Clipmarks | papananook's 'iran' clips

What did I say last year?

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:16:14 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: The really sad and outrageous thing is, for the troops anyway, and innocent Afghanis, is that they all will be sent to Afghanistan to continue the war. And Iran?

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Senator Barack Obama said Thursday that he might “refine” his policies for Iraq after meeting with military commanders there later this summer. But hours later he held a second news conference to emphasize his commitment to the withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

His two statements in Fargo, N.D., reflected how the changing dynamics in Iraq have posed a challenge for Mr. Obama, who is trying to retain flexibility as violence declines there without abandoning a central promise of his campaign: that if elected, he would end the war.

His remarks came as Republicans — including his all-but-certain opponent this fall, Senator John McCain of Arizona — have been arguing that Mr. Obama would most likely change his position on the phased withdrawal. They suggest that with violence dropping in Iraq, bringing the troops home would risk erasing the fragile gains that have been made.

The evolving situation in Iraq has, in fact, tested both candidates.

The U.S. commitment to maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:20:22 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Today the Palestinian ghetto in the desert, tomorrow, bombing Iran's Nukular installations... Hurray for Israel!!! May the war profiteers flourish forever! the bastids.

Clip Source: www.jta.org

Congress and President Bush kept their pledge to boost defense assistance for Israel despite deadlock on budget issues.

The final version of the supplemental appropriations bill passed last week in Congress includes an additional $170 million in defense assistance for Israel. Bush signed the bill Monday.

The sum will be added to $2.38 billion for Israel in a "continuing resolution" likely to be passed later this year, bringing defense assistance up to the $2.55 billion that President Bush promised last year.

"The U.S. commitment to maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge is the cornerstone of American policy in the region," the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said in a statement. "The effort to secure this vital increase in American aid to our ally Israel could not have happened without the active support of the bipartisan leadership of the House and Senate, and AIPAC applauds their effort."

BUSH/CHENEY Stumbling towards disaster - again

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:18:46 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Pay attention!

Clip Source: www.brasschecktv.com

[Video]

Sy Hersh report

Bush asked for - and received - $400,000,000 to conduct covert military operation against Iran.

"Operations outside the knowledge and control of commanders have eroded â€œthe coherence of military strategy,â€ one general says."

Further, it seems the only people in the government (or military) who favor an attack on Iran are Bush and Cheney:

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose chairman is Admiral Mike Mullen, were â€œpushing back very hardâ€ against White House pressure to undertake a military strike against Iran, the person familiar with the Finding told me. Similarly, a Pentagon consultant who is involved in the war on terror said that â€œat least ten senior flag and general officers, including combatant commandersâ€â€”the four-star officers who direct military operations around the worldâ€”â€œhave weighed in on that issue

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Seeds of Current Propaganda found in Reagan Era

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:19:22 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Enduring Skills

Beyond these individuals, the manipulative techniques that were refined in the 1980s — especially the skill of exaggerating foreign threats — have proved durable, bringing large segments of the American population into line behind the Iraq War in 2002-03.

Only now — with more than 4,100 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead — are many of these Americans realizing that were manipulated by clever propaganda, that their perceptions had been managed.

For instance, the New York Times recently pried loose some 8,000 pages of Pentagon documents revealing how the Bush administration had manipulated the public debate on the Iraq War by planting friendly retired military officers on TV news shows.

Retired Green Beret Robert S. Bevelacqua, a former analyst on Murdoch’s Fox News, said the Pentagon treated the retired military officers as puppets: “It was them saying, ‘we need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you.’” [NYT, April 20,

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

As historians ponder George W. Bush’s disastrous presidency, they may wonder how Republicans perfected a propaganda system that could fool tens of millions of Americans, intimidate Democrats, and transform the vaunted Washington press corps from watchdogs to lapdogs.

That chapter — which we are publishing here for the first time — was “lost” because Republicans on the congressional Iran-Contra investigation waged a rear-guard fight that traded elimination of the chapter’s key findings for the votes of three moderate GOP senators, giving the final report a patina of bipartisanship.

The American people thus were spared the chapter’s troubling finding: that the Reagan administration had built a domestic covert propaganda apparatus managed by a CIA propaganda and disinformation specialist working out of the National Security Council.

“The State Department was used to run a prohibited, domestic, covert propaganda operation.

For sale: one used country - cheap

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:47:19 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks:
The US news media didn't think this post 9/11 "mercy" flight for Bush's personal friends was worth investigating.

==============================

How deep the connection goes

"September 13, 2001 - Thousands of Americans were dead. They have been killed in a terrorist operation largely run by Saudis. Nonetheless the two men (Bush and Prince Bandar Of Saudi Arabia) each lit up a Cohiba cigar (on the Truman balcony of the White House)...

Few Americans realized that these two dynasties had a history dating back more than twenty years. Not just business partners and personal friends, the Bushes and the Saudis had pulled off elaborate covert operations and gone to war together...

They had been involved in the Iran-contra scandal, in secret U.S. aid in the Afghanistan War that gave birth of Osama bin Laden."

From: House of Bush, House of Saud: The secret relationship between the world's most powerful dynasties by Craig Unger. Page 15

Clip Source: www.brasschecktv.com

[Video]

For sale: one used country - cheap

Over the years, the Saudi Royal Family has put at least $1.4 billion into the hands of the Bush family and its friends.

Even in these days of inflation, that's real money.

Did Bush go to Saudi Arabia to ask for lower oil prices or to assure the Saudis they could keep sticking it to us as long as he and his family were given their cut?

In the days right after 9/11, all commercial flights in US air space including those for Congressmen and the FBI, the private jets of billionaires, and transportation for donated organs were shut down.

There was one exception...

The White House arranged for dozens of still unnamed Saudi Arabians living in the US - including members of the House of Saud and the Bin Laden family - to be flown out of the country in style.

The FBI didn't think it was necessary to get a passenger list...but if you show up at a peace rally, they'll be sure to get your face on video and add your name to their database if you're arrested at one.

Top US Military Officer Heads To Israel With Iran On The Agenda

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:56:50 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Between the election and Christmas, they will start WWIII

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

WASHINGTON - US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen was expected in Israel this week for discussions including Iran, the Pentagon said Wednesday, amid speculation Israel is seeking Washington’s tacit approval to strike Tehran’s nuclear program.

The press office of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that Mullen left the United States on Tuesday “to go overseas to visit counterparts as well as combatant commands, and Israel is not his only stop.”

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters the trip had been on the schedule for “months.”

“I believe this is a routine opportunity for Chairman Mullen to engage his counterpart in Israel on military-to-military matters, as he does in much of his travels around the world,” Morrell said.

Israeli Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense chief, said in an interview published in the Russian press Wednesday that Iran would be “annihilated” if it tried to attack Israel.

said, “we are not planning any attack

Insane ex-Ambassador to UN Bolton predicts Bombs

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:42:33 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: “An Obama victory would rule out military action by the Israelis because they would fear the consequences given the approach Obama has taken to foreign policy,” said Mr Bolton, who was Mr Bush’s ambassador to the UN from 2005 to 2006.

“With McCain they might still be looking at a delay. Given that time is on Iran’s side, I think the argument for military action is sooner rather than later absent some other development.”

The Iran policy of Mr McCain, whom Mr Bolton supports, was “much more realistic than the Bush administration’s stance”.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, has predicted that Israel could attack Iran after the November presidential election but before George W Bush’s successor is sworn in.

The Arab world would be “pleased” by Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.”It [the reaction] will be positive privately. I think there’ll be public denunciations but no action,” he said.

Mr Bolton, an unflinching hawk who proposes military action to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, bemoaned what he sees as a lack of will by the Bush administration to itself contemplate military strikes.

“It’s clear that the administration has essentially given up that possibility,” he said. “I don’t think it’s serious any more. If you had asked me a year ago I would have said I thought it was a real possibility. I just don’t think it’s in the cards.”

‘Ball of Fire’ if Iran Attacked: IAEA Chief

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:45:23 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: We're being set up, again by the Neocons and Israel. ElBaradei is right.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

DUBAI - The UN atomic watchdog chief warned on Saturday that an attack on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme would turn the region into a fireball, as Tehran rejected an Israeli strike as “impossible.”

Mohamed ElBaradei also warned that he would not be able to continue in his role as International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general should the Islamic republic be attacked.

His stark comments came as Iran stressed yet again that it will not negotiate with world powers over its nuclear programme if it is required to suspend its controversial uranium enrichment.

“A military strike (against Iran) would in my opinion be worse than anything else … It would transform the Middle East region into a ball of fire,” ElBaradei said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television.

A report by the New York Times on Friday cited US officials as saying a major Israeli military exercise earlier this month seemed to be a practice for any potential strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Dollars, Oil and the Big Wipe Out

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:54:23 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: www.brasschecktv.com

[Video]

The Petro-Dollar War

The first thing the US did when it invaded and took over Iraq was reverse Saddam Hussein's recently policy of demanding Euros in payment for his countries oil.

Some think that's what the war was all about and that Iran's insistence on receiving Euros for its oil is the real reason that country has been targeted.

Dollars? Euros? What's the difference?

The difference is this...if you are the dominant currency, you can support your lifestyle and war machine by printing more when you run out.

Take that power away and there will be a very economic painful dislocation in the US.

US Says Exercise by Israel Seemed Directed at Iran

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:06:20 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

WASHINGTON - Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military’s capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran’s nuclear program.

More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, American officials said.

Israeli officials declined to discuss the details of the exercise. A spokesman for the Israeli military would say only that the country’s air force “regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel.”

Pentagon: Over 1000 Nuclear Weapon Parts Missing?

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:08:18 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Billions of $$, nukes, what else? they can't be frickin' trusrted to find their own butts in the dark with both hands...oh, wait...the DO cover their asses!

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

http://www.opednews.com

Many people have raised the specter of nuclear WMDs being sourced from nefarious sources-- from errant former Soviet states, from N. Korea, Iran or Pakistan> It may be that to those fears must be added the threat that American nuclear weapon technology may be circulating in the black market as well.

Recently, the Air Force has faced serious lapses in Nuclear weapons security. A bomber carried six nuclear bombs across the US without anyone in charge knowing about it, and nuclear nose cones were unintentionally shipped to Taiwan without anyone discovering the error for 18 months.

Apparently, according to a closed, classified briefing the Pentagon made to congress, the nuclear security problem is much worse.

Yesterday, the Financial Times ran an article, by Demetri Sevastopulo headlined, "US N-weapons parts missing, Pentagon says."

Las Vegas Review Journal reported, said "the problem has been mounting "for at least a decade. Some say longer

Attack Iran? Cheney's Already Tried

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:53:40 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: After he become head of the Central Command (Centcom) in March 2007, Admiral William Fallon also made his opposition to such a massive attack on Iran known to the White House, according Middle East specialist Hillary Mann, who had developed close working relationships with Pentagon officials when she worked on the National Security Council staff.
Soon after, Adm. Fallon was fired...gee I wonder why? At least there are a few semi-sane generals opposing Cheney.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials firmly opposed a proposal by Vice President Dick Cheney last summer for airstrikes against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) bases by insisting that the administration would have to make clear decisions about how far the United States would go in escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a former George W Bush administration official.

J Scott Carpenter, who was then deputy assistant secretary of state in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, recalled in an interview that senior Defense Department (DoD) officials and the Joint Chiefs used the escalation issue as the main argument against the Cheney proposal.

McClatchy newspapers reported last August that Cheney had proposal several weeks earlier "launching airstrikes at suspected training camps in Iran", citing two officials involved in Iran policy.

State of Emergency: The US in the Final Six Months of the George W. Bush Administration

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:15:14 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Despite time constraints, there are clear signs that the president, the vice-president and their neocon collaborators are not finished. The constant saber-rattling toward Iran, with strong support from Israel, should send a chill down the spine of any peace-loving American. Military chiefs who oppose the president are “retired,” as observed most recently with the March dismissals of CENTCOM commander Admiral William Fallon and 6th Fleet commander Vice-Admiral John Stufflebeem. Public opinion counts for nothing. In a March 24 interview with ABC’s Martha Raddatz, vice president Dick Cheney responded to a question about the war weariness of Americans with a languid “So?”

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

In short, we are living in an on-going state of emergency whose exact limits are unknown, on the basis of a controversial deep event — 9/11 — that is still largely a mystery.
- UC Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott

The current administration has taken unto itself unprecedented, nearly hegemonic powers since the events of 9/11. On that day, George W. Bush issued his “Declaration of Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks” under the authority of the National Emergencies Act. This declaration, which can be rescinded by joint resolution of Congress, has instead been extended six times. In 2007, the declaration was strengthened with the issuance of National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD-51) which gave the president the authority to do whatever he deems necessary in a vaguely defined “catastrophic emergency” including everything from canceling elections to suspending the Constitution to launching a nuclear attack.

McCain Makes Stuff Up

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:58:40 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Still, when some of the U.S. broadcast networks – including NBC evening news – played the clip of McCain lashing out at Obama’s purported dissing of the Constitution, they didn’t correct McCain's falsehood.

That fits with a long-standing pattern of the political press corps giving McCain a break when he makes statements at variance with the truth. Even in the rare moments when he is caught in an inaccuracy – such as accusing Shiite-ruled Iran of training Sunni extremists in al-Qaeda – the falsehood is minimized as an unintentional gaffe.

Clip Source: www.smirkingchimp.com

For years now, the U.S. political press corps has traveled with John McCain on his “Straight Talk Express,” buying into his image as a paragon of truth-telling. But the real truth is that McCain routinely makes stuff up, as he did on June 11 in lying about Barack Obama’s “bitter” comment.

During a political talk in Philadelphia, McCain claimed that Obama had described “bitter” small-town voters as clinging to religion or “the Constitution” – when the second item in Obama’s comment actually was “guns.”

But the Arizona senator didn’t stop with a simple word substitution. He added that he will tell these voters that “they have trust and support the Constitution of the United States because they have optimism and hope. … That’s what America’s all about.”

In other words, McCain didn’t just make a slip of the tongue. He willfully accused Obama of disparaging the U.S. Constitution, a very serious point that, if true, might cause millions of Americans to reject Obama’s candidacy.

US Seeking 58 Bases in Iraq

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:41:29 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

BAGHDAD - Iraqi lawmakers say the United States is demanding 58 bases as part of a proposed “status of forces” agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country indefinitely.

Leading members of the two ruling Shiite parties said in a series of interviews the Iraqi government rejected this proposal along with another U.S. demand that would have effectively handed over to the United States the power to determine if a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq. Lawmakers said they fear this power would drag Iraq into a war between the United States and Iran.

Other conditions sought by the United States include control over Iraqi air space up to 30,000 feet and immunity from prosecution for U.S. troops and private military contractors. The agreement would run indefinitely but be subject to cancellation with two years notice from either side, lawmakers said.