The Time May Have Come - The Iran We Cannot Avoid - Michael Ledeen

[seemslikeadream]

http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/michaelledeen/2007/01/02/

There is no escape from the war Iran is waging against us, the war that started in 1979 and is intensifying with every passing hour. We will shortly learn more about the documents we found accompanying the high-level Iranian terrorist leader we briefly arrested in Hakim’s compound in Baghdad some days ago, and what we will learn–what many key American officials have already learned–is stunning. At least to those who thought that Iran was “meddling” in Iraq, but refused to believe that it was total war, on a vast scale.

Several good journalists are working on this story (see, for example, today’s article by Eli Like in the NY Sun), and the outlines are pretty clear. First, we had good information that terrorists were in Baghdad, and had gone to the compound. We did not know exactly who they were. We entered the compound and arrested everybody who looked like a usual suspect. One of them told us he was the #3 official of the al Quds unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, a particularly vicious group. He was carrying documents, one of which was in essence a wiring diagram of Iranian operations in Iraq. That wiring diagram included both Shi’ite and Sunni terrorist groups, and was of such magnitude that American officials were flabbergasted. It seems that our misnamed Intelligence Community had grossly underestimated the sophistication and the enormity of the Iranian war campaign.

I am told that this information has reached the president, and that it is part of the body of information he is digesting in order to formulate his strategy for Iraq. If he sees clearly what is going on, he must realize that there can be no winning strategy for Iraq alone, since a lot of ‘Iraqi’ activity—not just lethal materiel such as the latest generation of explosive devices, now powerful enough to penetrate the armor of most of our vehicles—is actually Iranian in origin. We cannot ‘solve’ the Iraqi problem without regime change in Iran.

Those of you who have borne with me for the last few years will not be surprised to hear this; what’s new is the apparently irrefutable evidence that has now providentially fallen into our hands. The policy makers will not like this evidence, because it drives them in a direction they do not wish to go. I am told that, at first, there was a concerted effort, primarily but by no means exclusively from the intel crowd, to sit on the evidence, to prevent it from reaching the highest levels. But the information was too explosive, and it is now circulating throughout the bureaucracy.

I have little sympathy for those who have avoided the obvious necessity of confronting Iran, however I do understand the concerns of military leaders, such as General Abizaid, who are doing everything in their considerable power to avoid a two-front war. But I do not think we need massive military power to bring down the mullahs, and in any event we now have a three-front war: within Iraq, and with both Iran and Syria. So General Abizaid’s objection is beside the point. We are in a big war, and we cannot fight it by playing defense in Iraq. That is a sucker’s game. And I hope the president realizes this at last, and that he finds himself some generals who also realize it, and finally demands a strategy for victory.

[Reterr]

1. LOL...At least Ledeen is always good for a laugh

>>There is no escape from the war Iran is waging against us, the war that started in 1979 and is intensifying with every passing hour.

:rofl: :rofl:

[seemslikeadream]

4. I would not laugh at Ledeen

He is the reason we are in Iraq

[Reterr]

7. Thats true.nt

[SOS]

39. Agreed

From the article:

"the likes of General Abizaid need to be replaced with generals who are prepared to attack"

And this morning we see Abizaid replaced. Seems this deranged loser still has Bush's earpiece.

[Cobalt-60]

24. its ramping up kinds slowly, isn't it?

They'll be farting upon our UN ambassador next.

[Mr Rabble]

2. Absolute psychopath.

He cites the NY Sun and a story that he likely planted as proof? Do these assholes have no shame?

[Marie26]

47. And if he's so irrelevant,

how is he getting his hands on the "secret Iranian plans" for Iraq? He keeps crowing about it so much, you'd almost think his neocon cronies planted those documents. He did help plant the Niger forgeries, after all. And he keeps promoting that planted NY Sun story - it's obviously some important disinformation for their agenda, so I'm curious to see what that story said.

And here it is: ELI LAKE - Iran's Secret Plan For Mayhem - http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=46032

According to this story, "secret seized documents" show that Iran is helping Sunni & Shiite insurgents, and is allied w/Al-Queda. Or at least, that's what Leeden wants us to believe.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Its rightwing media night at DU.

Has pajama media decided to spam DU?

Michael Leeden has an interesting bio:

"Michael Ledeen (born August 1, 1941) is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a contributing editor to the U.S. National Review and the Jewish World Review. Ledeen was a founding member of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and he continues to serve on the JINSA Board of Advisors. In 2003, the Washington Post alleged that he was consulted by Karl Rove, George W. Bush's closest advisor, as his main international affairs adviser.<1> Ledeen is also a member of Benador Associates.

In 1974, Michael Ledeen moved to Rome where he studied Italian fascism and terrorism. In 1977, he went to Washington to join the Center for Strategic and International Studies affiliated with Georgetown University. He continues to visit Italy frequently.

In 1980, Ledeen worked for the Italian military intelligence service as a "risk assessment" consultant.<2> In 1981, Michael Ledeen then became Special Adviser to secretary of state Alexander Haig, previously head of SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander Europe - NATO's European command center)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ledeen


So that would be full right wing neofascist credentials by my guess.

[seemslikeadream]

6. yes the man behind the Niger Forgeries

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Michael Ledeen -- one of the original neocons,

tangled up in Italian neofascism, the Iran-Contra scandal and the Niger yellowcake hoax, works at the American Enterprise Institute. He's been pushing HARD for war against Iran.

One of the scariest characters out there. :scared:

[Ms. Clio]

14. "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country . . .

and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business." -- Ledeen the mob boss

[No Exit]

15. Every ten years or so, the U.S. needs to pick up some small crappy little criminal

and throw him against the wall, just to show the world we mean business.

Ledeen is first on my list of crappy little criminals.

[Ms. Clio]

17. GMTA

see #11 :D

[seemslikeadream]

8. It would be foolish for America’s political strategists and congressional leaders to ignore Michael

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/MichaelLedeen.html

It would be foolish for America’s political strategists and congressional leaders to ignore Michael Ledeen and his interpretation of Machiavelli. Mr. Ledeen speaks from the cutting edge of a group of men and women who desire nothing more than to reconstruct America in their own image. This nation is in grave danger. Ledeen belongs to a group of men, including Harry Jaffa, Pat Robertson, Willmoore Kendall to Allan Bloom, who, according to Shadia Drury, scholar and author of Leo Strauss and the American Right, share “the view that America is too liberal and pluralistic and that what it needs is a single orthodoxy that governs the public and private lives of its citizens.”<1>



The belief in a single voice that governs the public should cause all Americans to understand these men want to convert this nation to a permanent dictatorship. Their inspirer was Leo Strauss, a professor who taught Machiavellian methods to many of them at the University of Chicago. In fact, Paul Wolfovitz earned his doctorate under Strauss and many of the neo-cons in the White House studied under him. Strauss believed every society needs a “single public orthodoxy.” As Drury put it, “a set of ideas that defines what is true and false, right and wrong, noble and base.” Strauss believed that the role of religion was indispensable to the political success of a nation. For a political society had to hold together and act as a unit in lock step with the leader. Strauss believed that religion was the means to inculcate the desired ideas into the minds of the masses. He didn’t care what religion—just as long as it was a religion that could link itself to the political order.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. Yea it started in 1979 if overthrowing Mossadeq had nothing to do with it

[seemslikeadream]

10. I guess some top official will have to die at the hands of (obviously) Iranian-supported terrorists

Michael Ledeen, the neoconservative point man on regime change in Iran (and in Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia), is apparently capable of viewing diplomacy only through the barrel of a gun. In a November 2003 article for the National Review Online, Ledeen argued that the “appeasers” in Congress and the State Department “don't want to know about Iran, because if they did, they would be driven to take actions that they do not want to take. They would have to support democratic revolution in Iran.” Ledeen concludes, “I guess some top official will have to die at the hands of (obviously) Iranian-supported terrorists before the Pentagon is permitted to work on the subject.” 13

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/barry-tom3.html

[me b zola]

57. That certainly was one of the creepiest things that I've read in a while

:scared:

[Ms. Clio]

11. Just STFU Ledeen

Someone needs to pick you up and throw you against a wall, multiple times, until something like sense oozes out of your mouth.

[Hardrada]

12. Send the creep over there if he wants to fight. Give him an old

M-1 and drop him in the desert somewhere.

[No Exit]

13. Ledeen is a LIAR who may have been involved with the Niger forgeries

This bastard spends a lot of time in Italy, where IMO he hangs with other crooked bastards like himself.

I would not trust him as far as I could spit. And I can't spit far.

I wish he could be persuaded to renounce his American citizenship, because in my opinion, he does not care whether harm comes to this country and its citizens.

[seemslikeadream]

16. Lawrence Franklin and Harold Rhode of the Office of Special Plans, Michael Ledeen of the AIE,

Italian military intervention in Iraq begins when the resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Ledeen, sponsored by Defense Minister Antonio Martino, debarks in Rome with Pentagon men in tow to meet a handful of “Iranian exiles.”


http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/2005/10/sismis-war-in-iraq-iranian-connection.html

Monday, October 31, 2005
SISMI's War in Iraq: The Iranian Connection

Carlo Bonini and Giuseppi d'Avanzo are at it again. Another three-part blockbuster exposé on the involvement of Italian Military intelligence inside Iraq.

Part I: From Chelabi to Iranian Agents--SISMI's War in Iraq
A strategic summit in Rome with the Pentagon.

ROME: He’s another politico-military intelligence chief. He’s a SISMI man. He makes his way slowly down the narrow hallway of the bar at the Hotel Eden in via Ludovisi. He stops to admire the sky and the attractive skyline of Rome in the April sun (it is 22 April 2003) through the hotel’s large windows. He looks elegant in his Chairman's Committee grisaille. . He selects a table at the center of the terrace. The waiter walks over and solicitously takes his order. The gentleman orders a freshly-squeezed orange juice and a double espresso. The Anglo-American invasion of Iraq began on the night of 19-20 March, thirty-three days earlier.

Today, as Silvio Berlusconi reveals that he never supported the military intervention in Iraq, it is fitting to tell the story of how our country, Italy, although allegedly opposed to war as our Premier now claims, was an active protagonist in war preparations and operations.

We will reveal the different arrangements and plans of action, as well as who planned them and with whom they were planned.

For us Italians, recounts the high-ranking SISMI official to La Repubblica, the war on Iraq was already underway in the days before Christmans, 2002. He smiles. He is animated with a glint of excitement in his eyes and for once seems seems to have no qualms about letting his personal satisfaction slip from behind a frozen mask.

Our man is too disciplined to crow about his successes and too stubborn to be discouraged by defeat. He tells us: It was a novelty, a revolution for our intelligence services. Never before in its history has SISMI been so prominently involved in military ground operations and a major role in planning a war campaign, to boot. The Italian Government? Of course our work was authorized by the Italian Government—are you joking? It was real war, not an exercise! The twenty men we sent to Iraq were risking their lives. He pauses. The espresso arrives. He sips it slowly, his eyes half-closed with satisfaction.

He continues. Twenty men from three SISMI departments were involved: Intelligence, Operations and Counterterrorism. They were divided into small groups which were to operate in and around the areas of Kirkuk, Baghdad and Basrah using outlandish disguises. Each unit was unaware of the identities and the mission of the others. Each unit was ordered to operate within a sector of territory and to work with intelligence “assets” who had already been selected and trained. The objectives were twofold: To identify Iraqi defenses and to evaluate the readiness of the Iraqi armed forces.

If combat was less intense than expected, it is due to the job we did—and we didn’t do it alone. If we won the war before firing a shot, it was due to our successes at infiltration and intelligence-gathering.

The story of Italian military intervention in Iraq begins when the resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Ledeen, sponsored by Defense Minister Antonio Martino, debarks in Rome with Pentagon men in tow to meet a handful of “Iranian exiles.” The meeting is organized by SISMI. In an Agency “safe house” near Piazza di Spagna (however, other sources have told us it was a reserved room in the Parco dei Principi Hotel).

[Imagevision]

18. Why aren't there more good journalists investigating 9-11...??

[seemslikeadream]

19. Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran.

It is an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense. First, Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran. David Wurmser, a key member of the group, also wanted Syria included. These pro-Likud intellectuals concluded that 9/11 would give them carte blanche to use the Pentagon as Israel's Gurkha regiment, fighting elective wars on behalf of Tel Aviv (not wars that really needed to be fought, but wars that the Likud coalition thought it would be nice to see fought so as to increase Israel's ability to annex land and act aggressively, especially if someone else's boys did the dying).
http://www.juancole.com/2004_08_01_juancole_archive.html#109376785516786360



3) Ghorbanifar told me he has had fifty meetings with Michael Ledeen since September 11th, and that he has given Ledeen "4,000 to 5,000 pages of sensitive documents" concerning Iran, Iraq and the Middle East, “material no one else has received.” Ghorbanifar, speaking with me by telephone from France, says those meetings took place abroad because he has been refused a US visa the last two times he has applied.
http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/001070.html

[seemslikeadream]

20. Berlusconi's Halloween Visit - The Plame Affair Leads to Rome

http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp11012005.html

Berlusconi's Halloween Visit
The Plame Affair Leads to Rome
By GARY LEUPP

"All roads lead to Rome," and it seems that Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the Plame Affair, and more broadly the lies used to hoodwink the American people into supporting a criminal war on Iraq, will also trudge down the Appian Way lined this Halloween with the ghosts of crucified Iraqis.

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica has recently published an exposé alleging in essence that the Italian military intelligence agency SISMI (Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare) at the specific behest of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi provided bogus intelligence to the Bush neocons in order to curry favor with the U.S. and to abet the relentless drive for war between 9-11 and the March 2003 invasion. This follows an Italian parliamentary report released in part to the public in July concerning the forged Niger uranium documents at the heart of the Plame Affair. These, which purport to show a deal between Baghdad and Niger for the purchase of huge quantities of yellowcake, were it seems produced in the Italian capital.

The report names four men as the likely forgers of the documents (Michael Ledeen, Dewey Clarridge, Ahmed Chalabi and Francis Brookes) and suggests that the forgeries may have been planned at December 2001 gathering in Rome involving Ledeen and SISMI chief Nicolò Pollari. Also in attendance at that meeting: Larry Franklin, Harold Rhode, Manucher Ghorbanifar, Antonio Martino and others including a former senior official of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran. Here is a true rogues' gallery.

Michael Ledeen: neocon columnist, National Review Online contributing editor, specialist on the thought of Machiavelli and on Italian fascism, former employee of the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council, was involved in the transfer of arms to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair. Active in the American Enterprise Institute, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and Center for Democracy in Iran (CDI). Advocates regime change by force in Iran and Syria.

Nicolò Pollari: Author of many publications on legal and economic matters, investigation techniques and intelligence. Tax law Professor at the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria. SISMI head since October 2001.

Dewey Clarridge: former CIA operative, famous in mid-1980s for his role in the Iran-Contra Affair. Head of CIA's Latin America division 1981-84, directed the mining of Nicaragua's harbors and helped organize the Contras. Indicted in November 1991 on seven counts of perjury and false statements, pardoned by first president Bush Christmas Eve 1992.

Ahmad Chalabi: convicted swindler, leader of U.S.-funded Iraqi National Congress, neocon ally, presently one of two deputy prime ministers in Iraqi government.

Francis Brookes: member of the "Rendon Group," a "public relations" body formed by the Pentagon engaged to promote Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress.

Larry Franklin: colonel in USAF reserve, subordinate to Douglas Feith in Defense Department, Middle East specialist, under arrest for espionage for Israel.

Harold Rhode: Pentagon official, Middle East specialist, Ledeen protégé, American Enterprise Institute, heavy neocon.

Manucher Ghorbanifar: Iranian exile, arms dealer, one-time CIA operative distrusted by CIA since 1980s. Key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Antonio Martino: Founding member of Forza Italiano (Berlusconi's political party), Professor of Economics, adjunct scholar with the Heritage Foundation, Italian Defense Minister.

Let's add to the list Rocco Martino, a former intelligence officer and carabinieri, who has admitted (in interviews with the Sunday Times and Financial Times in August 2004) to involvement in the break-in into the Niger Embassy in Rome in January 2001 which procured the letterhead stationary used for the forgeries. He also acknowledges a role in circulating the fake documents, which he first passed to French intelligence, the French being sensitive to any possibility of yellowcake uranium from the French-owned mines in Niger. His motive was apparently mercenary. The French quickly realized the material was bogus, but SISMI, either in possession of the documents or aware of their content, elected to share them with Washington after 9-11.

[aaronbees]

21. What a frightening, paranoid world he lives in

Equally scary are the fawning comment responses on that journal. There's some hardcore backing to neofascists like Ledeen, all in support of Middle East slaughter and culture war. Here's this little disgusting gem: "CIA needs to be entirely cashiered. And we need to start afresh and build ourselves a war-waging, war-winning, deadly serious intelligence agency."

Christ, save us from these freaks.

[slipslidingaway]

22. Who is Michael Ledeen? "From "creative destruction" to

"total war," the guiding beliefs of the most aggressive foreign policymakers in the Bush administration may originate in the works of an influential yet rarely seen neoconservative.'

http://www.alternet.org/story/15860/

[seemslikeadream]

23. Were it in Ledeen's hands, we would invade Iran today.

http://www.alternet.org/story/15860/


Thanks slipslidingaway :hi:

[slipslidingaway]

27. YW & thank you for all the great links. nt

[femrap]

55. It seems like Rove & the WH use

Ledeen's tactics of fear against their enemies in DC...the Democrats.

This guy is another sadist...cares nothing about the deaths his plans would cause. NOTHING...in fact, he thinks these deaths are necessary.

Hope I don't have nightmares.

[Oilwellian]

25. Let me guess....Ledeen's source is called...

Oddball?

Do you suppose Bush will find some generals to his liking?

[seemslikeadream]

26. well yes

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3047433

retired Navy Admiral John M. McConnell and appointing retired Air Force Lt. General James Clapper as the Under Secretary of Intelligence at DOD

[Minnesota_Lib]

28. Shit. Ledeen calls for Abizad to be replaced. Guess what? He just was.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3041932

Put this together with the the shake-up at DOD intelligence that was just announce as well and we are seeing what Ledeen is saying put into action.

Am I being paranoid?

[No Exit]

37. No, you're not. One criminal gangster told the other criminal gangster to "whack" Abizaid

IOW, Ledeen and his friends put out a "hit" on Abizaid. And one of their best hit-men, George W. Bush, carried it out. Ditto for Casey.

Yesterday somewhere I read an article that referred to Saddam's hanging as just another gangster killed by gangsters. It was so perfect. In the article, the author referred to something like "the international pirates' gang" and "the big pirates' table of international swag". How true, how true. Bush and Ledeen are part of this bunch of gangsters.

[keopeli]

29. "in essence a wiring diagram of Iranian operations in Iraq" - a wiring diagram? wtf? nt

[Disturbed]

31. This Fascist and others are pushing for a Four Front War.

Busholini and Cheney would love to attack Iran and Syria. Impeachmnet of the entire Fascist Junta is the only way to stop the ruin of America.

[Eric J in MN]

30. If it had been up to Michael Ledeen, the US would have...

...gone to war with China in the early 1950s, for supporting North Korea.

[leftchick]

32. Then Why Did the US let the Iranians Go????

and why in the hell would a Sunni EVER have anything to do with an Iranian. Also why the fuck would Iraqis need explosives imported from Iran? The US GAVE them free access to several HUNDRED TONS of high explosives in those unguarded depots all around Iraq. They have enough fire power for a generation.

Michael Ledeen is insane.

[LynnTheDem]

33. Ledeen so desperately wants America to be a dictatorship.

Funny how idiots like him forget that they themselves would be just as oppressed under said dictatorship as all the people Ledeen et al want oppressed.

[cool user name]

58. Not as long as Ledeen is the dictator ... n/t

[H2O Man]

34. The 3-leaf clover:

The Plame scandal; the Niger document forgeries; and the neocon/AIPAC espionage scandal ..... they all involve a relatively small core of individuals looking to have the USA change the map of the Middle East ..... Same people, same agenda, same tactics.

[Clark2008]

35. Hey Mr. Leeden - someone who knows better thinks you and your

ilk are full of shit.

At the packed-to-the-rafters brunch preceding Nancy Pelosi's formal swearing in, Melinda and I ran into Wes Clark (and I mean that literally; like I said, it was packed). Clark was really angry about what he'd read in this column by UPI Editor at Large Arnaud de Borchgrave. In the piece, which Clark quickly forwarded to my BlackBerry from his Trio, de Borchgrave details Bibi Netanyahu leading the charge to lobby the Bush administration to take out Iran's nuclear facilities, and paints U.S. air strikes against Iran in 2007/08 as all-but-a-done deal.

"How can you talk about bombing a country when you won't even talk to them?" said Clark. "It's outrageous. We're the United States of America; we don't do that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the military option is off the table -- but diplomacy is not what Jim Baker says it is. It's not, What will it take for you boys to support us on Iraq? It's sitting down for a couple of days and talking about our families and our hopes, and building relationships."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/dc-notes-wes-clark-is-_b_37837.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

36. So the guy who brought us the Niger forgeries

in order to provoke war with Iraq, now has new forgeries to provoke war with Iran?

[seemslikeadream]

38. Exclusive: Iran War "In 2 Years"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16064.htm

[struggle4progress]

40. Iran recently announced a billion dollar loan agreement with Iraq

From a Pakistani paper:

Vol XXIX NO. 286 Sunday 31st December 2006
Iran to give Iraq $1 billion reconstruction loan

TEHRAN, Dec 30: Iran is set to loan one billion dollars to Iraq for reconstruction of the war-torn country, the official news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.

The Islamic republic will give Iraq a one-billion-dollar loan for reconstruction of this country, Economy Minister Davoud Danesh Jafari was quoted as saying by the economy ministry's public relations department.

The Iraqi side has committed to using Iranian contractors and experts for the infrastructure projects that will be defined through coordination with Iran, Danesh Jafari said, without giving details on the conditions of the loan.

Iran has signed an agreement with a visiting delegation headed by Iraq's Finance Minister Bayan Baqer Jabr al-Zubaidi to this end ..

http://www.dawn.com/2006/12/31/ebr16.htm

A country might, of course, offer a military support loan to a another country, while supporting terrorists in that country; there are historical examples of such behavior. But if the reconstruction loan story is true, it seems unlikely that Iran would simultaneously support the development of terrorist cells in Iraq.

[slipslidingaway]

41. An interesting observation here...

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2007/01/casting_for_the.html

Casting for the Play

An intelligence analyst makes judgments based on available data and interprets that data through a mental "filter" made up of experience, contextual knowledge, probabilities and sheer, unmerited, intuitive talent. Among the most valuable indicators of intentions are the appointments of senior people to fill leadership positions.

In that regard it must be said that the appointment of Admiral William Fallon the the post of Commander, US Central Command is surely indicative of intentions.

This distinguished officer's career lay altogether within the field of naval aviation and latterly of joint staff and command functions. His official biography is posted below.

It makes very little sense that a person with this background should be appointed to be theater commander in a a theater in which two essentially "ground" wars are being fought unless it is intended to conduct yet another war which will be different in character. pl

http://www.pacom.mil/leadership/j0/j0bio.shtml


***Thanks to scarletwoman for mentioning this site.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2932890&mesg_id=2932890

[Atman]

61. That is a VERY interesting observation

Sorry it went unacknowledged for so long. Thanks for the alert. Here comes the air war! Dropping, uh...stuff...from planes.

.

[slipslidingaway]

65. Thanks and let's hope that his observation is wrong. A few other

observations here FWIW.

http://theglitteringeye.com/?p=2583

And in response to your post below about pajamasmedia site and Michael Ledeen there may only be one reason to read what is being said on those pages. Forewarned is forearmed :)

snip>>

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1261

Michael A. Ledeen, who holds the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, objects to being called a conservative. Instead Ledeen, a regular contributor to National Review Online, prefers the term “democratic revolutionary.” What's more, Ledeen says that “most self-described leftists today are reactionaries, and have lost the right to describe themselves as people of the left.” 2

Ledeen prides himself on being a public intellectual who has over the past few decades been directly involved in shaping and implementing U.S. foreign policy. He is a prolific author who has written 15 books, including recent ones on terrorism, Tocqueville, and Machiavelli, who Ledeen often cites in explaining his views along with Leo Strauss, another leading influence on neoconservatives like himself. Rather than advocating a conservative foreign policy, Ledeen and other neoconservatives say they are committed to “democratic revolution.”

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stop the bleeding]

43. Lets

make this stay on the front page, shall we?

:D

[hatrack]

44. Wow, is he still alive?

:eyes:

[cap]

45. I am afraid that they are going to drag us into war in Iran

I think that they are just stupid enough to do something like this. You wouldnt need the Navy in Iraq; you would need it in a war with Iran. I am wondering if these folks are hatching up an "incident". The hands of the democrats would be tied in an "emergency" situation.

[Marie26]

46. So what's going on here?

Arnaud de Borchgrave, UPI's neoconservative, is also pushing this idea of an Iranian invasion as a done deal. Meanwhile, Bush is shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic, firing Casey & Abizaid & moving Negroponte to State Dept. Makes me think they're hatching something.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=3044319&mesg_id=3044319

[robertpaulsen]

48. Take 2: Why does this Op Gladio-Iran/Contra fascist have *'s ear? Karl Rove.

Karl Rove, when he served as Bush's policy analyst, regularly consulted with Ledeen on foreign policy issues. When the Washington Post published a list of the people whom Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's closest adviser, regularly consulted for advice outside the administration, foreign policy veterans were shocked when Michael Ledeen popped up as the only full-time international affairs analyst, wrote Jim Lobe of Inter Press Service. 3

“The two met after Bush's election,” the Post reported, quoting Ledeen about Rove's request that “any time you have a good idea, tell me.” “More than once, Ledeen has seen his ideas, faxed to Rove, become official policy or rhetoric,” noted the newspaper. “When I saw that, I couldn't believe it,” said one retired senior diplomat. “But then again, with this administration, it seemed frighteningly plausible.” 4

more...

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1261

Not sure why my original post was deleted. No explanation given, so I'm assuming someone didn't like my original link, as opposed to the truth contained within it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. Micheal Ledeen, not happy unless he has someone to hate

:eyes:

Twenty years ago, he was telling everyone how dangerous Nicaragua was.

[donkeyotay]

50. kick

I was taught that government derived its legitimacy from the governed, that representative government represented the people of the nation, and that the military was for our defense. I swear, there's been a coup.
Nasty bastards. We have been hijacked by the Likud. Our blood, our treasure, our peace, our standing in the world sacrificed for a war in the middle east. For half the money and none of the blood, we could have innovated our way out of needing more oil.

God help us, although I don't know why she should.

[femrap]

56. donkeyotay....you hit the nail

on the head. And we still have to complete that innovation.

[BeHereNow]

51. Can no one find the portal of hell through which he came and shove him back in it?

And while we're at it, if we do find it, lets
send the rest of his demonic associates with him.
Starting with Cheney.
BHN

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

52. The world is full of bogeymen for the warmongers.

The Iranians, the North Koreans, the Cubans, the Venezuelans, the Syrians, the Panamanians, the mighty Grenadians, we are surrounded by people who hate us for our....freedom?

[WinkyDink]

53. Michael Ledeen is certifiable.

[goforit]

54. Evidence evidence OOOOGAH BOOOOOgah evidence...Whata schmuck!!!!

[cool user name]

59. Another prick of the "they'll greet us with flowers" crowd

:eyes:

[Atman]

60. I got this far... "http://pajamasmedia...." -- back click.

Why does ANYONE give these guys cred as a "news" organization?

.

[bidiboom]

62. Lieberman and McCain attended a conference at the

American Enterprise Institute this week, I heard it on The Capital Gang. Coincidence?

[H2O Man]

63. No.

No coincidence there.

[Roland99]

64. "Batshit insane" Ledeen. What a loon! A very dangerous loon.

[seemslikeadream]

66. SCOTT RITTER: Yes, we're going to do it.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Seymour_Hersh/Iran_SHersh_SRitter.html

SEYMOUR HERSH: Final question: given all this, are we going to do it?
SCOTT RITTER: Yes, we're going to do it.