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Tag(s): CENTCOM; Cheney Dick; Conyers-John; Foreign Policy Failure Iran; House Judiciary Committee; IRAN NO NUKES; Impeachment; Iran; Iraq; Iraq; (more...) Israel; Lies Cheney; Military; People Dick Cheney; People Olmert; Senate (less...)
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June 20, 2008 at 09:02:51

Bomb Iran? What's to Stop Us?

by Ray McGovern Page 1 of 5 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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It’s crazy, but it’s coming soon – from the same folks who brought us Iraq.

Unlike the attack on Iraq five years ago, to deal with Iran there need be no massing of troops. And, with the propaganda buildup already well under way, there need be little, if any, forewarning before shock and awe and pox – in the form of air and missile attacks – begin.

This time it will be largely the Air Force’s show, punctuated by missile and air strikes by the Navy. Israeli-American agreement has now been reached at the highest level; the armed forces planners, plotters and pilots are working out the details.

Emerging from a 90-minute White House meeting with President George W. Bush on June 4, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the two leaders were of one mind:

“We reached agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat. I left with a lot less question marks [than] I had entered with regarding the means, the timetable restrictions, and American resoluteness to deal with the problem. George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on that matter before the end of his term in the White House.”

Does that sound like a man concerned that Bush is just bluff and bluster?

A member of Olmert’s delegation noted that same day that the two countries had agreed to cooperate in case of an attack by Iran, and that “the meetings focused on ‘operational matters’ pertaining to the Iranian threat.” So bring ‘em on!

A show of hands please. How many believe Iran is about to attack the U.S. or Israel?

You say you missed Olmert’s account of what Bush has undertaken to do? So did I. We are indebted to intrepid journalist Chris Hedges for including the quote in his article of June 8, “The Iran Trap.”

We can perhaps be excused for missing Olmert’s confident words about “Israel’s best friend” that week. Your attention – like mine – may have been riveted on the June 5 release of the findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding administration misrepresentations of pre-Iraq-war intelligence – the so-called “Phase II” investigation (also known, irreverently, as the “Waiting-for-Godot Study”).

Better late than never, I suppose.

Oversight?

Yet I found myself thinking: It took them five years, and that is what passes for oversight? Yes, the president and vice president and their courtiers lied us into war. And now a bipartisan report could assert that fact formally; and committee chair Jay Rockefeller could sum it up succinctly:

“In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed.”

But as I listened to Senator Rockefeller, I had this sinking feeling that in five or six years time, those of us still around will be listening to a very similar post mortem looking back on an even more disastrous attack on Iran.

My colleagues and I in Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) issued repeated warnings, before the invasion of Iraq, about the warping of intelligence. And our memoranda met considerable resonance in foreign media.

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Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. During his 27-years as a CIA analyst, he chaired NIEs: he is now on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

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5 comments

Deborah Emin is the author of the novel, Scags at 7, which is currently out of print. She also has had articles on the Huffington Post, Mediachannel.org as well as in Gay City News, and NYCPlus. During the Kucinich presidential campaign, she worked as his official campaign blogger and is currently writing a book about those experiences. After getting her feet soaked in that campaign, Deborah has returned to the political work while also spending a good deal of time teaching and writing.
D...

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Deborah EminDeborah Emin is the author of the novel, Scags at 7, which is currently out of print. She also has had articles on the Huffington Post, Mediachannel.org as well as in Gay City News, and NYCPlus. During the Kucinich presidential campaign, she worked as his official campaign blogger and is currently writing a book about those experiences. After getting her feet soaked in that campaign, Deborah has returned to the political work while also spending a good deal of time teaching and writing.
D...

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Too bad you are correct here

Sorry to say that I sat in Town Hall in 2006 and listened to Elizabeth Holtzman, John Dean, Lewis Lapham and a two-year younger Jonh Conyers all say we needed to impeach right now the fools on the hill. The sad fact is that Pelosi for all her pearls and poise is a lapdog to power and loves it. She has no idea what will fly and what won't so makes the most bumptious decisions imaginable and regards the Senate as her cohorts. She has no idea what the role of the House is to be and worries too much about things she cannot control and too little over things she can influence.

As to this war with Iran. As to the president. If anyone had listened to the president worry about looking at himself in the mirror after he leaves office (will he in fact ever leave office?) they would know that this poor man was not granted the full use of his own human brain. It has been hijacked and taken hostage by a fellow named Narcissus/Cheney who intends to keep him looking healthy and as robust as possible all the while plotting the eve of destruction.

I do think Cheney has a severe death wish. He has done all he can do in this life and hates us all. If taking the good percentage of the world with him as he blows us all up can be done, I do think he would do it. Boytoy George is just a great looking cover for the duck hunter. He loves to use him as cover while he plots and strategizes, using all this potent power he himself does not have. If we all live long enough, tons of new information will be coming out about the failure of Dick Cheney to live up to something, I have no clue what it could be and we will all shake our heads in shame too for overlooking the obvious.

Cheney needed to be impeached two years ago and more and that would have happened if we had representatives who cared more about us than the careers they were carving out for themselves in DC.

by Deborah Emin (15 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 62 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 9:55:02 AM

Electrical Engineer
Harold SmithElectrical Engineer

The U.S. is going down, fast, and nothing can stop it.

That so many people could act so irrationally is mind-boggling. Apparently there are "demonic" forces at work here, and that's about all that can be said.

by Harold Smith (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 465 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 11:03:56 AM

I am a Musician, political Junkie, Father, Husband, who cares very much about the United States of America and what is being done to the Ideals and citizens of this great Nation.

I want to restore the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to what the founders of this nation intended to protect us from.

I was born in Niagara Falls, N.Y. and I now reside in Florida. I am tired of the media being manipulated by Faux News and right wing propaganda that leading our Democracy i...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Michael ChaversI am a Musician, political Junkie, Father, Husband, who cares very much about the United States of America and what is being done to the Ideals and citizens of this great Nation.

I want to restore the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to what the founders of this nation intended to protect us from.

I was born in Niagara Falls, N.Y. and I now reside in Florida. I am tired of the media being manipulated by Faux News and right wing propaganda that leading our Democracy i...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Iran

If our government attacks Iran before Bush leaves office the democrats will be as responsible and the republicans for cowering to the Repugs.

by Michael Chavers (46 articles, 0 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 174 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 1:06:55 PM

Democrats have their own responsibility

We saw it in congress today with Pelosi caving in and taking with her those who are just as cowardly as she is. I have never seen such a roomful of cowards as those who voted with the President today. Shame on them and shame on their consituents if they re-elect them.

by Deborah Emin (15 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 62 comments) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 5:52:37 PM

I am a writer, telecomm bedouin, third-generation seafaring man, and hunted the great steel whales. I went from being tear-gassed at People's Park in Berkeley in 1968 to helping maintain America's Nuclear Deterrent Arsenal and I embrace all the contradictions inherent in that statement.
Ishmael1I am a writer, telecomm bedouin, third-generation seafaring man, and hunted the great steel whales. I went from being tear-gassed at People's Park in Berkeley in 1968 to helping maintain America's Nuclear Deterrent Arsenal and I embrace all the contradictions inherent in that statement.

Here's What Will Happen After A US Attack On Iran

Iran has been quietly buying hundreds of supersonic Sunburn and Yakhonts missles and placing them in concealed positions scattered about the Iranian littoral. There is currently NO defense against these missles due to their speed and low over-water flight level. They also have Kilo-class diesel subs carrying Shkval supercavitating torpedos capable of 200 mph speeds. These torpedos can also be deployed from Iranian small surface craft.

When the US Navy war-gamed this scenario last year, the Red Force commander(Iranian) overwhelmed the fleet's defenses with wave attacks of hundreds of the aforementioned missles counterpointed with suicide boats carrying the Shkval and prepositioned sub attacks as well. The final tally was a total destruction of every major surface vessel inside the Persian Gulf. So they changed the rules to make the Blue team win.

Now consider that result with three carrier battle groups, a total of 40-50 ships or 30% of the entire fleet going to Davy Jones' Locker with the bones of 20-30,000 American sailors, all in an afternoon. At the same time, the Iranian Army can move west from Khoramshahr, take Basra and close the Shatt-al-Arab AND the Hormuz Straits. Then our troops in Iraq will be totally cut off and oil prices will go up to $10/gallon or more.

by Ishmael1 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 29 comments) on Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 11:46:35 PM