| Author | Message | | Alpha | | Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:20 am Post subject: |
| Bush on farewell Europe tour seeks to pressure Iran (AP)
By William Schomberg and Matt Spetalnick
Mon Jun 9, 6:22 PM ET
U.S. President George W. Bush goes into his farewell European summit on Tuesday seeking to work with allies to ratchet up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program but still at odds with them over climate change.
Bush is due to meet European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Janez Jansa, prime minister of current European Union president Slovenia, before he heads off to the capitals of Europe's four biggest powers.
Washington and European governments have played down the chance of dramatic announcements during the visit, which comes in the twilight of a presidency marked by fierce opposition from many Europeans to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Divisions over Iraq have eased somewhat, even as Europeans look increasingly past Bush to his successor who will be chosen in the November election.
Despite that, a draft of the summit statement obtained by Reuters showed the United States and EU were ready to threaten extra measures against Iran on top of U.N. sanctions if Tehran keeps defying demands to suspend sensitive nuclear work.
The U.N. Security Council passed a third sanctions package against Tehran in April, and Washington has pressed the EU to deny some Iranian banks access to the world financial system.
EU diplomats have said recently the bloc was prepared to go beyond the approved sanctions, citing previous travel bans and asset freezes on Iranian officials.
MORE COOPERATIVE APPROACH
Bush, accused by critics of "cowboy diplomacy" during much of his presidency," has tried to take a more cooperative approach with allies in his second term. He hopes to forge a foreign policy legacy defined by more than Iraq.
With low approval ratings at home, Bush acknowledges, however, he is also unpopular in Europe. "A lot of people like America. They may not sometimes necessarily like the president," Bush told Slovenia's Pop TV before arriving in Ljubljana late on Monday.
On climate change, EU policymakers say they have given up trying to get Washington to join with the bloc in signing up now for binding cuts of greenhouse gas emissions.
U.S. officials insist that big developing nations such as China and India have to make similar commitments for the United States to join in too, and say Europeans hoping for big changes with a new president will be disappointed.
"Barack Obama and John McCain are very close to the positions of the administration and there is no difference with the administration on the need to engage China," the U.S. envoy to the EU, C. Boyden Gray, told reporters.
But polls show Europeans are especially fond of Obama, a Democrat who would be the first black U.S. president, for his opposition to the Iraq war, which has frayed America's image.
Obama and McCain both win high marks in Europe for calling for the closing of the Guantanamo military prison where terrorism suspects are held. Bush says he wants to shut it down too but only after other arrangements are made for detainees.
THE DOLLAR
Money matters will also figure in Bush's weeklong trip, which will see stops in Germany, Italy, France and Britain.
He made clear before leaving Washington that he would press his commitment to a "strong dollar" -- its weakness is seen as a barometer of the U.S. economic slowdown -- and his concern about record oil prices.
Bush will also seek EU support to help combat treatable diseases in Africa and provide health care in Afghanistan, a White House official said.
He will ask for financial commitments to treat so-called neglected tropical diseases such as hookworm and river blindness, which is caused by a parasite spread by blackflies.
"These diseases are treatable and beatable by medicines that are available today," Dan Price, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, told reporters aboard Air Force One with Bush.
Bush will also propose boosting the number of health care workers in Afghanistan, he said without elaborating.
A decade-old EU ban on U.S. poultry imports is also likely to be raised. Though affecting only a fraction of trans-Atlantic trade, it is taken by Washington as the test of a new body designed to smooth such trade disputes.
For the Bush era, Slovenia carries special meaning. It was there Bush met Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2001 and said he had peered into his soul. Critics called him naive, and relations with Moscow have since deteriorated. Bush and some European allies differ on how to deal with a resurgent Moscow.
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Ljubljana and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Editing by Stephen Weeks) | |  | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:40 am Post subject: |
| Sounds like similar rhetoric that was used by Bush in the run-up to the Iraq war:
Bush says diplomacy is first choice in Iran standoff
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago
President Bush said Wednesday that his first choice is to solve a nuclear standoff with Iran by using diplomacy, but "all options are on the table."
The president reinforced the possibility of military strike against Iran, even as a last resort, during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a danger to world peace, and he is rallying European allies to back sanctions.
The president is pushing Iran to halt its uranium enrichment in a verifiable way. Iran insists it is enriching only for peaceful purposes.
Bush said, "I told the chancellor my first choice, of course, is to solve this diplomatically." He quickly added, "all options are on the table."
Merkel said if Iran does not agree to suspend its enrichment program, additional sanctions would be needed.
"The offer has been put on the table to Iran, but ... if Iran does not meet its commitments, then further sanctions will simply have to follow," she said.
Europeans want to wait on stiffer sanctions until after the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, visits Tehran to present a package of incentives in exchange for stopping its enrichment program. The offer, an updated version of one that Iran ignored a few years ago, was developed by the United States, along with Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China.
The diplomatic pressure came as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday said Bush's era "has come to an end" and he has failed in his goals to attack Iran and stop its nuclear program.
Ahmadinejad said pressures and sanctions won't succeed in forcing Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program. "If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong," he said.
Bush, in the midst of a farewell trip through Europe, visited with Merkel and addressed reporters in another session dominated by Iran.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for bomb. Iran continues to defy them.
Bush on Tuesday won new European promises to tighten pressure on Tehran, possibly with new sanctions. The president had not mentioned the prospect of "all options" on Tuesday in Slovenia when discussing Iran, although he has before.
"Our position is that we ought to enforce the sanctions in place and we ought to work with our allies to levy additional sanctions if they choose — if the Iranians choose to continue to ignore the demands of the free world," Bush said.
Merkel said she favors having sanctions decided through the U.N. Security Council, but that doesn't preclude any discussion within the European Union about whether there are other punitive measures, perhaps in the banking sector.
Addressing opponents of taking certain sanctions, Merkel said "Let us think of the people in Iran. This is what is essential. I think these people deserve a better outlook. ... And we would hope that the leadership in Iran would finally see reason."
Bush also was asked about the war in Iraq, and he said the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 was the right decision.
"I don't regret it at all," Bush said, although he said he wished he hadn't used some language such as "dead or alive" when talking about Osama bin Laden or "bring them on" when talking about insurgents in Iraq.
Bush also said he is not seeking permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.
The Bush administration is seeking an agreement with Baghdad that would provide for a normal, permanent U.S. military and diplomatic presence in Iraq. The word "permanent" has been a flashpoint for many who oppose the war, both in the U.S. and Iraq.
Stiff Iraqi opposition has raised to the deal has raised doubts about whether Bush will be able to get the deal done before he leaves office.
"I think we'll end up with a strategic agreement in Iraq," Bush said confidently, yet without indicating a timetable. "There's all kinds of noise in their system and our system. What ultimately will win out is the truth."
Bush said the United States is in Iraq at the invitation of the sovereign government there, and that accounts that the U.S. is seeking permanent military bases are "erroneous."
The two leaders also discussed climate change, Afghanistan, how the demand for biofuels is exerting upward pressure on food prices and trade.
Merkel said she has not given up hopes of completing global trade negotiations being conducted under the auspices of the World Trade Organization. However, the so-called Doha Round of trade negotiations is at an impasse because of battles between wealthy countries and developing nations over such issues as farm subsidies.
Earlier, Bush strolled with Merkel at Schloss Meseberg, the German government's main guesthouse. After a countryside bike ride that seemed to invigorate Bush, he and Merkel had breakfast and then took a camera-ready walk through the formal gardens next to the cream-colored castle.
Bush seemed to want to stay as far as possible from the line of media, steering Merkel down a path that took them away. But minutes later, Merkel steered them back and the two chatted briefly with reporters before moving inside.
Bush is close with Merkel, and has hosted her at his Texas ranch — the less-grand diplomatic equivalent of his invitation here to Schloss Meseberg. Their relationship hit a bump at a recent NATO summit in Romania when they split over whether to give Georgia and Ukraine a path to membership in the alliance, but still is a hugely improved over U.S.-German ties under Merkel's predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder.
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The Transparent Cabal, Neoconservative Agenda, Israel War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUMgtbasByA&feature=PlayList&p=C96874279E78AD85&index=0
Here is a tiny URL for the above one:
http://tinyurl.com/3w3e97
http://neoconzionistthreat.blogspot.com/2008/06/transparent-cabal-neoconservative.html
Here is a tiny URL for the above one:
http://tinyurl.com/69dqvf
Hedges: It's Insane to Attack Iran, Devastating Consequences:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIlyj6D5qmk&feature=PlayList&p=E99D8873F5892DD5&index=0&playnext=1
Here is a tiny URL for the above one:
http://tinyurl.com/4l3h7g
http://neoconzionistthreat.blogspot.com/2008/05/hedges-its-insane-to-attack-iran.html
Here is a tiny URL for the above one:
http://tinyurl.com/5taqvv
President Bush plans to attack Iran in Coming Months:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2008/05/20/president-bush-intends-to-attack-iran-in-coming-months.php
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http://NEOCONZIONISTTHREAT.BLOGSPOT.COM
http://NOMOREWARFORISRAEL.BLOGSPOT.COM
Last edited by Alpha on Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:17 pm; edited 1 time in total | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject: |
| http://www.presstv.com
Bush regrets his warlike talk
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:30:05
US President George W. Bush has expressed regret over his warmonger image, deciding to leave his successor a legacy of diplomacy with Iran.
In an exclusive interview with The Times, Bush said that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a 'guy really anxious for war' in Iraq.
"I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric," the US president said.
Phrases such as "bring them on or dead or alive indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace," he said, adding that he found it very painful 'to put youngsters in harm's way'.
"I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain," Bush said.
He also said that his focus for his final six months in office was to secure agreement on issues such as establishing a Palestinian state and to 'leave behind a series of structures that makes it easier for the next president'.
Pointing out to Iran's nuclear program, Bush said, "We ought to work together, keep focused".
Despite these claims Bush pressed for tougher sanctions against Iran at the EU-US summit in Slovenia on Tuesday. | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:14 pm Post subject: |
| Here we go with the apparent pretext for the coming war with Iran which will be for Israel as well just as Iraq has been:
SPECIAL REPORT: Iran Supports Iraq Terror
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/06/11/special_report_iran_supports_iraq_terror/4721/
SPECIAL REPORT: Iran Supports Iraq Terror
By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)
Secret details of the production of a new type of explosively formed penetrator, or EFP in military jargon, is being produced by Iran 's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps – Qods Force (IRGC-QF), according to sources in the Iranian resistance.
The information was revealed at a Parliamentary press conference held in London Tuesday by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a group opposed to the rule of the mullahs.
The NCRI revealed precise details of 51 weapons smuggling networks operating between Iran and Iraq . The group outlined the methods used to smuggle the EFPs and exposed the Iranian-backed terrorist militias operating in Iraq .
The information presented to the media was backed up by satellite images obtained by the NCRI depicting a number of what was described as "secret sites."
"Based on the information obtained by the network of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran [PMOI – also known as MeK, Mujahedin-e-Khalq], the Qods Force is responsible for providing more than 80 percent of the arms, ammunition and bombs being used across Iraq," said Hossein Abedini, member of the NCRI's Foreign Affairs Committee.
Production and Testing of the New Models of EFPs
Parchin
"Sector Five" of the Parchin Industry is where new deadlier models of EFPs are manufactured southeast of Tehran .
Moham Research Center
Several teams are engaged in this center in the development of advanced EFPs.
Research in Sayyad Shirazi Industries
Engineer Shahriar Moqadam, an expert on materials and metallurgy, works on armor-piercing projects in Sayyad Shirazi Industries, which is a series of factories of arms production industries.
Tir Square in Hesar-e Amir
Tests on newer models of EFPs are carried out at Tir Square in Hesar-e Amir in the Parchin industry unit. This area which is located in the vicinity of Parchin is specifically set up for the testing of new weaponry, including EFPs. The work undertaken there is considered top secret.
Smuggling of EFPs to Iraq
Currently the Qods Force uses parties and groups with ties to the IRGC as well as local smugglers in the border regions to smuggle bomb packages, rockets and other weaponry via the border posts in the provinces of Khuzestan, Ilam, Kermanshah and Kurdistan . The PMOI has uncovered 51 major weapons smuggling networks operating between Iran and Iraq .
"I have no doubt that the Iranian regime has been emboldened in their ambitions for the Middle East by the policy pursued by our [British] government and others of engaging with the Iranian regime and holding constructive dialogue with them," said Lord Waddington.
"Years into this policy, it is clear that there has been nothing constructive about this policy. Instead, we have witnessed the coming to power of the most extreme Islamic fundamentalist regime, one that has consistently violated international law and international human rights law, has aggressively pursued a nuclear weapons program and has persistently interfered in the internal affairs of Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, hellbent on exporting terror and corrupting these fragile states," the English lord said. | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject: A virtual declaration of war against Iran |
| Subject: FW: A virtual declaration of war against Iran
Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008, 12:35 PM
From: RayClose
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 3:31 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: A virtual declaration of war against Iran
A virtual declaration of war against Iran .
The following is from retired USAF Colonel Sam Gardiner today:
It is amazing how far Members of the Congress will go in support of Israel . Hidden within a resolution now being considered on the Hill is what amounts to a suggested declaration of war against Iran .
Representative Mark Kirk from Illinois is circulating a Sense of the Congress Resolution (H. Con. Res 362). The resolution now has 47 co-sponsors and "demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran..."
This option in the resolution is being pushed by the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee. At the AIPAC meeting in Washington last week both Senators McCain and Obama mentioned an embargo of refined products without any details.
I don't how the United States inspects aircraft flying from Moscow to Tehran . I don't know how the United States inspects trucks going from Azerbaijan and Pakistan into Iran . The ships part, however, produces a fairly clear image. The United States Navy operating inside and outside the Gulf stops and searches all ships entering Iranian ports. If the ships are carrying refined products, they are ordered to leave the area. If they refuse, warning shots will be fired. If they continue to refuse, lethal action will be initiated.
Since destination is not always clear, on occasion the United States Navy will have to enter Iranian territorial waters. The United States Navy will be stopping Russian ships and searching them. The United States Navy will be stopping Chinese ships.
To their credit, the McCain campaign must have begun to understand the implications. A spokesman issued a statement yesterday that the Senator was talking about, "a voluntary withdrawal from the Iranian markets of the companies providing gasoline is one option."
One hopes there can be equal wisdom in the "Sense of the Congress."
Sam Gardiner
Colonel, USAF (retired)
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http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12972
'Faster, Please!'
Senate report exposes key role of the Israel lobby in fomenting war with Iran
by Justin Raimondo
June 11, 2008
Scott McClellan, the most significant defector from behind the Iron Curtain of the War Party's domain, doesn't think we were lied into war. According to him, it was all due to the "partisan" attitudes that dominate Washington discourse on every issue. As he puts it, "the permanent campaign" atmosphere made them do it: "I don't think that this was some deliberate, conscious effort to mislead the American people."
In an interview with Keith Olbermann the other night, he disdained the very idea as a "conspiracy theory." McClellan seems to believe that the need to bias intelligence is inherent in the American political system, the inevitable consequence of the Washington ethos as defined by the struggle between the two major parties. He denies any "criminal intent" in the actions of the administration and its flunkies, and he trivializes the matter by referring to "people sitting around a table" making plans to dupe Congress and the American people. The evidence, however, points in the other direction, as "Phase Two" of the long-awaited and deliberately-delayed report of the Senate Intelligence Committee makes clear [.pdf].
In spite of Keith's effusive reference to McClellan as "the Rosetta Stone" for helping us understand what we've endured during the past eight years, the former White House spokesman seems incapable of deciphering what he saw and participated in, as the first section of the "Phase Two" Senate report shows. All the prewar "talking points" of the administration, and the flimsy-to-nonexistent "evidence" used to back them up, are here debunked, and the pattern of deceit is all too clear. However, it is the second section of the report – which deals with the activities of the Office of Special Plans and other parallel intelligence-gathering operations set up by the neocons – that suggests something more sinister than extreme partisanship is motivating the actors in this drama of deception.
In 2001, as the wheels that would eventually drive us to war with Iraq began to turn, the groundwork was being laid for the inevitable denouement of that historic error: the present looming conflict with Iran.
Leafing through the story of the secret Rome meetings conducted by Michael Ledeen and Manucher Ghorbanifar – set up by a "foreign intelligence service," as the report avers – this section of the Senate report reads like a spy thriller set in the future, a future in which we are about to go to war with Iran.
Neocon warlord Ledeen isn't just one of the War Party's most tireless polemicists. The fun part about being a foreign agent disguised as a "commentator" is that you get to rail away at the Bushies for not being enthusiastic enough about the Grand Plan of "liberating" the Middle East, demanding "faster, please!" Yet Ledeen isn't just one of those armchair types who merely pontificates from his pundit's perch: this student of Italian fascism is a man-of-action, too.
Indeed, that's a considerable understatement. He and Ghorbanifar are longtime partners in crime, having been the two biggest spiders at the center of the Iran-Contra web, in which Ledeen and Ghorbanifar deployed their contacts in Israel – and within the Iranian government – to broker the mid-1980s arms-for-hostages deal.
As the Senate report reveals, Ledeen and Ghorbanifar, together with a group centered around the Office of Special Plans – and including a former Pentagon official convicted of engaging in espionage on behalf of Israel – met with a group of Iranians and officials of a certain "foreign intelligence service" that is never named. The purpose of the meeting: regime change in Iran.
The Office of Special Plans was one of several neocon-created "parallel institutions" designed to circumvent the ordinary vetting process for intelligence gathered by U.S. agencies. Two analysts from the neocons' DoD policy shop, Harold Rhode and Larry Franklin, were assigned to the Rome meetings. Franklin was once Douglas Feith's top Iran analyst. His career ended in 2005 when he was convicted of stealing U.S. state secrets on behalf of Israel.
Rhode, an expert on the Middle East, speaks a good number of languages, including Farsi, Turkish, and Hebrew, and was the key organizer for and advocate of the Iraqi National Congress in the U.S. He was described by one CIA hand as "living out of [Ahmed] Chalabi's office" during his time in Iraq. Indeed, Rhode served as Chalabi's American agent, rallying support for the American Enterprise Institute's Che Guevara when Chalabi's offices were raided by U.S. forces. It later came out that Chalabi was doing just what Franklin was doing – stealing U.S. secrets on behalf of a foreign power.
In a UPI piece by Richard Sale, a "former senior intelligence official" who served in the Coalition Provisional Authority is quoted as saying that "'Rhode was observed by CIA operatives as being constantly on his cell phone to Israel,' and that the information that the intelligence officials overheard him passing to Israel was 'mind-boggling.'"
As for Franklin, his activities on behalf of the Israeli intelligence services, acting through the American-Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), have been covered extensively in this space. Together with Ledeen – founding president of JINSA – and Ghorbanifar, whose extensive and long-standing links to the Israelis are common knowledge, the provenance of this whole Rome operation seems beyond dispute. The Senate report informs us that the Rome meetings were coordinated and facilitated by this mysterious, unnamed "foreign intelligence" entity, and then mentions the presence of at least one official of SISMI, a personal friend of Ledeen's, but the report's language is ambiguous – although it isn't hard to figure out that the Italian connection is just a diversion.
So here we have American officials, without the full knowledge or consent of their superiors, including the president, traveling around on the taxpayers' dime, in concert with and apparently under the direction of the Israeli government, plotting regime change in Iran, and rehearsing all the talking points that we hear today from the Pentagon and the White House. At one point, we are told, Ghorbanifar wrote down his plan for regime change on a napkin in a bar, telling Franklin he would need at least $5 million to start initial "disruptions" in and around Tehran, but that the bill would get higher as the "revolution" progressed.
The idea was to set up Ghorbanifar as the sponsor of an Iranian version of the Iraqi National Congress, a network that would disseminate intelligence on Tehran's inner workings as well as work to overthrow the regime. As in the case of Chalabi, who bilked the U.S. out of millions, cash considerations figured prominently in the schemes of the Rome cabal. At one point, the report informs us:
"The proposed funding for and foreign involvement in Mr. Ghorbanifar's plan for regime change were never fully understood. A synopsis of the Rome discussions averred that Ledeen and Ghorbanifar advised Mr. Franklin and Mr. Rhode that the [foreign government support] for this information collection opportunity and financing by [ foreign] corporate enterprises midway through the interviews. The costs would be in the millions."
The bill would be picked up by this not-so-mysterious "foreign government" generously supplemented by a "multi-million dollar business deal that the foreign government arranged for the two Iranian interlocutors" – and, of course, by the U.S. taxpayers.
Here is the quintessential neocon recipe for regime change, involving a lot of cash floating in a thick soup of ideology, with a bold flavor of espionage pervading the dish.
It's interesting that a lot of the most incriminating material was gleaned from interviews with Franklin, no doubt pried out of him with the charges of espionage hanging over him. He was sentenced to a mere 12 years in prison and a hefty fine for delivering sensitive materials stolen from his Pentagon office to Israeli embassy officials. Using AIPAC as the go-between, the Israelis ripped off intelligence about terrorist activities in Central Asia and U.S. operations in Iraq, and when Franklin was caught, he spilled the beans but good in a frantic effort to avoid spending the rest of his life in the big house. Perhaps the release of the Senate report – and the starring role played in its narrative by Franklin, the convicted spy – will bring renewed attention to the case against Franklin's handlers, former AIPAC bigshot Steve Rosen, and the group's point man on Iran, Keith Weissman.
For years, the Justice Department has been trying to prosecute Rosen and Weissman without releasing vital U.S. secrets and compromising our national security. The defense – the best money can buy – has engaged in a strategy of "graymail" from the beginning and stymied what are probably not the Justice Department's best efforts. The chief prosecutor in the case recently announced he was leaving for greener pastures, and there has been a lot of political resistance to this case for all the usual reasons, and then some.
"Oh, everyone does it," is the standard defense. That's what Washington is all about: trading information. Baloney. These two were caught red-handed receiving vital U.S. secrets from Franklin and passing them on to their Israeli handlers in what was a classic spying operation. That's not "trading information," it's espionage. It's embarrassing to have to point this out, but in the present atmosphere, in which any indication that Israel might be undermining the interests of its major benefactor is dismissed as evidence of resurgent anti-Semitism, the plain truth needs to be stated in unequivocal terms.
For years, I've been saying that the only way to understand the Iraq war – a war that hurt, rather than advanced, American interests – is to see it as a successful covert action carried out by the Israelis and their American collaborators. The "Clean Break" scenario, launched by American "advisers" to then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, laid it all out in 1996. That was the theory, the practice of which is revealed in second section of the Senate intelligence report. It's no accident that two individuals involved in creating that seminal blueprint for the "transformation" of the Middle East, Doug Feith and David Wurmser, are intimately connected with the activities examined in the Senate report.
The entire report is a goldmine of information that gives us a fascinating overview of the lies that lured us into war. And lies they were, whatever McClellan may say or believe. This is another mark of Empire: when the superpower, as the Old Right polemicist Garet Garrett pointed out more than half a century ago, is taken hostage by its own satellites. A globe-spanning Empire becomes, in effect, "a prisoner of history," driven by foreign lobbyists and their domestic constituencies, and is no longer cognizant of distinctly American interests.
Yes, we are prisoners of history. Our invasion of Iraq has led directly to a looming confrontation with Iran, just as the war-planners knew it would. What the second portion of the Senate report shows, however, is that we are also prisoners of the Israel lobby, which is inexorably pushing us into war with Iran. That lobby exercises enormous power in Washington and beyond, effectively policing not only the media but the government for the least sign of "anti-Israel" (i.e., pro-American) activity, relentless in pursuit of its goals – and its enemies.
Yet there is growing resistance to the Lobby's hegemony, especially within intelligence, counter-intelligence, and law enforcement circles. They, after all, are expected to put up with Israeli shenanigans conducted on American soil and stand by while the White House and the Pentagon let our alleged best friends get away with the crown jewels, the family silver, and the quarters in the cookie jar to boot.
Now the Senate report has blown away much of their cover; that and the recent exposure of Ben Ami Kadish, an Israeli spy handled by the same spook who directed Jonathan Pollard, constitute a double body-blow to Israel's fifth column in America – which is, today, just another name for the War Party and its top leadership.
As Ledeen might put it: "Faster, please!"
NOTES IN THE MARGIN
Get yourself on over to Taki's Magazine, and check out my latest: “Libertarianism's Divergent Roads,” an adaptation (with a new introduction) of my recent talk at the Future of Freedom conference.
And the first review of the new edition of my Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement is in the Western Standard, is out, written by the perceptive Kalim Kassam, along with a wonderful video illuminating the book's theme by Jack Hunter, “the Southern Avenger,” a regular columnist for the Charleston City Paper.
~ Justin Raimondo
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http://NEOCONZIONISTTHREAT.BLOGSPOT.COM
http://NOMOREWARFORISRAEL.BLOGSPOT.COM | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject: |
| There is only one country in the world that is putting any pressure on the U.S. to attack Iran, and that is Israel," Mearsheimer told a packed lecture hall at Hebrew University, according to the Jerusalem Post. "And it is putting enormous pressure on the US."
He added, "Inside the United States, it is pro-Israel individuals and groups who are almost wholly responsible for pressure being brought to bear on Bush and Cheney to use military force on Iran. The idea that the lobby and Israel don't put huge amounts of pressure on the U.S. is contradictory to the evidence."
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/print/200806130613waltm.html
Walt, Mearsheimer go to Israel
Dina Kraft
In Israel for the first time since publication of their controversial, critical book about the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, Profs. Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer were met with praise and rebuke.
Published: 06/13/2008
TEL AVIV (JTA) – American professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, authors of a critical book on the pro-Israel lobby, had just finished their lecture Thursday in a packed, airless Tel Aviv hall when audience members rushed the stage, engulfing the pair with a mix of accusation and praise.
First up was a woman who shook Walt's hand and called him a hero. Then came a student with a handheld video camera asking Walt how he felt that the book, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," was on the Hamas Web site and had been endorsed by David Duke.
As Walt and Mearsheimer made their way out of the hall and onto the street below, the rapid-fire questions and comments continued on the authors’ first trip to Israel since publication last year of their controversial book.
Assailed by the American Jewish establishment as having written a poorly researched and reasoned book with an anti-Israel agenda that taps into age-old, anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jewish power, Walt said he and Mearsheimer had not encountered a markedly different reception in Israel.
In addition to the Tel Aviv event, the two spoke at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, and Walt spoke at Al-Quds University, an Arab school, in eastern Jerusalem.
"Some people come who agree with us and some people come who don't agree with us, and we have a lively conversation,” Walt, a professor of international affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, told JTA. “I think some people who don't know Israel very well would think it radical or brave or controversial to come to Israel, but there is a vital discussion here in Israel and I don't find it surprising that we've had a very interesting and enjoyable time.”
In their talk in Tel Aviv, which was organized by the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, the two authors took turns defending the central thesis of their book: that a coalition of pro-Israel groups succeed in pushing through policies in the United States that often are at odds with America's and even Israel's best interests. They cite the Iraq war as one example, a claim critics have called patently untrue and poorly argued.
Echoing that claim, the pair argued in Israel that the same forces are now pushing the country into attacking Iran.
"There is only one country in the world that is putting any pressure on the U.S. to attack Iran, and that is Israel," Mearsheimer told a packed lecture hall at Hebrew University, according to the Jerusalem Post. "And it is putting enormous pressure on the US."
He added, "Inside the United States, it is pro-Israel individuals and groups who are almost wholly responsible for pressure being brought to bear on Bush and Cheney to use military force on Iran. The idea that the lobby and Israel don't put huge amounts of pressure on the U.S. is contradictory to the evidence."
Walt said he believed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad' s call for Israel to be wiped off the map is not actually a call for genocide. "I don't think he is inciting to genocide," Walt said in Jerusalem, according to Ha'aretz.
The authors maintain the United States coddles Israel and reject accusations that their work is unfair, poor scholarship or anti-Semitic.
As an example of his thesis, Mearsheimer, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, talked in his Tel Aviv lecture about how Israeli settlement building in the West Bank, though contrary to U.S. policy, continues because no U.S. president has the temerity to stand up to Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in Washington to stop it.
The head of Gush Shalom, Uri Avineri, who invited the two to Israel, said, "We want to start a discussion in Israel about whether or not the Israel lobby is good for us or not."
At both the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv talks, members of the pro-Israel advocacy group Stand With Us passed out glossy booklets denouncing the professors' book, citing critical reviews and providing four pages of counterpoints to the author’s claims.
"They are very convincing in terms of presentation because they are very articulate, but their argument that Israel has caused so much damage to America does not stand up and is causing anti-Zionism around the world," Michael Dickson, director of the group's office in Israel, said. "They used the academic freedom Israel provides to all to attack Israel and those who support her. So we made sure we were there to speak up against their lies.”
The authors say they have learned to shake off such criticism.
"When you cannot attack someone's facts or evidence, you call them names," Walt said.
A young Israeli who recently completely his service in the IDF’s strategic planning division talked to Walt after his lecture about Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, saying he regretted having to restrict the free movement of Palestinians but for the time being checkpoints are necessary security measures.
He walked away disappointed with Walt’s response. "The Israel lobby is successful and strong,” he said Walt told him. “All I could think was: It's not strong enough.”
Additional about Mearsheimer and Walt at the following URLs:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2006/03/17/u-s-middle-east-policy-motivated-by-pro-israel-lobby.php
http://NEOCONZIONISTTHREAT.BLOGSPOT.COM
http://NOMOREWARFORISRAEL.BLOGSPOT.COM | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:31 pm Post subject: |
| Rice warns Iran that world has lost its patience
By ANNE GEARAN 1 day ago
PARIS (AP) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned on Wednesday that the world has lost patience for Iranian foot-dragging regarding a possible return to bargaining over its nuclear program.Rice said nations with an offer on the table won't let Iran use a fresh diplomatic overture as an excuse for further delay.Traveling to Europe, where Iran is a central topic for President Bush's final trip there as president, Rice welcomed Europe's new willingness to consider additional coercive sanctions against Iran. She suggested European nations expect a quick answer from Iran once it receives a repackaged opening offer.A European envoy was to deliver the offer — essentially a retooling of a two-year-old package of incentives for Iran to roll back its nuclear program — as soon as this weekend."I'm going to be attentive to it, and I think others will be attentive to any sense that Iran is trying to use this opportunity for them to stall, because I think that no one is of a mind to allow them to stall very much longer," Rice said.The United States agreed last month to give Iran another chance to resume arms control talks by making small changes to the existing offer, but Iran has already rejected a demand that it shelve uranium enrichment before talks could begin.Any new European sanctions would probably wait until nations have an answer, Rice suggested."People are looking to see whether the Iranians have a reasonable response, a forthcoming response," she said. "It's not as if proposals haven't been put forward to them before."Rice welcomed support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others for possible additional sanctions on the oil-producing giant if it continues a drive for nuclear technology that the West fears could produce a bomb. New sanctions could target Iran's banking sector, where individual sanctions applied by the United States have apparently pinched Iran.The United Nations Security Council has passed three rounds of weak sanctions against Iran that have the chief value of making uranium enrichment the international red line. Europe, with economic and diplomatic ties to Iran, has been slower than the United States to embrace separate financial punishments. | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:01 am Post subject: |
| Bush criticizes Iran decision on nuclear program
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago
President Bush said Saturday that Iran has isolated its people and put the world in danger by rejecting a deal aimed at halting the country's uranium enrichment program.
In Tehran, European Union diplomat Javier Solana presented Iran a modified package of economic, technological and political incentives on behalf of the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China. Iran immediately rejected the deal because it requires suspending uranium enrichment.
"I'm disappointed that the leaders rejected this generous offer out of hand," Bush said. "It's an indication to the Iranian people that their leadership is willing to isolate them further. Our view is we want the Iranian people to flourish and to benefit."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy took the same approach as Bush. He said the Iranian people "deserve better than the impasse into which some of their leaders are leading them."
Iran says it is enriching uranium to generate electricity, not to build nuclear weaponry — a claim the West doubts is true.
The repackaged incentives were agreed on last month in what diplomats called mainly cosmetic changes to the original 2006 offer, while maintaining the threat of further U.N. sanctions. So far, three sets of sanctions by the United Nations have failed to bring about any change.
Bush also gave a stern message to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday, saying the Syrians should stop working with Iran to destabilize the Mideast. "My message would be `Stop fooling around with the Iranians and stop harboring terrorists,'" Bush said in a news conference with Sarkozy.
On Iraq, Bush brushed off criticism that a long-term security deal between the United States and Iraq was faltering.
"If I were a betting man, we'll reach an agreement with the Iraqis," Bush said. "Of course, we're there at their invitation. It's a sovereign nation ... We're going to work hard to accommodate their desires. It's their country."
The deal would provide a legal basis for the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq after a U.N. mandate expires. Bush said the agreement would not commit future U.S. presidents to any troop levels in Iraq and would not establish permanent U.S. bases.
Bush's upbeat assesssment came as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared Friday that talks with the U.S. on the deal were deadlocked, as Sunni and Shiite preachers spoke out against a plan that would enable American troops to remain in Iraq after year's end.
Al-Maliki said negotiations will continue, but his tough talk reflects Iraqi determination to win greater control of U.S. military operations after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year. Failure to strike a deal would be a major setback for Bush ahead of the November presidential election. | | | | Alpha | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
