AP: U.S.-Iran Tensions May Trigger War

[Eugene]

U.S.-Iran Tensions May Trigger War

By JIM KRANE and ROBERT H. REID
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 31, 2007; 2:48 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Citing Iranian involvement with Iraqi militias and Tehran's nuclear
ambitions, the Bush administration has shifted to offense in its confrontation with
Iran _ building up the U.S. military in the Persian Gulf and promising more aggressive
moves against Iranian operatives in Iraq and Lebanon.

The behind-the-scenes struggle between the two nations could explode into open
warfare over a single misstep, analysts and U.S. military officials warn.

-snip-

The No. 2 U.S. general in Iraq told USA Today in an interview published Tuesday that
Iran was supplying Iraqi Shiite militias with a variety of powerful weapons, including
Katyusha rockets and armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades.

"We have weapons that we know through serial numbers ... trace back to Iran," Lt.
Gen. Raymond Odierno said.

The Air Force is considering more forceful patrols on the Iraqi side of the border with
Iran to counter the smuggling of weapons and bomb supplies, The Los Angeles Times
reported, citing senior Pentagon officials.

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013101291.html

Related: Air Force's role in Iraq could grow - Los Angeles Times

[helderheid]

1. NO NO NO!!!

NO MORE!!!

[ShortnFiery]

2. Hell NO! Good luck with aquiring all that cannon fodder.

I know you're itching to set off all those preety new bombs, but we the people won't fight in your stupid proxy war. How about some LONG OVERDUE negotiations?

[redqueen]

4. Air attack doesn't require too much cannon fodder. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

12. But the reaction ... all hell breaking loose within Iraq as well as, perhaps

the ENTIRE Middle East will take a whole lotta our precious treasure, i.e., sons and daughters. :nuke:

[redqueen]

22. True...

however, they can always reinstate the draft... they've got the system primed and ready to go.

[ShortnFiery]

30. Good luck with that ... all hell will break loose here.

These arrogant leaders seriously overestimate their talent to whip us up into another "hate frenzy."

If they bomb Iran and many of our soldiers are killed because of this, which they will be, all hell's gonna break loose with the populace of the USA.

I served in the Army but, NO JOKE, I'll break my children's legs before I let them go over to the Middle East to kill and die for the Corporate Elite's wars. :grr:

[redqueen]

39. Hell, they may want all hell to break loose here.

Gives 'em an excuse for martial law.

:shrug:

[ShortnFiery]

48. Then again, the corrupt Neo-Cons will go crazy, completely crazy

and out of power. :evilgrin:

You'll never tame the spirit of The American Horse! - The spirit of good American People" :patriot:

-----------------------------
Ooh yeah...
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Well, well, well, well

Stick it in your ear
Cause it ain't exactly clear
What you people hear
I tell you thats right, oh yeah
Sucker in the middle
Blowing hot and cold
Cracking his whip
On the american horse

Hes gone crazy, completely crazy
Trying to tame the american horse, well
Hes gone crazy, completely crazy
Trying to tame the american horse, well

Feather in his mane
Showing no fear
Of a twisted shady fool
I tell you thats right, ah-ha, thats right
Truths a mighty clear
Forever on and on
Never break a spirit
Of the american horse, well
Don't you shoot him down

Hes gone crazy, completely crazy
Trying to tame the american horse
Hes gone crazy, completely crazy
Trying to tame the american horse, yeah

------------------
*Complements of those great social scientists, The Cult.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. What domes after the air attack

will require it

[dysfunctional press]

15. what comes after the air attack...?

a million or more iranian troops storming into iraq...and lots of sunburn missiles streaking around the persian gulf.

for starters.

we won't have to worry about sending troops into iran to do battle- the iranians will bring it to us in baghdad.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Closing the Straits

and we will loose a Navy... look that is the point we will need a draft, or storm the white house, your choice... or both

[redqueen]

23. Haven't they been tweaking the SSS for this? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Yep

the only reason they have not encated teh draft is quite frankly they don't have the capital anymore, but if we loose an army corp, you betcha they will try

[SpiralHawk]

3. "That sounds fabulous to me" - Commander AWOL

"Bring it on It'll be terrific for Massive War Profits for me and my republicon cronies

"And I will be safe and sound, AWOL on the golf course, smirk, smirk

"Too bad about your sons and daughters in uniform, but they will always know they helped boost oil and munitons profits for me and my elite repubicon cronies

"Smirk, smirk" - Commander AWOL

[gatorboy]

5. Was Syria busy?

Weren't they the official boogeyman last year?

[mzmolly]

44. Well, now one at a time GB.

We'll get to them "axis of evil" folks one at a time.

[JHB]

50. They only have time to hit one of them...

...so they're going for the one that'll tie us up for the longest.

[redqueen]

6. May?

My my my... they're optimistic, aren't they.

As was the case with Iraq, the plans were made long ago. Anyone who thinks the bushistas answer to anyone hasn't been paying attention.

[Ezlivin]

7. "[C]ould explode into open warfare over a single misstep..."

And damned if Bush isn't trying to provoke that "single misstep" with every move his administration makes.

How do you know Bush has been masturbating? He left the Bible open to the book of Revelations.

[Junkdrawer]

18. One provocateur, on the ground in Iran with a Sunburn missile is all it takes...

And they're off...

[roamer65]

8. ...and I bet some trace back to the USA...

so when do we begin bombing ourselves?:silly:

arms come from everywhere...gimme a break you pentagon thugs. You're lying.

[atreides1]

9. Riiiight

"We have weapons that we know through serial numbers ... trace back to Iran," Lt.
Gen. Raymond Odierno said.


Now we have the serial numbers of what armaments the Iranians have in their inventory, pardon my
disbelief.

Considering who is making the statement, I don't buy it, this man is just another Bush lackey who was rewarded for his loyalty to his Emperor, just like Petraeus and Fallon!!!!!

[gatorboy]

10. So someone's in Iran checking serial numbers?

How'd they pull that off :shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. What is more

we don't know all the serial numbers in OUR inventory... at times....

Polish-German Border, 1939... comes to mind

[fooj]

26. How about that huge cache of weapons left UNATTENDED

in a warehouse in Iraq? Remember those?

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Yep, as well as the nuclear waste

with seals broken....

Care to tell me when these two news items made it to the headlines?

Or above the fold?

;-)

[fooj]

36. Same old "nothing to see here..."

:eyes:

[kitkat65]

54. Something left unshredded from the Iran-Contra days?

:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

16. no...we still have the reciepts.

with the serial numbers on them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. like we had the recepits for the Mustard gas we sold

to Iraq that was no longer there or good for that matter?

[gatorboy]

27. Heh!

It reminds me of a political cartoon from the 80's. It had a shot of Reagan in Iran, dressed as Santa Clause, passing out WMDs from his sack of goodies.

[jpak]

20. Curveball gave them to Chalabi who gave them to Bolton...etc.

They all match...

[Raydawg1234]

34. well, maybe we sold the weapons to Iran...

[leveymg]

11. We're going to go to war over RPGs and bottle rockets? Small arms. Hardly casus belli.

The case for war just gets weaker and weaker with each restatement.

AP can print nothing but Iran war propaganda if it wants, but this isn't going to change anyone's mind. We're not going to fight a major regional power over this sort of routine didly-squat.

[nam78_two]

21. K&R...yikes....nt

[Bobbie Jo]

24. Sounds like they could use more troops..hmmmm

For this eventuality. You know, like a "surge" or something?

[USA_1]

29. Appeasement Did Not Stop Hitler ...

... it will not stop Bush.

When will the world take steps to stop this treasonous criminal???

[ShortnFiery]

31. But Churchill also recommended, that we instead "jaw jaw" rather than "war war"

We can't "jaw jaw" with GW Bush because this arrogant man is NOT capable of listening to anybody, not even Congress, his fellow Republicans OR his own Father. :crazy:

So we must investigate and impeach, IMO, with extreme prejudice. :thumbsup:

[Chulanowa]

49. He's not the world's to stop

He's our problem.

[USA_1]

55. Bush Is The World's & The USA's Problem

IMPEACH

REMOVE

and, a new

NUREMBURG TRIBUNAL!

[Chulanowa]

56. Just saying...

We can't expect the world to take out our garbage for us.

This is our country, we are the first line of defense against this maniac.

I must say I like your trifecta, however. Big thumbs up

[RaleighNCDUer]

32. "We have weapons that we know through serial numbers..."

We know those serial numbers, of course, because we sold them the weapons in the first place.

[tom_paine]

33. "may trigger war"? Try: Bushler will lie our way into it again.

[Zhade]

35. How this propaganda prepping us for war only had 2 recs before me...

...is bewildering.

Kick this up!

[The Count]

37. But who's triggering the tensions? The article implies it's some act of God...

[EVDebs]

40. The "Surge" is really predeployment for an Iran attack it seemstome

Plus, Bush has NO INTENTION of leaving Iraq...

14 Permanent Bases in Iraq
http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/bases.htm

which information is what got the Quakers investigated by the NSA in the first place.

[Zodiak]

38. Just for you Zhade, I rec'd

but I gotta admit, this news is really depressing, so it is hard to recommend it.

It is Iraq redux, and honestly, this case is thin and transparent on its face and depressing in the extreme that the news media continues to not do its job.

All the mea culpas on run-up to the Iraq War meant nothing...the media, the military, and the Bushbots got their orders and are following the script.

It doesn't matter what you, I, the Democrats, or the rest of the world thinks....the script will be followed. PNAC must be satisfied.

[spanone]

41. No shit....and you, the media, are complicit.

The media is not asking the questions again.

[Sirveri]

42. What really scares me is that both sides appear to want war.

Iran probably figures that if they can provoke us to do something incredibly stupid, they'll gain the support of the arab street and be able to expand into Iraq with help from a massive uprising of Shia Iraqis. Having both sides (in the executive at least) wanting war bodes very badly for the future. Then again maybe Ahmadinejad doesn't really want war and is just saber rattling for other reasons. Then again I don't think the clerics want a war, and I know the Dem's don't want war (hell a good chunk of Repukes don't want it either). I hope it's enough to hold it back though.

[NNN0LHI]

46. What does Iran have to gain by cooperating with us?

Saddam cooperated with us and look where that got him. Don't you think the Iranians were watching?

Don

[Sirveri]

47. I don't understand your question.

Do you mean cooperate by actually trying to provoke us into a war (which I don't see as cooperation, more like manipulation).

or

Do you mean cooperate as in bow to various demands about their nuclear program (which I also don't see and appears to be some form of saber ratling).

[NNN0LHI]

52. Bush is complaining that Iran is providing conventional weapons to Iraqis

I don't see what Iran would hope to gain by cooperating and stopping the flow of these arms.

Bush has shown that he will invade and occupy nations who have cooperated with him in the past.

Don

[Sirveri]

57. That's another problem.

If Bush is complaining about Iran doing what you said, is it true? I certainly don't trust him and am thinking it's false just because he said it. Even though it could very well be true. But either way if Iran did decide to stop, assuming they actually are shipping weapons into Iraq, it wouldn't be to cooperate with us, it would likely be to makes themselves look more innocent on a world stage. Then we would call them liars and the rest of the world would say we have no credibility and to shut up. Either way I don't see Iran 'cooperating' in any real sense of the word any time soon.

[mzmolly]

43. You don't say? Well now, whoda thunk it?

This shit is surreal.

[EFerrari]

45. No flies on Authorized Propaganda.

:sarcasm:

[druidity33]

51. i wonder

If this statement has anything to do with the recent emergence of the "Heaven's Army"(?) Shia militia and a full scale attack launched by them in Najaf? Iraqi Army had to call in British and US forces to "quell the violence"... over 200 dead and over 200 detained.

it's a set up.....


but that's just a gut feeling i've got, no proof or nuthin...

[we can do it]

53. No NO NO!!

We have got to stop these lying fools.

If you missed these "before" pictures of Tehran, please check out this beautiful city and share it with everyone you know.
http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html