Bombing Iran: The Extremists' Mad Clamor Persists
Oppose Neo-Fascism's Aggression | 24.05.2008 01:02 | Anti-militarism | World
Why are these whack-jobs still able to make such decisions, when we ALL know who poses the real threat?
Bombing Iran: The Clamor Persists
By MASSIMO CALABRESI/WASHINGTON
Listening to the questions asked of Gen. David Petraeus in the Senate Thursday, you might think the U.S. was headed for a new war in the Gulf. Senators from both sides of the aisle spent as much time asking him about Iran as they did about Iraq and Afghanistan. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut grilled Petraeus on Iran's anti-U.S. activities in the region. Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii plaintively asked about the utility of negotiations with Iran. And Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia pressed Petraeus on what he meant by the need to "counter malign Iranian influence" and the "consequences for its illegitimate influence in the region."
The general, whose confirmation as head of U.S. Central Command was stake in the hearing, did his best to pacify the men and women who held his appointment in their hands, emphasizing his support for "the three rounds of negotiations that have taken place" between Iran, Iraq and the U.S. in Baghdad over security issues. But the Senators' questions show how persistent the concern is on Capitol Hill that President Bush could be secretly planning a military strike against Iran.
In theory, the idea of a war with Iran should be a non-starter in a nation whose war-weary public has no appetite for further military adventures in the Middle East (the plan doesn't originate in the US), no matter how determined Iran may be to get a nuclear weapon or to arm and train anti-U.S. forces in Iraq (of which neither charge is true). Republican candidates on Capitol Hill, already facing their worst electoral prospects in a generation, are equally disinclined to support military action against Iran. Even Bush's own cabinet officials, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have been repeatedly cool to the idea in public.
But those expressing caution and skepticism in Washington are not the only voices the commander in chief of U.S. armed forces is hearing.
(And we've already witnessed Bush's willingness to ignore the voices of reason, and listen only to those who share his deadly fantasy world ...)
In Israel, from which President Bush recently returned, one doesn't have to go far to find deep, existential concern. "A military option is not a good option," for dealing with Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions (which don't exist), a senior Israeli official told TIME on the sidelines of one of Bush's meetings, "But there's only one thing worse than that, which is Iran going nuclear." Those outside the Israeli government express even greater urgency. "I'm worried that by November it's going to be too late," to stop Iran from gaining the ability to produce nuclear weapons, said Yossi Kuperwasser, the former senior intelligence officer for the Central Command of the Israeli Defense (Who, like the rest of these Extremists, can't support this paranoia, designed solely to create the illusion of a crisis, and start another illegal war in the name of 'Regime Change'). On military action against nuclear sites in Iran, he said, "Just do it. For Christ's sake, do it and solve our problem."
(Do it yourselves, then ...)
Nor is it only the Israelis who are concerned. Egyptian and Saudi leaders also expressed their worries about Iran's nuclear ambitions when Bush met with them on the trip, several White House aides say.
(Any credible support to those allegations?)
"People in the region really want to see it solved peacefully," says a senior White House official, "but they're also concerned for their own safety and they're also mindful of the calendar, and they know that this President has been very strong."
(Dangerously belligerent would be a more accurate description.)
If diplomatic efforts continue to look unlikely to produce an outcome acceptable to the Administration, would President Bush consider military action?
(This is a ridiculous question, since these efforts are designed to fail, because this entire non-crisis was created with the sole purpose of feigning an excuse to start another illegal war, which the 'Neo-Conservatives' planned along with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.)
The odds have to be against it, given the domestic environment. But the tone among some of his allies abroad (Israel's ruling Extremists) is very different. As he often does on such trips, Bush held one-on-one talks with key leaders on his recent trip, during which aides were asked to leave the room and particularly sensitive (illegal?) matters were discussed. After a similar one-on-one last January, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was asked at a press conference with Bush whether the American leader's "hands were tied" when it came to Iran. Olmert said his impression after talks with Bush was that the President is "exceptionally determined," and that "he has proven this throughout his term in office his preparedness to take exceptional measures in order to defend the principles in which he believes, and in his deep commitment to the security of the state of Israel."
(Or be completely unrestrained by the Rule of Law, logic, or morality ...)
Following Bush's visit this month, the Jerusalem Post reported that a senior U.S. advisor on the trip had told Israeli officials that Bush was prepared to attack Iran, but that Gates and Rice were blocking the way. It was a second-hand report that White House Press Secretary Dana Perino strongly denied. On the Hill Thursday, Petraeus listed Iran as key to the top two security concerns facing Central Command, and mentioned nuclear worries in particular. "The lack of transparency in efforts by countries such as Iran and Syria to develop their nuclear programs is a major concern," he said.
(The International Atomic Energy Agency disagrees. So does America's own intelligence services.)
It's that kind of talk that has people in Washington worried. Aides to Democratic leaders on the Hill fear that Bush may be planning to bomb Iran between November and January, after the political cost goes down and when he may feel he is doing his successor a favor. Dan Senor, former military spokesman and foreign policy advisor to the Bush Administration, says he finds that scenario highly unlikely, because he believes it would provoke numerous resignations from the intelligence community and the armed services, both of which groups feel burned from the Iraq experience (Where they were used as skapegoats for LIES created by Extremists and War Criminals in Britain, Israel, and the White House). Senor may be right, but there are enough signs echoing back from abroad (Israel), to keep observers at home and overseas guessing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080523/wl_time/bombingirantheclamorpersists
Iran Will Cooperate with UN Probe into US/Israeli Allegations
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?13896S
Israel's Syrian Air Strike Was Aimed at Iran
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8196S
The ME has had a Secretive Nuclear Power in its Midst for Years
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8195S
Spooks Refuse to Toe Cheney's Line on Iran
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8173S
IAEA Again Verifies Iranian Compliance
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8130S
Israel Considering Strike on Iran Despite US Intelligence Report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2224052,00.html
US intelligence report heightens danger of Israeli strike on Iran
http://wsws.org/articles/2007/dec2007/isra-d06.shtml
'Laptop of Death': Revising the NIE on Iran
The entire claim that Iran was building nuclear weapons rests on a laptop provided by a single, dubious source.
www.antiwar.com /ips/akhavi.php?articleid=12028 www.antiwar.com /prather/?articleid=12025
Israeli Extremists Prep for Nuclear Strike on Iran
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7903/index.php
Hersh: Israel Pressed me to Write Syrian Site was Nuclear
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/Sy_Hersh_Israeli_raid_on_Syria_0208.html
Sy Hersh confirms: Syrian Facility Bombed by Israel Not Nuclear
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10935S
A Strike in the Dark - What did Israel bomb in Syria?
by Seymour M. Hersh
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/11/080211fa_fact_hersh/?printable=tr
War Clouds Over Mideast
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=108719&d=8&m=4&y=2008
Israel & The 'Clash of Civilizations'
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?11022S
The largest threat to the region doesn't come from Iran: it comes from Israel's success in having had the US "neutralize" countries which it believes to be an existential threat to it's existence. However, there's just one little problem with this approach concerning Iran. Russia's diplomats have stated unequivocally that any attack against Iran will be perceived as an attack on Russia.
UN Nuclear Watchdog in Milestone Iran Deal
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14262S
Iran Dumps US Dollar in Oil Trading, US Preps War
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14276S
Israel's Extremists STILL Beating Iran War Drums
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14360S
Iran Mosque Blast Plotters Admit Israeli, US Links
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14997S
Israel, US Joint Plotting Against Iran, Attack ElBaredei
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7888/index.php llll
ElBaradei: Iran Not After Bomb
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399278.html
Israel Calls for US Blockade of Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399342.html
By MASSIMO CALABRESI/WASHINGTON
Listening to the questions asked of Gen. David Petraeus in the Senate Thursday, you might think the U.S. was headed for a new war in the Gulf. Senators from both sides of the aisle spent as much time asking him about Iran as they did about Iraq and Afghanistan. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut grilled Petraeus on Iran's anti-U.S. activities in the region. Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii plaintively asked about the utility of negotiations with Iran. And Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia pressed Petraeus on what he meant by the need to "counter malign Iranian influence" and the "consequences for its illegitimate influence in the region."
The general, whose confirmation as head of U.S. Central Command was stake in the hearing, did his best to pacify the men and women who held his appointment in their hands, emphasizing his support for "the three rounds of negotiations that have taken place" between Iran, Iraq and the U.S. in Baghdad over security issues. But the Senators' questions show how persistent the concern is on Capitol Hill that President Bush could be secretly planning a military strike against Iran.
In theory, the idea of a war with Iran should be a non-starter in a nation whose war-weary public has no appetite for further military adventures in the Middle East (the plan doesn't originate in the US), no matter how determined Iran may be to get a nuclear weapon or to arm and train anti-U.S. forces in Iraq (of which neither charge is true). Republican candidates on Capitol Hill, already facing their worst electoral prospects in a generation, are equally disinclined to support military action against Iran. Even Bush's own cabinet officials, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have been repeatedly cool to the idea in public.
But those expressing caution and skepticism in Washington are not the only voices the commander in chief of U.S. armed forces is hearing.
(And we've already witnessed Bush's willingness to ignore the voices of reason, and listen only to those who share his deadly fantasy world ...)
In Israel, from which President Bush recently returned, one doesn't have to go far to find deep, existential concern. "A military option is not a good option," for dealing with Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions (which don't exist), a senior Israeli official told TIME on the sidelines of one of Bush's meetings, "But there's only one thing worse than that, which is Iran going nuclear." Those outside the Israeli government express even greater urgency. "I'm worried that by November it's going to be too late," to stop Iran from gaining the ability to produce nuclear weapons, said Yossi Kuperwasser, the former senior intelligence officer for the Central Command of the Israeli Defense (Who, like the rest of these Extremists, can't support this paranoia, designed solely to create the illusion of a crisis, and start another illegal war in the name of 'Regime Change'). On military action against nuclear sites in Iran, he said, "Just do it. For Christ's sake, do it and solve our problem."
(Do it yourselves, then ...)
Nor is it only the Israelis who are concerned. Egyptian and Saudi leaders also expressed their worries about Iran's nuclear ambitions when Bush met with them on the trip, several White House aides say.
(Any credible support to those allegations?)
"People in the region really want to see it solved peacefully," says a senior White House official, "but they're also concerned for their own safety and they're also mindful of the calendar, and they know that this President has been very strong."
(Dangerously belligerent would be a more accurate description.)
If diplomatic efforts continue to look unlikely to produce an outcome acceptable to the Administration, would President Bush consider military action?
(This is a ridiculous question, since these efforts are designed to fail, because this entire non-crisis was created with the sole purpose of feigning an excuse to start another illegal war, which the 'Neo-Conservatives' planned along with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.)
The odds have to be against it, given the domestic environment. But the tone among some of his allies abroad (Israel's ruling Extremists) is very different. As he often does on such trips, Bush held one-on-one talks with key leaders on his recent trip, during which aides were asked to leave the room and particularly sensitive (illegal?) matters were discussed. After a similar one-on-one last January, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was asked at a press conference with Bush whether the American leader's "hands were tied" when it came to Iran. Olmert said his impression after talks with Bush was that the President is "exceptionally determined," and that "he has proven this throughout his term in office his preparedness to take exceptional measures in order to defend the principles in which he believes, and in his deep commitment to the security of the state of Israel."
(Or be completely unrestrained by the Rule of Law, logic, or morality ...)
Following Bush's visit this month, the Jerusalem Post reported that a senior U.S. advisor on the trip had told Israeli officials that Bush was prepared to attack Iran, but that Gates and Rice were blocking the way. It was a second-hand report that White House Press Secretary Dana Perino strongly denied. On the Hill Thursday, Petraeus listed Iran as key to the top two security concerns facing Central Command, and mentioned nuclear worries in particular. "The lack of transparency in efforts by countries such as Iran and Syria to develop their nuclear programs is a major concern," he said.
(The International Atomic Energy Agency disagrees. So does America's own intelligence services.)
It's that kind of talk that has people in Washington worried. Aides to Democratic leaders on the Hill fear that Bush may be planning to bomb Iran between November and January, after the political cost goes down and when he may feel he is doing his successor a favor. Dan Senor, former military spokesman and foreign policy advisor to the Bush Administration, says he finds that scenario highly unlikely, because he believes it would provoke numerous resignations from the intelligence community and the armed services, both of which groups feel burned from the Iraq experience (Where they were used as skapegoats for LIES created by Extremists and War Criminals in Britain, Israel, and the White House). Senor may be right, but there are enough signs echoing back from abroad (Israel), to keep observers at home and overseas guessing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080523/wl_time/bombingirantheclamorpersists Iran Will Cooperate with UN Probe into US/Israeli Allegations
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?13896S Israel's Syrian Air Strike Was Aimed at Iran
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8196S The ME has had a Secretive Nuclear Power in its Midst for Years
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8195S Spooks Refuse to Toe Cheney's Line on Iran
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8173S IAEA Again Verifies Iranian Compliance
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8130S Israel Considering Strike on Iran Despite US Intelligence Report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2224052,00.html US intelligence report heightens danger of Israeli strike on Iran
http://wsws.org/articles/2007/dec2007/isra-d06.shtml 'Laptop of Death': Revising the NIE on Iran
The entire claim that Iran was building nuclear weapons rests on a laptop provided by a single, dubious source.
www.antiwar.com /ips/akhavi.php?articleid=12028 www.antiwar.com /prather/?articleid=12025
Israeli Extremists Prep for Nuclear Strike on Iran
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7903/index.php Hersh: Israel Pressed me to Write Syrian Site was Nuclear
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/Sy_Hersh_Israeli_raid_on_Syria_0208.html Sy Hersh confirms: Syrian Facility Bombed by Israel Not Nuclear
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10935S A Strike in the Dark - What did Israel bomb in Syria?
by Seymour M. Hersh
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/11/080211fa_fact_hersh/?printable=tr War Clouds Over Mideast
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=108719&d=8&m=4&y=2008 Israel & The 'Clash of Civilizations'
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?11022S The largest threat to the region doesn't come from Iran: it comes from Israel's success in having had the US "neutralize" countries which it believes to be an existential threat to it's existence. However, there's just one little problem with this approach concerning Iran. Russia's diplomats have stated unequivocally that any attack against Iran will be perceived as an attack on Russia.
UN Nuclear Watchdog in Milestone Iran Deal
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14262S Iran Dumps US Dollar in Oil Trading, US Preps War
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14276S Israel's Extremists STILL Beating Iran War Drums
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14360S Iran Mosque Blast Plotters Admit Israeli, US Links
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14997S Israel, US Joint Plotting Against Iran, Attack ElBaredei
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7888/index.php llll ElBaradei: Iran Not After Bomb
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399278.html Israel Calls for US Blockade of Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399342.html
Oppose Neo-Fascism's Aggression