Former officials warn against US attack on Iran (Richard Clarke)

[sabra]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-04-16T013532Z_01_N15206081_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAN-USA-ARTICLE.xml

Former officials warn against US attack on Iran

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. conflict with Iran could be even more damaging to America's interests than the war with Iraq, former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke wrote in Sunday's New York Times.

In an op-ed article co-authored with Steven Simon, a former State Department official who also worked for the National Security Council, Clarke wrote reports that the Bush administration is contemplating bombing nuclear sites in Iran raised concerns that "would simply begin a multi-move, escalatory process."

Iran's likely response would be to "use its terrorist network to strike American targets around the world, including inside the United States," Clarke and Simon warned.

"Iran has forces as its command far superior to anything Al Qaeda was ever able to field," they said, citing Iran's links with the militant group Hezbollah.

[MadMaddie]

1. Clark has been right so far hasn't he....

And seriously it doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to figure out that if the US attacks Iran that the outcome will be a possible WWIII?

We have to rid the US of the * cabal before they destroy us.....

[Faygo Kid]

6. Richard Clarke is not only right, he's an authentic hero

It's impossible to believe that Clarke, Wilson, Zinni and so many others have been so smeared and ignored by the "mainstream media," despite being proven right time and time again.

[lyonn]

9. Include Ritter in this group. n/t

[saltpoint]

11. you're right, lyonn. Scott Ritter you mean? I have a GREAT amount of

respect for him.

(I knew Scott Ritter when he was younger. He had the character and the cajones even early on. Hard-wired intelligence and courage.)

[Coes]

42. Ritter on HARDtalk

check the video

( this interview was from october 2003 )

[Demeter]

2. Why Don't People Attack Bush Sanity?

Why not go for the real problem? Bush is mentally deranged, everybody knows it; let's have him tested and rejected from office. Right after Fitz nails Cheney to the wall, of course.

[orleans]

41. good point--why the hell don't we check his sanity?

foster parents need to go through a qualification process

airline pilots are asked if they've ever screwed the pooch

why the hell aren't we checking out the sanity of the person who has his finger on the button?

maybe we could pass a law--and make it retroactive?

(yeah, right!)

[saltpoint]

3. There are a lot of in-the-know folks publicly telling Junior that he

needs to cool his heels.

And his administration is FULL of heels.

Richard Clarke is a damned smart man with a hell of a lot of dignity.

I betcha he's exactly right on this, too.

[still_one]

4. that won't stop him

he believes it is his destiny

Will the Democrats in Congress come forward?

[saltpoint]

5. There was a crescendo of objection to Vietnam under LBJ but since

then no president has picked up a morning briefing to find half a dozen or more of his then-Iraq-stationed on-site generals calling for the head of his Defense Secretary.

It's unprecedented. John Warner and Richard Lugar, respective Chairs of Armed Services and Foreign Relations, know that the gig is up.

I think it will stop him. Perhaps the hard way. But he is no longer in a position to govern effectively unless he is forced to compromise. Clarke is a career patriot. He would not have made this argument if it could be avoided.

Bush's arrogance, insularity, and self-importance have caught up with him and his poll numbers have tanked. And with them, his ability to command even one modest piece of legislation through the Congress.

We're looking at a turning point in American history.

[seafan]

7. A pivotal moment in history is staring at us. Is everyone awake?

We're looking at a turning point in American history.

You are as right as rain, Old Crusoe.

[saltpoint]

10. Hi to you, seafan. As always, a pleasure to run into you on these

boards.

Clarke is an enormously persuasive speaker. I think he is a Republican, as so many of the other critics of Rumsfeld have been.

Certainly the generals calling Rumsfeld an arrogant jerk couldn't be said to be liberal pinkos.

So it has a lot of credibility for me to hear these folks speaking as they are.

Dubya held a quick thing on Friday in support of Rumsfeld, but then he skipped going to Crawford because of Cindy Sheehan and other protestors there, he skipped the Easter egg event because lesbian and gay families were said to be ticketholders, and now a very intelligent insider of his own government (Clarke was dismissed under Condi) has reiterrated the need for Rumsfeld to go.

If all these people are calling for Rumsfeld's head, they're all but saying the man who supports Rummy is a dummy.

And boy do they have that one right!

[seafan]

18. Thanks, Old Crusoe. The pleasure's all mine.

And you're right about Clarke. We are very fortunate to have him speaking out so strongly.

I can remember the very first hearing a couple of years ago, where he appeared before the Congressional committee, describing his conversations with *, Rice, and the others, in his warnings before September 11, 2001. You could have heard a pin drop after he said that Wolfowitz and Rummy wanted to attack Iraq come hell or high water, right after 9-11. And * wanted to know how he could proceed to do just that.

The reaction by the 9-11 families to Clarke's testimony was tremendous. He has been a household name since. The loony tunes in this administration are so far in a hole since 9-11 that they cannot see or hear anyone any more. These guys are going to have to be physically hauled out of the WH.

[jazzjunkysue]

20. Clark's book, "Against All Enemies" tells the real inside 9/11 story:

Condi hid against the wall and asked Richard to take over in the operation room when the towers were struck. Bush told him the next day to link it to iraq, and Clark couldn't believe it.

Bush became a neocon on Sept. 12th. It's all in the book. Highly recommended. It's how I got on with my life after they rigged the election.

Clark says they called the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Bolton-Rice group "The Crazies" and they were marginalized during the Clinton administration. They plotted in 97 how to take over the white house and now, they're incompetent to deal with Iran.

We have to listen to Clark this time, or we're gonna have a real mushroom cloud instead of Bush crime family rhetoric.

[Fun Doom Mentalist]

22. are they really "The Crazies"?

so far they've fooled a hell of a lot of people for a hell of a long time.

i'd call them "GRRRRRREEEEDY BAZSTARDS!!!"

and they don't care who they kill to get their loot--

and they've pretty much looted the entire U.S. Treasury.

They should be ALL be arrested and all their assets frozen-
Isn't that what they do to the property of criminals who've made their fortune illegally?
They wouldn't put them in jail and let them spend it when they get out

...would they?

[jazzjunkysue]

39. Zappa for President.

[MissWaverly]

31. Yes, the book was a great read

wasn't Bush number 1 priority that he wanted the airlines up and running and all the malls
reopened, he just didn't give any instructions on how to do this.

[jazzjunkysue]

38. Yup. Go to NYC and have dinner. Lots of people were breathing

dangerous materials while they dug it out. They lied about air quality. They should have evacuated the entire canal st section, but didn't.

[Pithy Cherub]

35. Clarke's fiction book, Scorpion's Gate will make you

even more paranoid. It's about the (fictionalized) scenario that is playing out right now in real life complete with top officer military revolt. Iran, Saudi Arabia, the press, the intelligence community, China, oil and a defense secretary that is off the rails. Truly, a great read.

[MissWaverly]

37. I will have to get it

I love fiction by those in the know!

[0007]

40. Richard A. Clarke's real master piece is his latest...

"The Scorpion's Gate" It is fiction, but sometimes you can tell more truth through fiction. Against all Enemies" was good also.

Great books!

[The Wizard]

24. Elections to be canceled

By the powers vested in him by Attorney General Abu Gonzalez, Boosh will cancel the next election for a national emergency that he will have caused. Put nothing past these scumbags. That's the reason for their daily encroachment on the Constitution, logic, reason and the truth. We are being conditioned for a military dictatorship. No other President ever appeared in a military uniform. Leaders of other countries that have adorned military garb include: Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Castro, Mussolini, Czar Nicholas, Francisco Franco (yes he's still dead), Baby Doc Duvalier, and Saddam Hussein. :yoiks:

[MissWaverly]

32. You can't have a military dictatorship w/o the military

I think that they just saw total control, not compromise just jack-booted thuggery to obtain their ends, but the military has been mishandled so badly that they are not going to rally
around Bush, they see the day coming when Bush will be gone and they will be left to be
accountable to the American people and history.

[still_one]

23. I hope you are right

The times will publish the following to counter those calling for rumsfeld resignation

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/washington/16rumsfeld.html?ex=1302840000&en=c8820a944116b817&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[lovuian]

8. And Iran has friends where Saddam did not

China and India and Pakistan... Everybody would know America is on a acquisition mode just like Germany and Russia was...

Our military were never meant to be oppressors...

[bahrbearian]

12. "use its terrorist network to strike American targets around the world"

Ya , Like the U.S. Military operating inside Iran.

[MidwestTransplant]

13. Hezbollah is regarded as the terrorism A Team.

[Dogmudgeon]

14. "... could be even more damaging to (America) ..."?

Gee, do you think?

How about trying "complete and utter ruin" for a description.

Iraq has bled us white. Iran will reduce us to a beggar nation.

War has become very expensive. Ask Mikhail Gorbachev.

--p!

[ladjf]

16. And if we are unwise enough to go nuclear, it's far, far worse.

We could find ourselves facing a world coalition of nuclear powers against us in a military way.
We would be the quintessential rogue nation, one that would have to be stopped by the rest of the sane world.

[Delphinus]

29. Never thought I'd live to see the day ...

when the rest of the world would have to stop the insanity of the United States.

[ladjf]

30. Me either. It's like a terrible nightmare comming true.

[PurpleChez]

36. It makes me sick and sad thinking those words. But they're true.

[Auntie Bush]

19. Yes, Bush is doing to us what we did to Russia.

And the sick f*** thinks we can also have permanent tax cuts.
That's why he wants them to be permanent! He doesn't want his rich friends and Corp. to have their taxes raised to pay for the wars he's planning. What a sick sick man! :puke:

[The Wizard]

25. No to Iran war

There is no army to occupy Iran. Our military power has been compromised in Iraq by roadside bombs. If we had a military capable of occupying Iraq the National Guard would still be here guarding the home front and answering the call when natural disasters hit or terrorists strike inside the US. Our economy is stumbling and the treasury has been looted. Does anyone really think China will continue buying US notes if we're using that money to China's detriment?

[raysr]

15. That must make the

fundies all warm and wet! The Rapture, The Rapture is at hand!! You stupid fundie fucks!

[IndianaGreen]

17. Lieberman also wets his pants

He thinks he is among the 144,000 that will survive the 7-years of Anti-Christ rule.

[madmark2]

21. with north korea with nukes and us doing nothing about it; there is

no basis to be going to war over what Iran is doing.

[peacebird]

34. North Korea has nukes but no oil. India has nukes and lots of american

companies are employing Indians at cutrate (for America) wages.

Nukes for them - King George says it's NO PROBLEMO....



Iran enriches uranium and King George screams "the sky is falling!" Terra terra Terra - it's a catastrophy... of course - Iran has oil...

Nah - can't be related to that, or to the fact that Iran refuses to bow to King George... it MUST be because Iran is enriching uranium.

Hell - if I were another country labelled as part of the "axis of evil" I would certainly be trying to get my hand on some nukes. Tho I think the "deterrent" factor of nukes has to be totally discounted when it comes to King George - he's not bright enough to be scared, or compassionate enough to worry about the people downwind of such an explosion.

[cyclezealot]

26. George would say bring it on.

after all he can hide out somewhere in Nebraska; far, away from those whose lives he has jeopardized.

[leftchick]

27. his warning to congress....

will fall on deaf ears as usual. :(

<snip>

Congress "must not permit the administration to launch another war whose outcome cannot be known, or worse, known all too well," they said.

[ConcernedCanuk]

28. Look at a map - Iran was in the plan from the beginning

.
.
.

Troops in the gulf

Troops in Iraq

Troops in Afghanistan

The US is prepared to go at Iran on 3 fronts

I'd bet it's be safe to say the USA has more troops and machinery/weapons in the Middle East than it has on it's own soil, with the exception of it's nuclear missiles which I bet are on an elevated alert status - as in "ready to go".

Ya think the USA is gonna back off?

I wish and hope I am wrong

But I fear the USA is just posturing

Trying to gain world support with their propaganda

And the USA is gonna go after Iran

World support or not . . .

(sigh)

[rodeodance]

33. "Congress "must not permit the administration to launch another war..."

.....The authors concluded by warning that "the parallels to the run-up to the war with Iraq are all too striking: remember that in May 2002 President Bush declared that there was 'No war plan on my desk' despite having actually spent months working on detailed plans for the Iraq invasion."

Congress "must not permit the administration to launch another war whose outcome cannot be known, or worse, known all too well," they said.

[Zech Marquis]

43. and the reply from *

"who cares what you think", or something even more retarded from the corporate raider in chief. :nuke: