “appease” Ahmadinejad, and the tough military hero who wants to meet them head on.
The immediate response from McCain after Bush’s “appeasement” speech, linking Obama to “appeasement”, seemed pre-planned. It stunk of Karl Rove.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:23 pmWell, what’s stopping them from attacking Iran now? One little detail is that the Iranians will probably end up retaliating by closing off the Straits of Hormuz and the price of a gallon of gasoline in the U. S. would double, triple or quadruple its present price of $4.00, to $8, $12 or $16 per gallon. Of cource, this would make McCain candidacy toast (if he weren’t already well done…), so the Bush gangsters probably would decide to wait until after the November Presidential Election. Life is so wonderful in the 21st century under the care of Bush…
May 21st, 2008 at 6:25 pmLosing two wars is not enough for the thugs in this crime family.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:28 pmMad dogs need to be put down.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:38 pmThe US has been for warned that if they illegally attack Iran like they did Iraq, Russia will protect Iran with their Nukes. Now this wont be a US/Saudi planned 9/11. Americans now know they have a Liar as President/Vice President/Law Makers. So if this idiot Administration does bomb Iran you can expect bombs hitting the United States. The World has seen how crazy the US Leaders have become with kidnapping innocent people and torturing, rape and killing people in custody. We have caused chaos around the World. Now don’t look for the United Nations or any other country to step in to help the criminal United States.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:40 pmWebb “proposed legislation that required President Bush ‘to seek congressional authorization prior to commencing any broad military action against Iraq’”. By taking that position, congress would be doing the same thing that it did against Iraq, which is abrogating its responsibility to declare war. The president should not have that power, as that right is in the hands of congress, not the executive branch.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:55 pmSo the slaughter of innocents is justified because the people are “overdoing” how much of a lame duck Dubya is????
It’s kinda like the little snot nosed kid, who, because no one will play his way, picks up the ball and goes home!
Except lives are at stake (both Irans and ours).
Mr. Deferment sure has a stiffy for war, doesn’t he? Especially when none of his family serves.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:59 pm“some people” are supporters of Israel!!!!!
America first!!!
…Israel…not so much!!!!!
May 21st, 2008 at 7:00 pmDuct tape has many uses. One could even use it to tape the idiot kristol’s mouth shut and also the people who keep asking him questions.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:02 pmWe don’t need amendment to stop Bush from starting a war..because it is in the Constitution that Bush needs the Congress authorization.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:06 pmConstitution gave such power to the Congress.The president excutes that power as a Commander In Chief…but the authority and approval starts with the Congress.
#30-Tarazan
Well said. My comments at #26 echo what you have stated.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:12 pmErroll,
May 21st, 2008 at 7:41 pmI agree with you….there is no ambiguity in who has the power and authorization of starting a war ,but it is apparent that there are weaknesses on the part of Congress members to use such power given to them by the Constitution.
Thank you for your kind words.
One wonders if this were to actually happen, if it would then provide the necessary impetus for Congress to finally act to end this war by cutting off the funding for this most unnecessary occupation, which has caused the death and destruction and suffering of over a million Iraqi people.
http://www.freewayblogger.com/warisalie.htm
May 21st, 2008 at 7:55 pmWe may be lucky if Bush starts another war and leaves it for his successor to deal with. I fear a broader middle east war may be part of a plan to suspend elections…can’t change Commander in Chief with all-out war over our important oil supply at stake.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:33 pmS…..T…..R…..A…..I…..T…..S
O…..F
H…..O…..R…..M…..U…..Z
DUMBASSES.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:57 pmIn April, a day after meeting with President Bush, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said on Bill Bennett’s radio show that he didn’t think “it’s out of the question” that Bush would strike Iran before leaving office because “people are overdoing how much of a lame duck the president is.”
Book him Dano. Before he strikes again.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pmIt is a truism that no sitting president has ever lost re-election during war time. So perhaps the Scumbag Wing of the GOP will try to see if expanding the war simply to extend that sitting president fact to include a hawkish member and presidential candidate of the same party also works.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:03 pmFolks, your efforts on these message boards are honorable, but the fact is you are dealing with a political party that has long since outlived its ideological raison d’etre (sp?) and now simply holds onto power in the US the old fashion way, through strong arm neo-fascist totalitarian means, corruption, voter suppression, etc. And the private, corporate Zionist-Capitalist media are right there behind them, fueling ignorance and propaganda. Nothing will change until these neo-fascists are faced with the barrel of a gun. And BTW, Barack Obama is a creation of the Right Wing, his nomination a media created reality for one reason: to destroy Hillary Clinton’s chances of a presidency. Obama will be defeated in the general election because the media will create that reality too. And the worst partis, they’ll blame Clinton for the Democrat’s defeat in November. The media for the most part are a very organized cabal of neo-fascist propagandists, and they control our perceptions, and thereby our late great republic.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:09 pmAm I missing something? Doesn’t the Constitution already stipulate that Congress is vested with the exclusive power to declare war and appropriate funds for its execution?
May 21st, 2008 at 10:51 pmI clearly recall Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader capitulating on this very issue during the AIPAC National meeting in D.C.
Cratering to Bush on Iran has been a truly bi-partisan deal.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:18 pmMay 22nd, 2008 at 4:10 am
Here’s my take. Bush will attack Iran in December of this year, after the presidential elections and right before he leaves office.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:39 amTo attack Iran, A country that has not done any thing to the U.S. is crimmial. Sence we don’t have the troops to enter Iran after the bombing. To control the country. Will there be A draft of all college kids?
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:51 amHaaretz ran an interview with Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He concludes Iran’s options for responding to an attack are “limited and weak.” On his advisory board sit Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and James Woolsey. Amazing:
http://arisfreedomswitch.blogspot.com/2008/05/irans-post-attack-options-limited-weak.html
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 amAnother “False Flag” incident is about to occur.
If you live in a city you might want to rethink this.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm