RE comment #102485

I concur that toppling the theocracy in Iran was likely part of the original BushCo masterplan, but in that same plan the Iraqis were supposed to greet American tanks with flowers. When that didn’t pan out, plans had to change.

Modern warfare techniques (what our gov’t refers to as terrorism) have proven quite effective against our own old-school strategies, making it nearly inconceivable that the US, with two fronts already, could hold Iran secure for any length of time.

Israel’s recent invasion of Lebanon provided an opportunity for the US to test new aerial weaponry against bunkers and underground facilities. These are the same weapons that will be used in Iran. A clean strike will reinvigorate those who believe that force is the answer in the so-called war on terror. But wether or not such strikes are successful in stopping Iran’s nuclear advances, they will renew American pride and embolden republican calls for strength (i.e.fear+violence) in leadership. It’s a win win.

As for the Admin’s long term strategy, it has always been it’s goal, publicly stated, to encourage ‘regime change’ in Iran. It will continue to do so, overtly and covertly. As far as a full on invasion of Iran in the near future, I would be more concerned about Israel. As that country becomes increasingly reactionary, it will not accept another nuclear power in the region. This might force them to abandon their own masterplan.

In this scenario, Israel grows fearful that Iran is too close to having a nuke, and that the US, who will not have the stomach for another war, is not acting decisively enough to stop it. Given that Israel does not have the military infrastructure to place ground troops, they might resort to full scale carpet bombing, treating the world to another gruesome round of cluster bombs that continue to explode and kill for weeks after first detonation.

But I can also see cooler heads prevailing, with new US leadership that understands that one simply cannot continue to strip entire groups, ethnicities, religions, and countries of their pride, honor, and dignity, forever with impunity. Leaders who understand that sooner or later, the foul wind will blowback in your face.

#102467 by WriterOnTheStorm

On the fearmongering and demonization”

• …”The Administration. Their chief aim is to take advantage of Iran as a scapegoat for its failure in Iraq. I’m less convinced that they want to go to war in the short term, but my crystal ball sees a few well-timed air strikes shortly before the first Tuesday in November of next year, depending on the poll and focus group results.

WriterOnTheStorm,

I would have concurred with your crystal ball a couple of years ago, especially about the Mob not necessarily wanting to go to war in the short term, but just to lob a few air strikes.

I’ve since become convinced that Iran was in the plan of attack all along. (like to be conquered after or in conjunction with Iraq.) I’m pretty sure that was Cheney’s blueprint all along, since way before 2000, and probably right after the PNAC was committed to publication, (1997) with its stated goal of re-arranging the entire Middle East. Same reason as Iraq, the OIL…in the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the entire Persian Gulf and all of its little kingdoms. Iraq was only the starting point.

This most recent article just adds another piece of documentation to “theory”.

Cheney Mulled Israeli Strike on Iran: Newsweek
Reuters
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092407B.shtml

Now, we know that Iran is not in danger of producing nuclear weapons, because Ahmadinejad, as well as the Mullah’s, have stated that over and over again. We also know it because ElBaradei and the IAEA have been ALL OVER Iran and it’s facilities, and it’s paperwork, and they have yet to come up with anything that would indicate that Iran currently has, or is in the process of doing anything to make bombs. For the past 10 years, they’ve been saying that Iran is at least a decade away from that, and Iran is still at least a decade away from having a bomb, EVEN if that’s what they were trying to make.

Instead, they’re enriching uranium for energy/nuclear technology, (which is of course their right under the NPT, but I’m thinking you probably already know that part) even though the Mob wants us to believe that Iran is spinning gold from straw.

So, that’s what makes me real worried that Cheney isn’t waiting on any polls. Iran has been his mission from the gate. If it was up to him alone, (like if he didn’t have to depend on the military commanders to carry it out) it would have happened long ago. I think the only thing that has prevented it so far, is that everybody knows this time, that there’s no danger of WMD in Iran, just like there wasn’t in Iraq, and that an attack on Iran will only be about Israel, and about oil. Israel already has a full nuke arsenal, but they came up short on the oil part in the original package.

Just my 2 cents.

The systematic demonization of Iran continues apace. As the hysterical Ahmadinejad haters take to the airwaves and the streets, let’s pause to examine where most of the fear mongering is originating:

The Administration. Their chief aim is to take advantage of Iran as a scapegoat for its failure in Iraq. I’m less convinced that they want to go to war in the short term, but my crystal ball sees a few well-timed air strikes shortly before the first Tuesday in November of next year, depending on the poll and focus group results. Such military action will appear well justified by then, after CIA loyalists and admin cronies have been trotted out Colin Powell-style to “testify” as to the Iran’s nuclear weapons development, and the use of Iranian bombs in Iraq.

Working foot-in-jackboot with the administration are those who view Iran as a threat to Israeli hegemony in the region. These are not only Israelis themselves and their sympathizers abroad, but the American media circus, who dutifully disseminate the brazen myth that Israel is the only true democracy and only country worthy of friendship in all of the middle-east.

I’m afraid that nothing Ahmadinejad does or says, much less the apparent minority of people who see through the charade, is going to stop this Lemming march into a cold and bloody future. Despite the lessons we should have learned from the Iraq war buildup, it remains too hard to change minds, and too easy to lay blame elsewhere.

Even worse, whilst we are all distracted by Sideshow Ahmad - America’s new officially sanctioned bogeyman, Putin is busily turning Russia into the biggest Mafiacracy in history. And Musharraf is just one false move from putting nukes, (and a working delivery system!) into the hands of the Taliban.

A little perspective please.

Allowing Iran’s president to speak is one thing, but would allowing madmen such as Adolf Hitler and George W. Bush be going too far?

You know what? This administration has been so clever with their propaganda and the poor “led sheep” who follow every Rove and Bush utterance no matter how preposterous the claim, have become so dangerous to the security of this nation that it is no longer safe to have them speaking out.
Elections better come soon, I’m not sure how much longer we can contain the “loonies” here who would love to start another war and bomb hell out of anyone! Lebanon or Iran, Syria, Cuba or Venezuela.

cyrena. most of the world’s leaders are pretty loathsome and most of congress are below contempt. ahmadinejad may or may not be mad,how will we ever know. what he says publicly is certainly distorted and edited by the source delivering the news to us. it is a certainty that a large number of our own leaders are insane. bush and cheney are the best examples. the three repukes running for pres. that don’t believe in evolution are certainly idiots if not outright insane.  how about “i smell brimstone” chavez, gotta love him too.

Ya know what Rowdy, Ahmadinejad isn’t even a madman. And, it’s pretty disgusting to me, that mob-think, group-think Americans have been so easily programmed to believe this of him.

He’s consistantly labled as a “Holocaust Denier” by the WESTERN MEDIA, when in reality, he has never “denied” that millions of Jews were executed by Hitler in Germany and other parts of Europe. He only denies that the PALESTINIANS had ANYTHING to do with it!! Because, they DIDN’T!!

THAT is the issue. Iran has never done anything to US, that we didn’t bring on ourselves.

I’m totally disgusted by the stupidy that the masses have fallen to. Team Bush set out to demonize this guy before the Iranians even elected him, over 3 years ago. That’s the way they do things.

And, the masses have followed, including the stupidos at Columbia.

So, just for the record, I want it to be known that students and faculty at Standford, Boston University and a few others, have also protested speakers at their campuses...Speakers like Condi Rice and George Bush, and others. I would definitely protest if either of them appeared at MY campus, but I’d be delighted to hear what Ahmadinejad has to say.

He’s very smart, and well read. Has a lot of very interesting ideas. And he’s correct that Americans remain totally uninformed. He’s only wrong in suggesting that “Americans are keen to hear” his ideas, because as we see from these protests, some Americans are NOT keen to hear these ideas.

And, that’s because Team Bush doesn’t want them to hear from him. They might find out, (if they hear from him themselves) that Team Bush has been lying about him all along.

bush hates this man. that is all the reason i need to like him. bush is a maniac with tens of thousands of nukes at his disposal. ahmadinejad is not a dictator,in so far as he has to answer to others. he may be a madman,but unlike the madman bush he has no nukes.