Govt. insists focus is on diplomacy against Iran

[sabra]

http://www.heraldnewsdaily.com/stories/news-00173204.html

Govt. insists focus is on diplomacy against Iran

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration insisted on Sunday its priority was to seek a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Iran ‘s nuclear ambitions, amid reports of stepped-up planning for possible US air strikes.

A senior administration official downplayed prospects for American military action, calling the latest reports "ill-informed," but stopped short of an outright denial.

Iran accused the United States of waging a "psychological war" out of desperation.

The US official spoke after a New Yorker magazine article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said Washington was stepping up planning for a possible bombing campaign against Iran, despite publicly pushing for a negotiated settlement.

[Trevelyan]

1. K&R need to indirectly support any courageous Congressperson, high-ranking

Pentagon officials who are threatening to quit if bush uses nukes against Iran. But I think they should stay on their posts and give interviews to the press and publicize this insanity and hopefully arrest these monsters, SOON!!! Keep posting on many sites about your outrage and justifiable fear of these ........ to encourage anyone in a position to stop this latest madness to interfere and save millions of lives.

[Just Me]

2. Well, there you go. The BushCO regime ALWAYS asserts the opposite,....

,...of either their intentions or their activities. So, we can pretty much be rest assured that, the strikes are not only fully planned but may even be ready to take place, imminently.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Wag the Dog

"Iran accused the United States of waging a "psychological war" out of desperation."

That is exactly what is happening. Of course, Iran is just as guilty. The administration needs to win a "war" because the one they are currently waging is not going so-well (and that is horribly understating it). To me, watching this Iran issue unfold, it looks the works of a bad magician, trying to pull off a "slight of hand" and missing by a mile!

However, extremists from both sides are eating it up like pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving!

Given the title of this article, I say wait another few days for yet another "secret document" to say the opposite. Then, a few days after that, an ally will come forward and say that is not what is happening...and so it goes...All the while what is happening in Iraq gets pushed to the side, what is happening in NOLA gets shelved, what is happening with our own borders gets de-escalated again. Americans as a whole seem, IMO, to have a VERY short attention span, and can't handle TOO many topics at once.

[Just Me]

6. Wag the fucking dog!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!

Hasn't this goddamned administration wagged enough YET for you to get the DOG!!!!!

Oh, geez,...I'm sorry. Think as you will. Carry on. Do your thing. Hang on. whatnot.

[sweetheart]

4. "diplomacy against iran"

WTF!!! kind of ironic impossibility is that.

One does not diplomacy against someone, one has "diplomacy with iran".
That it is against, shows that the diplomacy they're talking about is war.

[movonne]

5. I think those words were used before we invaded Iraq...dipomatic

solution...

[GeorgeGist]

7. War it is then...

[leftchick]

8. U.S. Tries to Dampen Talk of Iran Strike

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060410/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iran

WASHINGTON - While stressing that diplomacy is the first course for dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions, the White House is not ruling out a military response and says "normal defense and intelligence planning" is under way.

The White House, sensitive to President Bush's image as a war hawk, is trying to play down the possibility of a military strike on the country that Bush included among nations forming the "axis of evil."

"The president's priority is to find a diplomatic solution to a problem the entire world recognizes," Bush counselor Dan Bartlett told The Associated Press on Sunday. "And those who are drawing broad, definitive conclusions based on normal defense and intelligence planning are ill-informed and are not knowledgeable of the administration's thinking on Iran."

Bush and other administration officials have said repeatedly that the military option is on the table. Several reports published over the weekend said the administration was studying options for military strikes, and an account in The New Yorker magazine raised the possibility of using nuclear bombs against Iran's underground nuclear sites.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., called the idea of a nuclear strike "completely nuts."

[FloridaPat]

9. Again planning for an invasion of a country using military funds

for a previous invasion is illegal. Since when is the War President sensitive to his image as a war hawk? What crap.

[XanaDUer]

10. Image as a "chickenhawk", not warhawk.

...

[Kutjara]

11. So if...

..."The president's priority is to find a diplomatic solution to a problem the entire world recognizes," why doesn't he just resign? Then the problem "that the whole world recognizes" would be out of office.

[killbotfactory]

12. Yeah, "diplomacy"

Their idea of diplomacy is "Do what we say, or we'll bomb you"

[Beowulf]

16. and then

we'll bomb you anyway.

[UpInArms]

13. Ah, but the world is on to them this time -

and even those *bots that were supporting the last one are not there.

Saw it with my own eyes - heard it with my own ears - just yesterday.

Ex-marine, ex-*Co supporter - walked up to me and said: Did you know that crazy SOB is wanting to nuke Iran?

Me: That's what I heard.

Him: That guy is nuttier than a fruitcake and I hope the world stops him before there's nothing left.

[ClintonTyree]

14. "Diplomacy is the first course".......

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[annabanana]

15. Sshhhhhh..........

Of course we're only preparing the worst case scenario to keep as a big stick in the negotations... we would never actually USE it....

DEAR GOD... "fool me once....."

[MGKrebs]

17. Bunker Buster info:

Please keep in mind that a test is planned for a .7 kiloton non-nuclear bomb in Nevada on June 2.

"A 1-kiloton nuclear weapon detonated 20 to 50 feet underground would dig a crater the size of Ground Zero in New York and eject 1 million cubic feet of radioactive debris into the air. Detonating a similar weapon on the surface of a city would kill a quarter of a million people and injure hundreds of thousands more."

"...Nuclear weapons cannot be engineered to penetrate deeply enough to prevent fallout. Based on technical analysis at the Nevada Test Site, a weapon with a 10-kiloton yield must be buried deeper than 850 feet to prevent spewing of radioactive debris."

"...The study of a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator evaluated modifications to existing nuclear weapons that do not require nuclear testing. The outcome of an RNEP study would be a recommendation to proceed with selective modifications to existing weapons that would ultimately strengthen deterrence by improving the credibility of strategic forces against hard and deeply buried facilities."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/rnep.htm

[MissMillie]

18. Where have we heard THIS before? (n/t)

.

[cliss]

19. On a related note,

there is an article in the LBN from about 2 days ago. It says, "The US scraps plans to enter negotiations with Iran". The article says that the US has reversed its plans to enter into talks with Iran. So much for "diplomacy".