Forget about any other legislation. Kill Bush's ability to make war with Iran, with any other country.
There they go again. Bush and company are using the same tactics to drum up war with Iran-- lying about their intentions, using unethical, partisan reporters to raise the stakes with claims of Iranian abuses and dangers to America and American interests.
Just as they lied about their intentions about attacking Iraq, then lied about the dangers of WMDs, they are at it again.
If the democrats don't do something very, very soon, very tough, clear and decisive, then the US will be attacking Iran. It will have thrown itself and we the people into an insane, dangerous devastatingly expensive and unaffordable conflict that will change the world and our lifestyles.
Baldfaced Lies to the American Public We know, through reports like this Guardian article that the plans and preparations for war with Iran is very advanced. Guardian reports:
US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration, according to informed sources in Washington.
The present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount an attack by the spring. But the sources said that if there was an attack, it was more likely next year, just before Mr Bush leaves office.
Neo-conservatives, particularly at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, are urging Mr Bush to open a new front against Iran. So too is the vice-president, Dick Cheney. The state department and the Pentagon are opposed, as are Democratic congressmen and the overwhelming majority of Republicans. The sources said Mr Bush had not yet made a decision...
Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, said yesterday: "I don't know how many times the president, secretary [of state Condoleezza] Rice and I have had to repeat that we have no intention of attacking Iran."
But Vincent Cannistraro, a Washington-based intelligence analyst, shared the sources' assessment that Pentagon planning was well under way. "Planning is going on, in spite of public disavowals by Gates. Targets have been selected. For a bombing campaign against nuclear sites, it is quite advanced. The military assets to carry this out are being put in place."
He added: "We are planning for war. It is incredibly dangerous."
Mainstream Media Collusion, Ginning the Story
On the home front, amazingly, Michael R. GOrdon, the "journalist" who promoted and sold the war for the Whitehouse, while purportedly functioning as a NY Times reporter, with Judith Miller-- is now banging the drum about threats and dangers from Iran. Editor and publisher, reports in an article
Saturday's New York Times features an article, posted at the top of its Web site late Friday, that suggests very strongly that Iran is supplying the "deadliest weapon aimed at American troops" in Iraq. The author notes, "Any assertion of an Iranian contribution to attacks on Americans in Iraq is both politically and diplomatically volatile."
What is the source of this volatile information? Nothing less than "civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies."
Sound pretty convincing? It may be worth noting that the author is Michael R. Gordon, the same Times reporter who, on his own, or with Judith Miller, wrote some of the key, and badly misleading or downright inaccurate, articles about Iraqi WMDs in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.
Gordon wrote with Miller the paper's most widely criticized -- even by the Times itself -- WMD story of all, the Sept. 8, 2002, "aluminum tubes" story that proved so influential, especially since the administration trumpeted it on TV talk shows.
When the Times eventually carried an editors' note that admitted some of its Iraq coverage was wrong and/or overblown, it criticized two Miller-Gordon stories, and noted that the Sept. 8, 2002, article on page one of the newspaper "gave the first detailed account of the aluminum tubes. The article cited unidentified senior administration officials who insisted that the dimensions, specifications and numbers of tubes sought showed that they were intended for a nuclear weapons program."
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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A few declarations.
-While I'm registered as a Democrat, I consider myself to be a dynamic critic of the Democratic party, just as, well, not quite as much, but almost as much as I am a critic of republicans.
-My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.
The one thing Americans do not see, a massive military defea
Iran has over 25,000 200+ mile range shore to ship missles, 15,000 of them are mach 2 flying at ten feet off the water, with ping target acquisition radar that goes to magnetic once a target ships bearing is acquired, so our anti-missle radar can not lock on them. They will sink every ship we have in the Persian Gulf in an afternoon.
The military insanity of our tactical position is obvious. Once our navy is sunk, our army is essentially defenseless as it is 90%+ re-supplied by sea. No navy, no resupply. Turkey is now the only surrounding country that will allow us to fly over their territory to get to Iran using their Irbil airbase. Turkey government, a 85% moslem country, will certainly fall with an attack on Iran, probably within a day. The rest of the world will turn on us like a mad dog. Within a couple of months Iran will have captured what they haven't killed of our army in Iraq and we will be kissing there behinds to get the rest of our soldiers out. The political/economic consequences for the USA are obvious.
We, the people had better make Congress wake up and smell the roses. We are done as an Imperial power. We can grow up fast and take back our government in time(a low probability event judging by the spinelessness of the democrats), the easy way.
Unfortunately, you can tell that none of our political leaders can conceive of us losing militarily. They act like they think the universe has made us invlunerable. Our grunts in Iraq know better.
Suckers don't think having not been skinned yet.
"Pain makes man think; thought makes man wise; and wisdom makes life endurable.", 'Socksup' played by Marlon Brando, "The Teahouse Of The August Moon". I really dislike the looks of the hard way. A lot of us better start squeaking loud and fast now.
You can read my bio, then go to the no1stcostlist.com.
by
Dan Alter (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 4 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 2:40:36 AM
I am not a constitutional scholar, by any means, yet I suspect that congress would have great difficulty restricting the power of a commander in chief. I believe that, in light of the refusal of our legislature these last six years to face this boy king down, what you ask is not going to happen.
I have read one apology after the other, one excuse piled on the next excuse for the cowardice and complicity of your Democratic Party to act in the face of an administraion that is changing, not only the face of the world, but the democratic process itself here in America.
We have seen words , elegant and passionate words, turn into inaction and waffling, and now, in the face of yet another impending disaster and violation of international law Rob would expect the Congress to do what it has refused to do all along, rise up and act like a protector of sanity and rationality, a defender of our constitution, because Bush is going to invade Iran? I wouldnt hold my breath......
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 9:08:12 AM
The arguments to curtail Iranian arms movements into Iraq
belies many facts..most prominantly the relationship of Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki..who was subject to a death warrant by Saddam in 1980 and exiled himself to Iran before exile to Syria...The very nations of the region the United States will not establish or acknowledge in the potential peace and regional stabilization process. Clearly al-Maliki has "informal relations with Iran" and allows embassy and consulate in Iraq...abhorrent to America, but well within the "famility of shiite'
Of course, innuendo and prejudices are always good to set up a war-- but even rhetoric has to be tned upon true facts..but that is what got the Nation into this mess..
by
Eliot Gould (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 21 diaries, 99 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 10:40:37 AM
For months now Randi Rhodes (Air America) has been warning that Bush will initiate strikes agains Iran in March, as in next month in seventeen days March.
She started by noting the build up in of our naval fleet in the Persian Gulf and backed it up with a bunch of facts. Most recently she pointed specifically to a Navy admiral being appointed to head up our forced in Iraq, and asked the obvious question: Why is a navy man heading up desert warfare forces? Iraq only has about an inch of coastline. What does a naval officer know about fighting in the desert?
We have a Democratically held majority, but they can't decide where to meet for coffee, let alone what to do about Iraq, and we expect them to step into the Iran fray and defy Bush? To actually do something constructive?
And about that "majority." It's the slimmest of slim with one Democratic senator out of commission with a stroke and Joe Lieberman voting with the Pubs.
Worse! One of the journalists on Chris Matthew's Saturday night show (2/10) on NBC predicted that Lieberman is going to "officially" change parties. With current friends like Lieberman, who needs???.....blah, blah, blah.
With these guys in the White House who excised the word "diplomacy" from their dictionaries and vocabularies, there's only one thing to do...bend over and kiss our asses good-bye because...
One way or another, Georgie is going to find an excuse to attack Iran, even if he has to make up a phony attack against us or dummy up the evidence -- which he/they already appear to be doing.
Unlike Saddam, Iran has the forces and the might to strike us and strike us hard.
We're running out of time, and like a lot of other people, I don't have a clue what can be done to stop Bush short of the military standing up to him by standing down and refusing to follow his orders.
by
Sandy Sand (140 articles, 0 quicklinks, 193 diaries, 1360 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 10:53:42 AM
I believe you have hit the nail on the head, valleygirl.
We need to appeal to our military. The people who will have to carry out the orders to attack Iran.
Anyone who has familiy and/or friends in the military, especially in positions of power, needs to start reaching out to them NOW.
Remind them that the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) mandates that only lawful orders must be followed.
It has long since been established that the invasion and occupation of Iraq is an unquestionable violation of both American and International law. This reality means that every order occurring as a result of this invasion is itself illegal and must not be followed, as per the UCMJ.
An attack on Iran would also be illegal, regardless of whether Bush approaches it as an extension of the current conflict or as an entirely new one.
As David Swanson points out (read his piece "Iran Lies"), even if Iran is helping in Iraq, this is not justifcation for an attack. They're only doing exactly what we did in France in World War II; helping to repel an illegal invasion.
It is Bill Simpich's Truthout account of what really happened in the courtroom that led to the mistrial in the Ehren Watada court martial.
As many know, Lt. Watada is the first commissioned officer to refuse the order to deploy to Iraq, precisely because of the illegality of the invasion and occupation. He was being tried on charges of missing movement and conduct unbecoming an officer.
The judge declared a mistrial not because Lt. Watada signed a pre-trial stipulation that he misunderstood, as was widely reported in the pathetic MSM, but because he couldn't keep Watada from taking the stand to testify on the record as to the illegality of the war.
It was the judge who screwed up, because he thought the pre-trial stipulation amounted to a confession that would preclude Watada from testifying. And because the mistrial was not necessary, the double jeopardy rule applies and Watada cannot be re-tried.
The critical point that our military friends and family need to understand is that Watada is 100% correct, and actually adhering to the UCMJ by refusing to obey illegal orders, and that they would be fully justified in following his lead.
by
John Perry (31 articles, 33 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 81 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 5:56:26 PM
Yes, sure, but look -- you're appealing to Congress (& also
implicitly to the media, as you chastize the NYT for publishing the likes of Gordon & Miller) --
These institutions -- Congress & the corporate media -- can no longer really be appealed to (at least not with any chance of influencing their behavior). They're not seriously opposed to what Bush is doing (even if they sometimes posture as "critics" of the precise way Bush does what he does). In fact, that's why they diddle around with nonbinding resolutions that don't even make it to the Senate floor for a vote -- they want to pretend to be "against" escalating US military aggression, even while what they're doing allows it to go forward unimpeded.
In other words, facing the truth means acknowledging that these institutions have failed the US population. The real struggle going on is between US elites (the corporate oligarchy, & their minions in Congress & in the media), and the rest of the population. It has to be recognized that both parties and the media are on the side of the elites, not on the side of "the people."
In fact, those corrupt institutions are simply mechanisms by which the oligarchy maintains control, while keeping popular dissent marginalized & off-balance.
by
Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1162 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 3:25:32 PM
Yeah, there is a lot of keen-fact gee-whiz military analysis and psychological analysis of psychopaths and demographic media analysis, and I say disregard it all.
And look at history. Nothing stopped Vietnam. Then IMPEACHMENT started in on Nixon, who got gone in Aug.'74 and Vietnam stopped 8 months later. Real simple.
Simply reality. The Libby trial is getting (rid of) Cheney and that reminds me of them getting rid of Agnew in preparation of bumping Nixon off. We need watch out for Cheney's replacement, (Jeb? !!), and there's a battle royal going on in The Fright House over this, Cheney's versus Junior's. What is hardly seen is "Cheney's" is old man Poppy's people, and it's Old Man versus Junior. (Some sort of reverse oedipal going on, yet disregard.) The best thing is get them gone IN TANDEM, no interim v.p. step-in. And one way for that is tie them both to Poppy and torpedo him. He's easy to take down, considering his murdering.
There are local states and places that are moving up IMPEACHMENTs. And I think that's the way to bully Congress into it. If so, what we can do is work locally and move to force a vote in Congress on IMPEACHMENT Articles: OURS !
It is not a frame about who supports the troops. Yes, Democrats and Republicans both are blackmailed and corrupted. It's about the people and the rule of law, and BuSheney broke our laws and we can force IMPEACHMENT, townhall by townhall. (As for blowing away the massmind media, we can do that, too: BOYCOTT Cable TV -- keeps more of your money in your pocket, too.)
IMPEACH, NOW! That is how we end the war and prevent the next.
by
meremark (1 articles, 3 quicklinks, 25 diaries, 493 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 6:43:29 PM
Let's see, Congress will not stop Bush, the Courts will not stop him, nor will the Military, and the vast majority of the people of the U.S. simply don't give a damn (there will still be malls, football and beer, right?) that means it's up to the rest of the world to stop him.
Putin took the first step with his speech. Putin has now at at least formally and dramatically pointed out that the bloodthirsty Zionazi Emperor Bush has no clothes. Now for an encore, maybe a few Russian ships to the area would send a signal? Or can Russia and China perhaps make Iran a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
In any case, I wonder if it may be time for those of us opposed to this madness to head for Canada or somewhere?
by
jpsmith123 (3 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 286 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 7:10:17 PM
Rob's pointing out how the Times still carries Gordon on its roster was very helpful. We'd just sent out an alert to all our membership, urging them to write Congress and their local papers to urge support for Rep. Pete DeFazio's H.Con.Res. 33-- demanding no military action against Iran without Congressional approval. Then Gordon's article arrived on our doorsteps, in both the Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Had we protested too strongly the degree of Administration hype when we'd listed in a summary of Bush escalations its accusations that Iran was interfering militarily in Iraq?
This is the kind of pseudo-journalism which makes the opposition pull in its horns. Thanks, Rob, for reminding us of Judith Miller and waking us up to her former partner's continuing presence on the Times.
by
Al Krass (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 9 comments)
on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 8:29:02 PM
Jane Smiley has set the heart of the matter before us:
"Dear Democrats:
"Here are a few words for you to remember:
"Gitmo. Abu Ghraib. NSA Spy Scandal. Jose Padilla. Military Commissions Act. Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Presidential signing statements. Newflash: Democrats, your Constitution is broken and it needs to be fixed. Now. Before the minimum wage. Before troop withdrawal. Before impeachment. Before ethics reform. Before stem cell research. Before universal healthcare.
"The very document that empowers you has been attacked and damaged by George W. Bush, personally and with malice aforethought. Fix it. Until you signal your absolute resolve to undo the damage Bush has done to the heart and soul of our nation's laws, everything else is cosmetic."
===
It would, though, maybe, be ok to do two things at once...if this timid bumbling lot of Congressional Dems can stay in Washington long enough to do what's important - even foregoing a trip home...
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