(UK) Government in secret talks about strike against Iran

[ECH1969]

The Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.

Tomorrow's meeting will be attended by Gen Sir Michael Walker, the chief of the defence staff, Lt Gen Andrew Ridgway, the chief of defence intelligence and Maj Gen Bill Rollo, the assistant chief of the general staff, together with officials from the Foreign Office and Downing Street.

"If Iran makes another strategic mistake, such as ignoring demands by the UN or future resolutions, then the thinking among the chiefs is that military action could be taken to bring an end to the crisis. The belief in some areas of Whitehall is that an attack is now all but inevitable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/02/wiran02.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/04/02/ixportaltop.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. All of those who predicted this

say aye... aye

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. It's about a month late. Katrina must have set them back a little.

[Vincardog]

5. aye... aye

They are al least 10 years away from the BOMB what is the rush?

[Marie26]

16. aye

Attacking Iran is completely stupid & insane. So of course, that's the plan.

[bananas]

18. aye

[laheina]

20. aye! nt

[leQ]

30. aye aye

and now for the real clairvoyant among us.... will israel be taking the lead? and when will all this go down?

[VegasWolf]

38. Just for the record; NAY!!! nt

[file83]

41. .... ..... ..... ..... .... .... ..... ..... AYE!!!!

[Vincardog]

2. Did anyone not know this was happening as soon as Iran announced it was

going to get rid of US $ denominated oil?

[EVDebs]

17. Yeah, I thought Mar. 20th was the opening of Iran's petroeuro bourse ?

What gives ? see related DU post at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x819052

[Marie26]

24. I think that's an urban legend. nt

[Vincardog]

29. Then how do you ex[plain commander pissypants rush to attack them?

[Marie26]

33. Who knows?

I'm not sure, but I think it has more to do with a simple desire to extend the "American Empire" across the Middle East & secure oil resources permanently. That's just my own idea, though. Who knows, really, why they're doing this. Maybe Bush himself isn't being told the real reason. But from their actions, it seems clear to me that they're expecting to launch a major strike against Iran in the near future. I just checked out the "oil bourse" thing that's been floating around the Internet, & it's not going to open anytime soon. So that can't be the major reason.

[EVDebs]

35. Nixon's '73 plans to seize Saudi oil fields...Iraq update/tweak eom

[Vincardog]

40. After the PNAC and the Downing street minutes and all the lies aWoL

has told you really want to imagine he has some secret knowledge that is not available to us mere mortals?
Excuse me whild I
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Marie26]

42. Pretty incoherant

I've got no idea what you're trying to say with that.

[struggle4progress]

46. Doesn't seem to be. "Iran's Persian Gulf oil bourse on track"

Apr 2, 2006

Iran is still insisting on opening a Persian Gulf oil bourse with the southern Iranian island Kish as its base, state-television reported Saturday. 'The issue has already been agreed upon and the oil ministry has been instructed to open this bourse in the Persian Gulf island of Kish,' Economic and Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari said.

'This bourse will have a positive impact on oil sale by not only Iran but the whole (Persian Gulf) region,' the minister added.

He also reiterated that the new oil bourse could also replace the dollar-based oil exchange with euro. <snip>

Iran also wants to avoid the dollar-based oil exchange for not being target of economic problems of the United States and calls on a fair distribution of global economic interests. <snip>

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_14587.shtml

[Marie26]

47. They keep threatening to do it

But there's no start date, no indication that the bourse is operating, & no info as to the name,structure & officers of this organization. In addition,they are not planning to use euros exclusively, but a mix of dollars & euros. This is in contrast to the info floating around that it was going to open for sure on March 20. I think that's an urban legend created on liberal & peak oil web-sites. There's no indication March 20 was ever an opening date, let alone that the US was planning to attack based on this mythical oil bourse that never seems to open.

Iranian oil bourse hits wall

Mar 15, 2006
theglobeandmail.com

As the nuclear standoff pitting Iran against the West continues, some conspiracy theorists are more focused on another plan that the Middle Eastern nation is pursuing.

But they are jumping the gun if they still figure Iran is within days of launching a new international oil exchange that would sell its own and other Middle Eastern oil producers' black gold in euros rather than U.S. dollars -- and which, the theory goes, could ultimately torpedo the greenback and the U.S. economy.

Despite repeated reports over the past 18 months or so that the planned bourse would finally open for business on March 20, 2006 -- and go head to head with the New York Mercantile Exchange and the ICE Futures Exchange in London -- the start date has been postponed by at least several months and maybe more than a year.

"In the middle of 2006, we are able to start the bourse," Mohammad Asemipur, special adviser on the project to Iran's Oil Minister, said when reached in Tehran. The plan is to trade petrochemical products first, with a crude oil contract coming last, a rollout that likely will take three years, he said.

"Oh, crikey, it's at a much earlier stage than people would think," said British consultant Chris Cook, who claims credit for coming up with the idea for the exchange in the first place and is a member of the consortium headed by the Tehran Stock Exchange that is charged with bringing the project to life. "You can rest assured, there will not be a crude oil contract, Gulf-based, in my opinion, within a year -- and that would be really pushing it," Mr. Cook, a former director of ICE's predecessor, the International Petroleum Exchange, said when reached in Scotland.

The electronic exchange is to be located on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, an Iranian duty- and tax-free zone. There has been far less talk about the planned bourse in the mainstream media than on the Internet, particularly on websites aimed at gold bugs and other economic conspiracy theorists.

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_14125.shtml

[struggle4progress]

48. Interesting. So it's not exactly "urban legend." Thanks. eom

[mmonk]

54. I believe the bourse has been delayed

until next year according to one of the insiders on the proposed exchange (a Brit no less).

[babylonsister]

4. This. Is. Bullshit!! Is this so no one will dig deeper into how the

Brits and America started the Iraqi war. How can we stop this? What can we do?

[allisonthegreat]

45. Remember it is a"global war on Terror"-ahem...

Focused on the middle east. I don't know what is up our Commander and Chief's butt...It seems he is like a little boy king never satisfied.

maybe he did not get enough of playing "war" when he was a child...

this thing about iran really sucks, and shows the insanity.

[mom cat]

6. Where is the opposition among the Democrats to this insanity?

[DELUSIONAL]

8. Very good question -- and one we should start screaming

[Joanne98]

37. I think Bush already has the power under the Iraq War Res.

If so Dems can protest but it won't matter. They gave away the store already. IDIOTS!

[reprobate]

50. Where in the hell did you get that idea. Bush may think he has that power

...but nobody else agrees. He didn't even go back to congress to get permission to go to war, as the resolution required, so he has NO power under the resolution.

Please explain your thinking that convinces you he has the power under the resolution.

[reprobate]

49. Democrats - in opposition to Bush? Surely you jest.

In order to oppose Bush the democrats would have to stand up. To stand up you need a spine. Few democrat legislators currently endowed with that column of boney matter that allows an upright stance.

The only people the democrat leadership opposes is it's own grass roots. If they spent as much energy opposing republicans we'd be in charge again.

[mom cat]

53. Bingo!

[mmonk]

55. Bwahahahaha........... opposition?

Only the people that also have opposed the Iraq war will oppose this one as well. Not nearly enough.

[angryxyouth]

56. War on Iran=Draft=Dems win back White House

Just a though.

[angryxyouth]

57. thought

[5X]

7. Notice this? (Filed: 02/04/2006). n/t

[Roland99]

9. England is 5 hours ahead of US Eastern. It's April 2 there.

[5X]

11. Oops, sorry, forgot they switch their month and day across the pond. n/t

[laheina]

21. I always forget that too. :) nt

[ECH1969]

10. The UK is a different time zone then the US

Its already the second over there.

[BrotherBuzz]

12. It is the second of April in UK right now

;)

[MrPrax]

13. There must consensus

all around...that must be why senior democrats are so quiet...a lot more people outside of the Bush/BLair are aware that the US is engaged in a much expanded regional war and have known about it for awhile.

If the Iranians didn't want a bomb before, they will now just out of revenge. If the Iranians were only doing low-level support in Iraq, they will ramp it up and then some...if the US is contemplating this, then they must have some assurances elsewhere among other security members, that they can bomb away.

Not good...

[spindrifter]

14. This is probably the real

reason the Condi-liar was over there--she wanted a head start on her thousands of new mistakes. But seriously, the worry is that Iran will retaliate with massive more terrorist attacks on an international scale. The Brits know quite well how devastating that can be--and how easy it was for them to take a crippling blow from people who live in their own country. These guys better look up the word diplomacy in the dictionary.

[bemildred]

15. Ooooh. "Secret" talks tomorrow.

Does British security really suck this badly?

[Marie26]

25. Unless they want Iran to know "they mean business." nt

[bemildred]

27. In which case it isn't really secret, is it?

It is a public attempt (long since repeated many times) to posture and bully Iran into obedience, and it has no more chance of success than all the repeated failures of the past. It just makes them look inept and stupid, like they have no other ideas than to try to threaten everybody into submission.

Edit: which is correct, BTW, that is exactly who and what they are: a bunch of bullies who are cornered and fresh out of ideas.

[Marie26]

36. Yeah, it's more like propaganda

Aimed at showing Iran how serious & scary the US is. And they are a bunch of bullies who are out of ideas. The propaganda effort against Iraq was much more coordinated, organized & effective. It doesn't seem like they're really even trying anymore to sell these things to the American people. Like they don't really care what we think.

[VegasWolf]

34. Hah!! That was my thought also!! The secret talks about Iraq really

were secret. In a high stakes poker game, Bush and cronies would be the first out the door with no money left in their pockets.

[lovuian]

19. MoD denies Iran military meeting

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4869094.stm

Reports that military officers will meet government officials on Monday to discuss possible military action against Iran have been denied.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said there was no truth whatsoever in the claims, made in the Sunday Telegraph.

He said: "No such meeting between defence, foreign office and other officials is taking place."

But BBC Defence Correspondent Paul Wood said US plans for a possible strike are thought to be at an advanced stage.

There is well sourced and persistent speculation that American covert activities aimed at Iran are already underway

Paul Wood

He pointed out that many defence analysts expected that British military officials would have a wide range of contingency plans available including one for a possible US air strike on Iran.

more...
WWIII is coming :nuke:

[LynnTheDem]

22. correction for the media; "UN's NON-BINDING DEMANDS"

Makes a wee bit of a difference, when you add that FACT in, doesn't it.

[HuffleClaw]

23. WHY are the brits playing ANOTHER bush 'march to war' game ?

you'd think they'd have learned from the iraq debacle. really.

[fedsron2us]

39. Reading between the lines of the article

I suspect that the British military almost certainly does not want to be involved in any operation against Iran. The Daily Telegraph may be a conservative newspaper (it is not known as the Torygraph for nothing) but, unlike Rupert Murdoch's Times, it does not really enjoy good access to Blair's government and probably would not be its publication of choice for floating any official propaganda initiative. However, it does have very close connections with the British armed services and is often used by the latter when they want to have a political point articulated in public. It is no secret that the UK's military top brass were less than enthusiastic when Blair got them involved in the invasion of Iraq. The reasons for this reluctance are not hard to understand given that some of the first areas captured by British forces in 2003 contained the war graves of the British soldiers killed during the abortive occupation of Iraq during the 1920s. I wonder whether some people in the UK armed forces are keen to spike Blair's guns before he commits them to some other doomed military enterprise.

[xchrom]

26. you knew the u.s. was going to do it.

the thing that pisses me off is this -- IF we get a dem in the white and IF we take a majority in the senate and or house -- this is what will be handed the left to clean up.

so to a certain extent i see the corporate right trying force the left into a corner or into playing by their rules though on the surface they are gone from power.

[patdem]

28. We are going to START a war to STOP a crisis..if WAR is not a crisis

they got their heads on backwards!

The 'crisis' is that Iran will not cowtow to the Western World demands...but murdering thousands, and some have said tens of thousands by bombing the shit out of a country who has NOT invaded ANY country in 250 years (Iraq attacked Iran), has NOT threatened to attack any country and has SWORN they are not gearing up for a bomb, and will allow IAEA inspectors in to reassure but do not want to just give up their rights under the NPT agreement?

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE CRISIS?

[acmavm]

31. aye - And a sign of just how jaded I've become, the denial from the

MoD is what makes me CERTAIN that they are secretly collaborating on an attack.

[VegasWolf]

32. Nay!!! China will not allow Bush to cut off its OIL supply. Not March,

not April, not ever.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

43. Even if they complied with the UN, the NeoCons plan to attack...

...Iran just like they attacked Iraq.

The NeoCons don't require any approval or cooperation with anyone else but the Lapdog Blair.

Is this going to be allowed to go forward, knowing what we know about the lies that led to the attack on Iraq?

[bemildred]

44. That's the thing, they ARE in compliance, any non-compliance is fanciful.

Or maybe wishful or hopeful, but definitely speculation about future events based on no evidence whatsoever.

[Rocknrule]

51. Will someone just buy * an Xbox & a copy of Return to Castle Wolfenstein?

so he can satisfy his war fetish in a non-destructive way?

[BootinUp]

52. Should I trust this news source?

just asking