Sorry moonraven, I almost forgot about our “advisors” being “in country” that soon.

Isn’t it ironic that it ultimately was 2 dimmo presidents (JFK LBJ) who really took it to the next level, all to prove to the US voter and repug reactionaries everywhere that Libs could be tough on the commie hoards as well.

Wow, the more things change, eh? Just change “commie” to “arab” (and put LBJ in blackface)

Big B:  You blew it, man.

Ike was crawling all over Vietnam like maggots on a garbage pile.

Heteronym ofr Hatred:

Ike was up to everybody’s neck in Vietnam the minute the French were no longer the colonial powers.  That was 1954—two years before the elections of 1956 (which this poster remembers quite well, as well as Niuxon’s infamous Checkers speech in the 1952 campaign).

By 1956 the gringos were grunting in every whorehouse in Saigon.

hetero

I said almost. However, Ike did have the cold war. Sabre rattling against the russkies back then was almost an anthema. No, Ike was a peace monger by then, busy spending public money building a 20th century infrastructure for america to prosper in. He realized, inlike our modern polititians and oligarchs, that sometimes you need to spend money to make money. In the 21st century its all about doing things on the cheap. Just make money today, let the next guy worry about how he’ll survive. Libretarianism at its finest.

Where are you when we need you Ike?

Wow, these guys are laying the propaganda down pretty thick this time.

Personally I quit worrying about the “Iranian Bomb” being a year away from plunging the world into darkness and the urgent need to “do something about it before its too late” after hearing it for the fourth or fifth time.  I think that was 1999.  In the last few weeks, gas has gone up $1 for no damn good reason, Congress has changed insider trading and lobbying into “Political Intelligence” which is beyond regulation or transparency, and the Government is taking away more of your First Amendment rights.  That “Iran Bomb” thing has worked every time for 20 years, just like dangling your keys in front of a toddler.

South Africa is the only country to go nuclear and voluntarily disarm itself.

Iran has nuclear material suitable for power generation and medical purposes.

The U.N. Resolution the Empire used to invade Iraq also included a mandate to make the region an NWFZ.  Luckily the Empire is above the law and decides for itself where its accountability lies.

Big B—-Eisenhower in ‘56?

Every US president since FDR has rattled his sword and beat the drums of war in a re-election year.

The shame is that is has worked to get nearly each one a second term. The war powers act is the single greatest political tool in a sitting presidents arsenal.

A brief thought on Iran. The USSR, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea all built “the bomb”. And each time the world was going to hell in handbag because some “godless commie” or “rouge state” had the power to start a regional atomic crisis. We’re still here, aren’t we?

Moonraven:  You never know till you try. There are people all over the world trying to figure out how to do it.  As to the Evil Empire—them is US—until we figure out how to stop being the Evil Empire. It’s a choice, not an inevitability. Just seems impossible, but not really.  That’s just our excuse.  Can’t means won’t to people who don’t really want to.

“What if Iran could discover a benevolent use for highly enriched uranium?  That will not even be countenanced.”

Some one correct me if I am wrong, but I read that Iran wanted to enriched uranium to make their own fuel for their reactors so they economy would not be held hostage by the West?

gerard:  Daydreams like that can cut you loose from the string of sanity.

The US is the Evil Empire—since when does the Black Hat play fair in a gunfight?

What about the only reasonable alternative to world-wide escalation:—the U.S. (big, brave, free country) takes the initiative to announce, beginning immediately, a reduction of its nuclear weapons in a regular, orderly fashion, beginning with the most destructive, and invite all other “nuclear nations” to match our schedule in proportionate numbers and sizes, with the end in view being a worldwide permanent discontinuation and abnegation of nukes. 
  Use it as a voluntary humanitarian move to “get the ball rolling” for the sake of the future of the world’s children. Just think of the power of such an initiative to change the world for the better, reduce conflict and give people everywhere something to live for and something to admire the U.S. for.

What kind of fatuous farting around is this: Can Obomber leash the Dogs of War?

He IS the Dog of War, being wagged by the mangy tail of Israel.

This guy talks out of both sides of his mouth constantly!

EZ——- push all you want, but no nation with nuclear weapons has ever seriously
entertained the idea of giving them up…....there aren’t many re-virgins in history.

Iran having nuclear weapons is just not anything good and means that the Saudis
are going to go for them which is also a big bunch of not good….

war against Iran is also not good….

just gonna have to do the best we can in weaving through the not-goodness of it
all.

and tellingIran to knock it off before the not-good hits the fan isn’t so not-good

This is pretty cynical, but here’s darkcycle’s call:
We will go to war. The president will continue to make feeble noises opposing war with Iran while “acknowledging” the whole time that “there may be no other option”. When he’s made enough noises opposing the war, (and all the while talking of it’s inevitability,) he will use a temporary crisis as the excuse for invasion. That way, he gives the war to his Neocon/Neolib masters, and can stand there and claim to his base that he “did everything in his power to avert it”.
As this unfolds, please remember, congress can declare war, but the president is the commander in chief. We don’t go without Obama’s say-so. This decision has already been made, and it was made way above Obama’s pay-grade.

*US has the bomb (and has used it—twice)
*Israel has the bomb
*Iran does not have the bomb
*So US/Israel should bomb Iran

thecrow hit the nail on the head!

““The danger of terrorists acquiring a bomb”“

“Got ‘em. Had ‘em for years.”

It has only happen once in human history; Hiroshima and Nagasaki!

“He may have noticed that the same crew of neoconservative pundits and officials who pushed us into invading Iraq and then botched the occupations of that country and Afghanistan are now the most eager proponents of a military confrontation with Iran.”

You mean this guy?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/the-ones-who-attacked-us/

“The danger of terrorists acquiring a bomb”

Got ‘em. Had ‘em for years.

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/as-the-crow-flies/

if were in power in iran, there is nothing i would not do to acquire WMD. and if my
country would be militarilly attacked, i’d order a strike back with wmd at europe and
america.
and i would, of course, ask permission [via referendum] from my people whether to
retaliate with wmd or not.
==
if iran does not acquire wmd, ashkenazi and US [much of europe] would not ever cease
with wanting to destroy iranian people.
they have destroyed palestina and its people; badly hurt some libyans, iraqis, afghanis.
the only thing that can stop these of the greatest criminal minds is wmd. mullahs, of
which JC speaks [he may be cia agent; aren’t most columnists cia agents?] are not half
as criminal as US one percenters or most ashkenazi. thanks, bozhidar b.

JC is promoting/selling warfare by saying that a war against iran may cause all
kinds of unpleasant events; includes endangerment of US troops in afgh’n, etc.
so, he, or obama [is it also?] is saying war against iran would be ok if it would not
cause any unpleasantness to US, Israel, europe, asia.
and o the usual grounds: them evil, we good!
them evil will use wmd and us good never will!
com’on JC, Obama, et al, you can be at least a bit subtler about your bellicosity,
hatred, intolerance than you are. goddevil saves us from such thinkers! thanks

Since, as everyone else has already noted, everybody else in ghe region has a nuke anyway, let Iran have one (if they can even manage it) and make Israel stop playing the playground bully politics about who has all the marbles (Frankly I think they have all lost theirs). And “the bomb” threat is ridculous anyway, because one or two bombs (nukes are non-discriminatory WMD’S)will turn the entire region into a wasteland, ghost town, zombie-land. But, more ofdten than not, stupidity reigns supreme and Netanyahooooo is the head of the class.

As for Obama? well, this country has always been happiest when the status quo is war, and he has done nothing to upset or alter that status quo. My grimmest predictions are that he will favor the status quo, the military and the indutrialists, and let war happen, instead of rocking the boat for discourse, discussion, compromise and peace.

There is a big,lethal food fight brewing in the petroleum cafeteria and Obama is down the hall, arguing semantics with his English teacher and pretending not to hear the ruckus.

Nobody can possibly read he emanations about what Obama says or thinks as representative of anything that is real.  No thinking person can possibly do that.  Why do we have to keep reading this, and why do you, Joe Conason, have to keep writing it?  Better go play with your dog in the park, or something.

“he wasn’t minimizing the consequences of atomic weapons in the hands of the mullahs. The danger of terrorists acquiring a bomb would be multiplied by a regional arms race. “

The above statement makes Joe Conason yet another “tool” spreading disinformation. Odds are Pakistan who already has Nukes will be the place where so-called Terrorist will acquire such a weapon. For the past year or so there has been an all out propaganda push to associate the Shia (Persians) Iranians with the Sunni Arabs who attacked America on 9/11.
The sectarian gulf between the Sunni Arabs and Shia Iranians runs deep. 

Over time I have watched the TV pundits try repeatedly to twist logic and connect Iran with al-Qaeda only to be reminded by those who know anything about the region know that Iran and al-Qaeda are sworn enemies! Just as “repetition” made Sadam and Osama allies, it would seem beyond all logic the same “Jedi-mind-trick” is working in the case of Iran. God, are we that easy, or do we just don’t give a shit?

I agree with EmileZ’s eloquent assessment, and would add Pakistan, Israel and India are the real Atomic treats to the people of the region.

“The danger of terrorists acquiring a bomb would be multiplied by a regional arms race. The international nonproliferation regime would be crippled if not destroyed. The prestige of the United States would suffer fresh damage, and yes, Israel would be gravely threatened.”

Notice Mr. Conason makes no mention of the millions of people who live in the Middle East being put at risk. His concerns seem to only extend as far as the selective groups (America, Israel) who’s lives hold meaning in his narrow little mind.

The truly Bazaar thing about Coason’s post is that he treats the fact that a “foreign” leader (Netanyahu) has come here during an election year and publicly pressures a sitting President to bend to his will as normal? Even worse, the US Congress compete to show their unending loyalty to his country while underminding the president to gain Netanyahu’s love. It’s over people; our country belongs to AIPAC, Wall Street, Big Oil, Big Pharma….  Sit back and enjoy the ride, because we will never be allowed anywhere near the driver’s seat!

Shame on you Joe Conason for choosing to be just another “tool” among many.

Is there anyone out there mainstream columnist land who thinks that Iran aquiring a nuclear weapon is NOT an acceptable reason to go to war???

Anyone serious about preventing a nuclear arms race in the region should logically be pushing for a nuclear weapons free zone in the middle east.

A NWFZ would include Pakistan (which no one seems particularly concerned about), India, and yes Israel as well. I almost forgot to mention the U.S. deployments in the area.

As things stand, Iran has every frigging right to pursue a nuclear weapons program (which there is no evidence of) and damn good reason to do so as a deterrent.

The nuclear-armed countries with a history of aggression and in the region are the U.S. and Israel.

If you want to make “critical distinction(s)”, please keep that in mind.

I say drop the sanctions on Iran until Israel complies with the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty at the very least.