Red State Renegade

The AP reported today that the U.S. demanded that Iran confess to trying to make atomic weapons, “suggesting that anything short of that would doom an International Atomic Energy Agency probe of Tehran’s nuclear past.”

The probe in question is being led by the AIAE chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, and is expected to be completed in about a week. Iran has steadfastly denied working on nuclear weapons program, a claim seemingly backed up by the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran (a document prepared by 16 U.S. Intelligence agencies), which stated that:

“We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program. Judge with high confidence that the halt lasted at least several years. (DOE and the NIC have moderate confidence that the halt to those activities represents a halt to Iran’s entire nuclear weapons program.) Assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007″

If the Iranians were readily willing to confess to such a weapons program, why would the IAEA need to investigate the state of the program? How can the integrity of such an investigation rest solely on a ‘confession’?

Perhaps they are afraid the IAEA report might fall short of their hopes and expectations?.

After the release of the NIE, and the amateurish effort to create a Gulf-of-Tonkin type incident in the persian gulf in January, a disappointing report would be another setback in the efforts of the war party to drum up support for yet another disastrous war…

We are in an election year, and the only shot for the Republicans is selling the fear.

White House Tool/Puppet potentially ‘hot’ Press Secretary Dana Perino has been at the forefront of the administrations efforts to label Iran a rogue terrorist state bent on developing ‘nucular’ weapons (and ultimately a grave danger to us all).

These claims have been undermined recently by the release of a consensus report from 16 U.S. Intelligence agencies agreeing that the Islamic state halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Apparently Dana doesn’t know much about nukes at all - or, for that matter, historical dangers to the country.

Dana admitted this week that when a reporter asked a question about the Cuban Missile Crisis, she had no idea what it was, and glossed over it until she could ask her husband what it was:

“I was panicked a bit because I really don’t know about . . . the Cuban Missile Crisis,” said Perino, referring to the 1962 crisis on which the U.S. and Russia sat on the brink of nuclear war. “It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I’m pretty sure.”

“I came home and I asked my husband,” she admitted. “I said, ‘Wasn’t that like the Bay of Pigs thing?’”

Once again proving there is NO reason to take anything these people say seriously.

HUMOROUS UPDATE: Dana Perino’s husband is actually British!

Recent developments pointing to the leadup to an attack on Iran:

(1) Iran’s army designated a terrorist group:

In Mid August, the administration, in a suprisingly quiet manner, designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country’s 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a “specially designated global terrorist,” the first time any national army has been designated a terrorist group.

Traditionally a president needed authorization from Congress to go to war. This changed after 9-11, with the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) passed in 2001 by a fearful congress, authorizing the administration to attack terrorist groups and the nations that harbor them. Because two AUMFs is better than one, another AUMF was passed in 2002, which stated:

Whereas the President has authority under the Constitution to take action in order to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States, as Congress recognized in the joint resolution on Authorization for Use of Military Force

Can you connect the dots? By designating the Iranian army a terrorist group, it will make it easier for the Neo-cons to bomb Iran without an authorization from Congress.

(2) The U.S. announced new plans to build military base on the Iranian border:

No shit. Announced this week, the base will be built by November. According to the military, the base is:

“not really permanent, although it will be manned 24/7 and will be used for as long as necessary.”

(3) British Troops that were just headed home from Basra are now headed to the Iran border:

In early September, a much publicized pullout of British troops from Basra made the news, symbolically allaying concerns amongst the British people regarding contnued involvment in this quagmire. Despite British commanders absolutely ripping apart the US war policy, the news was spun into a sign of progress by the War crowd.

Now, at least some of the Basra force has been re-deployed along the Iran border.

(4) General Davis Petraeus strongly implied this week that we would need to work on the Iran threat within the borders of Iran (and not diplomatically):

General Petraeus, also called the GGS (Greek God of Surge) appeared this week in an exclusive ‘Faux’ news’ interview, which would have made the Soviet Information Ministry proud about 40 years ago.

In the exchange, ironically called ‘Briefing of America’ (how about ‘Brainwashing of America’?), the GGS was pressed by Minister of Propaganda Brit Hume:

HUME: Do the rules of engagement that you’re operating under allow you do to what you think you need to do to suppress this activity on the part of Iran, or perhaps do you need assistance from military not under your command to do this?

PETRAEUS: They allow us to do what we need to do inside Iraq.

HUME:Is that enough in your view?

PETRAEUS: Well, that’s what I’m responsible for, and again, when I have concerns about something beyond that, I take them to my boss . . . and in fact, we have shared our concerns with him and with the chain of command, and there is a pretty hard look ongoing at that particular situation.

HUME: That sounds pretty disturbing, Ambassador Crocker — that we are confronting with Iran now a situation where it doesn’t appear that we have any diplomatic possibilities to suppress this activity by Iran, or do we?

UPDATE: SECONDS AFTER I POSTED THIS, I SAW THE FOLLOWING HEADLINE:

“U.S. Officials Begin Crafting Iran Bombing Plan”

Oddly enough, Faux news blames the necessity of an Iran attack on Germany:

“A recent decision by German officials to withhold support for any new sanctions against Iran has pushed a broad spectrum of officials in Washington to develop potential scenarios for a military attack on the Islamic regime”

What more is there to say about the Petraeus and Crocker show today, predictably unveiling nothing but more fucking of America.

Fucking of the troops - those killed for George’s messianic visions, or worse, maimed for life. Fucking of their families - the sons and daughters of who live with this disaster every second and have to buy into it because…Christ…How can you admit that this hellish life is all a mistake?

Fucking of our standing in the world - Yes, as a superpower but an often benevolent one. Fucking of the good will and sympathy we had after 9-11. Fucking of world opinion of the U.S.

Fucking of previous military leaders who didn’t back the party line. Fucking of the Iraq Study Group, Fucking of the GAO report on the surge…Fucking of our own intelligence agencies, who say we’re breeding terrorists over there faster than we can kill them.

Fucking of the real numbers - Sectarian violence, Children dying, poor levels of electricity and water, increases in disease, families displaced.

Fucking of the Iraqi people yet again, who in the latest BBC poll say life is worse for them and that the surge isn’t working.

Fucking of the future of America - not just of our strength in the world but our future health care, education, your children’s Social Security, our roads and bridges.

It goes on…and who is to blame? The Neocons, for sure. The party in power…the media…Our loser reps in Congress. All the bit players on the inside who see the wrongs everyday and bite their tongues either in fear or in denial.

And the American people as one. Including you and I.

The next step will be the ultimate wag the dog. A bad sequel that, someday, we will realize already played out 5 years ago. A new marketing prgram that somehow sounds familiar. After all, why change something that worked so well (and continues to)?

Those paying attention lately will not be surprised to find out the latest product will be another attack - this time on Iran. Sure, we could never send in ground troops, but we can bomb he hell out of them.

You don’t think the American people will go for it? It won’t happen again? I hope you’re right, but standby to be barraged with propaganda designed to convince say, 1/3 of the people that Iran is an imminent threat that needs to be handled. What about the other 66 percent?

Fuck the rest! That’s their feeling - these guys DO NOT CARE.

They have nothing to lose. They are going out with their biggest bang yet.

9-11. Iraq. Iran.

Cheney will be pushing it, but through his lapdog’s 9-11 memorial speech.

Start paying attention. Listen to the war drums. Be aware. Warn your friends.

Maybe as a nation we can head this one off…It will either take impeachment…or a lot of people in high places who truly are fed up…or a lot of marching in the streets.

General Petraeus’ 6-month surge report is coming soon, and I feel about as much excitement as I would watching a bad western, knowing it will be a happy ending and our hero will ride off into the sunset.

The media will be all ‘a-twitter’ for a few days, but we all know what it will say, or at least what the spin will be. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother. I guess they have to pretend…

As a nation, we’ve now forgotten the last giantly hyped ‘benchmark’ report, the Iraq Study Group report, though it was less than a year ago. This was the one we all anxiously awaited, then watched as the Bush team downplayed it and somehow decided to take a 180 degree turn and increase our troop levels.

Last week an incredibly bleak report on the Iraq political situation came and went, making news for a day or two, but likely to be forgotten. The GAO report on the Iraq surge (which could not have been more critical of the claimed progress in Iraq) was released (leaked?) a week earlier than expected, so as to make news before the White House had a chance to whitewash it (though they are still doing so).

Recently, Our fearless leader has begun a campaign of comparing this war to previous wars, somehow attempting to twist the dire struggle in Iraq to previous world struggles against fascism, or aggression, or…who knows?

Now, the man who knew nothing of Sunnis and Shiites is lecturing the country in new versions of war history which, once again, would be highly amusing if the stakes were not so depressing. As one military analyst said:

“This was history written by speechwriters without regard to history”

Now, for the first time, the Boy Commander even compares Iraq to Vietnam, after claiming for several years that the comparison is unfair. In this case his spin was so outrageous that the Washington Post reported:

“Bush’s most controversial assertion — that U.S. troops could have prevailed in Vietnam had they stayed longer — is a neoconservative fantasy that almost all historians ridicule. But the overall campaign may still work”

Where will it end?

Perhaps the more realistic (not cynical…you can’t be too cynical about these guys) will foresee the selling of some bullshit benchmark progress on the media and the people. Perhaps they will expect the WDNBOC (Wimpy-Bend over-Do Nothing-Congress) to debate it in a flurry of hot air for a few days…then once again, in fear of looking weak (or somehow not supporting the troops), hand over another $50,000,000,000 (at the least) to continue Bush’s masturbatory ’spreading of democracy.’

I think it will end, as all stories do, with an unexpected twist. One that, in hindsight, was really not so unexpected.

To be continued tomorrow. Stay tuned…

UPDATE: TO BE CONTINUED ON 9/10/07
(IN ORDER TO BRING THE CONTINUATION OF STORY ON THE EVE OF THE RELEASE OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS ‘NEW PRODUCT.’)

While the administration and the media keep scapegoating Iran and Syria for the mayhem in Iraq:

Some media outlets report that the insurgency is largely made up of Iraqis, and that foreign fighters are but a small minority of the EDTWAUHIWDFTT.** (In effect, the ‘evil-doers’ are simply Iraqis who are fighting the occupation of their land by a hostile foreign power).

The LA Times reports in a sobering article that the overwhelming majority of the inurgensts come not from Syria or Iran but from our “Ally,” Saudi Arabia. (Coincidentally, 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers also came from Saudi Arabia).

And finally, our own government released a study this week which basically said that we cannot account for 190,000 guns issued to Iraq security forces in the last two years (not to mention hundreds of thousands of helmets and body armor pieces).

So tell me again who is arming the insurgents?

**EDTWAUHIWDFTT: ‘Evil-Doers-That-Will-Attack-Us-Here-If-We-Don’t-Fight-Them-There’

Speaking of ‘Crazies’ seeking war…(see previous post, below this one)

The above is an actual headline on the ABC news website.

The third paragraph, however, shows (to anyone with at least the mental capacity of Terri Schiavo) the whole premise to be questionable (or, at least nothing new):

“Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stopped short earlier this week of blaming Iran, saying the U.S. did not have evidence ‘of the involvement of the Iranian government in support of the Taliban.’”

Well… would that not put the “red-handed” claim to bed for the moment?

Apparently not. The article goes on to make a number of dubious statements, almost all attributed to “a senior coalition official” (not named, of course):

“Clear evidence of Iran’s involvement…”

“Part of a considered policy…”

“Clear indications that [munitions recovered in two Iranian convoys] originated in Iran…”

“Iran has provided (lethal EFPs, or explosive formed projectiles, the roadside bombs) to Iraqi insurgents with deadly results…”

“These clearly have the hallmarks of the Iranian Revolution Guards”

The only other comments are from some closet neo-con wingnut at the Rand Institute who seems to make a living writing about the projection of American power abroad.

Wow. after all the flak about Iraq I would expect the lapdogs to be a little subtler this time around.

But the ‘hopeful’ part is in the comments ABC received. Maybe the party’s over for this kind of reporting?

Almost all the comments I read attacked the sensational headline and lack of real sources:

“Please don’t become part of the new neo con push for a new war in Iran. Check and double check your sources. We had far too much of the media serving as the mouthpiece for this administration leading up to the Iraq war. We don’t need another media encouraged disaster.”

“As soon as I see this reported by a reputable source that is not a member of the United States corporate media, I’ll start believing it. ABC News, like the rest of the American media, helped the Bush Administration lie us into the quagmire in Iraq. The RAND Corporation, who they quote so freely, is run by people who stand to make BILLIONS off of the next war that we are lied into. Let me hear this from someone who doesn’t stand to make a profit off of the next military misadventure.”

“If the report has evidence that the Iranian government is behind it, then, sure, make that headline, but hiding behind “Report says” and analysis of unnamed official without evidence should no longer be acceptable reporting in this country…Not after similar reporting contributed to the war in Iraq.”

“Read the article three or four times. You will see that both sources are SPECULATING that the Iranian government is inolved. COMPLETELY SPECULATING. So why does ABCNEWS say Iran was caught ‘red handed’? Why is this disinformation being used on the American public? For what purpose are we being lied to? Why are the powers that be trying so hard to get another diastrous war started?”

Write to ABC news. Let ‘em know how shameless they are, or go to the article above and post a comment (It takes 5 seconds).

UPDATE (6/7/07) - NATO Force General debunks claims:

Another news article out today centers on a direct rebuttal from U.S. Army General Dan McNeill, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. Interesting, as the ABC news site specifically attributed the ‘red-handed’ discovery to NATO:

Although he confirmed that NATO did intercept two convoys of weapons, he said there is no clear evidence that Iran is supplying the Taliban with weapons, and that it is common in Afghanistan to encounter weapons that originate in other countries.

General McNeill mentions the finding of mortar rounds of Iranian origin in one convoy, as well as explosives similar to the U.S.-made C-4 in the other.

“Beyond that, there’s not much significant to report on these two convoys,” he said.

From reuters (check it out) an account of an interview with the head of the IAEA.

Remember this the next time you see the administration and the media banging the drums for war, and using IAEA reports as ‘evidence.’

And if you really care, instead of just accepting what they tell you an IAEA report claims about Iran, try to get your hands on one, read it with some skepticism, and determine for yourself if the report truly supports what they say it does.

The pic says it all:

Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security advisor to Jimmy Carter, speaking about Bush:

The notion that somehow or other [Bush] is leading the forces of Good against the empire of evil, the notion that in that setting…the fact that we are morally superior justifies us committing immoral acts…I think is a very dangerous posture for the country that is the number one global power…

We have to survive the [next] twenty months without the war in iraq expanding, drawing us into conflict elsewhere nearby - specifically in Iran. Because if we do that - and quite seriously now – if we do that I think we’ll be bogged down, for the next twenty years, in a war that spans Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and probably Pakistan, and that will be the end of american global supremacy…