Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Posts Tagged Iran

I have a better idea

Feb 27

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Military, Psychology | No Comments

Here’s a little news for you that I’m sure they accidentally forgot to report on World News Tonight:

Some senior US military commanders are prepared to resign if President Bush orders a military strike against Iran, a new report says.

“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” The Sunday Times quoted Monday a source with close ties to British intelligence .

“There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible,” the source added.

If proven true a revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented because ‘American generals usually stay and fight until they get fired,” said a Pentagon source.

Robert Gates, the defense secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the view of his senior commanders.

Iran has announced that in face of any aggression it will respond like a ‘tsunami’.

How about if, instead of quitting, they stayed and said, “NO.” Wouldn’t it be better to stay and defy the psychopaths? Because if they just up and leave, Bush will find some other underlings to step forward, take their places, and carry out the orders. If they stay, on the other hand, what’s Bush going to do about it?

You know, we have long passed the point where symbolic gestures like resignations have the power to stop the crazy psychopathic behavior of our insane leaders. It takes more than that. It takes active resistance. I appreciate the Generals’ alarm, but they need to care less about preserving the niceties of military protocol and more about the niceties of preserving a semi-habitable planet.

Tags: ,

Total Unreality

Feb 27

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Israel, Media, Nuclear Weapons, Unreality | No Comments

Here’s a little spin for you.

Six major powers are to meet Monday in Washington for fresh talks on how to make Iran give up its contested uranium enrichment activities, a top US diplomat official said Friday.

The State Department’s number three Nicholas Burns said foreign ministry officials of the six — the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany — would review a proposed third UN sanctions resolution against Iran.

“We will review our strategy (launched at the United Nations) in New York, the pace of the resolution,” Burns told reporters.

The six powers want Iran to stop enriching uranium, a process which they suspect Tehran aims to use to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists it is only seeking nuclear power for civilian purposes.

Britain’s and France’s ambassadors to the UN on Thursday formally submitted to the Security Council members the text of a resolution for new sanctions, which they hope to see passed as soon as possible.

The poposed sanctions include economic and trade restrictions and a travel ban against officials involved in the nuclear program.

The five permanent council members are Britain, the United States, France, China and Russia.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, complained in a recent report that the Islamic Republic had supplied only patchy details of its activities to its inspectors.

Is that right? Because it seems to me that just two days ago ElBaradei said he would release a clean report on Iran which would ‘rule out the possibility’ that Iran is pursuing a nuclear arms program.

So where is this little IAEA ‘complaining’ episode about ‘patchy details’? Which ‘recent report’ did that come from, or did somebody just pull this spinning turd out of his arse to bolster the evidentially-impaired case against Iran?

Here in Reality, the six powers can ’suspect’ all day long, but they’ve got nothing.

Originally published 2/22/08.

Tags: , ,

Turning up the heat

Feb 27

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Israel, Nuclear Weapons | No Comments

Reported today, causing grave consternation amongst the warmongering crowd:

ElBaradai ‘to declare Iran clean’

Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei is to release ‘a positive report’ on Iran’s nuclear activities.

The IAEA Chief’s report on Iran’s nuclear program would be positive and it would rule out the possibility that Iran may running a clandestine nuclear arms program, informed sources familiar with the UN nuclear watchdog’s issues said on Wednesday.

The sources said that the US is exerting pressure on ElBaradei’s aides to convince him to change the tone of his upcoming report and that the delay in the release of the report is a result of Washington’s efforts.

The US and its allies, including Britain and France, are reportedly planning to slam the report at the upcoming meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, should ElBaradei go ahead with its plan and release the positive report.

The West accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons but Tehran reiterates that its nuclear activities are solely aimed at peaceful purposes.

I love the use of the word ‘clean’, as that was the very word Dick Cheney used to explain why he delayed the NIE for a year. Remember? The NIE had to be purged of dissenting opinions. The NIE had to be made ‘clean’. Except in Cheney’s case, ‘clean’ means ‘dirty’, because the dissenting opinions expressed ‘truth’ and Cheney’s preferred opinions are what we call ‘lies’.

Anyway, he didn’t get away with that, and nothing has been the same since. If you look back over the events since that NIE came out in early December, world tensions have increased dramatically since that time. The simmering pot has been on high heat ever since, bringing events to a full boil. This IAEA report will infuriate the US, Israel, Britian and France. Their telegraphed reactions give credence to the ‘Mediterranean Initiative’ theory I have cited in recent days. The question is: will the pot now boil over?

Originally published 2/20/08.

Tags: , , , ,