LameDuckism and Iran

[ChairmanAgnostic]

It is way too premature to think that Rovian scholars and thugs like Rummie or Cheney will accept Bush as a lame duck. It is also too early to think that realism has set in and that damage control is their first, best choice. Remember, these guys think Armegeddon, Rapture, Haliburton stock splits, Carlyle contracts and war with Iran are all good things and definitely within their grasp.

their modus operendi when in trouble has been to attack. When things look the worst, they will fall back to that approach.

We can expect a couple of more fake events, ammo from Iran, spies and money transfered to "Iraqi insurgents" and some weird plans to attack US and/or Israel. We can expect that within the next two weeks, while our military is ordered to prepare for an air campaign against Iran.

Watch for it, because it is happening. And we cannot stop it. Today's congress practices auto-castration and spine removal each weekend.

[Trevelyan]

1. Petition by physicists on nuclear weapons policy -

Petition by physicists on nuclear weapons policy -

You can sign under non-physicists and under institution many people wrote "Student" or "Self"

Petition by physicists on nuclear weapons policy, September 2005

As physicists we feel a special responsibility with respect to nuclear weapons; our profession brought them into existence 60 years ago. We wish to express our opposition to a shocking new US policy currently under consideration regarding the use of nuclear weapons. We ask our professional organizations to take a stand on this issue, the Congress of the United States to conduct full public hearings on this subject, and the media and public at large to discuss this new policy and make their voices heard.

http://physics.ucsd.edu/petition /

Will The U.S. Nuke Iran?

Professor of Physics Highlights The Dangers....


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NO ONE in the reality-based world could ever be prepared for the foreign policy of this administration. In a sense, it's the perfect storm: bigots, a population of disinterested, seemingly decorticate workers clinging to their jobs with a hope and a prayer (for those outsourcing said jobs), greedy economic ideologues, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim nutjobs,and the reins of government of the most powerful nation on the planet held by a group of people so severely pathological it's amazing they're able to function. Now what training could every prepare anyone for that?

=pertinent here as well. (re NRFE *ilson #19)

When Truman faced the decision of whether or not to use the A-bomb in 1945, no one outside of the project (except numerous Soviet spies) knew about it. President Harry S. Truman didn't learn about it until he was informed (by Stimson, IIRC) a few hours after FDR died.

Also, obviously, no one had any idea of the long term affects such as fallout, etc. But the key factor was that he was getting estimates from the JCS that the invasions of Kyushu and Honshu, planned for October, 1945 and Spring, 1946, respectively, would likely result in 500,000+ KIA for the US forces alone. This, pus growing concern about the geopolitical implications of the Soviet Union entering the war against Japan, led to his decision. If he had not used it and the casualty rates of the invasions of the home islands had been in accord with projections he would have been villified.

Things are very different now, and there's no excuse for the use of nuclear weapons, even "tactical" ones, not being dismissed out of hand. In today's environment there is no such thing as a "tactical" nuclear weapon because their use would have profound strategic blowback. In this I disagree with Billmon's awsome post of yesterday.

Anyone morbid enough to want to pursue this topic should check out The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes.

==BC, i keep on mentioning this, but no one has picked up on it yet. If there is an order to nuke Iran, this will have to go to officers who are especially trusted. Who are those?

People like Boykin—crazy, end-timer christians who want to bring on Armageddon, whom Bush will use for his own purposes, whatever they are.
I really think that if there is a way to look at recent officer promotions for suspicious patterns, it would be worth doing.

=I try to keep up with Prof. Cole and others as often as I can. All of my int'l relations studies never really prepared me for a foreign policy analysis of an Administration THIS out of whack. SIGH

=And while we're discussing Iran and nuclear weapons, Mr Preznit really needs to get out the bubble.

His saber-rattling appears to be causing a crisis of conscience in the military's officer corps.

Apparently some general officers who would have to counter-sign an order to use WMD have announced they would not do so. I know quite a few of the ROTC cadets on our campus and the more thoughtful among them are trying to figure out what to do.

I've never heard ROTC cadets questioning the command authority before. Not even during the Vietnam wind down.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. GREAT LINK. Thank you. Everyone should sign on.

before it is too late.