Reuters: "Exiles: Iran Making Missiles That Could Hit Europe"

[Maven]

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran is working on long-range missiles capable of hitting European capitals, as well as nuclear and chemical warheads, an exile group said on Thursday.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which has in the past given accurate information on some of Iran's nuclear facilities, said Tehran was working on missiles with a range of 1,600 to 1,900 miles, capable of hitting cities such as Berlin.

Iran denies any intention of making long-range ballistic missiles and says its existing medium-range missiles are purely for deterrence.

-snip-

Last month Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested Iran was working to fit missiles with nuclear warheads but Iran says its atomic plants are solely for power generation.

more...

The next Big Lie is just spinning up...

[ewagner]

1. and....we're off....

to another round of lying our way to war.

[DulceDecorum]

37. Pants on fire...

7th March (1998) : ‘The Independent’ runs an article in response to Prime Minister Blair’s comments that ‘…over 30,000 chemical warheads remain unaccounted for….’ and that ‘…Iraq’s desire to develop these weapons of mass destruction pose a threat to his neighbours, to his people, and to the security of the world.’ Blair had also made statements about how a teaspoon of anthrax could kill 100 million people, and cited alleged claims of UNSCOM finding enough bio/chem weapons to kill the world’s population several times over.

Professor Robert Nield of Trinity College, Cambridge rebuffs Blair’s figures: ‘To say they have found enough weapons to kill the world several times over is equivalent to the statement that a man who produces a million sperm a day can thus produce a million babies a day. The problem in both cases is one of delivery systems.’
http://www.firethistime.org/chrono98.htm

[tngledwebb]

65. Good...

and kick.

[Born Free]

55. Osama Bin Laden hiding in Iran!

According to some right winger on CNN, guess we need to take em out, bring em on or whatever phrase the coward in the white house plans on using to invade another country that just happens to be over some oil. Sooner or later Americans will wake up to the lying bunch of scoundrals running the show these days.

[Hieronymus]

63. I agree with you.

:eyes:

[Sanity Claws]

2. Let's hope

the MSM do not become cheerleaders for the administration and instead actually investigate the stories being spun.
Maybe, I should say, "let's pray..."

[Maven]

3. If this article is any indication...

...that's not going to happen.

Our status as "The United States of Amnesia" (as Gore Vidal says) has just reached a new level.

[el_gato]

4. the job of the MSM is to disseminate propaganda, your hope is futile

[bunny planet]

45. Can we draft MSM news anchors first. They need to go fight in Iran if its

their next cheerleading project. This is getting so obvious it's scary. They are not even bothering to change the story much from the Iraq lead up, they are just changing the last letter in the countries name and using the same news stories recycled. This is so wrong on so many levels my head is spinning.

[Thoth]

5. Several EU countries just made deals with Iran...

for oil and other trade deals, so the liklihood that Iran would attack Europe is ludicrous! Mike Ruppert mentions this in his latest article at www.fromthewilderness.com

[RawMaterials]

7. The fact that other countries are making oil deals

means were definitely going in, cant have anyone getting oil we can rightfully steal.

[ET Awful]

6. Is one of the exiles named Chalabi? Or, by chance, is he

the son-in-law of the current leader of said nation that used to be in charge of their weapons programs and has already recanted his story, but the recanting has been ignored?

[ilovenicepeople]

18. Thats what I was wondering?

a "EXILE" who cannot be named,would one call that an "unshuregent"?

[Voltaire99]

40. Let's invade! They will greet us like Jesus entering Jerusalem!

This "exile intelligence" is better than cocaine!

[Maven]

41. Cocaine? How about Afghan heroin!

[snippy]

56. How do you say "Chalabi" in Persian? n/t

[Overseas]

75. Me, too -- Chalabi and Judith Miller sprung to mind-- n/t

[aquart]

8. Then let Europe invade them.

[Candide]

33. Exactamundo!

"Team America" to the rescue again....

[daleo]

9. I can think of several European powers with missiles that can hit Iran

Nuclear tipped missiles, too. I suppose deterrence theory would apply to this situation, as it did in the past.

Sounds like scare mongering propaganda, to push the effort for war against Iran along a little.

[aquart]

10. Wait. Who owns Reuters now?

[DulceDecorum]

39. Reuters is "owned"

by the people who pay Ghaida Ghantous, formerly of Accenture.
Ghaid Ghantous is the stenographer of the terrorists.
Osama has Ghantous (the ME Judith Miller) on speed dial.

[Merlin]

44. Got a reference for that?

Then why is it that Reuters seems to have gone over to (our right wing) dark side lately? And why would they give this charge such credibility?

[St. Jarvitude]

77. Who says the terrorists are left-wing?

Nice job repeating an old regressive talking point :eyes:

[Kellanved]

11. hmm sounds familiar

I remember the RW "Saddam's nukes could reach Munich" speech in the Bundestag, not too long ago...

[spinbaby]

12. And we're off!

Anyone want to place bets on how long before Iran has nuclear death-dealing high-tech helium balloons that can be over Kansas in 20 minutes?

[vpigrad]

13. And I have a tool used to commit most rapes..

that doesn't mean I'm going to use it! Bushie has so much trouble with logic.

[ilovenicepeople]

20. Having trouble with logic isn't a problem when you use Flawgic

With the modern morals we have today which is more important,Lying,Cheating or Stealing?

[lastliberalintexas]

14. In only 45 seconds, right?

:eyes:

[VolcanoJen]

25. 45 seconds. That was my first thought too, lastliberal.

:grr:

[lastliberalintexas]

29. LOL- I would say great minds think alike, but

I think Lynne has it correct down thread. Didn't Blair actually say 45 *minutes*? I'm just a :dunce: and I brought you down to my level! Sorry Jen!

[VolcanoJen]

30. Well, maybe great dunces think alike?

:D :D :D

[Maven]

31. Speaking of which...

On the upside, there will be stronger British opposition this time. Especially from Labour MPs who opposed war the first time.

[SnowGoose]

15. remind me....

What is the only country in the history of planet earth to actually drop an atomic bomb on an enemy? I can't seem to recall.

We've got 'em. We've used 'em. We're even designing new ones. Where do we get off saying other countries can't have what we have?

[Maven]

16. Ha ha, well, because we're the "moral authority," of course.

That's why we can torture people!

And if you understand that logic, you probably look like this:

[jpgray]

17. Yep. Who's the new Chalabi, and is Judy Miller on the scene yet?

:dunce:

[Just Me]

19. Warming up for full-blown PNAC propaganda.

Iran
Iran
Iran
Iran
WMDs
WMDs
WMDs
Nuclear
Terrorists
Evil
Iran
Iran
Iran
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Shock and Awe
:nuke:

[LynnTheDem]

21. And in only 45 minutes!

Funny how we're suddenly hearing so much about Iran...and it all rings a distantly familiar bell...

[hickman1937]

22. bushco ramping up

Europe totally ignored bunnypants in their negotiations with Iran, so now he needs desperatly to insert himself somewhere. I think his pen*s size is on the line here.

[LynnTheDem]

23. Maybe the infamous Purple Plastic People Shredder will make an appearance

:D

[maddezmom]

24. and OBL is hiding in Iran

:eyes:

RICHARD MINITER, AUTHOR, "SHADOW WAR": Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: What makes you think -- what hard evidence is there in your mind that he may be in Iran right now?

MINITER: Well, the hard evidence is my two sources who are Iranian intelligence agents, who say that they saw bin Laden eyeball to eyeball inside Iran in a place called Najmabad on October 23, 2003.

These sources have proved reliable in the past to American and to British intelligence. The other things they've said have checked out. And so I think it's suggestive. It's at least opening the door. I make the case in chapter one of "Shadow War." But it's a case with a lot of caveats, as a lot of intelligence cases are.

BLITZER: Besides these two sources that you have, are there any others who would tend to believe that he might be in Iran right now that you've come upon or is it just these two sources?

MINITER: Well, for me, it's these two sources.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0412/01/wbr.01.html

[LynnTheDem]

26. ROTFLMAO!!!

Hilarious. They'll fool some, or even most, of the 51% stupid Americans. Not a big achievement; they're incredibly easy to con & dupe, the rightwingnut rubes.

[maddezmom]

28. my thoughts exactly when I saw it last night

how f'ing CONVENIENT!!

[truth2power]

34. But....but..

I thought Bunnypants wasn't concerned with OBL anymore!

Crimeny! I can't keep up. :silly:

[maddezmom]

60. no but just an added bonus for building a case to go to war with Iran

[AmandaRuth]

27. don't you just feel for the people of Iran?

This is not a pro-war or an anti-war message, just a statement from me that I just feel bad for the people of Iran. They must know that something is up and what a feeling of dread. Imagine trying to live your life with the knowledge that the USA is in the planning stages of an invasion of your country. If i were them, I would be stocking up on medical supplies, food and water, and looking for some sort of bomb shelter.

In my household we have emergency routes planned out of the house in the case of fire, imagine trying to plan for feeding your family while dodging American bombs.

[Lerkfish]

32. attacking Iran would be the stupidest thing strategically...

at the moment, nearly ALL of our troops are in the Iraq theatre. Iran has nasty weapons, and doesn't really care all that much for Iraqis. Does "killing two birds with one stone" have any resonance here? Does "putting all your eggs in one basket" do the same?

If we preemptively invaded Iran, All they'd have to do is attack Iraq, killing out troops along with the Iraqis. Forget about being able to reach Europe. They can EASILY reach Iraq, they're next door.

Strategically, this is like placing your prostrate body in front of a rolling tank. hell, I'm a pacifist and even I can see this....why the hell can't our military strategists?

[Maven]

46. Probably for the same reason they couldn't see...

...that attacking Iraq pre-emptively was the surest way to get Iran to scale up and speed their development of nukes. All they had to do was look at the way the U.S. treated Iraq vs. North Korea to see that developing a nuclear arsenal was the only way to head off outside "regime change."

[jayfish]

49. Oh No Mr. Fish!

The mighty US military will cut through Iran like a Ginsu through a ripe tomato. Look at how quickly we dispatched the mighty armies of Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Panama and Grenada, just to mane a few. it will be like shooting fish in a barrel, a cake-walk if you will :eyes: </sarcasm>

Jay

[beets]

59. Iran "threat"

Um, last time I looked europe reached an agreement with Iran wherein Iran agreed to not develop weapons or related hot stuff. Am I wrong about this? The US has been diplomatically bypassed by europe (probably because Bush is too insane to do this, therefore too dangerous to the entire world at this point).
Frankly I no longer believe anything coming off the US airwaves or media. Clearly we haven't 1/4th of the troops needed in Iraq...in fact 40 year old and up guys are being called up to serve who are suing the US government for all the obvious reasons.
Any country could strike at any country nearby...I think it's more piffle~dangerous piffle coming out of what washington wants us to think. Strawberry fields forever.

[Maven]

61. "The US has been diplomatically bypassed by Europe..."

The biggest slap in the face for all the U.S.'s "world police" hubris. How ironic.

[beets]

71. Biggest slap in the face for all US's "world police" hubris

Hi Harvey! What strikes me hardest is that all new threads of "information" are assumed to be borne upon something real. Why are we taking it and running with it? Why aren't people seeing through the bs and exposing that? This is slightly better than an aol chat-gaggle drowning in the morass!

[Maven]

73. Hah! How appropriate that AOL/TW now owns CNN.

[beets]

76. No, Really. What can we do to change the atmosphere?

Who is good to talk to here that can have a discussion that can hold water? I mean it. Above the noise.

[Maven]

78. I say that instead of protesting (which I've done, and has had...

little effect) what needs to happen is that anti-war groups form some sort of coalition that can produce a SINGLE comprehensive report debunking each of their claims as they're made and bombard the media with it. It should even be "branded" so to speak so that it gets injected into the discourse and recycled by pundits.

There are plenty of former intelligence people who have since come out against the claims for the war in Iraq (look at every one of Greenwald's films), so it shouldn't be hard to find experts in order to lend added credibility to our claims.

Perhaps that organization can begin here... (?)

Just a thought.

[beets]

80. Medicineball Bush Before 1-20 Urgent!

Couple of thoughts on that Harvey. Decorum in the face of what is happening makes me wilt in disappointment. There just isn't time before 1-20. Bush needs to be pulled away from the podium. If not he needs to be impeached pdq before he sews up the house the senate and the supreme court, making him more deeply entrenched and nearly impossible to impeach. If Kerry wimps out he doesn't deserve anything above local dogcatcher in '08. The dems and progs will never win another election either so long as voting corruption remains as it is. Funny how no dialogue has gone towards how the senate and congressional silence may erupt giving us hope. Who out there believes they will help us in a meaningful way? Joe Biden is the only one I have any faith in.

[ElementaryPenguin]

35. Right!!! And the REASON they would do this... They WANT to be nuked!

Because they are subhuman animals who have no regard for human life, oh yeah, and they hate our freedom, er, Europe's freedom! Amen, PNAC comrades!

:puke:
:puke:
:puke:

[ElectroPrincess]

36. Oh no?

I just saw the movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murry for the second time on cable.

Do you also have a feeling of deja vu? The only difference between now and last time is ONE LETTER in the name of the country that's an imminent threat to us. (IraN vice IraQ).

Yikes!

[Mokito]

69. And if you squint your eyes real good...

Even that difference disappears.

[DulceDecorum]

38. Europe go BOOM

The Federal Government of the United States is known to possess two types of weapons of mass destruction: nuclear weapons and chemical weapons. It is known to possess biological weapons as research samples. The U.S. arsenal of weapons of mass destruction is the largest in the world, along with Russia, depending on the definition.
<snip>
The United States is the ONLY country to have used nuclear weapons in a war: two nuclear weapons were deployed against Japan in World War II in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of people, most of them civilians, were killed and their military use remains controversial.
<snip>
The U.S. maintains about 850 nuclear gravity bombs capable of use by F-15, F-16, JSF and Panavia Tornado fighter aircraft. Some 150 of these bombs are deployed at nine airbases in six European NATO countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_United_States_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

The nuclear warheads are ALREADY in Europe.

WASHINGTON (October 20, 1999) ¾ The United States stored nuclear weapons in 27 countries and territories around the globe during the Cold War, according to "Where They Were," the cover story in the November/December issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The article, by three noted nuclear weapons analysts, is based upon a newly declassified Pentagon history released under a Freedom of Information Act request originally filed in 1985.
During the Cold War, 18 sovereign nations and nine former or current American territories or possessions hosted U.S. nuclear weapons. Today, the United States is the only nuclear power that deploys nuclear weapons overseas. U.S. bombs remain stationed in Belgium, Britain, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
"We can now fill in many gaps in the history of the arms race and the Cold War," says Robert S. Norris, a Natural Resources Defense Council senior analyst and a co-author of the article. "Until now, there has never been official information on where, when, and what kinds of nuclear weapons were deployed overseas, and finally we have authoritative information about their presence in such surprising places as Japan, Greenland, Iceland and Taiwan."
The authors also found that during the peak years in the early 1970s, the United States had more than 7,000 nuclear weapons in NATO countries in Europe, and more than 2,000 on land in the Pacific. A variety of naval vessels, including aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates and attack submarines, routinely carried another 3,000 nuclear weapons.
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/19991020/#pr

Hahahahaha.
The US has been there and done that.
Get over it Iran.
Sore loserman.
And you Frenchies better get in line -- PRONTO!!

[Maven]

42. In related news...

From the BBC: Iran hails UN nuclear 'victory'

A top Iranian official has claimed a "great victory" over the US after the UN said it would not punish Iran's nuclear activities with sanctions.

Hassan Rohani said Iran would never give up its right to nuclear power.

...

"We have proved that, in an international institution, we are capable of isolating the US. And that is a great victory," said Mr Rohani, who heads Iran's top security body.

...

Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and rejects accusations that it is working towards technology which could eventually be used for the production of nuclear weapons.

Wait a minute...you mean the UN still exists?

[area51]

43. press

I wish the press would remember the saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

[Massachusetts]

47. And

Israel has what? This ain't no way to work diplomacy.:wtf:

[Tempest]

48. National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on U.S. terrorist list

So is Boosh fighting terrorism, or supporting it???

[bluestatepatriot]

52. That's the tricky thing

We would like to support them because they want to overthrow the mullahs, but they are a terrorist organization, so we can't without being blatantly hypocritical. I believe we bombed a couple of their empty bases during the Iraq invaision to keep Iran happy enough not to cause trouble.

[Maven]

53. You hafta ask? n/t

[daleo]

54. Count on the list being updated soon

Organizations can be moved from one column to the other, as Bush/PNAC sees fit for tactical reasons.

[Stinky The Clown]

50. I am SOOOOOOO in LOVE with "exiles"

People who have been gone from a place for ... 10? .... 20 years are experts? Who are these exiles? Chalabi's homeys, maybe?

[USA_1]

51. "exiles"

It was Iraqi exiles who supposedly told Bush that Saddam had WMD. They sure as hell turned out to be reliable.


There's an old story about crying "wolf" too often.

Will Americans ever learn it?????

[no safe haven]

57. Watch for the re-release of the 80s...

...rip-off of the Beach Boys classic ‘Barbara Ann’.

Bomb bomb bomb
Bomb-bomb Iran

Just to whip up some nationalistic fervor.

[Barkley]

66. That's Priceless!

You put a smile on my face no safe haven.

Great Post!

:kick:

[four more wars]

58. MAD - even if they do, they would never use them

Yet another transparent attempt by Bushco to justify stealing another nations oil by invading so Halliburton can 'liberate' them.

Even if Iran did actually have nuclear tipped missiles, why on earth would they launch at europe? Both France and the UK posess full nuclear capability, and I think it could be assured that if Iran was to nuke Berlin the Iranian desert would quickly become a large flat piece of glass.

Dubya wouldn't need to do anything, 'old euroope' are more than capable of looking after themselves.

[Barkley]

62. Pakistan, S. Arabia, Israel, India and China can hit Europe too.

[Maven]

64. UPDATE: Now the AP has chimed in.

It's escalating. Now they're saying Iran could hit the United States.

U.S. Suspects Iran Is Making New Missiles

By BARRY SCHWEID
WASHINGTON (AP) - Interception of several technology shipments to Iran has bolstered U.S. suspicions that Iran is secretly developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that could threaten Europe and possibly the United States.

An intelligence report this week to Congress said North Korea, China and parts of the former Soviet Union provided Iran through the end of last year with ballistic-missile equipment, technology and expertise.

...

Secretary of State Colin Powell last month said Iran was trying to adapt missiles to deliver nuclear weapons.

``I have seen some information that would agree that they have been actively working on delivery systems,'' Powell said.

This week's intelligence report to Congress said, ``Iran continued to vigorously pursue indigenous programs to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons'' and that Iran ``is also working to improve delivery systems.'' more...

Moving right along... :eyes:

[Fleshdancer]

67. I have the gift of predicting the future! Check out these future stories:

Future story #1: Iranian government throws babies out of incubators! People in Kuwait told me so.

Future story #2: Iranian government has torture and rape rooms! Certainly we must liberate them from such violence! The only way to do that is to bomb them or else they'll never learn that torture is un-Christian like.

Future story #3: Iran sought yellow cake from Niger! (and by the way, Agent X is a member of the CIA. Here's her name, address, social security number, photo ID, phone number, medical history, and blood type. And her husband is a traitor for some reason. Hate them and tell them to go to France)

Future story #4: Terror Alert! Terror Alert! Terror Alert! Code Elmo! Iranians are going to nuke us! Wrap yourself in saran wrap, read the bible, and only engage in procreative missionary sex with your opposite gendered spouse! If you don't, the terrorists win.

I have the gift! Don't believe me? Just wait. :)

[Barkley]

68. Great Post: Your Predictions Are Already Coming True!

VIENNA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Intelligence reports accuse Iran of buying large amounts of a metal that has many civilian uses but which some U.S. and other countries' officials believe Tehran wanted exclusively for an atomic bomb, diplomats say.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03422868.htm


:kick:

[Maven]

70. Hilarious! n/t

[DrWeird]

72. Close, but no cigar.

After the "Iran's new missles could hit Europe" was posted yesterday, by yesterday afternoon the story had changed to "Iran's new missles could hit European Capitals." And now this morning the story is "Iran's new missles could hit the US." I'm not making that up.

[GiovanniC]

74. They Are Just 45 Minutes From Being Able to Hit Our Allies With Nukes

They are the most dangerous country in the most dangerous region in the world.

That country has ties to al Qaeda.

They have been trying to get weapons of mass destruction.

They are not cooperating with weapons inspectors.

The smoking gun may come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

Et cetera.

Fuck, it's so perfect... we don't even need to invent totally new bullshit. We can use that good ol' familiar bullshit.

2-for-1 justifications for Middle-Eastern oil-rich country invasions.

[Buns_of_Fire]

79. "WMD II"

The war Murkans have been waiting for!

You loved the original!

Now see (and live) the sequel! Soon at a theater (of war) near you!