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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 12:51 AM
Original message
Bush's Inconceivable Interest in Iran
Edited on Sun Apr-02-06 01:22 AM by bigtree
All of the talk about bombing Iran to keep them from getting nukes and threatening the 'world' distracts from our own country's abandonment of the international non-proliferation agreement as Bush is positioned to build more nuclear weapons and resume testing.

The Bush regime doesn't care about any of that. They've gone so long without anyone in a position to hold them accountable that the neo-zombies can't resist wagging their finger at Iran for testing missiles. The State Dept. charged Iran's testing of a new missile this week, coupled with what they say is Iran's effort to develop nuclear weapons, shows the country has taken a more aggressive military stance in the region.

'It demonstrates that Iran has a very active and aggressive military programme under way,' US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said

Never mind that this year, in a Senate committee hearing, our Intelligence director Negroponte admitted the missiles were for the defense of Iran's borders from foreign invasion.

Never mind that we're set to explode a 'bunker-busting' bomb in the Nevada desert in June. Never mind that America is occupying two nations we don't have any purchase on, save the threat of our military forces . . .

Iran said last week that progress on nuclear proliferation was doomed by Bush's new nukes. Iranian Minister Mottaki said the progress was "doomed because one single state party" abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.

"New nuclear weapons were built and new doctrines were devised to lower" the threshold to their use, Mottaki said in obvious reference to Bush's obstinacy. Iran is correct. The U.S. push to develop more nuclear weapons, and Bush's abrogation of the treaty makes all of this action against Iran, demanded by the U.S., bizarre and self-serving.

Jimmy Carter, no fan of Iran, called attention to the Bush regime's nuclear ambitions in a comprehensive article. "The United States is the major culprit in this erosion of the NPT." he wrote. "While claiming to be protecting the world from proliferation threats in Iraq, Libya, Iran and North Korea, American leaders not only have abandoned existing treaty restraints but also have asserted plans to test and develop new weapons, including antiballistic missiles, the earth-penetrating "bunker buster" and perhaps some new "small" bombs. They also have abandoned past pledges and now threaten first use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states."

"We've seen that certain countries do not feel committed to attaining the objectives of the NPT," designed primarily to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to countries that don't already have them, Carter said.

In a White House document created in April 2000, "The United States of America Meeting its Commitment to Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," the administration stated that, "as the United States reduces the numbers of its nuclear weapons, it is also transforming the means to build them." The initiative directed the military to prepare contingency plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries, and to build new, smaller nuclear weapons for use in certain battlefield situations.

The report says the Pentagon needs to be prepared to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Iran and Libya. It says the weapons could be used in three types of situations: against targets able to withstand non-nuclear attack, in retaliation for attack with nuclear biological or chemical weapons, or in the event of ‘surprising military developments.'

As reported by the World Policy Institute, the National Institute for Public Policy's, January 2001 report on the "rationale and requirements" for U.S. nuclear forces, was used as the model for the Bush administration's Nuclear Posture Review, which advocated an expansion of the U.S. nuclear "hit list" and the development of a new generation of "usable," lower-yield nuclear weapons.

Three members of the study group that produced the NIPP report were National Security Council members Stephen Hadley, Robert Joseph (Undersecretary of State), and Stephen Cambone (now serving as Pentagon Intelligence director).

Stephen Hadley, co-wrote a National institute for Public Policy paper portraying a nuclear bunker-buster bomb as an ideal weapon against the nuclear, chemical or biological weapons stockpiles of rouge nations such as Iraq. "Under certain circumstances," the report said, "very severe nuclear threats may be needed to deter any of these potential adversaries."

Mohammed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said (in 2002) that disarmament was hampered by countries holding on to their nuclear doctrines, including the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review, which envisions the use nuclear weapons both against non-nuclear states and preemptively against new threats from terrorists and rogue states.

The lack of progress in nuclear disarmament “can be traced in general to the continuing reliance on the doctrine of nuclear deterrence and the lack of an overall disarmament strategy,” ElBaradei said. Also that: “Some nuclear weapon states have reversed direction, by stressing the continuing value of nuclear weapons in defense of national security interests, including discussions of the feasibility of developing new types of nuclear weapons, and scenarios for the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.”

Perhaps that's why the U.N. Nuke chief stressed yesterday that Iran's nuclear program is "not an imminent threat. There is no military solution to this situation," the ElBaradei said. "It's inconceivable. The only durable solution is a negotiated solution."

"It's inconceivable", the director-general of the IAEA said. Hope so.
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lovuian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 12:54 AM
Response to Original message
1. Bush is going to attack Iran that has always been the plan
to get all of the oil reserves he can...
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jeff30997 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 12:56 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. Eeeeeg zactly!
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RoyGBiv Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 12:54 AM
Response to Original message
2. It's conceivable ...

His interest in Iran is quite conceivable. It just has nothing whatsoever to do with nuclear proliferation.

One word: Pipeline.

Good post, though.

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jbnow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 01:10 AM
Response to Original message
4. It is inconceivable
to any reasonable mind.

So much of what has happened in America, what America has done under this administration is inconceivable. I still can't believe in.

You can feel their lust to attack Iran, feel it building. You see them setting things up. You hope you are wrong.

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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 01:44 AM
Response to Original message
5. linked final
April 2, 2006

Bush's Inconceivable Interest in Iran

by Ron Fullwood

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ron_full_060402_bush_s_inconceivable.htm
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Trevelyan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 02:12 AM
Response to Original message
6. http:// stopwaroniran. org/ statement .shtml
For the past year, the growing tensions mounting between the US, Israel, and Iran are reaching a point where military action against Iran is w/in months of becoming reality. The repercussions are terrifying as such military action could involve countries such as China and Russia as they share massive energy/economic interests w/ Iran. The most likely scenario we would face would be the collapse of the US economy as the combination of a massive rise in oil prices and a run on the US dollar would surely be the weapon many countries would use to fight back against a preemptive US or Israeli strike.

For a collection of articles and resources on this subject you can visit this link:

http://reseaudesign.com/research/iran/iran_summery.html

I'm starting up a petition which I will be sending out to as many members of Congress as possible. I'm asking for help to get this signed by as many people, possible in the next month. Send it to as many people you can.

http://www.petitiononline.com/n0war1rn /

Also, here is another petition you can sign from another group:
http://stopwaroniran.org/statement.shtml ==
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Nomen Tuum Donating Member (396 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 02:16 AM
Response to Original message
7. Bush wants to bring on Armageddon and he will do anything to trigger it!
THis is what Bush and his fellow Nazis want to do to Iran

:nuke:
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Erika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 02:50 AM
Response to Original message
8. But guys, W wants to give aid to Iran for their earthquakes
Michael Savage is having a fit that one day W is talking about nuclear destruction of Iran and sanctions, then is talking about aid to Iranianian earthquake victims. It doesn't really make any sense, does it?
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loudsue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 03:26 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. Bush will do ANYTHING to spend taxpayers money.
He's not discriminate about where he can blow the dough: it could be on bombs to support our military industrial complex, it could be on aid to show the world how kind-hearted he is, and to have plausible deniability when he will say he was "forced" to bomb the snot out of Iran.... The man is a psychopath. This is just what psychopaths do when they have a credit card (i.e., our tax dollars, and our great-great-great-great grandchildren's tax dollars).

:kick::kick::kick:
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Mythsaje Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 04:07 AM
Response to Original message
10. The best argument I can think of is that
Iran couldn't really be any kind of a threat, when you get right down to it. Who are they going to threaten? Us? We can blow them to Kingdom Come a million times over. They'd have to be BEYOND insane to even try.
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Rocknrule Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 01:44 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. Bush IS beyond insane
That's the problem
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etherealtruth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 06:38 PM
Response to Reply #13
27. "ain't that the truth" eom
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lala_rawraw Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 06:25 AM
Response to Original message
11. Iran was always the objective
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-02-06 09:39 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. It won't take much for them to slip this one past us
But, I see nothing but obstacles to their hawking around the U.N. for political cover. They've actually lost ground for American approval of an attack. That hasn't restrained them in the past, so, we can't be sanguine about any progress we make resisting their push to war with Iran. Though, I do think it's important that the international body has been loath to be used as a platform for Bush's battle cry.

Getting to Iran was the objective in coddling Saddam as Rumsfeld did all those years ago to provide a buffer against their influence against Israel. Nothing changed, except the interim where the leadership in Iran was more conciliatory toward the U.S., restraining us from overt aggression. Now, the cards are on the table, Elizabeth Cheney is leading the PR battle against Iran for her father as the 'democracy czar', and Iran is scheduled for a round of shock and awe.

That's why it's so important to keep Bush tied up politically as much as we can. I do feel we've been moderately successful in the past few months in putting the Bush regime on their ass. Now, to keep them there.
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 08:15 AM
Response to Original message
14. carrot
DJ UPDATE: US Committed To Diplomacy On Iran Nuclear Crisis

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2006040212090000&Take=1

LONDON (Apr 2006)--U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the U.S. is committed to pursuing a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Rice acknowledged widespread concerns that the standoff between the U.N. Security Council and Iran over its nuclear program could lead to the U.S. taking pre-emptive military action, during an interview with Britain's ITV, recorded in Liverpool on Saturday.

But she stressed "Iran is not Iraq. I know that's what's on people's minds. The circumstances are different," Rice said.

"I just want to be very clear, Iran is not Iraq. However, the president of the United States doesn't take his options off the table. We are committed to a diplomatic course because we believe that a diplomatic course can work," she said.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who met with Rice in England before traveling with her to Baghdad, has said it is inconceivable that military action would be taken against Iran.

full article:
http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2006040212090000&Take=1

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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 05:24 PM
Response to Original message
15. MP: Nuclear weapons not in Iran's defense doctrine
Spokesman of IRI Parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Commission Kazem Jalali said here on Monday that Iran is not after acquiring nuclear weapons since they have no place in country's defense doctrine.

Speaking to Turkey's Channel 7 TV, Jalali added, "More important than any existing law for us Iranians there are the decrees issued by our grand sources of jurisprudence, who have made it religiously forbidden to manufacture, stockpile, or use the atomic bombs." Jalali referred to Iran's trust-building efforts throughout the past three years, arguing, "We had voluntarily suspended all our enrichment and research activities while we were engaged in negotiations with the Europeans."

He said, "The self-contradictory and double-standard policies pursued by the United States are quite obvious. Washington deals quite leniently with those countries that have not signed the NPT, and even cooperates with them in their nuclear programs, and is yet seriously after depriving Iran of its right, despite the fact that we are an NPT member."

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0604037747235107.htm
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 05:41 PM
Response to Original message
16. Hans Blix says there is time for peaceful Iran resolution
Edited on Mon Apr-03-06 05:42 PM by bigtree
4/3/2006

OSLO, Norway (AP) - Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said Monday that Iran is a least five years away from developing a nuclear bomb, leaving time to peacefully negotiate a settlement.

Blix, attending an energy conference in western Norway, said he doubted the U.S. would resort to invading Iran.

"But there is a chance that the U.S. will use bombs or missiles against several sites in Iran," he was quoted by Norwegian news agency NTB as saying. "Then, the reactions would be strong, and would contribute to increased terrorism."

Blix said there is still time for dialogue over Iran's nuclear enrichment program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes but the West fears is part of a secret nuclear weapons program.

"We have time on our side in this case. Iran can't have a bomb ready in the next five years," Blix was quoted as saying.

http://www.wkrc.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=F8ACC57D-2629-480E-9D3E-0CFA5667EC27
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 05:42 PM
Response to Original message
17. The formal war declaration against Iran
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss/2006/sectionV.html

the formal war declaration against Iran, the National Security Strategy of March 16, 2006, stated:

"We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran."
"The Iranian regime sponsors terrorism; threatens Israel; seeks to thwart Middle East peace; disrupts democracy in Iraq; and denies the aspirations of its people for freedom."
"he first duty of the United States Government remains what it always has been: to protect the American people and American interests. It is an enduring American principle that this duty obligates the government to anticipate and counter threats, using all elements of national power, before the threats can do grave damage."
"The greater the threat, the greater is the risk of inaction – and the more compelling the case for taking anticipatory action to defend ourselves, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack. There are few greater threats than a terrorist attack with WMD."
"To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act preemptively."
"When the consequences of an attack with WMD are potentially so devastating, we cannot afford to stand idly by as grave dangers materialize."
"here will always be some uncertainty about the status of hidden programs."
"Advances in biotechnology provide greater opportunities for state and non-state actors to obtain dangerous pathogens and equipment."
"Biological weapons also pose a grave WMD threat because of the risks of contagion that would spread disease across large populations and around the globe."
"Countering the spread of biological weapons .... will also enhance our Nation's ability to respond to pandemic public health threats, such as avian influenza."
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 05:45 PM
Response to Reply #17
18. Iran has an offensive biological weapons program
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/rpt/51977.htm

Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments

"FINDING. The United States judges that, based on all available information, Iran has an offensive biological weapons program in violation of the BWC."
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. The United States judges . . .
in our capacity as rulers of the world, right?

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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 06:14 PM
Response to Reply #21
22. Bolton compares Iran threat to Sept. 11 attacks
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11849446/

House panel seeks sanctions; Rice wants talks with Tehran on nuclear aims

Updated: 10:54 p.m. ET March 15, 2006
UNITED NATIONS - The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, Wednesday compared the threat from Iran’s nuclear programs to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

“Just like Sept. 11, only with nuclear weapons this time, that’s the threat. I think that is the threat,” Bolton told ABC News’ Nightline. “I think it’s just facing reality. It’s not a happy reality, but it’s reality and if you don’t deal with it, it will become even more unpleasant.”

Bolton ratcheted up the rhetoric as the five veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council failed again to reach agreement on how to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions after a fifth round of negotiations.
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 06:21 PM
Response to Reply #22
24. China repeats it in accord with Russia on Iran
Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:07 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters)
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-03-23T120739Z_01_PEK127666_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN-CHINA.xml

A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, said President Hu Jintao and Putin discussed Iran during Putin's two-day visit.

"China and Russia exchanged views and both sides agreed the Iran nuclear issue should be resolved through diplomatic means," Qin told reporters.

Hu and Putin agreed that "all the related parties should display flexibility and patience", Qin added. "China supports Russia's active efforts to appropriately resolve the Iran nuclear issue."

Asked whether China and Russia would block the proposed U.N. statement on Iran, Qin said: "In making any actions or decisions the concerned parties should be focused on whether they truly help to reach a lasting resolution of the Iran nuclear issue, and whether they help the peace and stability of the region ... That is why we should give diplomacy more time and more space."

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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 06:22 PM
Response to Reply #22
25. Maybe they will have to come up with a different excuse
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 06:35 PM
Response to Reply #25
26. maybe?
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/print?id=1716820
Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America

http://www.state.gov/t/us/rm/33909.htm
Biological Weapons

The U.S. Intelligence Community stated in its recent 721 Report that, “Tehran probably maintains an offensive BW program. Iran continued to seek dual-use biotechnical materials, equipment, and expertise. While such materials had legitimate uses, Iran's biological warfare (BW) program also could have benefited from them. It is likely that Iran has capabilities to produce small quantities of BW agents, but has a limited ability to weaponize them.” Because BW programs are easily concealed, I cannot say that the United States can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Iran has an offensive BW program. The intelligence I have seen suggests that this is the case, and, as a policy matter therefore, I believe we have to act on that assumption. The risks to international peace and security from such programs are too great to wait for irrefutable proof of illicit activity: responsible members of the international community should act to head off such threats and demand transparency and accountability from suspected violators while these threats are still emerging. It would be folly indeed to wait for the threat fully to mature before trying to stop it.

Iran is a party to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1925 Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. Like the CWC, the central obligation of the BWC is simple: no possession, no development no production and, together with the 1925 Protocol, no use of biological weapons. The overwhelming majority of States Parties abide by these obligations. We believe Iran is not abiding by its BWC obligations, however, and we have made this abundantly clear to the parties of this treaty. It is time for Iran to declare its biological weapons program and make arrangements for its dismantlement.
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 06:49 PM
Response to Reply #26
28. The New York Times reported Aug 2002 that during the Reagan administration
Edited on Mon Apr-03-06 06:52 PM by bigtree
the U.S. military provided Saddam with critical intelligence that was used in Iraq's aggression against Iran, at a time when they were clearly using chemical and biological agents in their prosecution of that war.

The United States was an accomplice in the use of these materials at a time when President Reagan's top aides, including then- Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci and Gen. Colin L. Powell, then national security adviser, were publicly condemning Iraq for its use of poison gas, especially after Iraq attacked Kurds in Halabja.

The classified support reportedly involved more than 60 military advisors from the Defense Intelligence Agency who provided detailed information on Iranian deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for air strikes and bomb-damage assessments for Iraq.

A retired intelligence officer recalled that, in the military's view, "The use of gas on the battlefield by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern."

A 1994 Senate Banking Committee report, and a letter from the Centers for Disease Control in 1995, revealed that the U.S. had shipped biological agents to Iraq at a time when Washington knew that Iraq was using chemical weapons to kill thousands of Iranian troops. http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/report/riegle1.html
http://www.businessweek.com/print/bwdaily/dnflash/sep2002/nf20020920_3025.htm?db

The reports showed that Iraq was allowed to purchase batches of anthrax, botulism, E. coli, West Nile fever, gas gangrene, dengue fever. The CDC was shipping germ cultures directly to the Iraqi weapons facility in al-Muthanna.

The National Security Archive at George Washington University has a collection of declassified government documents that detail U.S. support of Saddam's regime. This is the collection that contains a photograph of Saddam Hussein shaking hands with Ronald Reagan's Middle East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, who apparently said nothing to Saddam about his nuclear weapons program or his use of chemical weapons. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 05:51 PM
Response to Reply #17
20. both conventional and nuclear
http://www.defenselink.mil/pdf/NMS-CWMD2006.pdf

states "Offensive operations may include kinetic (both conventional and nuclear) and/or non-kinetic options (e.g. information operations) to deter or defeat a WMD threat or subsequent use of WMD."
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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 06:14 PM
Response to Reply #20
23. Already over-extended forces press into Iran while over a hundred thousand
remain hunkered down in their green zone in Iraq?

Or, do those troops press on into Iran from their positions, having feigned defending democracy?

Either way, they're really vulnerable to a wave of reprisals that would certainly come from Iran and the region as well. The potential of a nuclear strike from the Bush regime, while remote (did I just put something beyond them?), makes all of their blather about a threat from Iran sound more like a provocation of their own, considering all of the arsenal that the Bush regime has resurrected and proclaimed their intention to employ.
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slaveplanet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 08:13 PM
Response to Reply #17
30. We are already at War with Iran
More- http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php

History repeats itself, but always with new twists. We are back to the good old days when a Declaration of War preceded the start of a war. Such declaration occurred on March 16th, 2006. Reversing the old order, we are now in the "Sitzkrieg", to be followed shortly by an aerial "Blitzkrieg" in the coming days.

In the old days, Congress declared war, and directed the Executive to take action. In the new millenium, the Executive declared war last March 16th, then Congress will pass H.R. 282, "To hold the current regime in Iran accountable for its threatening behavior and to support a transition to democracy in Iran." This bill and previous ones like it are in direct violation of the legally binding Algiers Accords signed by the United States and Iran on January 19, 1981, that states "The United States pledges that it is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs"; however, this is clearly of no interest to the 353 policymakers sponsoring the bill.

The US promised Russia and China that the UN Security Council statement just approved will not be a trigger for military action after 30 days; true to its promise, the US will attack before the 30-day deadline imposed by the UNSC for Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment activity, i.e. before the end of April. The "justification" is likely to be an alleged threat of imminent biological attack with Iran's involvement.

The Declaration of War against Iran


I n the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the Congressional Declaration of December 8, 1941 stated: " Whereas the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Government of Japan which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the president is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan."

(...)
In addition, the March 16 declaration makes it clear that the US will use nuclear weapons in the war against Iran:
."..using all elements of national power..."
"Safe, credible, and reliable nuclear forces continue to play a critical role. We are strengthening deterrence by developing a New Triad composed of offensive strike systems (both nuclear and improved conventional capabilities)."
and this is further reinforced by the just released "National Military Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction" that states "Offensive operations may include kinetic (both conventional and nuclear) and/or non-kinetic options (e.g. information operations) to deter or defeat a WMD threat or subsequent use of WMD."

There is of course also the claim that Iran is a threat because it intends to develop nuclear weapons. The sole purpose of that claim, which flies in the face of all available evidence, is to generate a diplomatic stalemate at the UN that will allow Bush to state that other nations share the US concern but not the resolve to act. However the actual trigger for the bombing to begin will not be the long-term and by now discredited nuclear threat, rather it is likely to be the threat of an imminent biological attack.

Casus Belli

There is no casus belli against Iran based on its nuclear program. The IAEA has found no evidence that in the 20 years of its development there has been any diversion of nuclear material to military applications. The Bush administration now officially acknowledges that the issue with Iran arises from a "loophole" in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, that allows non-nuclear countries to pursue uranium enrichment. However it is not a loophole, the right to a full civilian nuclear program is an integral part of the compromise, that made non-nuclear countries agree to it. For the US to call it a loophole means to abrogate the treaty unilaterally and propose a different treaty that non-nuclear countries will have no motivation to agree to.


(...)
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lpbk2713 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 05:46 PM
Response to Original message
19. He wants to conquer the world.



He thinks he's fuckin' Napoleon or something.







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robertpaulsen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-03-06 07:48 PM
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29. Kick this to the top!
:kick:
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