In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran. "Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people," Bush told the national convention of the American Legion in August. "The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased. . . . The Iranian regime must halt these actions. And, until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops." He then concluded, to applause, "I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities."
The President's position, and its corollary-that, if many of America's problems in Iraq are the responsibility of Tehran, then the solution to them is to confront the Iranians-have taken firm hold in the Administration. This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants. The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran's known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites. Now the emphasis is on "surgical" strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq. What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism.
The shift in targeting reflects three developments. First, the President and his senior advisers have concluded that their campaign to convince the American public that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat has failed (unlike a similar campaign before the Iraq war), and that as a result there is not enough popular support for a major bombing campaign. The second development is that the White House has come to terms, in private, with the general consensus of the American intelligence community that Iran is at least five years away from obtaining a bomb. And, finally, there has been a growing recognition in Washington and throughout the Middle East that Iran is emerging as the geopolitical winner of the war in Iraq.
Perpetual war for perpetual profit seems to be the goal of this administration. With the rise of private armies, contracted by the United States government and paid for by its citizens, war is ever more likely. The cycle starts with no bid government contracts for these firms who then donate campaign funds to sympathetic lawmakers who in turn provide even more no bid contracts. The problem with all this is that if there is no conflict then there is no contract. War is necessary to continue making a profit. It is that fact that threatens our entire country. It is time to stop the privatization of our armed forces.
The U.S. military accused Iran on Sunday of smuggling surface-to-air missiles and other advanced weapons into Iraq for use against American troops. The new allegations came as Iraqi leaders condemned the latest U.S. detention of an Iranian in northern Iraq, saying the man was in their country on official business.
Military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox said U.S. troops were continuing to find Iranian-supplied weaponry including the Misagh 1, a portable surface-to-air missile that uses an infrared guidance system.
Other advanced Iranian weaponry found in Iraq includes the RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenade, 240 mm rockets and armor-piercing roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, Fox said.
Wake up America before we are at war with Iran and the disaster that is Iraq will look like a day at Disney World in comparison. Without strong vocal opposition from the American people it is nearly certain that we will use military force against the supposed Iranian nuclear program. As our illustroius President said "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, it's probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. It fool me. We can't get fooled again."
Local press in the Iranian capital of Tehran quoted Revolutionary Guards leader Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi saying that he could understand Washington's ire toward the group because of their "leverage" against the U.S.
"America will receive a heavier punch from the guards in the future," he was quoted as saying in the conservative daily Kayhan. "We will never remain silent in the face of U.S. pressure and we will use our leverage against them."
There was no elaboration on what Safavi meant by the punch or the organization's "leverage."
Washington has accused the Guards of supporting militias and insurgent groups attacking U.S. forces in Iraq -- charges Iran denies.
The question I have is why is the Iran's Revolutionary Guard listed as a terrorist group by the Saudi Arabian government is not? Who is supplying the Sunni insurgents with the financial and military support to kill our troops? It is certainly not the Iranians. Where did 15 of the 19 hijackers come from on 9/11/01?
This is more smoke and mirrors from this administration that wants war with Iran. Am I the only one that finds it extremely hypocritical for Vice President Cheney to seek military action against Iran after doing business with this supposed terrorist country, in violation of U.S. law when he was the head of Halliburton?
The Iraq war is a business deal gone bad and now we are going to repeat the same mistake but with whose children? Certainly not the war mongers. Wake up America. It is time to rid our government of these criminals.
Ok lets examine this headline more closely. Cheney wants to bomb Iran but doesn't have the same desires for Saudi Arabia who funds the Sunni insurgents within Iraq. I think it is time to realize that this administration is filled with a bunch of war mongering lunatics who are getting richer and richer with each dropped bomb.
President Bush charged Thursday that Iran continues to arm and train insurgents who are killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and he threatened action if that continues.
At a news conference Thursday, Bush said Iran had been warned of unspecified consequences if it continued its alleged support for anti-American forces in Iraq. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker had conveyed the warning in meetings with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, the president said.
Again where is any discussion of attacking Saudi Arabia which also was the country of 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11. The same Saudi Arabia that is a dictatorial regime that oppresses its people daily. That talk will never come since the Bush family and the House of Saud that runs Saudi Arabia are as thick as thieves. Iran, that is another case.
Lets look at our history in Iran. It was the CIA that helped topple Mossadegh when he nationalized the Iranian oil industry. It was the United States that propped up the dictatorship of the Shah and it was that support of the Shah that led to the Islamic Revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power. We have only ourselves to blame for the current problems with Iran. Did we learn anything from our mistakes? Apparently not if we are going to repeat history yet again.
A war with Iran would be devasting to our economy, would inflame the Muslim world even further but I am sure would enrich Mr. Cheney through no bid contracts for Halliburton. Mr. Bush is a mental midget who is easily manipulated by Dick Cheney. I do not hold out much hope of avoiding a war with Iran unless we begin impeachment proceedings aginst this criminal administration. 2008 may be too late.
Many people have speculated that the real reason for the War in Iraq was the decision of Iraq to change the way it was paid for Oil. The rumor is that they were going to request that all payments be made in Euros. Now Iran is starting to request payment in yen from the Japanese.
Iran asked Japanese refiners to switch to the yen to pay for all crude oil purchases, after Iran's central bank said it is reducing holdings of the U.S. dollar.
Iran wants yen-based transactions ``for any/all of your forthcoming Iranian crude oil liftings,'' according to a letter sent to Japanese refiners that was signed by Ali A. Arshi, general manager of crude oil marketing and exports in Tehran at the National Iranian Oil Co. The request is for all shipments ``effective immediately,'' according to the letter, dated July 10 and obtained by Bloomberg News.
The problem for our currency is that Iran is not the only country dumping dollars.
Iran isn't alone in wanting to drop the dollar for pricing oil. Russia has been examining plans to price the Urals oil export blend in rubles to curb currency risks. The nation plans to open the Energy Stock Exchange in St. Petersburg in the first half of next year to trade oil in rubles, UBS AG reported June 14.
Our currency which was the standard around the world is slowing becoming as welcome as Hillary Clinton at a Heritage Foundation conference. The unfortunate part of the slide of the dollars value around the world has been that it has not significantly increased our exports or lowered our trade imbalance.
Will the United States attack Iran for its decision to stop using the dollar? For those who think that was the real reason for the Iraq War, sleeping at night must be difficult.
A tunnel complex would reduce options for a preemptive military strike to knock out Iran's nuclear program, according to U.S. officials who closely follow Iran's nuclear activities. It also could further heighten tensions between the Bush administration and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has said he is committed to pursuing a peaceful use of nuclear power.
In response to suggestions by Vice President Cheney and others that the United States might consider using force to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, Ahmadinejad has shrouded the program in additional secrecy and threatened to suspend cooperation with international nuclear inspectors.
Iran has been enriching uranium at Natanz on a small scale for more than four years, creating a less-enriched product that can be used for generating electricity. With further enrichment, the uranium could be used in making weapons.
A report like this makes you realize that Iran is expecting a military attack by the United States. It is well known that Dick Cheney favors military action but he was very willing to do business with Iran while running Halliburton. A war with Iran would make Iraq look like a day at Disney World. Will the people of the United States sit by while yet another war is started in our name with an oil rich Muslim nation? It is time for everyone to take notice to the reporting on this issue. Will the media finally do its job and report both sides of the story or will they once again just parrot the administration talking points?
CNN reported in an exclusive on Sunday that a top special operations officer from Lebanon's Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah had been captured in Iraq. The U.S. military later publicly confirmed the report and provided details about the arrest.
U.S. officials identified the Hezbollah operative as an explosives expert who played a key role in the January 20 attack that killed five American troops in Karbala, a southern Iraqi city that is one of the most revered to Shiites.
Is this event going to be used by the United States to begin military action against Iran? If that happens the quagmire in Iraq could look like a day at Disney World. The Bush administration, especially Dick Cheney have been pushing for military action against Iran. The funny thing is that while head of Halliburton, Cheney had no problem doing business with Iran in violation of U.S. Law. When will this country wake up and understand that this is a criminal administration. Watching this administration work is like watching The Sopranos.
Ali Mussa Daqduq, an explosives expert, was captured in March in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, where he was helping train and lead Shiite militias fighting coalition troops, U.S. intelligence officials told CNN.
Daqduq pretended to be deaf and mute when captured, and his identity was not known for weeks, the officials said.
Intelligence officials say Daqduq is one of Hezbollah's top special operations commanders, an expert in the use of roadside bombs. The Americans say he, along with the Iraqi militia commanders he worked with, has admitted working with Iran's elite Quds Force special operations unit.
Will the United States use this information to gain public support for military action against Iran? If we do use this information to start military action, will we do the same against Saudi Arabia which has long been suspected in funding Sunni insurgents within Iraq?
The shift is occurring against the backdrop of an economy so stressed that although Iran is the world’s second-largest oil exporter, it is on the verge of rationing gasoline. At the same time, the nuclear standoff with the West threatens to bring new sanctions.
The hard-line administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, analysts say, faces rising pressure for failing to deliver on promises of greater prosperity from soaring oil revenue. It has been using American support for a change in government as well as a possible military attack as a pretext to hound his opposition and its sympathizers.
This report shows the extreme strains within Iran. It should be viewed as a good sign by the United States. The worst thing that the United States could do now is attack Iran. It would immediately galvanize the people against the United States and strengthen the current unpopular government of Iran.
The problem is that our foreign policy has been wrong at every turn and it would not surprise me in the least if we used this as reason to start military action. The biggest problem with that decision would be that the middle and upper classes of Iran, who are so disenchanted, would flee as they did in Iraq.
Iran’s sophisticated middle class wants to be connected to the world, and grumbles that the country’s only friends are Syria, Belarus, Venezuela and Cuba. But it might play well with Mr. Ahmadinejad’s main constituency.
“They are the poor, the rural,” said Vali Nasr of the Council on Foreign Relations. “They don’t travel abroad, they don’t go to conferences. He is trying to undermine the social and political position of his rivals in order to consolidate his own people.”
What would remain in Iran would be loyal to the current government and we would be looking at another Iraq. Another war at this time would most certainly throw the entire region into conflict.
Predictions within the US military are that Bush will do what is needed to stop Teheran before he leaves office in 2009, including possibly launching a military strike against its nuclear facilities.
This should be alarming to every U.S. citizen. How can we financially and emotionally support yet another war? I feel like I am living in a time capsule and all the propaganda that was used to start the Iraq War is being used again to start a war with Iran.
A war with Iran will lead to even greater turmoil in the Middle East and a substantial rise in world oil prices. That would lead to a recession within the United States as people are forced to spend even more on energy. How can we believe anything that this administration tell us? They have proven themselves to be liars.
According to a high-ranking American military officer, the US Navy and Air Force would play the primary roles in any military action taken against Iran. One idea under consideration is a naval blockade designed to cut off Iran's oil exports.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, speaking to reporters in Paris, said Iran was funding insurrections across the Middle East — and “Iran is now even transferring arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan.”
How can this possibly be believed? The Taliban are Sunni fundamentalists that have an ancient hatred for the Shiite sect that runs Iran. Iran supported the U.S. effort to oust the Taliban. Are we once again being fed propaganda to get the American population ready for yet another war?
How could Connecticut have re-elected this asswipe? Sure Joe lets start wars with all the countries that are against our Iraq operations. How about we start with Saudi Arabia? Who the hell do you think is funding the Sunni insurgents? Its certainly not Shiite Iran.
''I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,'' Lieberman said. ''And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers.''
I just can't even tolerate his face on television anymore. He is a Bush crony that is too stupid to realize they are using him. When they are done they will throw him under the bus where he belongs since that is where he threw his constituents.
General Peter Pace Out As Chairman of Joint Chiefs Of Staff
General Pace is out. He is being replaced by Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.
This is the first time in 21 years that both CentCom and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been headed by Navy men. Does that mean anything for the near future? The Navy would be needed for an invasion of Iran and we recently conducted war games off the coast of Iran using the Navy. Now the two most powerful men in the military are both Navy men. It sure feels like they are gearing up for War with Iran.
