Mixed Signals, Alright

POSTED BY JHW22

I was just listening to John Inskeep interviewing a Romney foreign affairs spokesperson (no clip available yet) on NPR and I am LIVID.

The man, sorry I missed who it was but may have been Dan Senor, said that the Obama administration has sent mixed messages on Iran. His examples was that Obama has said a military action is on the table but that Panetta laid out many details, at some security conference, as to why a military action would be problematic.

What made me LIVID about this was he had JUST said that Romney thinks military action would be a last resort. Um, why would it be a last resort if it weren't problematic? Mixed signals? Hell yes. From the Romney campaign, asshole!

Bachmann's Back!

After what seemed like an eternity of Herman Cain coverage and the Newt Gingrich resurgence, I started to feel the lack of Michele Bachmann ignorance stories in the forefront. But now I finally I feel like a kid who's awakened and pulled up his pillow to see a thick stack of hundred dollar bills where his tooth once sat.

In light of the British Foreign Ministry pulling all U.K. nationals out of the British embassy in Tehran after students stormed the building in protest, GOP presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann told a crowd in Waverly, Iowa, today that she would close the U.S. embassy in Iran.

...Bachmann applauded the U.K.’s move, adding, “That’s exactly what I would do [if I were president]. We wouldn’t have an embassy in Iran. I wouldn’t allow that to be there.”

Good thing Bachmann wouldn't allow it since the U.S. hasn't had an Embassy in Iran since NINETEEN-FUCKING-EIGHTY and the Iranian hostage crisis. And this GOP presidential dimwit nominee is on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. ...INTELLIGENCE!

Oh Michele, how I've missed you so.

John Bolton's Bomb Iran Du Jour

Raw Story: Former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the ouster of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would speed the timetable for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

... "I don't think there’s much time to act. And I think the fall of a Egyptian government committed to the peace agreement will almost certainly speed that timetable up."

Bolton chided the protests in Egypt last week, saying that "the real alternative is not Jefferson democracy versus the Mubarak regime, but that it’s the Muslim Brotherhood versus the Mubarak regime, and that has enormous implications for the US, for Israel, and our other friends in the region."

Ah, yes. They all love spreading democracy... until they realize they might not like the outcome.

And so goes Bolton's latest excuse for bombing Iran. Unrest in Gaza? Bomb Iran. George W. Bush leaving office? Bomb Iran. Protests in Egypt? Bomb Iran.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bolton also said that the consistency of his poached eggs at tomorrow morning's breakfast would speed the timetable for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. "If they're not runny enough, there'll be hell to pay,"said Bolton as he picked the crumbs of toast out of his mustache.

WTF?!

One thing that won't change with the New Year.



Also, wasn't it a Northwest Airlines flight? On screen errors abound!

Via TPM

Cartoon of the Day

A Trip Down Memory Lane

With all the talk of Iran and its newly found nuclear facility, President Obama's announcement at the G-20 in Pittsburgh and Iran's agreement to allow inspectors in the country in two weeks, Jon Perr at Crook and Liars takes a stroll down memory lane as a reminder of the last fiasco in Iran and the leadership provided by the greatest of all GOP administrations (as averred by Republicans), the Reagan Administration.

The Iran-Contra scandal, as you'll recall, almost laid waste to the Reagan presidency. Desperate to free U.S. hostages held by Iranian proxies in Lebanon, President Reagan provided weapons Tehran badly needed in its long war with Saddam Hussein (who, of course, was backed by the United States). In a clumsy and illegal attempt to skirt U.S. law, the proceeds of those sales were then funneled to the contras fighting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And as the New York Times recalled, Reagan's fiasco started with an emissary bearing gifts from the Gipper himself:

A retired Central Intelligence Agency official has confirmed to the Senate Intelligence Committee that on the secret mission to Teheran last May, Robert C. McFarlane and his party carried a Bible with a handwritten verse from President Reagan for Iranian leaders.

According to a person who has read the committee's draft report, the retired C.I.A. official, George W. Cave, an Iran expert who was part of the mission, said the group had 10 falsified passports, believed to be Irish, and a key-shaped cake to symbolize the anticipated ''opening'' to Iran.

The rest, as they say, is history. After the revelations regarding his trip to Tehran and the Iran-Contra scheme, a disgraced McFarlane attempted suicide. After his initial denials, President Reagan was forced to address the nation on March 4, 1987 and acknowledge he indeed swapped arms for hostages:

"A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not. As the Tower board reported, what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages."

Of course, the sad saga didn't end there.

Read the whole, fascinating post.

Jon Stewart Asks John Bolton: "Who Wouldn't You Bomb?"

The douchiest thing I've heard uttered in a long time.

John Bolton: "There's not that much difference between me and the people who want a world where no government has nuclear weapons. There's not much different. I only want one government to have nuclear weapons."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
John Bolton
www.thedailyshow.com
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The Pandemic of Stupid (Part One: Iran's Election)

I haven't blogged much over the last couple of days because I've been sitting in front of my television machine waiting for a CDC news conference to announce that about 30% of the US population has been infected with a Stupid Plague. But so far, nothing. No BREAKING NEWS or THIS JUST IN. No Alex Witt(less) and her hairsprayed mane on MSNBC to warn of the Stupid Plague. No Wolf Blitzer and his Beard of Doom™ interviewing a government official telling us to wrap our houses in plastic sheeting and duct tape to avoid losing your brain cells.

What gives? We've all been exposed to it. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck seem to be the "Typhoid Marys" of the Stupid Plague, the carriers of this disease but somehow remain immune to becoming so stupid that they continue to breathe involuntarily even though their brain matter has turned to goo. I sometimes wonder how they haven't stepped into an oncoming bus while crossing the street.

There has been an outbreak of the Stupid Plague and it's easy to detect those infected. For example:

Iran has its presidential elections and it looks like a tight race. Mahmoud "Holocaust Schmolocaust" Ahmadinejad was feeling the heat from Mir-Hossein "That's HOssein not HUssein" Mousavi. The vote counting went all through the night. The results? Ahmadinejad wins 63% of the vote. WHAAA?!?! This was "close"? There are riots in the streets, hundreds of thousands of protesters wanting their vote to count. It looks like they take their elections seriously in Iran; they don't take their vote for granted, like in.... nevermind.

So what is the general reaction?

President Obama: "The second thing I think’s important to recognize is that the easiest way for reactionary forces inside Iran to crush reformers is to say it’s the US that is encouraging those reformers. So what I’ve said is, `Look, it’s up to the Iranian people to make a decision. We are not meddling.’ And, you know, ultimately the question that the leadership in Iran has to answer is their own credibility in the eyes of the Iranian people."

Makes sense doesn't it? If we're shouting democracy and freedom from the mountaintops, why in the hell would he interfere in another country's election if we don't happen to like the outcome?

John McCain: "I'm disappointed, it is an American principle ever since our founding that we are dedicated to the principle that all are created equal and the fact is they have the right to free elections and to select their leadership."

That's right, Johnny. An American principle. Last I checked, Iran was a Middle Eastern theocracy that we've had no diplomatic relations with for the last 30 years.

But you have to hand it to McCain being so concerned about the elections of a people he joked about bombing the shit out of not too long ago. And haven't we heard the nutty neocons like Joshua Muravchik, William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer advocating military action against Iran for what seems like forever? Now the same neocon establishment are the defenders of democracy in the Middle East? The bastions of liberty for Iran? Please, spare me.

Mike Pence (R-Doucheland): "I appreciate the fact that the president said the protesters have a right to be heard and represented, and I appreciate the fact that he said he is troubled... But I respectfully disagree with the administration's decision to essentially draw the line at not meddling and not interfering."

So Pence wants the United States government to meddle and interfere with Iran's elections? I wonder what Pence would have said if, oh I don't know, Germany or France or even Iran had "meddled or interfered" with our 2004 Presidential election because of the prospect of voter fraud in Ohio? I'm guessing he wouldn't have been thrilled about it.

Oh, and by the way, just because President Obama mentioned Iran and said we weren't going to meddle in their electoral affairs was enough to cause Iranian officials to accuse the US of meddling in their affairs. But, unlike the GOP using this as a political opportunity, and the neocons who have a penchant for being incredibly wrong on their warmonger ideas (see Iraq, Shock and Awe), I'd rather be accused of meddling in another sovereign nation's political process than actually meddling.

Bush Surrenders!

Why does George W. Bush hate America? Why does George W. Bush hate the troops? Why is George W. Bush cutting and running? Why is George W. Bush negotiating with terrorists? Why is George W. Bush an appeaser?

According to the definition of the GOP chickenhawks lo these past six years, that is what President Bush is doing as a result of this:

Washington (AP) - The United States and Iraq have agreed to seek "a general time horizon" for deeper reductions in American combat troops in Iraq.

Iraqi officials, in a sign of growing confidence as violence decreases, have been pressuring the United States to agree to a specific timeline to withdraw U.S. forces. President Bush has adamantly opposed a timeline, and the White House said Friday that the timeframe being discussed would not be "an arbitrary date for withdrawal."

The administration can try to spin this any way they want, but the fact that the Iraqis will not agree to anything unless a timetable is in place for troop withdrawal (after all, it is their country) is the very thing that Bush is opposed to, but cannot avoid.

This is the very thing that Senator Obama has been advocating from the beginning that the McCainstream Media and the GOP have been lambasting Obama for, but of course now that it's coming from the White House, they'll adapt to it and act as if this has been their position all along. And no one will call them on it.

This also comes on the heels of Monday's revelation that the US is sending a senior official to Iran for the purposes of participation in international talks. Hmmm... sounds like diplomacy to me.

...The administration sought to describe the talks as a continuation of the same strategy it has always pursued: halting Iran’s nuclear activities without having to resort to military force.

Duh. That's what diplomacy is, you nitwits. And what do you know! Diplomacy is what Barack Obama has been advocating as well. Is Obama secretly Bush's real Secretary of State? At this rate, maybe by the end of the day we'll have universal health care too!

So let's recap: diplomatic intentions with Iran on Monday, the Medicare veto override on Tuesday and the agreement with Iraq for a troop pullout timeline today. I'd say it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week for Georgie.

(Photo courtesy of The Onion)

Appeasement - Part Two

George W. Bush, in probably his most outrageous comments since stealing the Presidency, compared sitting down to negotiate with an elected party leader of another country to the "appeasement" of the Nazis in 1938, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain gave Hitler half of Czechoslovakia in the hopes that it would deter Hitler and his Nazi Party from further invasion. Not only did he say it, but he said it to the Isreali governing body as a diplomat representing the United States.

If Bush actually knows any history at all, then this is where he would be an expert as his family was involved with the rise of Nazi Germany through Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush. But I digress.

The backlash of negative responses that this idiotic statement has garnered would make one realize that the Emperor with no Clothes had really stepped in it big time, don't you think? Well... if you think. John McCain, however, does not think.

Asked if he thought Mr. Obama was an appeaser, Mr. McCain sidestepped the question and said: “I think that Barack Obama needs to explain why he wants to sit down and talk with a man who is the head of a government that is a state sponsor of terrorism, that is responsible for the killing of brave young Americans, that wants to wipe Israel off the map, who denies the Holocaust. That’s what I think Senator Obama ought to explain to the American people.”

Well, if McCain wants an answer, Mr. Obama will be happy to oblige, and he didn't waste much time responding to Bush and McSame at a gathering in Watertown, South Dakota this morning:




It's funny how McCain would be "Hamas' worst nightmare" in 2008 while running for the Republican nomination, yet he sang a remarkably different tune in 2006:

RUBIN: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"

McCAIN: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

Sounds like another flip-flop flim-flam from the Double Talk Express that the McCainstream Media probably wouldn't have reported a few months back. But what has happened over the last twenty-four hours seems to be a watershed moment for politics at present, for although Hillary Clinton has stated her objections to Bush's inane comments, the talk has been Bush-McCain-Obama pretty much nonstop since this story broke, leaving Clinton in the dust. And now that the conversation has shifted to a two person race, perhaps there'll be a little more scrutiny from the McCainstream Media toward its Maverick. One can only hope.


The talk has finally evolved to Obama and McCain in the general election, and who Obama would choose as his VP running mate (no talk of Clinton's VP pick) and if the conversation remains there, it's probably the only good to come out of the latest embarrassment from our president while on the world stage.


UPDATE (5/17/08 , 9am): Mark Green: "Appeasement": Guilt-By-Analogy... When Guilt-By-Association Isn't Enough

"...It was bad enough when McCain tried to link Hamas and Obama because Hamas said it preferred Obama. And if the Klan endorsed McCain because he wasn't the black guy, would McCain have a problem if someone said that McCain and the Klan are one and the same?

...We've seen this movie before. Whenever conservatives can't win an argument on the merits, they attack some real or perceived enemy as Hitler. So Ho Chi Mihn was Hitler. bin Ladin was Hitler. Ahmadinejad was Hitler. Of course Hussein was Hitler. And anyone who does something to try to resolve conflict short of more war is Neville Chamberlain.

...Was Israel -- with far more experience and its survival at stake in dealing with war and terrorism -- wrong to neogtiate with former enemy Egypt, with successful result...wrong to negotiate with former enemy Jordan, with successful result...

...Take Iran and Ahmadinejad, the newest "Hitler." Iran can't stop laughing at Bush's foreign policy. He attacks its long-time enemy Iraq, allowing Iran's Shia majority to have far more influence in a Shia-majority Iraqi government. And Bush at the same time provides an unpopular Iranian government with a convenient outside enemy to rally nationalistic support to its side. Which is why Secretary Robert Gates himself has advocated talking more to Iran. What an appeaser!"

Progress In Iraq

General David Petraeus:

"I've repeatedly noted that we haven't turned any corners, we haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel. The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. And the progress, while real, is fragile and is reversible."

Please tell me again how the surge has worked and how everything is going well in Iraq. Wait, I'll let "Johm" McCain tell me:

"...while the job of bringing security to Iraq is not finished, as the recent fighting in Basra and elsewhere vividly demonstrated, we're no longer staring into the abyss of defeat and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success. Success, the establishment of a peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic state that poses no threats to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists, this success is within reach."

So according to Petraeus we "haven't turned any corners" and "haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel" and the progress is "fragile and reversible," while Mr. Straight Talk thinks "success is within reach." This man is definitely going off the deep end, while conflating Al-Qaeda in Iraq with Iran and Shiites again!

Altogether now: Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a small obscure extremist SUNNI sect, right Johm?

MCCAIN: There are numerous threats to security in Iraq and the future of Iraq. Do you still view Al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?

PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was, say, 15 months ago.

MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shiites overall…

PETRAEUS: No.

MCCAIN: … or Sunnis or anybody else.

...Sigh...

"Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended"

Those words were spoken by our intrepid leader on May 1, 2003, and we all know how it's turned out so far. Five years later, 3,862 more US troops have been killed (that's 97% of the casualties) and tens of thousands wounded since that claim, along with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

That comment along with "the surge is working" always makes my blood boil. After 15 months of the escalation of troops called the "surge," all you have to do is look at some headlines from yesterday and today to see how well it has worked.

U.S. Planes Attack Militia Strongholds in Basra Fighting

One killed, 14 wounded in Baghdad Green Zone attack

Stay Low, U.S. Warns Those in Green Zone

Thursday: 225 Iraqis, 1 US Soldier, 3 US Contractors Killed; 538 Iraqis Wounded

Of course, when the shit hits the fan, you better find a reason for the rapid destabilization over these past few weeks. We wouldn't be silly enough to realize that Muqtada al-Sadr's militia ending their cease fire is a likely cause for the sharp rise in violence when the Bush boys have the chance to fan the flames of war against Iran.

The most senior US general in Iraq has said he has evidence that Iran was behind Sunday's bombardment of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Gen David Petraeus told the BBC he thought Tehran had trained, equipped and funded insurgents who fired the barrage of mortars and rockets.

He said Iran was adding what he described as "lethal accelerants" to a very combustible mix.

Lethal accelerants. Combustible mix. Scary words. That's easy enough to state now that CENTCOM Commander Admiral William Fallon, the only vocal opponent of a possible attack on Iran, is now out of the way - forced into retirement by Bush and his band of war mongers.

But sure, let's keep our collective heads in the sand and say that the surge is working, we're winning the war (which has "largely ended") and tune in to Dancing With The Stars to see the latest has-been who got booted.

Listen to Commanders... Unless They Disagree

The Pentagon on Friday ruled out including Adm. William Fallon as a witness before Congress when the top U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Baghdad testify next month on the way ahead in Iraq.

Adm. Fallon was in vocal opposition regarding any military action in the current run up to attacking Iran. Is it any surprise that a dissenting voice of high ranking stature in the military is being silenced?

In declaring that Fallon would not join Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker as witnesses before Congress next month, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the decision had nothing to do with Fallon’s views on Iran or the reasons for his unexpected resignation and retirement.

Sure it doesn't.

“I know there have been requests, in fact, from members of Congress to have Adm. Fallon testify with General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, and I can tell you that Admiral Fallon will not be testifying” with them, Morrell told a Pentagon press conference.

John McCain: Forgetful, Liar or Just Fucking Crazy?

Over the past few days, the media anointed Maverick has said some stunning things I never knew.

Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives “taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back.”

McCain said it was “common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that’s well known. And it’s unfortunate.”

He's got to know what he's talking about on foreign policy because of his vast experience, right?... Right?

After his remarks, Joe LIEberman of all people, had to correct his statements. McCain then said, “I’m sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda.” Fuck, even Lindsey Graham was standing next to McCain was trying to whisper "extremists" under his breath.

Hmmm... okay, well it's hot out there in the Jordanian sun, maybe he's just a little tired. Now that he's corrected it, he won't make that mistake again, will he? I mean, obviously five years into the occupation I could probably go down to my local grocer and even he would know, if he were even peripherally following along, that Al-Qaeda is a Sunni extremist group, while Iranians are Shiite and both sects are diametrically opposed to each other. Surely, if I know that, then someone who claims his intimate knowledge of foreign policy makes him the best equipped to answer a phone ringing in the White House late at night would certainly know it. It must have been the sun.

Then the very next day, Mr. Straight Talk said this:

"Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism. The security gains over the past year have been dramatic and undeniable. Al Qaeda and Shia extremists -- with support from external powers such as Iran -- are on the run but not defeated."

What the fuck? Did he just say it again?! "Al-Qaeda and Shia extremists with support... from Iran"? Hey asshole, AL-QAEDA IS SUNNI! IRAN IS SHIA! They hate each other. Why? Because they're religious nutbags, that's why. Ask your friend John Hagee, he knows a thing or two about religious nut-ocracy.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a predominantly Sunni militant group which is blamed for deadly mass killings of Shiites, along with attacks on U.S. forces. Some extremist Sunni consider Shiites to be heretics and therefore legitimate targets of attack.
The schism between Islam's Sunni and Shiite sects grew out of a dispute over the leadership of the faithful following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD.

Six-thirty-fucking-two AD. They've been opposed to each other for over 1,400 years! Ya got that, Sparky?

All this confusion amounts to one of three possible scenarios here.

1 - McCain is forgetful. McNasty is at the age (and I hate to make age an issue, but let's not forget about St. Ronnie) where 10% of people start developing Alzheimer's. Or he's just forgetful. Either way, I don't want that fuckwad anywhere near the red button. Fuck, he'd probably forget where he put his launch codes anyway.

2 - McCain is a liar. He knows the difference between Sunni and Shia, but he's trying to confuse Joe Average.

Equate Iran and Al-Qaeda on Page One and retract it the next day on Page 37 right next to the Wal-Mart discount coupons. Hell, Bush and Cheney did it with Iraq. If it worked for them, it can work for the Double Talk Express. If he's called on it, he can put on the ol' Wilford Brimley charm and shrug it off, with 99% of the media laughing it off, "Hee-hee, that good ol' John MCCain, what a card" while RSVP-ing "Yes" to the next barbecue invitation.

3 - John McCain is bat shit crazy. Everything from his nasty, get-off-my-lawn temper, calling fellow members of Congress chickenshit and telling them to fuck off, and singing "Bomb Iran" to the Beach Boys tune "Barbara Ann." A Republican friend of mine (a dying breed these days) actually defended McCain on the Beach Boys thing, saying it was just a joke, shrugging it off like the MSM does when it comes to the Maverick. But the point is, you don't joke about things like that when you're running for President.

And to be fair, who wouldn't be nuts after spending five years in the Hanoi Hilton? Yes, McCain is a war hero. But a war hero doesn't necessarily make a good leader. Let's not forget that McCain's had a life after Vietnam that's included moral conflict and a Senate corruption scandal. The problem is, he's got to stop pulling "facts" out of where he hid his watch all those years as a POW.

My ultimate analysis is that John McCain is a combination of all three: forgetful or starting to lose it, short-tempered and insane. And those three make a perfect combination to be Commander-in-Chief, don't you think?

The Sunni/Shia/Al-Qaeda/Extremists conflagration is all planned. Once is a mistake, twice is confusion, three or more times is a pattern. Confuse and scare the masses in the guise of national security and they'll follow you off a cliff.

CENTCOM Chief Fallon Quits

NY Times: Adm. William J. Fallon, the commander of American forces in the Middle East whose outspoken public statements on Iran and other issues had seemed to put him at odds with the Bush administration, is retiring early, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

Admiral Fallon had rankled senior officials of the Bush administration in recent months with comments that emphasized diplomacy over conflict in dealing with Iran, that endorsed further troop withdrawals from Iraq beyond those already under way and that suggested the United States had taken its eye off the military mission in Afghanistan.

...In a statement issued by his headquarters, he acknowledged that “recent press reports suggesting a disconnect between my views and the president’s policy objectives have become a distraction at a critical time and hamper efforts” across his region.

Yet another in a continuing line of military brass that couldn't eat the shit that Bush was doling out and decided to resign rather than be a "Yes" man.

According to Esquire Magazine, Admiral Fallon was the one man that was preventing the Bush administration from provoking war wih Iran. Chimpy's still got 10 months left to initiate the beginning of the rapture. Hold your breath.

Now all Fallon has to do is endorse Obama and all hell will break loose!

Mike Malloy on Strait of Hormuz Incident

On January 8th, Mike Malloy received an email regarding the Iranian boat incident. Mike cranks it up and responds to it. Here's the transcript (including the email):

MALLOY: I received an email from "Guy." He writes, "Hi Mike, I've spent time in the Persian Gulf on various US Navy vessels and I wanted to remind you that the USS Cole was damaged using a small boat. Size does not define threat. Even a small boat needs to be taken seriously. I wasn't in the Persian Gulf last weekend and do not claim to know the details of what happened, however, that there was not at least an exchange of small arms fire illustrates great restraint, especially compared to the (inaudible).

I am not a big fan of violence but I would not have the slightest problem sinking any small vessel acting provocatively. If the Iranians come out looking for trouble, it is a shame to disappoint them."

Um, okay, but like I mentioned earlier in the program, you know, we are the ones who have gone into their front yard and decided to pee all over their roses. So if they come out waving a broomstick saying, "Get off my property!" then what, we have the right to machine gun them on the spot? What the hell is wrong with this mindset?!

Where does this come from? I guess it come from 110 years of just absolute violent US imperialism. I'm sorry, you pick a different term. If you don't like to hear your American talk show host use the term "US imperialism", then by God, give me a new one.

That's exactly what it's been, since the Spanish American War. UNITED. STATES. IMPERIALISM. Now we have placed our big, white ass in the middle of the Middle East. And we have made claims against other peoples' natural resources. And we have overthrown governments and we have invaded nations to make certain everybody in the Middle East knows we are by God serious about taking their natural resources. And because one country steps out and says, "Uh, we're gonna send little boats after you," after we have threatened to NUKE THEM?!

GET REAL, GUY!

I mean, good God in heaven, WE ARE THE PROVOCATEUR in this situation, not these dumb ass little Iranian boats! Bzzz, bzzzz "I am coming to you." Bzzz, bzz. If the Iranians come out looking for trouble?! Oh my God!

I'll tell you what, Guy, I would prefer that you not email again because I think you're a little bit twisted, I really do. I wrote back to you and said if I come to your backyard and threaten to kill your family and you come out and wave a handgun at me and tell me to get off your property, or get out of the alley behind your house that's neutral property but I stand out there and say "NO, I'M GONNA KILL YOUR FAMILY!", and you're waving the handgun at me, which one of us is being provocative, Guy?

"Provocative" Iranian Boats: "We Are Coming To You"

With all the primary commotion the last couple of days, I didn't learn about this incident until this morning.

WASHINGTON — Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route off the Iranian coast, over the weekend, CNN reported on Monday.

Citing unidentified U.S. officials, CNN said the Iranian vessels came within 200 yards (meters) of the U.S. ships in international waters in the strait on Saturday, and U.S. sailors came close to opening fire.

...U.S. military officials told CNN the boats were “attack craft” that they believed were operated by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.

The Iranian boats made threatening maneuvers against the U.S. warships and threatening radio transmissions, the officials told CNN.

The captain of one U.S. vessel was in the process of giving the order to shoot when the Iranian ships began turning away, CNN said.

A radio transmission from one of the Iranian ships said, “I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes,” CNN reported, citing a U.S. official.

After the threatening radio communication, U.S. sailors manned their ships’ guns and were very close to opening fire, it said.

Strait of Hormuz... Gulf of Tonkin... Strait of Hormuz... Gulf of Tonkin...

Sounds eerily familiar. To top it off, the Pentagon has released video of the incident. In it, small speedboats do come close to the US ships, and at the very end of the video, there is added audio of the supposed radio communications. "I am coming to you..." Is this supposed to be an Iranian? Sounds like a cheap imitation.

Bush called it a provocation today in Israel and warned Iran that all options were on the table to "protect our assets... our ships were moving along very peacefully off the Iranian border in territorial water -- international waters, and Iranian boats came out and were very provocative. And it was a dangerous gesture on their part. We have made it clear publicly, and they know our position, and that is, there will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple. And my advice to them is, don't do it."

Iran has stated that the video and audio is a fabrication.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said that its high-speed boats never threatened the U.S. vessels during the encounter, insisting it only asked them to identify themselves, then let them continue into the Gulf.
Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar called Western news reports that the boats threatened to blow up the U.S. warships "mischief."
...He said the encounter was normal.
"The identification of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian navy units is a natural occurrence," IRNA quoted Najjar as saying. "Islamic Republic of Iran navy units always put questions to passing vessels and warships at the Strait of Hormuz and they need to identify themselves. This is in accordance with the normal procedures."

Call me cynical, but it all sounds fake to me. And you can blame my cynicism on the jokers in the White House. Another thing to think about is what would we do if foreign navy war ships were in international waters just outside, oh I don't know... lets say the Gulf of Fucking Mexico?! How would we react?

Will Durst - Does Anybody Have WMD?

...Iraq—no weapons of mass destruction. Iran—no nuclear weapons program. Throw in the fact that since our Mideast misadventure began, we’ve misplaced 190,000 of our own rifles and weapons somewhere, who knows where, in Iraq, and I’m thinking maybe we should outsource our weapons location intelligence gathering because it doesn’t seem to be what you’d call our specialty.

Article here.

Here Comes The Spin

NY TIMES: President Bush said today that a new intelligence finding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons work in 2003 had not altered his sense that Iran remained a danger.

...“I have said Iran is dangerous,” Bush said a day after the release of the National Intelligence Estimate, representing the consensus of all 16 American spy agencies, “and the N.I.E. doesn’t do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world — quite the contrary.”

So just disregard that 16 separate intelligence agencies report that Iran has not constituted nukes and had actually stopped its program in 2003. Asshole. Sometimes the Decider really makes me go nuke-u-lur!

Reporters pressed the president to explain why as recently as October, he was saying that a nuclear-armed Iran could pose a risk of a “World War III.” But Bush said he had learned of the new intelligence findings on Iran, which have been in the works for months, only last week. When a reporter asked whether anyone in the intelligence community had urged him to step back from his tough warnings about Iran, he said, “No.”

UPDATE: Norman Podhoretz, who is Rudy Giuliani's national security advisor by the way, thinks the latest NIE is a plot against Bush. This is the same cadaverous son of a bitch that "prayed" the US would bomb the crap out of Iran a couple of months ago. Great pick, Rudy.

UPDATE II: Bob Cesca in his new Huffington Post article:

Knowledge has been the president's enemy ever since his skull failed to completely fuse, leaving him with a spongy head and a brain that's susceptible to bruising. His other lifelong enemy, by the way, is a fork without a protective wine cork pressed onto its dangerous, eye-poking tines. I'm joking about the skull thing.

...Why else would President Bush cite knowledge as the qualifier? Knowledge is also the simplest justification to lie about due to the fact that it's so insanely difficult disprove. Oh, and it's a perfect fit for rallying the president's dingus base --they hate anything that has to do with knownin' shit.

What About World War III?

Just a little over six weeks ago, our illustrious President Bush stated that he "told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

Now comes word from US Intelligence Agencies that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen. Yet Bush and his gang of warmongers were pushing for pre-emptively striking at Iran even though the intelligence clearly showed no nuclear threat.

...the new estimate declares with “high confidence” that a military-run Iranian program intended to transform that raw material into a nuclear weapon has been shut down since 2003, and also says with high confidence that the halt “was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure.”

...Yet at the same time [US] officials were airing these dire warnings about the Iranian threat, analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency were secretly concluding that Iran’s nuclear weapons work halted years ago and that international pressure on the Islamic regime in Tehran was working.

How soon will Karl Rove spin this one and blame Democrats for pushing to strike Iran? What does Holy Joe Lieberman have to say about the report? What about William "The Bloody" Kristol? Watch for the weasel words from these morons any time now.

UPDATE: Does Stephen Hadley actually expect anyone to believe that since the official report of Iran's frozen nuclear capabilities was completed last Tuesday, that Bush didn't know about it til Wednesday?! It was halted in 2003 - four FUCKING years ago!

Fuck off, Hadley.