Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

[JoeSixpack]

Is it just me or does the heat get turned up on this issue ?

Besides the usual saber-rattling from all sides, recent news is suspicious.

1.
Today, CNN reports carrier USS Abraham Lincoln moved from Persian Gulf to Gulf of Oman, to have a better reach into Afghanistan. My interpretation is, that it would be a sitting duck in the Persian Gulf and they want to have open sea for save operations.

2.
Israelis seem very very eager to achieve at least some sort of cease-fire / peace with Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and even Hamas.

3.
Iran really seems to think they can sit it out until a new president is in power. If the game is really on, i dont think they are in the driving seat.
I have no opinion if they really want to build a nuke or what, or if they even could in the next years, but given the war agenda this is probably not important. Their constant rejection of halting enrichment (although i think it is legal and their right) certainly feeds the hawks and i dont know if its very smart.

4.
Resolution 362 supported by AIPAC to be passed soon. This is REALLY bold stuff, calling for a blockade of a souvereign country and embargo on petroleum imports. If you dont know it, google. The House version is even tougher in language. The cons view it as a de facto declaration of war, should the recommended actions be put in place. The pros argue its just a little more tease to press for a diplomatic solution and it was not binding for the president, just a "recommendation".

5.
Iran reportedly stepped up its standing privatization programme for foreign investment recently. The only ones profiting from this are, from what i read, China, Russia, Japan, France, Germany.

As a sad sidenote, a few days ago there was a very neutral/technical article in the Isreali Haaretz online newspaper about their missle capacity and defense options "in the next war" from some former big shot at the army. I was bored so i started to look at the readers' comments. Shocking to says the least. 90% supported military action of some sort, mostly preemptive. People were talking about B52s, nukes, burning cities and basically saying "kill them all, we dont have a choice". If that is public opinion in Israel i dont know.

[Andreuccio]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

As a sad sidenote, a few days ago there was a very neutral/technical article in the Isreali Haaretz online newspaper about their missle capacity and defense options "in the next war" from some former big shot at the army. I was bored so i started to look at the readers' comments. Shocking to says the least. 90% supported military action of some sort, mostly preemptive. People were talking about B52s, nukes, burning cities and basically saying "kill them all, we dont have a choice". If that is public opinion in Israel i dont know.

I'm not familiar with Haaretz, (or overall Israeli public opinion, for that matter), but the hawkish slant of the comments could just be a reflection of their specific readership, not necessarily Israeli public opinion as a whole.

[metalman]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

I'm not familiar with Haaretz, (or overall Israeli public opinion, for that matter), but the hawkish slant of the comments could just be a reflection of their specific readership, not necessarily Israeli public opinion as a whole.

been following the progress of the peace in the middle east for the past 20 yrs? what's the trend? better?

sooner or later that shit is going to totally blow up. yet another reason why oil is too cheap.

[Chris]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

I'm not familiar with Haaretz, (or overall Israeli public opinion, for that matter), but the hawkish slant of the comments could just be a reflection of their specific readership, not necessarily Israeli public opinion as a whole.

Haaretz is left of center (not as left as the UK Guardian but more so than the NY Times) and general quite dovish in its publications. The posted opinions of reader on the other hand might be quite different.

[Chris]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

been following the progress of the peace in the middle east for the past 20 yrs? what's the trend? better?

sooner or later that shit is going to totally blow up. yet another reason why oil is too cheap.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news...ct_intensifies

Middle East Conflict Intensifies As Blah Blah Blah, Etc. Etc.

April 26, 2007 | Issue 43•17


MIDDLE EAST—With the Iraq war in its fifth year, the war in Afghanistan in its sixth, and conflict between Israel and the rest of the region continuing unabated for more than half a century, intelligence sources are warning that a new wave of violence in the Middle East may soon blah blah blah, etc. etc., you know the rest.

Yet another act of violence in response to something else terrible that occurred in, oh, let's say Basra.

"Tensions in the region are extremely high," said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, who added the same old same old while answering reporters' questions. "We're disappointed by the events of the last few months, but we're confident that we're about to [yakety yakety yak]."
The U.N. has issued a strongly worded whatever denouncing someone or something presumably having to do with the vicious explosive things that raged across this, or shattered the predawn calm of that, or ripped suddenly through the other, killing umpteen innocent civilians in a Jerusalem bus or Beirut discotheque or Fallujah mosque or whatever it was this time.

Either a car bomb killed people or a car hit a roadside bomb, killing people.

In the aftermath of a whole series of incidents, there have also been troubling reports of just fill in the blanks. Middle East experts say the still somehow worsening situation has inflamed age-old sectarian tensions between the Sunnis, Shiites, Semites, Kurds, Turks, Saudis, Persians, Wahhabis, radicals, extremists, Baathists, mullahs, clerics, et al, which is likely to lead to more gurgle-gurgle over the coming weeks and months.
A certain number of U.S. troops were also killed somewhere in some tragic fashion, while a much greater number were wounded. Meanwhile, impoverished or oppressed supporters of whichever faction carried out the attack or ambush probably celebrated, angering an angry U.S. public that is already angry. Locals are calling for an investigation into excessive force or outright corruption by military or political officials on one of the 15 sides of the various conflicts, although the implicated party has categorically denied wrongdoing, just like they always do, without fail, every time this happens, which is daily, it seems.

And in Afghanistan, the Taliban.

In Israel, Palestinians and Israelis escalated tensions and so on and so on ad infinitum, ad eternum, and some say, ad absurdum, and although Hamas released a statement condemning Israeli forces for the resulting civilian deaths, Israeli officials say the teens were armed with rocket launchers, though it doesn't really matter.

Also, Ahmadinejad, Iran's nuclear program, bin Laden at large, Moqtada al-Sadr, Moqtada al-Sadr's militia, Fallujah, renegade mullahs, embedded and/or beheaded journalists, oil revenues, stockpiles of former Soviet armaments, freedom, racism, Halliburton, women's role in Islamic society, the Quran, withdrawing troops, economic disparities, Sikhs, Pakistanis, oil, rebuilding, stories of hope, the Saudi royal family, the Holy Land, insurgents, and the tragedy of Sept. 11th.

In an attempt to increase public support of whatever the **** it is he thinks he's doing, President Bush trotted out the same old whoop-de-do you've heard over and over at a solemn-yet-resolute speech attended by soldiers, or religious leaders, or firemen, or some mix of ethnic-looking people from one of those countries.

"We have to give this plan time to wop bop a loo bop, a wop bam boom, ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang," President Bush may as well have said. "May God [help/bless/save] the United States of America."

[touchring]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

repeat, pls delete, thks.

[touchring]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

I think israel is trying to prepare the world for the showdown, making everyone get used to high oil prices, and let allies stock up their oil reserves. In the meantime, they are preparing their intelligence, army and maybe some super new bunker buster bomb weapon.

As for Iran, they believe that Israel won't dare to strike them. Pure male chauvinism at play - the very same thing that started the Iraqi War. History repeating itself!

[FRED]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

Max's take.

[GRG55]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

I think israel is trying to prepare the world for the showdown, making everyone get used to high oil prices, and let allies stock up their oil reserves. In the meantime, they are preparing their intelligence, army and maybe some super new bunker buster bomb weapon.

As for Iran, they believe that Israel won't dare to strike them. Pure male chauvinism at play - the very same thing that started the Iraqi War. History repeating itself!

Who's airspace does Israel get permission to use this time?

[World Traveler]

Current Seymour Hersh: From hi level sources: Iran

Radio interview is extensive, 44 minutes (link embedded in summary below). It is well-known that his sources are quite high level, especially in Dept of Defense. it makes his analysis all the more valuable.

Seymour Hersh: US Training Jondollah and MEK for Bombing preparation

In an interview with NPR on his latest New Yorker Article, titled ‘Preparing the battlefield’, the renowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reveals more striking details of his findings on the aim of the $400 million budgeted US covert operations inside Iran. He provides valuable information on US military preparations to strike the country, on the total expansion of the Bush Administration’s executive power, about the US recognition of Iran’s overall positive role in Iraq and on the US support for the anti-Iran terrorist organisations Jondollah, PJAK and MEK.

Hersh explains that the aim of the US covert operations inside Iran is to create a pretext for attack with the goal of regime change. “The strategic thinking behind this covert operation is to provoke enough trouble and chaos so that the Iranian government makes the mistake of taking aggressive action which will give the impression of a country in acute turmoil”, he said. “Then you have what the White House calls the ‘casus belli’, a reason to attack the country. That is the thinking and it is very crazy.”

On Iran’s role in Iraq, Hersh points out: “There is absolutely no clear evidence known to the American government that the Iranian leadership has any interest in provoking trouble with the United States in Iraq by sending in people to cause mayhem or kill Americans. There is just no evidence for it.” He continues further on: “Frankly, the guys I know in the inside– in the Special Forces, high up in DoD, high up in the intelligence community–if you push them hard enough, they tell you that Iran has been more of a force for stability in Iraq than negative”.

Hersh comments that the decision to launch these covert operations was prompted by the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate’s verdict that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons programme and that the approval by the US Congress leadership of the $400 million budget for the operations “is totally an expansion” of the executive powers of the Bush Administration.

He explains how the Bush Administration’s policy of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” has led the US to support the Baluchi organisation Jondollah and the MEK (Mujahideen-e-Khalq a.k.a PMOI), both of which have clear track records of terrorist activities including against the US. He reiterates that the US has been giving arms and cash to the terrorists in the MEK for years and reveals that “most of the [MEK] leaders have been taking our money and cashing it in an awful lot of bank accounts in London.” He also reveals for the first time that the US has trained MEK teams in the state of Nevada and that “they do a lot of crazy stuff inside Iran”.

Hersh warns that “we have been moving cruise missiles there for a few months now”, and that the US military is ready. “Our submarines are there, our destroyers are there with cruise missiles aboard, our aircrafts are there, our soldiers are there” to attack Iran within “10 to 12 hours” of the go-ahead order by President Bush, he says, stressing that troops have to go on the ground in Iran in order to destroy Iran’s defensive systems.

He finally points out that Bush “is going to be a very active president, I am afraid, until 11:59:59 seconds on January 20, 2009” and raises the alarm about an “October surprise”, a military attack on Iran, in particular if Obama continues to have a lead in the polls.

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/...g-preparation/

[Chris]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

Hirsh has been wrong on Iran 2 or 3 times now I think. He may be well sourced by sometimes sources wish to mislead.

[touchring]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

Who's airspace does Israel get permission to use this time?

That's not a problem, they can try again in year 2017 when the next republican president comes on.

[Chris]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

right on time..

Iran test-fires long-range missile capable of hitting Israel


Nine missiles were reported fired in the tests at a secret location in the Iranian desert, according to Iranian television which broadcast footage of the plumes of smoke left following the launches.

The launch included a reportedly improved Shahab-3 missile, which officials said could reach targets up to 1,250 miles away, as well as the 100-mile-range Fateh and the medium-range Zelzal which can reach 125-250 miles.

"The aim of these war games is to show we are ready to defend the integrity of the Iranian nation," Hossein Salami, air force commander of the Revolutionary Guard, was quoted as saying by state-run television Al-Alam.
"Our missiles are ready for shooting at any place and any time, quickly and with accuracy. The enemy must not repeat its mistakes. The enemy targets are under surveillance."

"Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch."
The tests follow a exercises by the Israeli air force, reported by United States intelligence officials to be a "dry run" for an attack nuclear sites inside Iran.

Exercises were also conducted this week by the US Fifth Fleet, aided by British and Gulf forces, as preparation to protect key petroleum installations in the Gulf in case of conflict.

Iran has threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, critical for shipments of much of the world's oil and gas supply, if it is attacked.
The test-firing was condemned by the US, where White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: "Iran's development of ballistic missiles is completely inconsistent with Iran's obligations to the world."

It has also raised alarm in Israel, where many are convinced sanctions are ineffective and calls are mounting for a strike on Iran before its nuclear ambitions reach a point of no return.

With US President George W Bush seemingly reluctant to turn to military action, Israel mounted a major training drill over the Mediterranean last month and is thought to be weighing a solo mission.

The heightened tensions come as Israel's security cabinet today prepares to discuss Hizbollah's rearming in southern Lebanon, despite the presence of Unifil troops.

Though Israel has restarted indirect peace talks with Syria, has expressed interest in the same with Lebanon, it also accuses Syria of helping to smuggle weapons to the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ng-Israel.html

[touchring]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

This missile practice is a silly move by the iranians. If i were them, i will try and present myself to be as lame as possible until i got my nukes out.

[Slimprofits]

Re: Iran discussion/conspiracy thread

To be sure, this was not reported on by any U.S. mainstream media sources. I found a couple of websites that mention it, such as: Paris Moves to End Syria’s Isolation

Khaleej Times is a newspaper in the UAE

As usual, the Bastille Day parade in Paris saw crème de la crème from around the globe. What was unusual about this year's Bastille Day parade was the presence of several Arab heads of state and leaders including Syrian President Bashar Assad as well as Israeli PM Ehud Olmert.

Sounds like it could be Bad Cop / Good Cop (France) routine. The U.S. blames Syria for everything, but Sarko is said to be a huge ally of Bush and the