Login Here
Dear George W. Bush --
Prominent officials in Iraq and Dubai have a message for you concerning your well-known hard-on for attacking Iran:
DON'T BE A FREAKING MORON.
First, here's Iraq's National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie on the subject:
"Attacking Iran? I say a big fat no. It's a fatal mistake," al-Rubaie said. "It should never be an option at all."
Rubaie said any attack on Iran would set the whole Middle East ablaze and Iraq would suffer the most.
"It is not a strategy. It's a mistake of Chernobyl magnituded," he maintained, adding, "What we need from the United States is to engage seriously with Iran."
[...]
"The whole area will be in flames, and Iraq will be the battlefield for all this, and we will pay heavily."
Sorry, Mr. al-Rubaie, but Bush doesn't give a rip so long as nobody he cares about is adversely affected. Yeah, as you say, Iraq will get even bloodier than it is now -- and the de facto Shiite truce where American troops are concerned will be forever blown to shreds as Iraqi Shiites will seek revenge on us for the attacks levelled by Bush against their fellow Shia in Iran. But Bush really couldn't care less.
Next, we have Dubai's chief of police, General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim:
DUBAI (AFP) - Dubai's influential police chief has said Western powers should be warned that their relations with Gulf Arab states would suffer if they launch a military strike on Iran over its nuclear programme.
General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, whose remarks often reflect the views of the political establishment in the United Arab Emirates, said Gulf "leaders should tell America and the West that 'an attack would have negative consequences for our relations with you.'"
[...]
"We feel great concern about voices in the West, particularly in the United States, speaking of an eventual strike against Iran," added, expressing discomfort with the prospect of Iran effectively closing off the Straits of Ormuz, through which one quarter of the world's petroleum is shipped.
Yeah, closing off the Straits of Ormuz (or Hormuz) would be a total effing badass bummer, but again, Bush doesn't care. It's no skin off his nose, or reduction in his capital gains. Sucks to be everyone else, though.
Share This 
Spotlight
Spinning Wheel
Will the cakewalk crazies listen? Hell no..they are nuts!
I do not think we are dealing with a rational prez. I am very serious about this.
Maybe they’ll kick Halliburton out. I thought they were moving their headquarters over there.
Do we know what happened to the nukes in LA. Were they ever returned to ND?
Maybe the leaders in the middle east and OPEC have given Bush the word. Maybe the democrats have given Bush the word. The saber rattling has quieted lately.
JPL @ 5
That is a good question!!! Did they leave them at Barksdale, or did they illegally fly them back over the US again to Minot, or did they do something else with them?? That incident freaks me out.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 3
You’re probably very correct about it, too. I really wish that a psych exam were required of pres candidates AND of ALL people with the power to wage wars.
Folks I am struggling listening to this woman on Democracy Now describing what is going on in the Congo, but it is a must. Your stomach will turn, you will want to turn it off, but I am serious we need to listen to her.
10 month old babies being raped, 18 month old children being raped by 20 men. This sexual violence going on in the Congo is insane (60% of the people who are raping are Hutu’s). 4 million people in the Congo have been killed. 38,ooo dying a month.
Please listen. It is about 15 minutes into Amy’s program today. It is painful to listen, but we must.
http://www.democracynow.org/ar.....08/1340244
Oklahoma kiddo @ 3
i don’t think there is much that is rational about our poltical culture these days… but bush is right over the top crazy.
I wonder what happened to the nukes too.
Pat Buchanan is losing it right now about trade. He should consider retirement.
Kathleen @ 9 -
listened to DN! already this moring.
My wife and I have a running argument about this. I tell her we are going to attack Iran. She gives me half a dozen reason why attacking Iran makes no sense. I counter with the sad fact that the people who will engineer the attack are not rational.
I very much want to be wrong. No such luck.
Hey, since it’s hard to think of a way they can possibly fuck up Iraq any worse than they have — time to move on.
Leo Strauss taught the neocons that perpetual war — war an an end in itself — is a good principle for the nation. It’s noble, brings honor, prestige, and gives the nation a sense of purpose.
Sick bastard, that Strauss.
Loo Hoo. @ 11
what’s he saying?
LS @ 7
A detail that strikes me as odd is that the B-52 that did the transporting was not stationed at Minot but flew in just for that job AND had hardpoints that did not fit the pre-loaded pylon that had the missles on it. Now, where is the world do you keep a B-52 with oddball mounts? Is this usual or unusual? Does anybody know where the B-52 went afterwards?
The Washington Post had such a lame article about the nukes just being an innocent mistake that it actually made me more concerned.
I’d be interested to see how all the “independent” voters (disengaged suburban white Republicans who can’t take the cognitive dissonance anymore) will react to $8 gas and their little babies being drafted. I’d be even more interested to see how all the Republicans on the ballot in 2008 will react.
A couple of weeks ago I started leaving SOS messages on European newspaper/blogs. I simply ask that French or English citizens not allow their folks in the UN vote with the US in any manner which might in any way appear to ratchet up conflict with Iran. We Americans are fighting a compromised press and lunatic fringe in the White House Cheney/Bush. We need help!
Kathleen @ 9
I saw it. Horrendous. People act on their thoughts…thoughts are no”thing” other than figments of the imagination. That is the problem with everything…what “happens” is all the result of the fantasy of the mind.
JPL @ 17
me too.
He’s wanting America to close the doors to trade, yelling and his blood pressure must be off the chart.
I do not like NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO or the DLC.
Eureka Springs @ 19
You know, you’re right, we do need outside help. Ever get any response to your postings?
Thanks PW. I am really hoping that war with Iran never happens. Don’t we have enough chaos?
JPL @ 17
Have you read our friend Alfred Kelgarries’ take on the matter? Try his ‘Strange Case of the Six Misplaced Nuclear Weapons’ with updates at http://ratiocinatonsofasavageheart.blogspot.com/.
Buchanan should throw his hat in the ring, again. The GOP needs him in the presidential race.
Elliott @ 21
The whole story is a convoluted “story”, and the story does not stand up to logic. None of it makes sense. Someone ordered the action, and someone blew the whistle. I think it is the most serious national security incident that I can remember.
Loo Hoo. @ 22
Well, if he wants to do that, I guess either Big Corporate America has to start paying American workers a living wage, so everyone can afford everything, or we rewind back to 1860 or so, when the average worker was disposable.
Hmmmm.
Loo Hoo. @ 22
i was asking only because i do not like what we did to costa rica wrt to their cafta vote yesterday.
TexBetsy @ 25
That act could be the one that ‘brings it all back home’. The U.S. could well be declared a rogue state, and other nations have been known to unite and strike those down.
Buchanan doesn’t run on the gooper ticket- last time he ran he trashed Ross Perot’s party- it’s toast.
I think if we attack Iran we will see many many suicide bombings here in the United States.
I’m a little surprised Kongress hasn’t yet come forward with pallets of money for the next war, just in case Bush needs it.
Alfred hasn’t had new updates. I miss him on the late nite blog. Maybe he’ll update soon. Why wasn’t this in all the papers besides the Post’s sorry article. It does make you wonder how much control the Bush Administration has over the news.
We may see many suicide bombings in the US whether we attack Iran or not.
Elliott @ 33
Think big. Think bigger. Think cowboy in ‘Dr. Strangelove’ riding his bomb down to the ground.
behindthefall @ 31
Some say we are already a rogue state.
Apologies if this has already been linked today, but I did enjoy this quote;
“Now, as they survey the wreckage of their cause, conservatives may ask themselves: “Well, how did we get here?” They may tell themselves: “This is not my beautiful Right.” They may ask themselves: “My God, what have we done?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10.....mp;ei=5087
Elliott @ 33
An attack on Iran could easily lead to a national emergency being declared resulting in no elections and martial law…that is what I think Cheney is banking on. It won’t work.
LS @ 28
Me too. Why has this story gone quiet. Who is going to pay for this? I’m just hoping impeachment is off the table only so that all of the criminals will Not be pardoned in advance of their criminal trials. Certainly, please, the democrats have a plan. Maybe they finally learned that criminals wanting a facist America must be put out of their misery once and for all.
TexBetsy @ 38
that would be me.
The view in this house is that attacking Iran is very much on the table. Anytime from now until after the Nov. 2008 elections.
TexBetsy @ 38
‘Some’ might be right. But don’t shout; if it gets to be generally known, the adults might decide we needed taking down a peg or two, and despite what PNAC thinks, we are most definitely vulnerable in many ways.
From Ignatius’s piece of stenography in yesterdays WP
(emphasis mine)
I’m no English major, but I believe this is referred to as foreshadowing.
Is there really any doubt that this is how Dick n’ W are going to get their next war on.
God help the troops in Iraq and God help us all…….
TexBetsy @ 38
We don’t need some to say. All we have to do is observe. I’d call us the most dangerous nation in the world at this point.
And some say world war III has already begun.
LS @ 28
Navy veteran questions why six nuclear missiles were flown on combat aircraft to staging area for Middle East
John Byrne
Published: Monday October 8, 2007
Link, repaired by moderator
Elliott @ 24
Actually I have been shocked at how many times my polite SOS has never shown up.
Invading Iran seems to be too stupid even for the Moron in Chief.. Bombing strategic targets is the only option worth considering- but there’s a cost benefit analysis that has to be done.
How far back would such a bombing set the Nuke project? That’s the critical question- and then what are the likely consequences.
I think that in the end there will be no war with Iran. Iran could fall off the tree ripe of it’s own weight if everyone allows it to happen. It’s govt. is not popular- and it’s a generational thing as I understand it- the younger the Iranians- the more they hate it..
I don’t want to see Iran get a nuke though- and the fuckhead president owes it to us to do what he can short of war to make that not happen- threatening war is OK.
Steve-AR @ 48
Linky no worky for moi.
Re-link
link
rwcole @ 50
not when preventive war is considered “self-defense”.
now, i don’t buy that theory…. but that’s the one our government has been espousing. which means, if iran thinks we are a threat - they may think they have the right to preventively attack us first.
selise @ 30
Lordy, the Central American countries and Mexico need to get together and organize.
Eureka Springs @ 49
That’s disturbing, even kinda ominous.
selise
What would Iran do- Invade?
LS @ 40
I wouldn’t be so sure. If my workplace is representative of the wider populace, not only are people apathetic, they’re unaware.
At some point, don’t Republics have to try to wash off the stink of Bush/Cheney? Right now, their strategy seems to be to ignore it and hope that no one notices that Bush/Cheney have been brought to you by the Republics.
Perhaps Republics sold their souls to the Bush family so long ago that they no longer know how to function independently.
Steve-AR @ 48
The link is directed to this thread at FDL, not to the article, as you probably wanted.
This is totally clear from the picture two threads back of chimp holding the baby. The baby is clearly distraught - chimp is mocking him. fuck him.
carolyn urban @ 60
Commoners like the baby have always been playthings for Bush Royalty.
OT..Digby’s take on the “Rich” Frost family:
Fetid Compost Where Their Hearts Should Be
link
PeteCO @ 57
Well, that would be the wake-up call for sure. I’m not totally sure, but I think it would backfire somehow.
behindthefall @ 59
Try link @ 52
Look at our history. Korea, ‘Nam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Oh… and of course that huge threat to democracy and world peace; Grenada.
rwcole @ 56
warning terroris attacks. 4th gen. warfare against our troops in iraq, economic warfare, petro politics. not saying iran would be smart to do any of those things, but we’d be stupid (imo) to provide the provocation.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 65
Not mad enough, pick up “The Coldest Winter” by David Halberstam about Korea.
Apropros the nuke story, this from No Quarter. (text).
rwcole @ 50
no. bombing strategic targets is not an option worth considering.
LS @ 63
I don’t know either. If they don’t care about Iraq, they don’t care about global warming, they don’t care about torture, about habeaus corpus, about illegal wiretapping, about corrupting the DOJ, about destroying the election process, why will people suddenly be bothered about elections being outright cancelled? Sure, a curfew could be a problem, but elections? Just another thing on the list to do.
And to qualify this: I used to think highly of this country. Now, I think the citizenry has allowed itself to be dumbed down and led to slaughter.
rwcole @ 56
I’d be more concerned with what countries would side with Iran and against us. Pravda has carried stories on the nukes flying across our country and the paper did not paint a great view about our intentions.
rwcole @ 50
You make some good arguments for NOT threatening war. F’r instance, if it is a generational thing and the Iranian government is likely to change, you don’t tell the nation that it’s at risk of becoming a glassy surface (even ’surgically’), because that just unites the populace behind a government which they, otherwise, would not be loyal to. (Look at Bush trying to keep our loyalty by telling us to be very afraid.) My personal preference, not that I’ve ever been in any position to exercize it, is to just put in James Bond and sabotage whatever centrifuge ought not to be there. Now, where was James …?)
rwcole @ 36
Problem is, most of the people in Iran are like us. Pissed off about their nut ball president, but not willing to overthrow him. The question is what do we do?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 65
el salvador, panama, nicaragua, haiti,… it’s a very long list.
raven @ 67
Was that Halberstam’s last book before he passed away?
If Bush doesn’t attack Iran, then Prez Rudy will. Rudy’s campaign is packed with neocons.
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 73
wait. they have elections too.
obese, trans-fat addled americans with millions of slaughtered 3rd world corpses floating through the air past fast food joints have the right to decide what happens to iranians.
China owns our debt and I can’t imagine they’d be happy about our attacking Iran.
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 75
Yea, it was just released. Talk about cooking the intel, Mc Arthur purposley ignored solid evidence that the Chinese were across the border and sent hundreds to their death in one of the stupidest operations in history. Dugout Doug my old man called him. He never spent ONE night on Korea in the whole war.
Here is the website where one can purchase sports type gear - like ball caps, running shorts, etc. from BlackwaterUSA.
Nice image for young people.. Coming soon to a school near you?? Hmmm…
http://proshop.blackwaterusa.com/
selise @ 66
I would be concerned that we would find out that Iran, remarkably enough, has friends and that those friends have big toys. Russia just pulled out all its nuclear engineers that were at the main (as I gather) Iranian nuclear installation. They have rather long-standing arrangements with Iran. Putin has been jumping up and down making all the signs of a man trying to tell us not to get too big for our britches. Then there are certain Asian countries.
Puesto @ 81
can i get a bulletproof thermos?
TexBetsy @ 38
I’d say that was a fair description.
JPL @ 79
bingo
Intel community to release Iran Report to slow Bush war machine.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/.....r-machine/
Over the last four years Iaea’s El Baradei has repeated that there is “no hard evidence” to back up the claims that have been repeated bye the “cakewalk” zealots about a nuclear weapons program
General Pace told us awhile back that there is “no hard evidence” to back up the claims being repeated about the IED’s in Iraq being from Iran.
Mr. El Baradei has asked, begged, demanded that all sides turn down the inflammatory rhetoric. Micheal Ledeen, Bill Kristol, Cheney, Ari Fleisher, John Bolton etc etc. keep pushing the Bush administration towards a pre-emptive strike on Iran.
These crazies keep turning up the war flame. Hope they get seriously burned.
Many in the world argue that George W. Bush is the most dangerous man on the planet.
“Blackwater Pro shop.. For Work… For Play… For You” Their marketing logo.
Nice stuff for budding jack-boot Fascists
Irony?
Bush is crazier than their guy — and he’s got nukes too.
paris hilton can be crowned queen or iran after we make sure their libraries are burned to the ground.
And what is this I heard about churches buying R-rated video shoot-em-up games to entice the youth to come? Have our churches gone completely nuts?
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 83
I’ve been looking for one of those! ;)
Insanity in the Congo, Dafur, Miramar, Oppression in Pakistan, Binladin’s people are probably in better shape than they’ve ever been in.
Our military tied up in the meatgrinder that is Iraq. Iran could easily be the the chainsaw.
A.P. is saying that Iraq is not off BlackWaters case. Leave and a million plus in compensation their offer. Weird to be hoping for the backbone of the Iraq government to not fold on this.
Like to see some backbone and intelligence in our Democratic representatives. I understand this is a comon thought, and I can’t find much too yell at my representatives about votes. They’re good, mostly. After finally making it though Drew Westen’s The Politial Brain, I’d say any Democratic polititian should read it and get your heads arround it. I’m very impressed with his work.
One thing seems certain, that the war mess is going to dumped into the next president’s lap.
behindthefall @ 82
good points. and so were the other comments i saw…
raven @ 80
Thing is, once Dugout Doug had proof the Chinese were there, he wanted to saturation bomb the Yalu river area(according to a bio of Mac I read). Interesting thing is, for a right wing Republican(which is what he was in those days), he was pretty liberal as far as the rules he made when overseeing the rebuilding of Japan.
behindthefall @ 82
I checked out that story about the Russian engineers exiting Iran, and it all goes back to one source, Debka, and they have nothing to back it up…I dunno…it could be a planted story. The Russians have been buzzing our airspace with their nuke bombers. Mr. LS checked up on the bombers CNN was referring to in that story and found out that those bombers have been decommissioned…unless they really have pulled them out of mothballs…I have the links, but I’m just passing on the story…perhaps the “missing” nuke story was a psyops warning to them…I dunno….it all boggles the mind.
relocate the private blackwater army….
hmmmm…..
’sherman’s been in my town
burned it all to the ground…
now there’s not a tree
tween’ Memphis and the sea’
Oklahoma kiddo @ 87
‘Many’ would be right — except maybe there’s somebody who pushes Bush’s buttons we either know about or don’t know about.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 94
You know, the longer this goes on, the more obvious it is that remodeling Iraq was not the only item on BushCo’s list.
AP - Britain will halve its remaining troop contingent in Iraq next spring, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Monday. A British official later said they could not guarantee that any troops would remain in Iraq by the end of 2008.
Puesto @ 88
Maybe we should all go shopping there and start appearing wearing their gear as “fashion”. That’d teach ‘em and diffuse the gung-ho types. /s
Yea, like keeping the emperor around to add legitimacy. He understood the “oriental mind”. Plus, he got the medal of honor for deserting his troops in the Phillipines.
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 78
Never knew White Man’s Burden came with fries.
No wonder imperialists need so much lebenspraun.
Deep fryers.
LS @ 102
with thin pink ribbon sewn into the lettering and dangling down about 3 ft.