G. Achin:  Thanks for the link.

aafshar:  Thanks for the link.  The article reflects what I had been saying in an earlier post--the hard-right’s strategy is the same as it was in the run up to the war in Iraq.  There is an effort to develop a master narrative to convince the American public that Iran is a clear and present danger to the safety and security of all Americans--that the only solution is to bomb it.  In Iraq, that master narrative was carried out by trying to convince (a) that Saddam was the next Hitler, (b) that Saddam supports al Qaeda terrorists; (c) that Saddam was seeking to acquire a nuclear capability; (d) that we cannot permit Saddam to be in a position to arm the terrorists with nuclear weapons, and (e) we can’t afford to permit the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.  The Bush regime knew that every one of those arguments was patently false, yet it convinced a pliant corporate media, which in turn acted as cheerleaders for war.

If you examine the propaganda about Iran and Ahmadinejad, I think you can find every element that was successfully applied to Iraq now being applied to Iran.  While the administration is now in the position of the little boy who cried “wolf” once too often, their assault on checks and balances over the last five years has also strengthened their ability to act with impugnity.  After all, the so-called “Democratic leadership” in Congress has already told us that impeachment is off the table.

Watching the run up to a war with Iran is like being part of a captive audience forced to watch a re-run of a really bad movie.  You know its going to be a real drag, but what can you do to stop it?

this is an excellent article which i urge you all to read it. cyrena, Ernerst you will appricate this and it give a short lesson on Islam, iran and the arabs.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/sahimi.php?articleid=11762

Re:  #107244 Cyrena

I absolutely feel your frustration with the impeachment process.  Unfortunately to my cynical mind the entire act of impeachment has been permanently cheapened by the Republican witch hunt of a few years ago.  I do, however agree with you with the fact that these people should be tried and convicted in a US court which would then set the stage for some type of world-body examination of fact.

This is a little off topic but it is response i posted to a Washington post opinion which was posted tonight by Dan Froomkin titled “A General Demands Accountability”, in reference to comments General Sanchez made over the weekend, which I am sure most of you have heard.  It’s a little cultural lesson on middle eastern mentality.  I doubt the good General would ever read it, but it should interest some right wingers and war mongers.  Rowman I hope you take the time to read it, all though I doubt you will understand it but I think Ernest Canning Gold Star Father cyrena would enjoy it and know what i mean.

Speaking as a middle eastern I like to point out a fact to the General, right wingers and warmongers in wapo land; in middle east when you go to someone’s house to give a helping hand in protecting their home after a family disturbance, you don’t move in to their bedroom, sleep in their bed and rap their daughter in name of being there to protect them, that is a no no, may be a common practice in redneck Ville, but it is a no no in middle east.  What you do there is, call the neighbors (who know the family) to go in the home to console and give comfort to the woman and children, you (the macho man) go out of the house stand on the wall and make sure thieves and rubbers don’t come in to harm and attack them when they are vulnerable.  That would have been the practical way to do it.  But too late now, we already moved in, took over the bedroom, redecorated the house, fired the housekeeper, raped and killed their family so they are little pissed off, wouldn’t you have been? Just asking billy bobs out there.

#107297 by Ernest Canning on 10/15 at 2:47 pm

• If the American electorate could undergo a great awakening; if we could somehow produce polls showing Kucinich surging into the lead, Bush and Cheney would have to sit up and take notice; they would have to realize that a decision to launch yet another war of aggression could one day lead to their own demise.

Ernerst,
I know this post wasn’t directed to me, but I just wanted to weigh-in to thank you for the additional history on US/Iranian relations. I only just began to study it thoroughly myself, about 2 years ago. (Which is how/why I was already aware of the misinterpretation of Ahmadinejad’s comments – a very deliberate misinterpretation no doubt).
Still, I’ve discovered this same history…going all the way back to the overthrow of Mossadeqh in 1953. This was of course, the real trouble starting point. (at least for contemporary issues).

As for the last part of your comments, I just have to really question whether or not an “awakening of the populace” at least at this point, would even matter to the likes of Cheney and his Regime of Thugs. I’m not ‘hopeless’, and I continue to do what I can to help with the awakening. But then, I’ve been trying that for 8 years now, since cheney assigned himself to run as GW’s ‘handler” aka – VP. Even then, the writing was clearly on the wall, especially for anyone who had ‘suffered’ under that regime already.

But in all honesty, it’s been a very difficult chore. It’s been particularly difficult for those of the ½ generation ahead of me, having long been subjected to/brainwashed by all of the BS. And in that part of the country – where most of the support has come from – (Texas) it’s just been even more difficult, because of the ever increasing strength of the religious fundamentalists. I mean, for the most part, it’s pretty much always been that way in the Southern states, but in the past decade, I’ve seen so many of my own friends/colleagues/extended family members, just really get swept away by that. It’s like some chip has been planted in their brains.

So, it’s a slow process – this awakening- when we’re constantly trying to refute the spin and the disinformation. The media makes it worse. But, for the record, we’re still trying. Haven’t given up.

However, I am genuinely concerned that even an ‘awakening’ at this point, would not stop dick cheney on his mission. It’s been such a LONG PLANNED mission, and it would seem that the past 7 years have proven that he/they really don’t give much of a damn about what ‘we the people’ think, or even KNOW at this point, about their evil deeds.

Surely they understand perfectly well, that the secrets are already out of the bag, and that more and more people are now aware. Yet, it doesn’t seem to matter. I’ve long since come to the conclusion that they’ve already got a plan to avoid their own demise. Cheney to Dubai, and Bush to Paraguay.

Meantime, I just read a piece earlier today about FEMA’s plans to split from the States in creating disaster plans for Miami, Hawaii, and California. I haven’t always been this paranoid, but after New Orleans, I just AM. (I’ll see if I can find the article the space alien looking dude Chertoff, was speaking.”

PS…glad you were able to read the information that aafshar posted.

aafshar.  Thank you for your comments, and for striving to be accurate.  One of the key problems I see in the manner in which the U.S. corporate media deals with U.S./Iranian relations is a form of collective amnesia.  Much of what has transpired in Iran since 1978 is the product of past U.S. intervention that began in 1953 when the U.S., through the maneuverings of Kermit Roosevelt and the CIA, engineered the overthrow of the democratically-elected Mohammed Mossadeqh by Shah Mohammed Reza Pavlavi at the request of Great Britain after Mossadeqh had angered the British by nationalizing Iran’s oil.  During the Iranian revolution in 1978 and the ensuing hostage crisis, many Americans were perplexed by the level of hostility directed toward the U.S. embassy precisely because they did not understand the brutal suppression of Iranian dissidents under the SAVAAK or the extent to which the U.S. was tied to that.

For years Americans have been lied to; told that our government only intervenes in foreign nations for benevolent purposes.  In truth, oil was at the heart of the coup in 1953, and it is at the heart of present neoconservative aspirations for regime change in Iran--just as it was in Iraq.

With a corporate media which often serves as an accomplice to these imperial aspirations and a Congress too timid to initiate impeachment proceedings against these truly dangerous (and deranged) men in the White House, Dennis Kucinich could well represent the one real buffer against the disaster that would ensue from a reckless decision to bomb Iran.  As this article points out, if Mr. Kucinich were elected, he would be prepared to turn these war criminals over to the Justice Department and an accountability that only application of the rule of law could provide.  This now shifts the true burden of averting war from the Congress to the American people.

If the American electorate could undergo a great awakening; if we could somehow produce polls showing Kucinich surging into the lead, Bush and Cheney would have to sit up and take notice; they would have to realize that a decision to launch yet another war of aggression could one day lead to their own demise.

#107202 by rwmenser

• The one area I find questionable is his call for impeachment.  Impeachment is nothing more than lip service to the crimes this administration has perpetrated.

Remenser,

Thanks for bringing this up. I’ve noted the same myself, regarding the impeachment move that seems to have gone nowhere, since Kucinich put it out there. He also was not the first one to do so, since another Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney had done as much (all of the paperwork) prior to leaving Congress after the last session. (December) She was not reelected to her post, because she was another who was also vilified by the administration, with the media’s assistance.

However, she did submit this same resolution, (or something similar, since I’d have to look at it again.) At the time, she knew that it would not be acted upon, and it was immediately denounced as nothing more than ‘symbolic’. And, even before she could get the thing on the record, Nancy Pelosi declared in no uncertain terms, that “impeachment was OFF THE TABLE!”

STILL, the impeachment ‘movement’ as a grass roots movement, began long ago. Had it been accomplished, (or even seriously attempted) it very well could have saved us the last 2 years – at least, of this downward spiral crash. That is at least the mentality of those, (including myself – naïve though it may be) who have worked hard for exactly that. Impeachment is the tool that has been at our disposal all along, -really the only one- that could have stopped these guys in their tracks, or at least forced them back to a position of needing to do all of this dirty work without direct access to all of the weapons they’ve used. (like the additional shredding of the Constitution, and all of the other atrocities that have been continued and/or ‘stepped up’ since). It is also the first logical and required step to precede any criminal charges against them in an International Court of Law. (ie, they should probably be tried here on domestic crimes against our own Constitution first). For the most part, we’ve known that nothing else would be undertaken at the International level, until they could be removed from office here. My own opinion is that they’ve been using the past 3 years since the Nov 2004 election, to make sure that all of our laws are re-written in order to protect themselves from this very action, once they’ve had to ‘officially’ leave the office in 2008. So, all that has been done ‘illegally’ has needed to be ‘made legal’ in order to cover their asses at that point. That would include the torture, the whole ‘enemy combatant’ stuff, the spying, (FISA) and on and on.

So, that’s where that part comes in. In the old world, based on the Constitution, it would have at least stopped the destruction, before more could continue. And, it wouldn’t have taken long. Contrary to the assertions of Nancy Pelosi and her ilk, it is NOT a necessarily long or complicated task. The fact that there are too many people in Congress, (democrats among them) who will NOT fulfill this obligation to impeach, is the reason why it would appear to only be serving lip service. For the record though, it is required. I’m sure we have recognized that Kucinich alone, (just like Cynthia McKinney before him) would not be able to carry the impeachment through. But, that’s the reason it has been put at least on the record.

Meantime, if there is indeed a God, I’d like to believe that even without action on our own here, these criminals can and will be tried before an International Criminal Court similar to the Nuremburg Trials after WWII.

That’s just for ‘whatever it might be worth”. We’ll certainly have to get Kucinich elected, before anything like that can go forward.

Ernest Canning, I am grateful and appreciate your humility and fairness.  It’s funny you brought up the homosexual comment he made and you are quite correct. Please read this article by a scholar as to how this was incorrectly interpreted.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18471.htm
One point that is not mentioned in this article is honor factor, which is no middle eastern or for that matter Iranian will ever admit or acknowledge immorality within their family no matter what.  I believe it is the same here in some parts of this country, example Senator Craig, or others who have been forced out of the closet in the past few years.  Now you have to keep in mind that Mr. Ahmadinejad is representing a country with that mentality, and for him directly admitting that his nation which in part he sees as his larger family would be quite dishonorable and a political suicide.  What he said an you are correct he tried to go around the question and tried to acknowledge the issue without being specific, say we don’t have this as you do here.

#107177 by Non Credo
I couldn’t have said it any better.

I line up nearly 100% behind Mr. Kucinich.  The one area I find questionable is his call for impeachment.  Impeachment is nothing more than lip service to the crimes this administration has perpetrated.  Mr. Kucinich, I’d much prefer these people be tried in a War Crimes Court where the punishment would fit the murdersous crimes.

aafshar, I stand corrected.  There is a major difference between an assertion that “the Holocaust was a myth” and and “the Holocaust is used to create the myth"--which then goes on to reference the Palestinians.  Errors in translation from one language to another are always an inherent risk.  The Farsi/English interpreter also made an error during the Iranian president’s more recent remarks where he was quoted as saying there are no homosexuals in Iran--leading to derisive laughter--when what he was actually saying is that homosexuals are not a problem in Iran.

As an attorney I can attest to the fact that errors in translation are quite common.  I have had cases where a bilingual Spanish/English speaking judge corrected a court certified interpreter and the interpreter apologized for the error.  Such error is most often unintentional but can be of great significance.  Based on the article you linked to, however, it seems likely that the errors in translation of the Holocaust remarks were probably intentional.  It underscores how little we can trust the corporate media to provide accurate information whenever entwined with neocon interests.

Quote: “Somehow war and strength became equated, but now war and stupidity are being equated,” he said. “We cannot buy into this mentality that the war is going to be with us for a long time.”

He emphasized that he voted against the war because “there was no proof” that Iraq was linked to the Sept. 11 attacks or that Iraqis held weapons of mass destruction.”
-----
Aside from the many other things Kucinich has going for him, I especially like his candor.  He did vote against the war because THERE WAS NO PROOF.  I think that speaks volumes.  Why was the rest of congress so easily manipulated, and were they..?  I remember watching and listening for the “proof” at the time and there wasn’t any.  Anyone who was listening (of course, us “little people” could realistically assume we didn’t have all the info) still, I certainly felt there wasn’t ANY proof at the time.  You had everyone linking it to 911 yet, I, like alot of people “noticed” that they never actually said that.  They implied it constantly.  So even though all the “little people” were running around like the sky was falling, I was having serious issues with the fact that there WAS NO PROOF.

Strange.. but at the time without any of the info we have now, many knew that the crisis was NOT the war.  That the “crisis” was something much more foreboding.  I remember thinking, “this isn’t it, what’s really going on”.  When they bombed Iraq, I think that was the “trauma” for those of us who weren’t in utter fear or trauma from Sept 11th.  I distinctly remember the trauma of “knowing” that our nation, the most powerful one in the world, just bombed innocent people.  It was traumatic.

Kucinich is indescribably accurate when he says “somehow war and strength became equated”.  It’s true.  Remember how everyone “felt” so protected and safe and...strong… when Iraq was bombed. (of course, I mean the people who were buying the official story).

Kucinich then describes the current rhetoric that is being “sold to us"..."“We cannot buy into this mentality that the war is going to be with us for a long time.” Yet, people are buying it.  We need a huge information push to dispel this myth.  Odd that after all that has transpired the response to redeployment in 2013 is “Oh”.  Immediate acceptance instead of outrage!

VOTE KUCINICH.

Bigotry, racism, sexism and other distasteful attitudes surface from the most unsuspecting sources. Sometimes I am disappointed. Seeing it here on TD as often as I have, is most disappointing. Enlightenment begone.

#107111 by Ernest Canning

I’ll stand corrected Ernest, but I think it might be ‘academic’, since I heard/read the REAL interpretation long before Ahmadinejad was even ALLOWED to visit the US.

The short of the matter, is that The Thugs in DC started demonizing the guy before he was even elected by the Iranians, and as I said before, it’s standard rhetoric.

I mean, REALLY - how many people DON’T know there was a Jewish Holocaust? We don’t know about the Native American Holocaust, that killed millions. Even black Americans are totally clueless to the ways and means by which THEY were originally holocausted, but everybody in the world knows about the Jewish Holocaust of Hitler’s days.

So, to even react, to such a statement if foolish in my view. Especially for AMERICANS. Why the hell should we care if one man, from one country, makes an outlandish statement? Just seems like a real neurotic knee-jerk reaction to me.

Then again, I’m not Jewish. Ahmadinejad doesn’t have any problems with my race of people.

#106952 by reason

• Wow!!!! The comments I have read are ridiculous! I don’t like Bush either but attacking anyone and everything gets you nothing and it does give Bush more power because if there is one thing he is good at; it’s dividing the people of this country.
Not everyone is in a position of being able to be a political activist but they can speak their minds to others. If we all speak our minds it matters! It’s tough to go to rallys when you have to work to take care of a family.

REASON:

That’s what we’re doing. We’re speaking our minds. You don’t have to go to a rally (if you work and take care of a family – and you wouldn’t be the only one doing that). So, that’s why we have these blogs, that so kindly allow us to SPEAK OUR MINDS. Since Truthdig doesn’t censor us, neither should you.

Besides, other than the occasional troll (like Rowman) we aren’t particularly DIVIDED. We all want Dick Bush prosecuted and sent to jail forever – for crimes against humanity, among other things.

So, stop lecturing and whining. If you don’t want to participate. Don’t.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101407D.shtml

First let me inform you that i am no fan of my Ahamadinejad in any way or shape. But Ernest I have to respectfully disagree with you, as an Iranian i can assure you that is not what he said we you listen to it in Farsi.  Please read this which is an accurate translation of what he has said with footnotes, which was done by a western scholars Anneliese Fikentscher and Andreas Neumann.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12790.htm
Please lets be fair here.  I may not like ahamadinejad but I dont like to misquote even people I don’t like to make a political point that is so republican, and worthy of drudge, sean hannity, bill o’reailly, and rush. i am quite sure you are not like them.

cyrena, thanks for the kind comments.
And what I had told rowman in Farsi was: surly your Farsi must be very good, kindly if possible please tell me one of your favorite Persian poetry. With hopes for calm world with peaceful good friends like you.  I wish you and your respectful family prosperity. Be happy.

Cyrena, you are not entirely correct.  When he came to the U.S., Ahmadenejad did state that even if the Holocaust happened, what does that have to do with the Palistinians.  But in an earlier conference in Iran, he asserted the Holocaust did not occur.  There were many things that he says that make a good deal of sense, but this particular statement was not one of them.

#107020 by Ernest Canning
#107026 by aafshar

• There are a large number of things I don’t like about Ahmadenejad, especially his idiotic denial of the Holocaust.

Great Piece Ernest,

Admittedly, folks should know this stuff already, but there’s always gonna be a new disinformation troll (rowman) to try to spread the lies and the smear. ANYTHING to keep the American people stupid, and in the dark. Sometimes I think these trolls actually believe the crap themselves, and other times I know they don’t and just need to have their ‘operatives’ placed on these boards to ‘counteract’ the truth.

But, on Ahmadinejad, I know that even this claim isn’t exactly what he said. (just like the thing with wiping Israel off the map). For one thing, it’s interpreted far differently in Persian, and understood far differently in Iranian (Middle Eastern) rhetoric. He has frequently followed this statement, with the explanation that doesn’t DENY the Holocaust of the Jews in Hitler’s regime, but rather QUESTIONS what the Palestinians had to do with it. And, it’s a good question. How did the Jewish Holcaust of WWII (in EUROPE) require the longer (60 year) Holocaust of the Arabs in Palestine? That is really his point in the statement, but is never revealed in US media. (Ever…I’ve had to research if from multiple sources in other media).

So, while I would agree that Ahmadinejad is a rather controversial figure, and indulges in a great deal of rhetoric, that’s what it is. And, since Ahmadinejad is CLEARLY only ONE person, and does NOT call ‘all of the shots”, or even the most important ones, I think his statements should be considered in that vein. In reality, if we had to choose the most idiotic, Bush would outweigh Mamoud any day of the week. The guy is at least intelligent. And, he was also ELECTED by the Iranian people, which is more than Dick Bush can claim.

Aafshar:

I LOVE the Persian!! (couldn’t understand ALL of it, - I’m a real beginner, but my instructor is excellent). Doesn’t matter though, I STILL love it.

Do you think rowman had to go find his wife to read it to him? He IS an obnoxious one - eh?. Makes the same obnoxious comments on ALL of the TD threads.
That’s why we can chalk him up and out as a troll.

Louise:

Thanks for that link to the sponsors. I’m going to it now.

rowman, here is something for you to read and learn,

IRAN: Life of Jews Living in Iran

Iran remains home to Jewish enclave.

By Barbara Demick

TEHRAN - The Jewish women in the back rows of the synagogue wear long garments in the traditional Iranian style, but instead of chadors, their heads are covered with cheerful, flowered scarves. The boys in their skullcaps, with Hebrew prayer books tucked under their arms, scamper down the aisles to grab the best spots near the lush, turquoise Persian carpet of the altar. This is Friday night, Shabbat - Iranian style, and the synagogue in an affluent neighborhood of North Tehran is filled to capacity with more than 400 worshipers.

It is one of the many paradoxes of the Islamic Republic of Iran that this most virulent anti-Israeli country supports by far the largest Jewish population of any Muslim country.

While Jewish communities in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria have all but vanished, Iran is home to 25,000 - some here say 35,000 - Jews. The Jewish population is less than half the number that lived here before the Islamic revolution of 1979. But the Jews have tried to compensate for their diminishing numbers by adopting a new religious fervor.

‘’The funny thing is that before the Islamic revolution, you would see maybe 20 old men in the synagogue,’’ whispers Nahit Eliyason, 48, as she climbs over four other women to find one of the few vacant seats. ‘’Now the place is full. You can barely find a seat.’’ Parvis Yashaya, a film producer who heads Tehran’s Jewish community, adds: ‘’We are smaller, but we are stronger in some ways.’’

Tehran has 11 functioning synagogues, many of them with Hebrew schools. It has two kosher restaurants, and a Jewish hospital, an old-age home and a cemetery. There is a Jewish representative in the Iranian parliament. There is a Jewish library with 20,000 titles, its reading room decorated with a photograph of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Khomeini protection

Iran’s Jewish community is confronted by contradictions. Many of the prayers uttered in synagogue, for instance, refer to the desire to see Jerusalem again. Yet there is no postal service or telephone contact with Israel, and any Iranian who dares travel to Israel faces imprisonment and passport confiscation. ‘’We are Jews, not Zionists. We are a religious community, not a political one,’’ Yashaya said.

......

But Khomeini met with the Jewish community upon his return from exile in Paris and issued a ‘’fatwa’’ decreeing that the Jews were to be protected. Similar edicts also protect Iran’s tiny Christian minority.

Just as it radically transformed Muslim society, the revolution changed the Jews. Families that had been secular in the 1970s started keeping kosher and strictly observing rules against driving on Shabbat. They stopped going to restaurants, cafes and cinemas - many such establishments were closed down - and the synagogue perforce became the focal point of their social lives.

Jewish school in Shiraz

Iranian Jews say they socialize far less with Muslims now than before the revolution. As a whole, they occupy their own separate space within the rigid confines of the Islamic republic, a protected yet precarious niche.

Jewish women, like Muslim women, are required by law to keep their heads covered, although most eschew the chador for a simple scarf. But Jews, unlike Muslims, can keep small flasks of home-brewed wine or arrack to drink within the privacy of their homes - in theory, for religious purposes. Some Hebrew schools are coed, and men and women dance with each other at weddings, practices strictly forbidden for Muslims.

‘’Sometimes I think they are kinder to the Jews than they are to themselves. ... If we are gathered in a house, and the family is having a ceremony with wine or the music is playing too loud, if they find out we are Jews, they don’t bother us so much,’’ Eliyason said.
.....

911truthdotorg.  The polling results you complain of are the product of the extent to which the corporate-owned media operates as a propaganda network.  It works tirelessly to evade providing true “coverage” by declining to link candidates to issues that truly matter to the vast majority of Americans--the middle and working classes.  This forces candidates to troll for the corporate dollars needed to purchase deceptive 30 second spot ads that further enrich the corporate media.  Since corporate monies flow only to candidates who can be bought, the campaign war chests of the corporatists masquerading as Democrats--e.g. Clinton/Obama--swell while candidates like Dennis Kucinich, who has gathered a measly $1 million from individuals and whom the corporate media and their allies in the DNC tireless work to marginalize, are relegated to the end of the stage in those debates where they are not excluded altogether.

All of this produces what Noam Chomsky refers to as a “democracy deficit” in which the electorate is deceived and votes for candidates who do not represent their interests.  In “Failed States” Chomsky furnished multiple examples.  A more recent example entailed a blind Democratic poll where candidate positions on issues were listed, but their names were excluded.  One candidate received a whopping 58%--Dennis Kucinich.  Obama was a distant second.

While much of the blame lies with the corporate media, blame is also shared by the American electorate.  Until a majority stopped being passive consumers, voting on the basis of whom the corporate media says are “viable” candidates, and become active citizens who seek to know where candidates truly stand on issues of substance, the corporatocracy will remain in firm control and we will see a continuation of policies that engender and exacerbate economic inequality.

Rowman
If you are so knowledgable as you claim to be, please tell rest of us which country in the middle east has the largest community of no Muslims, including Jews (besides Israel) and Christians?  Which country in the Middle East has the largest and oldest church and synagogue? And since you are such and expert in Farsi please indulge us and say a few things in Farsi for us. Hatman farsi shoma kheylee bayad khob basheh lotfan agare momken hast yek sher ke doost darin ham begin mamnoon mishiam. Be omid jahanie aram, soleh amize ba doostane khobi mesles shoma.  Ba arezooye movafagiyat braya shoma va khanevadeh mohtrametan.  Shad bashed.

rowman
I am no fan of Mr. Ahmadinejad, but please tell me what channel you are watching and how you are getting it. It is easy to say what you like without any proof.
also please tell me how my own words give me away, i am still trying to figure that one out, and what do they give me out as.
you say “I am a military linguistic of 22 yrs. Married to an Iranian wife for 17. By marriage, the majority of my family is Iranian. We are Christian and due to the increased oppression of Ahmedenejad’s cult, we must keep a very close watch on what is going on there while we try to move my family here.” please tell me which country is the only country in the Mideast that has a mandatory parliamentary representative for the religious minority. if you are in any away related to an Iranian you should know that.
By the way what is your favorite Persian dish.

Please see my comment appended to the linked article.  As to our resident neocon, “rowman,” me thinks he doth not operate with both oars in the water.

First, “rowman”, you are not a “military linquistic.” You are either directly employed by the military or an outsourced contractor who specializes in linquistics--a linquist.  Neither the fact that you are a linquist (who undoutedly speaks Farsi) nor the fact that your wife’s family is Persian provides you with a greater knowledge base for appreciating the regime changing policies through pre-emptive war spelled out more than a decade ago by the Project for a New American Century or laid out in detail by Capt. Scott Ritter in “Target Iran:  The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change.” None of that changes the detailed accounts furnished by investigative reporter Seymour Hirsh.

The American people have been through this before with the run up to the unprovoked, imperial conquest of Iraq--the lies about WMD and links to al Qaeda and 9/11, the efforts to paint Saddam as the next Hitler; the claim that we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud--all designed to convince both Congress and the American people that a nation crippled by Gulf War I and 13 years of devastating economic sanctions was somehow such an immediate threat to a nation which possesses the most devastating and far-reaching arsenal ever known to man (one which can operate on land, sea, air and from space) as to make an immediate pre-emptive invasion the only logical course. 

Everything the Bush administration said in the run up to the war in Iraq was a lie.  Everything it has said since about the reasons for remaining is a lie.  And now we are being fed a new round of lies: the attempt to paint all IEDs as coming from Iran when the bulk are either homemade by the Iraqis or brought in from Saudi Arabia--our so-called allies (allies only because of our security for oil arrangement with the Royal family and the extent to which it enriches the Bush family which would like to be considered royalty).  We are supposed to again ignore the work of international atomic energy experts who say that Iran’s enrichment is only at a level sufficient to support domestic nuclear power plants.  We are supposed to say that, this time, the regime that deliberatedly fixed the intelligence around the policy is conveying the truth?  We are supposed to now accept a characterization that has Ahmadenejad as replacing Saddam as the new Hitler?

There are a large number of things I don’t like about Ahmadenejad, especially his idiotic denial of the Holocaust.  But the mere fact that Iranians made a poor choice in selecting a leader does not justify bombing a sovereign nation.  If that were the standard, the whole world would be justified in bombing the United States for the mistakes made in 2000 and 2004 (that is, assuming these elections were not electronically stolen).

No, “rowman” it is not Mr. Kucinich who has been fooled.  It is you!

I’m not religious, but God Bless Kucinich!!!

How can someone like Hillary supposedly be ahead in all the polls when Kucinich wants to do what more than 70% of this country wants?? I don’t get it!!

I don’t believe that Hillary and Giuliani are actually ahead, I think that the media has chosen them and just SAY they’re ahead to make people believe that they’re the only choices we have.

That worthless Hillary is talking like she’s been elected already. I can’t stand her. Giuliani less.

Go Kucinich Go!!!

Google videos: 9/11 Press for Truth, Loose Change 2nd Edition, Terror Storm

Deception from the media, or selective newspeek, call it what you will, Kucinich voiced an opinion I agree with and should be heard more often.  Gravel is the only other person to confront the military complex.

All lobbying should not be allowed, the constant paranoia over Israel lobby is misbegotten over reacting.

Nice try aafshar. You are neither true or real. Your own words give you away.

I am a military linguistic of 22 yrs. Married to an Iranian wife for 17. By marriage, the majority of my family is Iranian. We are Christian and due to the increased oppression of Ahmedenejad’s cult, we must keep a very close watch on what is going on there while we try to move my family here.

The only war drums ringing are that of Ahmedenejad’s and Dennis Kucinich played right into it. Ahmedenejad is instigating this with the United States and many Iranians do not support him because of this.

Please do not lie about the situation there. It is very serious. Dennis Kucinich did much to hurt the situation and he is being used for propaganda.

This assult on America from w/in could have never gotten Out of the gate had it not been packaged so well by the corrupted Media machine - they too are fully complicit.

Wow!!!! The comments I have read are ridiculous! I don’t like Bush either but attacking anyone and everything gets you nothing and it does give Bush more power because if there is one thing he is good at; it’s dividing the people of this country.
Not everyone is in a position of being able to be a political activist but they can speak their minds to others. If we all speak our minds it matters! It’s tough to go to rallys when you have to work to take care of a family.

#106914 by 127001 on 10/13 at 8:55 pm “...oh shut up......you are so booooring… as in pig ....a stupid little fraction ......its irrelevant if you don’t get that point already....”

Oh, “children of the revolution....”

As per usual, just avoiding doing anything yourself, dear nameless (with number stamped in your forehead!). Delegating your freedom to China already, huh? Can’t lift a finger to do anything for yourself..... (on the dope alreadeee)....

So boring, duh!

oh shut up douglas chalmers…

you are so booooring… as in pig.

Eventually China, or even one of the Middle Eastern countries will come to realize that they can, indeed, hold Bush and the U.S. accountable for war crimes.

The world is an international community. The U.S. is only a fraction, and a stupid little fraction IMHO, of the world.

It’s already being planned.

So Double Standard Chalmers can spew all he wants. In the end its irrelevant if you don’t get that point already.

Sadly, the war in Iraq and elsewhere in the M.East is going to be around for some time because the USA has bought heavily into AIPAC and the Israeli fantasy. Then there is the compulsive need of Americans to always be seen as right and in the right - also very expensive, uhh!

Its a pity, though, that so many who rave about supporting Dennis the Menace have little or no energy to do anything for themselves. They sit supinely and whine about their nation’s problems and bemaon the fate of the world - and do nothing.

Like the people who voted for Cory Aquino in the Philippines some years ago, the Kucinich and Ron Paul supporters expect it all to be done for them. Yes, they want rid of that nasty man in power (Bush is another Marcos) but, no, they don’t want to take the trouble of having their feathers ruffled by going out and working to make change themselves.

So much for democracy (mock’racy, demo-crazy). People call themselves voters and sit there waiting for it all to be conveniently served up to them. Cut and dried, nicely arranged and served to them on a platter and spoon-fed. Then, and only then, will they deign to vote. F#ck the lot of you!!

106869 by Rowman....just got a message from shrub, you left your panties in his bed..

That little stunt he pulled in Iran was real helpful wasn’t it. Do you realize they replay his comments daily for propaganda on state TV? Do you realize his comments have helped justify and fuel an insurgency? In terms of stability, he has caused more harm than Bush. He is their poster boy for reasons to kill you.

Claiming criminality is ignorant political garbage. Let’s get real here. Bush did not do anything illegal. No matter how much you repeat that lie, it will not make it true. This man is an idiot for even saying it.

If any crime has been committed, it is he. He had no business slamming us (you and me) in Iran.

Lets try that again!

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HE00333:@@@N

#106841 by Non Credo

“I’m all for bringing Bush and Cheney to justice.”
But even after they’re locked up, we will remain vulnerable to being dragged into further wars of aggression so long as the Israel lobby dominates our foreign policy.”
****************

Oh yeh, well there’s another good reason for doing nothing but bitching and moaning.

However, for those willing to do a little more, a gentle reminder:

“He’s a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world,” Carter told the BBC World News America. “You know he’s been a disaster for our country,” Carter said. “I think he’s been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he’s prevailed.”

Nice way of saying this “crazy” needs to go!

I don’t know about you, but I for one think we need to put a stop to his “prevailing!”

One Sponsor, 20 Cosponsors

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z
d110:HE00333:@@@N

Know how to contact your congressaurs?
Then DO SOMETHING!

Very good - Another public figure who has the guts to say it like it is.  Bravo Mr. Kucinich.

Our country has been dragged through the mud in every way by this administration while the impact is down-played by a frivolous corporate media.  Millions in the war zones have been assaulted by the resulting violence.  We could partially redeem ourselves by holding the players in the government to justice for their crimes against humanity.

The VP’s wife is on a PR campaign in the media right now (CBS Sunday Morning, Daily Show, etc).  Either this is to mitigate the VP’s crimes in advance of his retirement or soften the man’s persona ahead of the coming destruction of IRAN.  These callous people never cease working to place a friendly face on despicable evil.

They cannot go unpunished.  A real investigation concerning the events of 9/11 has to be conducted.  The cover-up itself is criminal.  Not only should there be impeachments there should be charges of TREASON handed down to a fairly large number in high places.

All those who supported the Patriot Act or the Military Commissions act or any Warrantless wiretapping bill are indeed Domestic enemies of the Constitution.  They are attempting to Amend our Constitution without Due process.

Our Congress needs to be held to the oaths they take.

Absolutely right ! Bring all of them to justice then impeach Bush/Cheney ! Don’t waste time with these criminals.