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.
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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.
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 105
lol
This guy on Olbermann says that Prez Bush thinks his legacy will be one of “freedom and liberty”. Anyone want to argue that Mr. Bush is stable and reality based?
Loo Hoo. @ 91
Does this suprise you? The Christian right has already perverted(no pun intended) Jesus’ message. Jesus would be ashamed of guys like Falwell, Pat Robertson and Bill Donohue. Not to mention he’d be pissed at the Catholic Church over the whole pedophilia coverup.
Deep Fryers-
oh boy. there’s a Boschian image.
PeteCO @ 57
Unfortunately, I fear that describes most of America.
Puesto @ 88
grey water
is from bathing,laundry and kitchen.
black water
is sewage.
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 83
For $18.00 you can get a “Baby Onesy” outfit for toddlers with the blackwater logo.. in the Apparel/Youth section.. Go here:
proshop.blackwater.usa
Maybe the anti-war left should all show up dressed in Blackwater gear at the RNC Convention!! Heh!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 87
No question. And not because of personal power, simply because his minions stole him a powerful position. On his own, the chimp’s a chump.
LS @ 63
Last week I bought the DVD box set of “The World At War”, a British documentary history of WW2. It is widely considered to be the gold standard, even though it is over 30 years old.
One of the interviewees is a British woman who was married to a German, and who lived in Germany in the 1930’s. She compared the closing down of democracy to “the steady drip of anesthetic”.
I strongly recommend this.
LS @ 113
You trying to get someone hurt?
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 96
IIRC DD also wanted to create a no man’s zone at the Yalu using Cobalt 60.
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 109
heh.
does the ninth circle have ‘em?
Spew alert!
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?
strange ideas about sex ed floating arouind those faith-based brains…
The neo cons are just measuring the drapes in Iran. A little redecorating don’t you see. I hear Sunnis make for good help once you tame them.
For $18.00 you can get a “Baby Onesy” outfit for toddlers with the blackwater logo.. in the Apparel/Youth section.. Go here:
http://proshop.blackwaterusa.c…..Desc=Babys Onesies&Search=N
‘all the wee himmlers in the himmler clan have one for the ‘nippy’ weather!’
raven @ 116
Of course not…just joking.
raven @ 103
I know my gramps was PO’ed about that too. However, I think the higher ups in DC didn’t want Doug to stick around the Phillipines so I think the blame on that goes to more than just Doug. As far as “understanding the oriental mind”, he really did understand. You have to remember, even after the war, the Japanese public still revered the Emperor. Doug knew it and treated him with great respect.
LS @ 113
Suggested name for the group: The Knock Offs
deep fryers in the ninth circle of hell.
zounds.
that means then that the milkshake machines……..oh boy, i wont even think it!!!
IIRC DD also wanted to create a no man’s zone at the Yalu using Cobalt 60.
That’s funny, when I was on the DMZ they took the Pueblo. I’ve always understood that, because it was also Tet in the Nam, there was no air support anywhere close enough that didn’t have nukes. As a result the NK’s were able to tow the ship without interference.
LS @ 113
LS @ 122
it’s reverse psychology!
raven @ 103
He also got a large payment in gold from the President of the Philippines to get a ride on the PT Boat.
dov12348 @ 14
Like many ‘intellectuals’ Strass could never conceive of being the object of the violence he esposed himself. If the Bush cabal believe they can plunge the Middle East into a regional conflict and thereby disrupt the energy economy of the entire world and then just walk away they are badly mistaken.
When gas goes to $10.00 a gallon Mr. Decider is gonna have to get on a plane and fly to Paraguay.
He won’t be safe here.
New Revelations About the Attack on the USS Liberty
So Who’s Afraid of the Israel Lobby?
By RAY McGOVERN
http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern10062007.html
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 123
I know, Roosevelt ordered him to Australia. I also know that many high level commanders, Halsey, Patton, etc had serious “issues”. I’m a product of my old man’s attitude, 38 landings in the Pacific, many in Mac Arthur’s Navy.
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 128
Yeah…I’d like to see 100,000 people protest wearing “We love W” T-shirts and buttons that say, “More War, Bring it On” and “Cheney for President”..Heh.
eugene mccarthy had a ‘rooseveltian’ air about himself i felt….
I have a close friend who is very savvy on international policies and concerns. Her research papers are read at conferences. For ten years she’s been making a documentary, quietly, so she is not banned from the subject country. Her cry is that for years no one in her work place here in the US has any interest in the effect US policies have on people in other countries. They have no idea she is making a documentary or the central theme, which happens to be writers, editors, artists political prisoners.
She’s solved her problem by making friends mostly with Southeast Asians, Europeans, international journalists and staying in close touch with a few old friends. The workplace is a sad reflection of America’s indifference.
When we get together we are both so hungry, not so much for the wonderful food on the table, but to be able to speak to someone on what is happening abroad, among the people, in the campongs.
I feel like I have to walk across America to have an informed meaningful conversation with someone. I’ll see her this Wednesday, solely for the conversation.
jenna for celibacy czar
Cheney has been trying to sell a big strike against Iran. Some of us here (as well as some of the saner types in the military) have pointed out what such an attack would entail, just how massive it would have to be, and what all the downsides would be. This seems to have had an effect. Now the war crazies are trying to float the idea of limited strikes: training camps, hot pursuit, that kind of thing. The problem is that 1) it may not be possible to limit such strikes and 2) that may be Cheney’s idea: start small and then build up.
What makes this all the more plausible is that Iran, for its part, has shelled anti-Iranian Kurds crossborder for some time now. So a paradigm is already in place and ready to be exploited.
It is important to bat down the Iran war hype whenever and wherever it arises because you can bet that Cheney won’t give up on this.
LS @ 122
What are the ReThugs gonna do with the relatives of those who died in the I-35 bridge collapse who show up for the convention?
Oh…yeah, they’ll just have BlackWater shoot ‘em I guess.
Have you seen this “neocon” cartoon
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2007/10/08/tomo/
Steve-AR @ 129
On the tower of the USS Crosby, APD 17 it said “First in the Phiilipines”. They landed Rangers on Suluan on 12 October 1944. Doug landed on the 20th with Philippine President Sergio Osmena. But I suppose this is OT!
Kathleen @ 131
Interesting article.
Scott Ritter’s latest on Iran. Worth the read
http://www.informationclearing…..e18521.htm
Kathleen @ 139
that’s hilarious. and so………..shrill.
Scott Ritter ” The fact of the matter is that the “Iranian Threat” is derived solely from the rhetoric of those who appear to seek confrontation between the United States and Iran, and largely divorced from fact-based reality. A recent request on the part of Iran to allow President Ahmadinejad to lay a wreath at “ground zero” in Manhattan was rejected by New York City officials. The resulting public outcry condemned the Iranian initiative as an affront to all Americans, citing Iran’s alleged policies of supporting terrorism. This knee-jerk reaction ignores the reality that Iran was violently opposed to al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan throughout the 1990’s leading up to 2001, and that Iran was one of the first Muslim nations to condemn the terror attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.
A careful fact-based assessment of Iran clearly demonstrates that it poses no threat to the legitimate national security interests of the United States. However, if the United States chooses to implement its own unilateral national security objectives concerning regime change in Iran, there will most likely be a reaction from Iran which produces an exceedingly detrimental impact on the national security interests of the United States, including military, political and economic. But the notion of claiming a nation like Iran to constitute a security threat simply because it retains the intent and capability to defend its sovereign territory in the face of unprovoked military aggression is absurd. In the end, however, such absurdity is trumping fact-based reality when it comes to shaping the opinion of the American public on the issue of the Iranian “threat.”
Kathleen @ 144
Fact based, oh that’ll be the path!
LS @ 97
Sorry to be late to reply — sent in a comment, but it got lost in the toobz, I guess.
—re the Bears: Google hits for articles saying _some_ were decommissioned, but then there’s this –> http://www.nowpublic.com/uk-no…..an-bombers dated early Sept. this year. So, apparently Russia still flies Bears up north. Also saw recently an article saying that USAF was awaiting resumptionn of Bear flights down the east coast into Cuba, just as soon as there was sufficint avgas in Cuba and the hurricane season was over.
— As far as Debka goes, if it was a psyop, it was a pretty subtle one. Sounded real to me.
TexBetsy @ 38
Rogue gain: the cure for bald-faced liars like W
A.Citizen @ 130
He hasn’t been safe here for a long time. That’s why he didn’t go out to throw the first pitch at the baseball game.
dr strangelove is alive and well and ben franklin is spinning in his grave.
can’t wyatt earp arrest these people?
punaise @ 147
{{{{{punaise}}}}}
Kathleen @ 139
Tom Tomorrow is the finest cartoonist working in the US today.
“A baby’s arm holding an apple” lol.
PeteCO @ 151
the Toobz!
punaise @ 152
Whadda ya want from life?
backatcha, btf!
kirk murphy @ 153
Winnebagos? we’re givin’ ‘em away!
I have been screaming and drinking too much and losing what’s left of my mind about Iran for 2 years ever since Steve Clemons started leaking insider information on his blog about “the NEXT big thing coming along.”
My health is better because I have chosen not to become engaged in this debate. Hope enough other people have the strength to carry on.
We so cannot do this. It will be the mistake people talk about for the next 500 years.
punaise @ 152
Prime Time? It was all so long ago…..
behindthefall @ 146
I agree that the Debka report sounded real, and with all the saber rattling, it certainly sounds plausible. I understood though that Debka is sometimes…of dubious credibility, but it could be true. Thanks for the info about the Bears.
daily kos:
Retired general endorses Clinton, says she doesn’t oppose the Iraq war at all.
A retired U.S. Army general visiting [New Hampshire] to campaign for Hillary Clinton said yesterday she does not oppose the Iraq war — and she said she’s never heard Clinton oppose it, either […]
Kennedy said, “I don’t oppose the war. I think it’s being very badly led by the civilian leadership.” And, [Retired Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy] added, “I have not ever heard (Clinton) say, ‘I oppose the war.’ I’ve heard her say that we need to begin withdrawal under a plan led by the military and defense secretary. I’ve heard her say we need to create a regional stabilizing group by allies, by leaders in the world and by all of the states that are bordering Iraq. That is a very important idea and the point of that group is to create incentive and assurances that will keep the neighboring countries from becoming involved and entering Iraq. That’s a much more sophisticated thing than saying, ‘I oppose the war.’”
Kathleen…thanks for the links! The cartoon is hysterical…sad but true.
daily kos (again):
More troubling than a confused retired general is this:
At a campaign stop here, Hillary Clinton sparred verbally for several minutes with a man who pressed her on her recent vote to call Iran’s army a terrorist organization.
Randall Rolph, from nearby Nashua, asked why he should support Clinton’s candidacy when she did not appear to have learned any lessons from having voted to authorize force in Iraq.
Clinton thanked him for the question and explained her Iran vote would lay the groundwork for using diplomacy and sanctions to pressure that government.
Clinton accused the man of being a plant who had been sent to ask the question, to which he took exception, saying the question was a result of his own research.
“I apologize,” Clinton said, explaining that she had been asked the very same question in three other places.
She’s being asked that question because many can’t believe that Hillary is so damn stupid as to give George Bush a rationale for attacking Iran.
She really didn’t learn her lesson the first time. Is she seriously claiming that this resolution was really needed to “lay the groundwork for using diplomacy and sanctions”? What, was Condi Rice (remember her?) hamstrung on her ability to conduct diplomacy without Congress giving her the thumbs up?
Does she think her audience is that stupid? Apparently so.
No wonder she won’t apologize for screwing up the Iraq War Authorization. She sees nothing wrong with that vote, and has every intention of casting that kind of vote over and over again.
egregious @ 156
I know it goes against the grain here on the Lake but you are on the right track EG.
Tom Petty
Crawlin Back to You:
Attack Iran and we will start a world war.
lahoma
punaise @ 155
Well – you can’t have that. But you can have…..
Oklahoma kiddo @ 163
I agree with you lahoma
kirk murphy @ 164
A microwave oven – don’t watch the food cook
winnebagos over tokyo
LS @ 113
I was thinking NetRoots Nations might be in Minneapolis! Probably would be better in Denver though.
if there is a war with iran on the horizon.
and i’m convinced there is.
it will be.
and i am convinced.
far more ominous than iraq.
if you’re an American citizen you are entitled to:
Oklahoma kiddo @ 107
Richard Wolfe always does his level best to make Buschco seem rational. Wolfe presented the nuclear option too tonight. Did you hear that one? I wish they’d fire Wolfe.
I think Wolfe took advantage of Olbermanns absence tonight and built a stronger straw man in favor of Bush. Wolfe maintains that either side (Pelosi or Bushco) could be lying – even though we’ve caught Bushco lying time after time. Wolfe licks neocon balls.
kirk murphy @ 170
lol – ironic condition they attached there.
Oh, right: a heated kidney-shaped pool
… a king-size Titanic unsinkable Molly Brown waterbed with polybendum…
…. a foolproof plan and an airtight alibi…
raven @ 162
thank you raven
kirk murphy @ 173
A Dyna-gym! I’ll personally demonstrate it in the privacy of your own home.
A very politically active person I know very well and has so far mostly been right about his predictions about how all of the past 7 years has gone down, and who told me back in ‘98, at a restaurant here in Austin; while pointing at a lady sitting at a table…”That is the next First Lady, the fix is in”…also told me last year, “There is the next President, the fix is in.” It was Edwards not Hillary. Head fake. Go figure?!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 163
Like what she said. My cherokee sister.
Loo Hoo. @ 168
Speaking as a Denver tax-payer, I’d prefer any protests that may involve property damage to be in Minneapolis. The democrats aren’t responsible, and don’t need the blame. Otherwise, come on down! (or up).
Information Clearing House articles about the I- lobby and Iran
http://www.informationclearing…..e18523.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17
525.htm
This is an interesting film
a personally autographed picture of Randy Mantooth
kirk murphy @ 171
shop; be stripsearched; Wiretapped; pay exhorbidant rates for insurance, health care, property taxes, gasoline; die of cancer; go bankrupt from healthcare expenses before medicaid kicks in…
Quaker Girl: re: your earlier post; well, it’s good to have a friend like that!
hackworth @ 182
log on to the lake and bitch about almost anything?
hackworth @ 182
and Bob Dylan’s new unlisted phone number
kirk murphy @ 170
Vote the summa biatches out of office…at least for now.
Fred Thompson is the Michael Brown of the Republican presidential candidate line-up.
-GSD
QuakerGirl @ 135
Can she join us sometimes, QG?
LS @ 177
I hope your friend is right.
new post upstairs
LS @ 186
…and if you are in Congress you are entitled to Impeach the criminals who kidnap, deport, and torture other American citizens…just sayin’
PeteCO @ 179
better have that conversation with the police they bring to denver… us protesters will not be the problem.
p.s. i wouldn’t be planning to protest the dnc if i didn’t think the dem leaders didn’t share in the blame.
PW thread upstairs! thread upstairs!
kirk murphy @ 181
Dr. Murphy, your Tubes-related kung fu is too strong.
If I see ‘Mr. Positively 4th St.’ listed in the phone book on ‘Desolation Row’ might I have found a certain reclusive singer/songwriter?
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 162
The guy was a plant. He belongs to an insidious new group called the Informed American Voter who in a completely unfair way listens to what candidates say and compares that to their past record. It’s one of those toobz things that Hillary doesn’t understand and doesn’t want to understand.
I heard Micheal Ledeen say that Iran is a hollow nation and will crumble once the US bombs.
He of course didn’t seem too concerned about Iran falling to pieces.
I am sure they can parachute Paul Bremer into Tehran and he’ll have the place running like a bed and breakfast in Vermont in no time.
Eeehh Gads.
-GSD
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 161
Hillary didn’t even bother to read the 90-page NIE before the vote. When cornered, she said she’d been “briefed on it.”
selise @ 192
Remember the old Canned Heat Song
The man on Iran…Flynt Leverett
http://www.newamerica.net/publ….._iran_4550
selise @ 192
I only say that because I’ve seen posters elsewhere talking about a re-run of Chicago 68, which would be unhelpful, to say the least. I completely agree with you that some congressional Democrats are complicit.
PeteCO @ 189
Me too…I think…the “fix” part was kinda disturbing…but I have to consider the source of the comment…I dunno.
Ish @ 194
oops – no intention to overwhelm…
must have been the platform shoes….
severely misspent late 70’s
(is that redundant?)
somebody to love and somebody you can trust
to try and be happy……
a year’s supply of antibiotics…
Bush/Cheney/neo-cons?
Hang myself when I get enough rope.
Can’t clean up though I know I should.
W.P.O.D.
Ish @ 172
Nope I believe it was, a free Gucci shoe tree!
raven @ 199
no, but i’m gonna have to give it a listen. thanks!
PeteCO @ 201
was not ‘68 a police riot?
Also a dream date in knee pads with Paul williams.
Saw The Tubes on Halloween a few years ago. Worth the ticket.
omg Ed – what fun!
Gentlemen, get the thing straight, once and for all: the policeman isn’t there to ‘create’ disorder; the policeman is there to ‘preserve’ disorder.
— Mayor Richard Daley, 1968 Democratic Convention
dov12348 @ 198
This reminds me of the Woody Allen story where he speed reads War and Peace. When someone asks what it was about, he replied it’s about Russia. Hillary’s briefing was probably about as complete and informative.
PeteCO, I don’t if this sounds better, but I’ve been hearing Seattle in Denver.
Sans the ritual window-breaking (and the undercovers’ reprise).
BYO chemical weapons and infra-red/microwave crowd dispersal tools.
A splendid time to be had by all amendements…
Presidential signing statements notwithstanding.
Reservations taken by NSA – no need to call.
selise @ 207
I was at Ft Lewis that summer and there were flyers on “the Ave” in Seattle warning people not to go to Chicago because it was a set-up. I’m not excusing anything but there were and are plenty of people that would like nothing better than to see blood in the streets.
Hugh @ 211
D
“Do you want your family to have to eat all those rich pastries?”
Hugh @ 211
Heh.
Hillary: “It was about…intelligence. Anyway, who fed you that question?”
dov12348 @ 215
and now Hillary thinks she is going to get away with I voted against the war with Iran (supposedly co-sponsoring the Webb amendment) after I voted for a war with Iran (the Kyl/Lieberman amendment).
Not going to work Hillary even with that $$$ machine behind you. Some folks would rather throw their vote away
GSD @ 197
Ledeen is a fascist warmonger with absolutely no conscience. Please put him in jail “faster Please”
raven @ 213
too many people think violence is fun.
hard to know if warnings are for real or an effort by police to keep the number of protesters low. don’t think i would believe them now-a-days.
selise @ 218
There are also a lot of people who think violence is the only way to start a revolution.
Kathleen @ 216
Almost inexplicably, she’s still in front. We’ll have to fix that.
The notion of a threat to the US is 100% complete nonsense.
Can you see the Iranian landing boats on the beaches of Virgina, the Hamptons and Cape Cod? And of course the beach head a Malibu and Santa Barbara.
The long march of Iranians soldiers over the rockies, down in the great plains, over the Appalachians.
Finally American defeated and occupied by the foreign threat.
We got Sadam before his Special Guards could do the magic across the 48 lower states. We fought them there so we didn’t have to fight them here.
THERE IS NO THREAT TO AMERICA.
Will there be mischief? Massive mischief. Yes and forever. There will always be bank robberies, always be liquor store heists… random acts of violence by disgruntled individuals or groups. This will never stop. But it not a MILITARY threat to america. It is a sociological problem, and a police problem.
America is not now nor will it be under military siege.
But we will lose our country to fascists and corporations who will control our lives.
It’s happening now.
Knowing some of the folks who organized the 2000 and 2004 DNC/RNC protests (and the medical for them all), I’m quite confident the Denver and the RNC protests will have non-violent marches affordig all who wish to participate the opportunity to do so – non-violently.
We’ve learned the people who show up spouting violence are most likely cops.
Which is why they are – non-violently – treated like cops.
Identified, surrounded by non-violent folks, and talked over when they call for violence.
Very familiar drill.
off to BBQ the fish – sleep and eat well, pups!
to get cable TV and watch it every night…
raven @ 219
maybe.. but i haven’t seen them protesting. not even the global justice protests – i went to the ftaa protests for a week in miami and saw a police riot, friends of mine were in seattle and told me that that there were only a few people not with the main groups that broke a couple of windows.
i’ve come to the conclusion that it’s either mostly talk, or else it’s mostly police provocatures.
kirk murphy @ 222
yup.
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 159
In other words Clinton is taking the Kerry line from 2004 that the war isn’t wrong, just run badly.
It’s apparently the US Senate versus Americans.
Now, if we can just unite the opposition.
Unfortunately, asking Bush not to be a moron is like asking a dog not to bark.
I would bet that Iranian Scud missiles already have the coordinates of the Green Zone, Camp Victory, the mens room at Petraeus headquarters programmed into them. While we would win, it could be real butchery.
kirk murphy @ 153
A Winnebago! A Whole HERD of Winnebagos!