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[American Conservative] Possible unprovoked attack on Iran?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by tigermission1, Jul 29, 2005.

  1. tigermission1

    tigermission1 Member

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    From the American Conservative's latest issue:

    In Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for Iran. The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.

    Hmm, so Cheney won't even go through the trouble of twisting the CIA's arm to make up intel? What else could promote "democracy" and "peace" in the Middle East more than dropping nukes on a country there? Diplomacy at its finest!

    Cheney, AIPAC, Pentagon Neocons: the "folly trinity"
     
  2. blazer_ben

    blazer_ben Rookie

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    Iran got The US in iraq, by sending us false Information through the proxies like chalabi and al Jaffari. they have by the balls, hence a attack on them is highly Unlikely!
     
  3. Mr. Brightside

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    I say no way, US will attack Iran. Their forces are far superior than the Royal Guard.

    But on a side note, a good percentage of the youger people there want democratic reform. So it might not be a bad idea to help support an militia/ideological group that would slowly undermine the current regime.
     
  4. FranchiseBlade

    Supporting Member

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    I agree there a lot that want democratic reform. But I feel attacking Iran would make them feel attacked and defend their government against us. We should use that desire for democratic reform to support them in making the changes needed in Iran themselves.
     
  5. glynch

    glynch Member

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    Hope this guy is wrong. I fear the loyal Bush- first Americans would be up for it if their leader would give them the pre-text of one suicide bomber on a US train or virtually any other rationale to send others to invade Iraq.
    *********
    Is Iran Being Set Up?

    By GARY LEUPP

    A recent article by Juan Cole depicts Iran as the real victor in the Iraq War. This is because Iran, which Washington officially designates "evil," has been able to establish warm relations with the government ushered into power by U.S. occupation forces in neighboring Iraq.

    In his state visit to Iran Prime Minister al-Jaafari was offered electricity, wheat, pipeline projects, use of Iranian ports to transship goods to Iraq. Jaafari paid a pilgrimage to the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini, one of the most vilified characters in the history of U.S. foreign relations. He blamed the Iran-Iraq War (in which the U.S. backed Baghdad) on Saddam Hussein and accepted Iraqi culpability. He promised that Iraq would not allow any attack on Iran from its soil.

    Reports about the recent flurry of Iran-Iraq diplomacy must shock the neocons. Things are not going at all according to plan. Neocon ally Chalabi should be in power, hosting the Israeli prime minister's official visit and mapping a common strategy against Iran. Just 30,000 U.S. soldiers should be in Iraq, living on permanent bases. The privatized oil industry should be paying for the nearly completed reconstruction of the country. Instead, devout Shiites who revere Khomeini are in power, Iraq is far from recognizing Israel, 130,000 U.S. forces are bogged down in a guerrilla war, the oil industry hasn't recovered to pre-2001 levels, and the costs of the war and reconstruction fall on the American taxpayer. No, this is not at all what the neocons expected.
    ...
    the lion's share of the vote (quite a lot lower than expected, suggesting lots of fraud) went to the SCIRI and Dawa religious-based parties. After ages and ages of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the present administration under Jaafari was finally announced in April. Quite contrary to U.S. intentions, it has turned out to be markedly pro-Iranian.

    Cole concludes with the observation, "The ongoing chaos in Iraq has made it impossible for Bush administration hawks to carry out their long-held dream of overthrowing the Iranian regime, or even of forcing it to end its nuclear ambitions." He implies that both because the U.S. is militarily overextended and because the Iraqi authorities will not approve an attack from their soil. I do want to believe all that! ..

    Meanwhile, my pessimism deepens as I read an online excerpt from an article by Philip Giraldi, in the American Conservative. It indicates that:

    (1) the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has been asked to draw up concrete, short term contingency plans for an attack on Iran, to involve "a large-scale air assault employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons" and

    (2) that Vice President Cheney's office has specifically told the Pentagon that the military should be prepared for an attack on Iran in the immediate aftermath of "another 9-11." That's "not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States," notes Geraldi.

    Can it get madder than this? The neocons' plans for a total reorganization of the "Greater Middle East" have been plain for some time now. Many have been warning against the prospect of an expansion of the Iraq War into Syria and Iran. You'd think that reality would smack these guys in the face and they'd call off anything so stupid.

    But they apparently think that by using conventional and nuclear weapons (first time any nation will do that since Nagasaki); by employing the Mujahadeen Khalq; by activating agents in place to organize demonstrations (as the CIA did so successfully in Iraq in 1953); by attacking from Azerbaijan they can actually pull this off. Do they even realize that southern Iraq and Iran constitute the heartland of historical Shiism, and that an attack on Iran will negate any goodwill among Shiites U.S. forces have acquired in Iraq?

    Maybe, here and there within the military itself, the madmen meet with quiet resistance. "Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning," writes Giraldi, "are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing---that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack" That's encouraging, surely. Good that senior Air Force officers should be appalled at their orders. Surely they must ask questions, such as:

    What do they mean by "another 9-11"? Could any, even small-time terrorist act in the U.S. (say, killing 52 in the Boston subway) be the signal for us to start bombing Iran?

    Does the Vice President's office anticipate this second 9-11 sometime soon?

    Would it be moral to attack Iran in the aftermath of a terrorist attack if Iran had nothing to do with it?

    Actually, why would Iran ever give the U.S. pretext for an attack?

    Am I going to be complicit in war crimes if I'm involved in this planned attack? What will this do for my long-term reputation?

    Will our troops in Iraq suffer as a result of the hatred for the U.S. another unprovoked attack is likely to generate?

    Am I going to be a part of a military project which will have no support anywhere in the world, except maybe in Israel?

    But the sentence finishes "---but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections."

    That could change quickly, of course, if the Bush administration starts to sink under the weight of accumulating scandals. But the plan for the Iran attack is for it to come quickly, while the nation is in a state of shock---apparently in some near-future scenario---so that all those brewing scandals get placed on the back burners.

    The propaganda set-up's already been performed as well as possible. There's a list of charges against Iran, just like there was against Iraq. If they happen, President Bush will explain the Iran attacks as strikes reluctantly undertaken, as a last resort, to protect Americans from terrorist threats emanating out of Iran. The STRATCOM guys will know that's not true, and have to live with the knowledge.

    Or else they can do what some have apparently done so far: speak out, if anonymously, and just maybe force their commanders to abort this criminal war against Iran.
    http://counterpunch.org/leupp07272005.html
     
  6. Saint Louis

    Saint Louis Member

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    If the U.S. military ever uses nuclear weapons without overwhelming evidence that another country used them first against us, then it is time for the 2nd American revolution. Even if a terrorist organization used a nuke against America, unless it can be absolutely pegged to Iran; how can you justify using nukes against them?

    Nukes should never, ever be thought of as an acceptable weapon. If Cheney actually wants this then he is crazier then I thought. Hopefully this is all a bunch of BS and isn't true.
     
  7. tigermission1

    tigermission1 Member

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    Let me reitrate that I think an attack on Iran will never happen during the Bush regime, there are just too many obstacles/costs that would be associated with attacking a well-armed country like Iran.

    With that being said, however, I think a few airstrikes on some Iranian targets are not out of the question, but if that happens the US should accept nothing less in retaliation than massive bombardment of Israel, and the bombardment of every major oil well in the Gulf area. So again, the costs would be too high, I believe this is nothing more than public pressure to attempt and scare off the Mullahs into compliance with the IAEA.
     

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