Israel's attack on Lebanon was a dry run for America vs. Iran

09-03-12 - Israel is still demanding US commitment to Iran war


08-14-12 - Israeli demands from Obama

I'm too pissed off to comment. I'll just leave you with the byline to the article.

Analysis: If US wants to prevent Israeli jets from taking off en route to Iran, it must commit to attack on nuclear sites after elections in case sanctions, talks fail

08-10-12 - War with Iran seems much more likely, Israel is trying its level best to get it

I'd like to see mutiny by top US military brass and CIA over any government support of Israel's coveted war with Iran.

Israel media talk of imminent Iran war push

The front-page report in the biggest-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth came amid mounting speculation - fuelled by media leaks from both the government and its detractors at home and abroad - that war with Iran could be imminent even though it might rupture the bedrock ties between Israel and the United States.

U.S., Israel at odds over Iran nuke program intelligence

On Thursday, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that Obama had received a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)—the consensus assessment of the American intelligence community—that "Iran has made surprising, notable progress in the research and development of key components of its military nuclear program." The daily cited unnamed "Western diplomats and Israeli officials."

Carney declined to comment on the news report, but some American officials bristled at what they saw as a naked Israeli effort to pressure Washington into taking a more hawkish line.

07/18/12 - Israel finally going to start WW3 ?

"This is an Iranian terror attack that is spreading throughout the entire world. Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror [said Netanyahu]"

Source:
Israeli prime minister blames Iran for Bulgaria bomb

Number of US ships in the region have increased recently:

"A U.S. navy ship that had been slated for decommissioning has been sent instead to the Gulf to help mine-clearing operations, the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain said, the latest move in a gradual U.S. build-up as tensions with Iran smoulder."

Source:
U.S. beefs up Gulf naval force amid tension with Iran



08/05/10 - 5 years on, the neocons are still pushing for a strike on Iran. See this post about Philip Giraldi's articles on the matter.


07/29/08
Warnings about attacking Iran are coming fast and furious lately by such writers as Pat Buchanan (via both the Creator's syndicate columns and The American Conservative and on MSNBC), Philip Giraldi, Scott Ritter and countless others in the last four weeks or more. These writers and many more like them are sounding the alarms at such a rate that it has made me sit up and take notice. This is no joke people.

I've been away from this blog for a little over a month, but I'm still bookmarking these warnings to post at some point. Just so you know also, Philip Giraldi warns in his latest blog post that Israel may stage a false flag op to draw us into an attack on Iran.

Take heed. Philip Giraldi is a former CIA counterterrorism official and likely still has connections to the inside.

Israel wants us to attack Iran because it cannot go it alone. And Israel will do anything in its power to get us to do it for them.


For important updates for this post click here. Last updated 08/23/2008.

06/29/08 - Israel is still trying to get the United States to attack Iran. The recent preparations for an Israeli strike are most likely just a ruse - an attempt to blackmail the US into doing it. Since, Israel cannot conduct such an attack on its own, and if it did, it would automatically imply US complicity - jeopardizing our interests in the area, and our troops in Iraq. Such an attack would also jeopardize the world's oil supply and have serious repercussions for the global economy.

09/06/06: An important article - "The Next Phase of the Middle East War" - a must read.


Israel's invasion of Lebanon was planned for a year (paragraph 4), and was given the green light by Cheney. This operation was to eliminate - one way or another - Hezbollah's capability of firing rockets into Israel. This is so that when the US attacks Iran, Hezbollah cannot retaliate against Israel.


From an article in the New Yorker by noted investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh:


WATCHING LEBANON

Washington’s interests in Israel’s war.

by SEYMOUR M. HERSH

Issue of 2006-08-21
Posted 2006-08-14


Excerpts:


The Middle East expert said that the Administration had several reasons for supporting the Israeli bombing campaign. Within the State Department, it was seen as a way to strengthen the Lebanese government so that it could assert its authority over the south of the country, much of which is controlled by Hezbollah..“The White House was more focussed on stripping Hezbollah of its missiles, because, if there was to be a military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities, it had to get rid of the weapons that Hezbollah could use in a potential retaliation at Israel.....A Pentagon consultant said that the Bush White House "has been agitating for some time to find a reason for a preëmptive blow against Hezbollah."....Earlier this summer, before the Hezbollah kidnappings, the U.S. government consultant said, several Israeli officials visited Washington, separately, "to get a green light for the bombing operation and to find out how much the United States would bear." The consultant added, "Israel began with Cheney. It wanted to be sure that it had his support and the support of his office and the Middle East desk of the National Security Council." After that, "persuading Bush was never a problem, and Condi Rice was on board," the consultant said.


...The initial plan, as outlined by the Israelis, called for a major bombing campaign in response to the next Hezbollah provocation, according to the Middle East expert with knowledge of U.S. and Israeli thinking. Israel believed that, by targeting Lebanon’s infrastructure, including highways, fuel depots, and even the civilian runways at the main Beirut airport, it could persuade Lebanon’s large Christian and Sunni populations to turn against Hezbollah [because it has worked so well in Palestine - they use the same tactic there < / sarcasm >], according to the former senior intelligence official. The airport, highways, and bridges, among other things, have been hit in the bombing campaign. The Israeli Air Force had flown almost nine thousand missions as of last week. (David Siegel, the Israeli spokesman, said that Israel had targeted only sites connected to Hezbollah; the bombing of bridges and roads was meant to prevent the transport of weapons.)


...Cheney’s office supported the Israeli plan, as did Elliott Abrams, a deputy national-security adviser, according to several former and current officials. (A spokesman for the N.S.C. denied that Abrams had done so.) They believed that Israel should move quickly in its air war against Hezbollah. A former intelligence officer said, “We told Israel, ‘Look, if you guys have to go, we’re behind you all the way. But we think it should be sooner rather than later—the longer you wait, the less time we have to evaluate and plan for Iran before Bush gets out of office.’ "


The Pentagon consultant told me that intelligence about Hezbollah and Iran is being mishandled by the White House the same way intelligence had been when, in 2002 and early 2003, the Administration was making the case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. “The big complaint now in the intelligence community is that all of the important stuff is being sent directly to the top—at the insistence of the White House—and not being analyzed at all, or scarcely,” he said. “It’s an awful policy and violates all of the N.S.A.’s strictures, and if you complain about it you’re out,” he said. “Cheney had a strong hand in this.”


...The crisis will really start at the end of August, the diplomat added, “when the Iranians”—under a United Nations deadline to stop uranium enrichment—“will say no.”


End excerpts.

It would appear that Gareth Porter was right. The plans to clean out Hezbollah from Lebanon was the prelude to the US attack on Iran.


And Cheney has been planning the attack on Iran for over a year now according to this Deep Background column of the American Conservative which is penned by former CIA Philip Giraldi:

August 1, 2005 Issue
Copyright © 2005 The American Conservative



Deep Background



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.

http://www.amconmag.com/2005_08_01/article3.html

Cheney and his office full of neocons have been planning for war on Iran for a while, folks. And if you didn't know it, Israel's "Clean Break Strategy" was also planned in advance (and later foisted on the US) by those same neocons.


http://www.amconmag.com/03_24_03/cover.html

“Securing the Realm”

The principal draftsman is Richard Perle, an aide to Sen. Scoop Jackson, who, in 1970, was overheard on a federal wiretap discussing classified information from the National Security Council with the Israeli Embassy. In Jews and American Politics, published in 1974, Stephen D. Isaacs wrote, “Richard Perle and Morris Amitay command a tiny army of Semitophiles on Capitol Hill and direct Jewish power in behalf of Jewish interests.” In 1983, the New York Times reported that Perle had taken substantial payments from an Israeli weapons manufacturer.

In 1996, with Douglas Feith and David Wurmser, Perle wrote “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” for Prime Minister Netanyahu. In it, Perle, Feith, and Wurmser urged Bibi to ditch the Oslo Accords of the assassinated Yitzak Rabin and adopt a new aggressive strategy:

Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq—an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right—as a means of foiling Syria’s regional ambitions. Jordan has challenged Syria’s regional ambitions recently by suggesting the restoration of the Hashemites in Iraq.

In the Perle-Feith-Wurmser strategy, Israel’s enemy remains Syria, but the road to Damascus runs through Baghdad. Their plan, which urged Israel to re-establish “the principle of preemption,” has now been imposed by Perle, Feith, Wurmser & Co. on the United States.

Back then, PNAC (made up of same neocon crowd) needed a "new Pearl Harbor" (as a pretext to attack Iraq), and by coincidence they got one (911).


Related articles:

Iran: The Next War by investigative journalist James Bamford - details AIPAC scandal, the plans for war on Iran, Cheney and the neocons in his office, and the Israel factor.

Vice Squad - details Cheney and the neocon in his office, and the Israel factor.

The Dark Side - PBS Frontline episode about Cheney's misuse of the intelligence to make the case for war on Iraq. Mentions neocons' role, but does not go into depth about the motivations of all parties involved.


Updates:

08-22-08 - U.S. won't sell refueling jets to Israel, fearing strike on Iran It emerged on Wednesday that the United States has refused to sell Jerusalem new refueling planes, fearing such a transaction could be interpreted as support for an Israeli attack on Iran.


08-22-08 - Group of Jews oppose Iran attack More than 150 Jews around the world have signed a statement calling on Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.


08-21-08 - Is war in air in the Gulf? Leading the joint naval task force is the nuclear-powered carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its Carrier Strike Group 2. In addition to the 80-plus warplanes the Roosevelt normally transports, it is carrying an additional load of Rafale fighter jets from the French carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently in dry dock. ......The deployment of the multinational naval task force is the largest show of military power from the United States and allied countries to assemble around the strategic waters of the Persian Gulf since the first and second Gulf wars.


08-20-08 - Big Three Block Iran Attack the Bush administration is hoisted with its own petard. Whatever the more hawkish denizens of Washington want to do to Iran, they are not going to get the international support necessary for their desired action.


08-20-08 - Political transitions in Israel, U.S. leave Iran question unanswered In June, U.S. National Intelligence director Mike McConnell and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Mullen visited Israel and came out strongly against any Israeli attack. Both argued that Iran was still a long way from producing a nuclear weapon and that any Israeli attack would undermine U.S. interests. Israel and consequently its agents in America want to continue to make their problems OUR problems - to the detriment of AMERICA.


08-20-08 - Christians United for Israel and Attacking Iran CUFI's unequivocal "support for Israel" means the United States should stand against Zion's "enemies" ? Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and any serious Arab-Israeli peace agreement. This parallels policies advocated by prominent neoconservatives who have served in George W. Bush's administration, including Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, David Wurmser, Douglas Feith, and Elliott Abrams.


08-20-08 - Feb. 2007: US Generals 'Will Quit' If Bush Orders Iran Attack





08-15-08 - Mainers Unite to Prevent War With Iran: Concern is heightened by Administration voices insisting that Congress has delegated its declaration of war powers to the White House in its blanket approval of combating terrorism, and the action of House Majority Leader Pelosi, who has blocked legislation that would require Congressional approval for an attack on Iran.


08-14-08 - The Lobby Like No Other Wants a War Like No Other by Michael Scheuer AIPAC makes no pretense of doing things meant to benefit America; rather, its members take pride in seeking a goal that runs directly counter to the economic welfare and physical security of almost all other U.S citizens by seeking to keep them involved in a religious war in which no U.S. national interest is at stake. A reminder that Scheuer is former CIA - head of the Bin Laden unit. A big thank you to him for having the courage to continue to speak out.


08-13-08 - US against strike on Iran: Israeli defence minister


08-12-08 - America's Israeli-Occupied Media by Philip Giraldi There should be little doubt that the Israeli government is making every effort to jump-start a war against Iran sooner rather than later. Many Israelis not surprisingly believe it is in their interest to convince the United States to attack Iran so that Israel will not have to do it, and they are hell-bent on bringing that about. Unfortunately, their efforts are being aided and abetted by a U.S. mainstream media that is unwilling to ask any hard questions or challenge the assumptions of the Israeli government. A big thank you to Mr. Philip Giraldi for his continued reporting on this issue, and related matters.


08-12-08 - U.S. rebuffs Israeli request for arms geared toward Iran strike The Americans viewed the request, which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran. They therefore warned Israel against attacking, saying such a strike would undermine American interests. They also demanded that Israel give them prior notice if it nevertheless decided to strike Iran.....Senior Israeli officials had originally hoped that U.S. President George Bush would order an American strike on Iran's nuclear facilities before leaving office, as America's military is far better equipped to conduct such a strike successfully than is Israel's.....U.S. National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen both visited here in June and, according to the Washington Post, told senior Israeli defense officials that Iran is still far from obtaining nuclear weapons, and that an attack on Iran would undermine American interests. Therefore, they said, the U.S. would not allow Israeli planes to overfly Iraq en route to Iran.

Are you paying attention yet, America?


08-10-08 - An Israeli Strike on Iran, a Plan That Just Doesn't Fly The authors of this article in the WP debunk the myths that Israel has put forth as a means to justify an attack on Iran.


08-09-08 - '2 US aircraft carriers headed for Gulf' The ship movements coincide with the latest downturn in relations between Washington and Teheran.


08-08-08 - The Father of Lies by Philip Giraldi compared to the Israelis, the American neocons are neophytes when it comes to reshaping the past. Israel has long funded major archaeological projects intended to emphasize the Jewish presence in Palestine while minimizing or even denying the presence of others in the region, an attempt to demonstrate that Jews have a historical legitimacy that Arab inhabitants lack......In spite of views about Arabs and Muslims that most would consider extremist, Morris has been provided a bully pulpit by The New York Times to urge the United States to attack Iran before Israel is forced to stage a preemptive nuclear attack that would turn the country with its eighty million inhabitants into a "nuclear wasteland." .....the purpose in writing the piece is clearly to frighten the rest of the world into doing the dirty work so that Israel will not have to act. Obviously, the only country that can carry out the mission in a thorough fashion using non-nuclear weapons is the United States That's former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Giraldi breaking down Benny's BS for you.


08-08-08 - Why the Pentagon Thinks Attacking Iran is a Bad Idea


08-07-08 - Commentary: Holocaust II? An Israeli attack against Iran will automatically unleash the fury of the theocracy against U.S. targets in the Gulf, mining and sinking tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most vital oil route, with volleys of missiles. This would automatically involve the United States, which is why some Israeli hawks don't worry about the red light flashing in Washington.


08-07-08 - A War of Self-Destruction An attack on Iran, which Israeli and Bush administration officials appear set to carry out if Iranian uranium enrichment is not halted, would ignite a regional war in the Middle East and lead to economic collapse and political upheaval in the United States.?


08-07-08 - Mullen warns against USS Liberty redux In an Aug. 2 interview with the USS Liberty radio show, former army intelligence officer and CIA analyst Ray McGovern claimed Israel is planning a scenario similar to that of the 67 Liberty incident. "It is obviously something bigger. The name of the game is to 'decapitate the Iranian nuclear program' whether it is aimed at a weapon or not," said McGovern.


08-07-08 - Iran tests 'new weapon' for use at sea Iran announced Monday that it has tested a new weapon capable of sinking ships nearly 200 miles away, and reiterated threats to close a strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf if attacked.


08-07-08 - Rice on possible IDF Iran strike: U.S. has no veto over Israeli military ops "We don't say yes or no to Israeli military operations. Israel is a sovereign country," Rice said in an interview with Yahoo! News.






07-30-08 - Strike on Iran still possible, U.S. tells Israel Bush administration officials reassured Israel's defense minister this week that the United States has not abandoned all possibility of a military attack on Iran, despite widespread Israeli concern that Washington has begun softening its position toward Tehran.


07-30-08 - US Set to Deploy Radar Systems in Israel Senior U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say the systems will give Israel an extra layer of protection in case of an attack by Iran.....Officials say the systems will be set up in Israel before a new U.S. president takes office in January. Why the rush?


07-29-08 - Acts of War By Scott Ritter Iran, we are told, is not just a nation pursuing nuclear weapons, but is the largest state sponsor of terror in the world today. Much of the information behind this is being promulgated by Israel, which has a vested interest in seeing Iran neutralized as a potential threat....We are at war with Iran right now. We just don?t have the moral courage to admit it.



07-28-08 - Bush must be stopped before starting war with Iran The American people must act to stop this madness. We must raise our voices in protest. We must demand that Congress exercise its constitutional authority and block a war on Iran. We cannot allow the Bush neocons to act out their final bloody fantasy and destroy all hopes for peace in the Middle East


07-27-08 - Officials: US talks to Iran to legitimize attack "This way they will be able to say they tried everything," one official speculated. "This increases America's chances of gaining more public support domestically as well as the support of European nations which are today opposed to military action."


07-24-08 - If Iran is Attacking It Might Really be Israel by Philip Giraldi Israel is willing to behave with complete ruthlessness towards the US if they feel that the stakes are high enough, witness the attack on the USS Liberty and the bombing of the US Consulate in Alexandria in the 1950s. If they now believe that Iran is a threat that must be eliminated it is not implausible to assume that they will stop at nothing to get the the United States to do it for them, particularly as their air force is only able to damage the Iranian nuclear program, not destroy it.



07-23-08 - Bolton: U.S. should help Israel hit Iran


07-23-08 - Ex-US advisors: Iran attack 'disaster' "If we get into a war with Iran, we know there would be disaster, we know there would be a disaster," said Zbigniew Brzezinski, ex-president Jimmy Carter's national security advisor on Tuesday.


07-17-08 - Israel Planning a September/October Surprise? The point is that the growing danger that the Israelis perceive will probably prompt them to find a way to get the US involved in hostilities with Iran. Cheney and Bush have pretty much given them that license, with the president regularly pledging to defend "our ally" if Israel is attacked.
All Israel has to do is to arrange to be attacked. Not a problem


07-16-08 - Americans Say No to War with Iran: Will Washington Listen? Two weeks ago, I was alarmed to learn that congressional Democrats were sponsoring Resolution 362, which encourages what amounts to an act of war against Iran. Today, there are more than 200 co-sponsors of the House resolution, but there is also growing mobilization to stop passage of Res. 362.



07-15-08 - A phony crisis ? and a real one by Patrick J. Buchanan Last week, Mossad's chief, Meir Dagan, was here to make the case for war on Iran. This week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visits Dick Cheney and maybe Bush. Next week, it is the head of Israel's armed forces. Israel and its Fifth Column in this city seek to stampede us into war with Iran. Bush should rebuff them, and the American people should tell their congressmen: You vote for 362, we don't vote for you.



07-14-08 - Amber Alert! - Get ready for war The Israelis, in concert with their amen corner in the U.S., have been engaged in a propaganda blitz targeting Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, the whole point of which is not to pressure the Iranians into backing down, but to force the U.S. to take action in lieu of the Israelis going it alone. Why fight if your big brother is willing to wage the battle? To that end, the Israelis are taking aim at Washington, rather than Tehran, in a full-scale political assault that shows every sign of succeeding where it counts ? in the Oval Office


07-13-08 - Iran to target heart of Israel, 32 U.S. bases if attacked "In case the United States and Israel dare to shoot a bullet, Iran will target the heart of Israel and 32 U.S. bases in the region imminently," said Mojtaba Zolnoor, vice representative of Khamenei to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.


07-13-08 - President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an "amber light" to an Israeli plan to attack Iran's main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.


07-11-08 - Retired Military Leaders Oppose Provocative House Resolution on Iran Three retired military leaders sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to abandon a resolution currently making its way through Congress that might lead to a blockade or the use of force against Iran. The retired military leaders say H.Con.Res. 362 is ?poorly conceived, poorly timed, and potentially dangerous.?


07-11-08 - Israel hints at pre-emptive attack on Iran In Jerusalem, a corruption scandal could bring down the Mr Omert's government in September. This is another reason for Israel, if it is determined to go ahead, to act sooner rather than later, even alone and without the explicit collaboration of the US.


07-11-08 - No More Blank Checks for War by Patrick J. Buchanan Ehud Olmert returned from a June meeting with Bush to tell Israelis, "George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on the matter before the end of his term." .....If Bush believes war with Iran is vital to U.S. security, he should make that case to Congress. To allow Israel to start a war we do not want would be an abdication of his duty as president.


07-10-08 - Iran Red Lines The Israelis allegedly presented the US with Iranian weaponization evidence that they consider very credible, which the US intelligence community allegedly did not consider credible. Analysts also say Israel and the US are drawing different definitions and redlines about what they consider would be Iran's nuclear "breakout" capability.


07-09-08 - Israel Believes Obama Will 'Deprive' It of Political Support for Iran Attack Only Ron Paul has repeatedly attacked the plans to attack Iran and, appropriately, laid them at AIPAC's doorstep. Obama himself has had nothing to say except hawkish statements.


07-08-08 - AIPAC's Hirelings Rush to Resolution America's Knesset, servile hirelings of Israel's lobby, rush to pass yet another resolution conceived by AIPAC and authored and co-signed by its most slavish puppets, Ackerman and Ros-Lehtinen in the House and Lieberman and Bayh in the Senate, Resolutions H. Con. 362 and S. 580, the "Iran War Resolution."


07-08-08 - Iranian president says no war with US, Israel The Israelis "are a complex political group, but you should know this regime will be eventually destroyed and there is no need of any measure by Iranian people," he said when asked to comment on whether he has called for the destruction of Israel.


07-07-08 - Americans Don?t Know: There?s a Plan on the Table to Resolve the Nuclear Standoff With Iran Unfortunately, most Americans don?t read the New York Review of Books or the Boston Globe. So, while polls consistently show most Americans want negotiations with Iran to resolve the nuclear dispute, most Americans don?t know that there?s an offer on the table right now to resolve the nuclear dispute that the US government is walking away from.


07-07-08 - Analyze This: Disquiet on the 'third front' between the US and Israel Mullen has already gone on record as among those top American officials not only opposed to a US military response to the Iranian threat, but expressing concern over a unilateral Israeli response, telling the press last week he was concerned that the repercussions could open up a "third front" for US forces already strained by their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. A boo-hoo article by a writer for the Jerusalem Post.


07-07-08 - Officials say Israel could not attack Iran without U.S. support Israeli defense officials have told local media they are concerned that Israel is being used as a pawn by rival factions in the White House. That's odd, because there are some of us Americans that feel that the White House is being used as a pawn by factions of Israel. Go figure.


07-07-08 - Commentary: Guns of August spiked? With three former U.S. CENTCOM commanders on record against the military option, it was hard to see how Israel could strike on its own -- without shutting the Persian Gulf down. Never underestimate the power of the Israeli lobby. Witness the 2003 invasion of Iraq.


07-03-08 - "Virtual Iran War Resolution" by Congressman Ron Paul


07-03-08 - A disastrous attack on Iran? MILITARY ACTION will incur costs for the US, but far from being "disastrous," or even heavy, they will probably be limited. This is somebody writing for the Jerusalem Post telling us that an attack on Iran won't be so bad. No conflict of interest there.


07-03-08 - The Secret War in Iran Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military intelligence and congressional sources.


06-30-08 - Pentagon Official Warns of Israeli Attack on Iran Senior Pentagon officials are concerned that Israel could carry out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of the year, an action that would have enormous security and economic repercussions for the United States and the rest of the world.


06-28-08 - America Is the Rogue Nation by Charlie Reese


06-27-08 - Are Congressional Democrats Leading Us to War With Iran? According to a recent story on CBS News, the answer seems to be a "full-court press" by the government of Israel and the American-Israeli lobby AIPAC. CBS ran the story Tuesday as Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen was on his way to the Middle East to confer with Israeli government officials. "Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next [U.S.] administration vis-à-vis Iran," CBS consultant Michael Oren says in the report.




06-27-08 - Who's planning our next war? by Patrick J. Buchanan Moving through Congress, powered by the Israeli lobby, is House Resolution 362, which demands that President Bush impose a U.S. blockade of Iran, an act of war. Is it not time the American people were consulted on the next war that is being planned for us?



06-26-08 - Ex Weapons Inspector: Iran Not Pursuing Nukes, But U.S. Will Attack Before '09 He said one of the reasons he believes Democratic lawmakers have been reluctant to address the issue is the powerful Israeli lobby, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC has been pressuring the Bush administration to be even tougher on Iran. The lobby is largely responsible for drafting a resolution calling for stricter inspections and harsher economic sanctions against the country, which is expected to be voted on by the House next week.


06-24-08 - Israel Prodding U.S. To Attack Iran "Keep in mind that Israel does not have strategic bombers," Oren said. "The Israeli Air Force is not the American Air Force. Israel can not eliminate Iran's nuclear program."
The U.S. with its stealth bombers and cruise missiles has a much greater capability. Vice President Cheney is said to favor a strike, but both Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates are opposed to an attack which could touch off a third war in the region.



06-20-08 - Bomb Iran? What?s to Stop Us? by Ray McGovern


06-20-08 - Israel Endorses McCain Campaign it's most likely that Israel is hoping to push the post-Bush president of the United States into taking a more confrontational stance toward Iran. That's called blackmail. It's the "Samson complex": do what we want or we will bring the whole temple crashing down. For Obama, it's a bluff worth calling--because, ultimately, like Iran, Israel is not a suicide nation. And bombing Iran would be suicidal for Israel.






06-29-08 - U.S. escalating covert operations against Iran: report Funding for the covert escalation, for which Bush requested up to $400 million, was approved by congressional leaders, according to the article, citing current and former military, intelligence and congressional sources.


06-28-08 - Iran says Gulf oil route at risk if attacked "Israelis know if they take military action against Iran ... the abilities of the Islamic and Shi'ite world, especially in the region, will deliver fatal blows," Jafari said, adding that Israel was in range of Iranian missiles.


06-25-08 - Bolton: Israel Will Strike Iran if Obama is Elected Bolton thinks Israel may consider postponing the attack, however, if Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., emerges as the victor in the presidential race. He says McCain's stance on Iran ?is far more realistic than that of the Bush administration.?


06-21-08 - 'Ball of fire' if Iran attacked: IAEA chief His comments come after US media reported that Israeli jet pilots trained for a possible strike on Iranian nuclear sites.


06-20-08 - Israel tries diplomatic route to isolate Iran Just about the only major adversary Israel isn't try to court these days is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . Instead, Israel appears to be laying the groundwork for a possible military strike meant to cripple Iran's nuclear program if international diplomatic pressure fails.


06-20-08 - US still favors diplomacy to settle Iran nuclear issue: envoy The US ambassador to the UN said Friday said Washington favored diplomacy in the Iranian nuclear crisis for now despite reports of Israeli preparations for a possible air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.


06-20-08 - Russia's Lavrov warns against attack on Iran Russia's foreign minister on Friday warned against the use of force on Iran, saying there is no proof it is trying to build nuclear weapons......"I hope the actual actions would be based on international law," Lavrov said. "And international law clearly protects Iran's and anyone else's territorial integrity."


06-20-08 - Iran warns of 'strong blow' if Israel attacks


06-19-08 - Israel appears to rehearse Iran attack: report


06-19-08 - How to silence that Iran war drumbeat Whether the rumblings are real or overinflated rumors, it's time to reverse any momentum that could unleash a potentially calamitous Middle East conflict, killing thousands, sending oil prices to $200 a barrel and beyond, and accentuating global recession......Members of a Bush delegation in mid-May reportedly assured Israeli officials in secret that a US attack on Iran was planned, according to Israeli Army Radio and in The Jerusalem Post as well as in American blogs and websites.


06-19-08 - Congressional proceedings would help prevent another mistaken war A move to impeach would bolster the resistance to Bush among our senior military leaders who know that attacking Iran at this time would be the strategic equivalent of the marches into Russia by Napoleon and Hitler.....When bombs are falling on Iran, it will be too late -- and our commander in chief is likely to give that order within the next couple of months. By Ray McGovern former CIA.


06-19-08 - How Iran would retaliate if it comes to war "If you attack Iran you are unleashing a firestorm of reaction internally that will only strengthen revolutionary forces, and externally in the region," says Ranstorp. "It's a nightmare scenario for any contingency planner, and I think you really enter the twilight zone if you strike Iran."


06-19-08 - Threats to strike Iran concern Israel Fears are mounting in the defense establishment that comments by senior officials regarding an imminent Israeli military strike against Iran will spur Russia to complete controversial sales of anti-aircraft missile systems to the Islamic Republic, The Jerusalem Post learned on Monday.


06-19-08 - Ron Paul Claims Pelosi Spiked Iran Bill Paul says Pelosi?s first act as House Speaker in 2006 was to ?deliberately? remove a portion of a legislative spending bill which said the United States ?can't go to war with Iran without getting approval from Congress.? She did. Everyone knows it. Google Scott Ritter's article 'the Final Act of Submission'.


06-19-08 - IRAN: Stop nukes by bombing oil wells, neocons suggest The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is a famous Beltway think tank. It was founded in 1985 by Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel. You don't say?


06-19-08 - Sneh: Israel will have to deal with the Iranian threat alone In the near future Israel will not be able to escape attacking Iran, Israel Radio quoted former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh as saying on Sunday.


06-19-08 - Israeli Ministers Mull Plans for Military Strike against Iran "We no longer believe in the effectiveness of sanctions," says Yatom. "A military operation is needed if the world wants to stop Iran."......even if Republican John McCain wins the race, politicians in Jerusalem do not expect him to be ordering an attack as his first official act -- despite his performance, at a campaign appearance last year, of the Beach Boys' song "Barbara Ann" with the lyrics: "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."......Riedel sees an Israeli military strike, with the US government's consent, as the most likely attack scenario. But the consequences, according to Riedel, would not differ from those of an American attack....Nevertheless, many Israelis still hope that the Americans will do the job for them. "It could still be the case," says Yatom, "that George W. Bush wants to guarantee himself a place in the history books with this last act."
Israel wants US to attack Iran for them.


06-15-08 - Brzezinski Says Bush Should Dissuade Israel From Attack on Iran In an interview on Bloomberg Television's ''Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' Brzezinski said an armed conflict between Israel and Iran would widen to include the U.S. as Iran struck back against American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.


06-15-08 - Video: ron paul: nancy pelosi pulled iran bill on orders of israel


06-15-08 - Israel is pushing the U.S. to attack Iran "There is only one country in the world that is putting any pressure on the U.S. to attack Iran, and that is Israel," Mearsheimer told a packed lecture hall at Hebrew University, according to the Jerusalem Post. "And it is putting enormous pressure on the US."


06-15-08 - Israeli hawks pushing for strikes on Iran "The most likely scenario is that the Israelis will train and prepare as if they are very serious ? and that's part of the bluff to get the U.S. engaged," said John McCreary, a retired intelligence analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense.


06-15-08 - How Iran Has Bush Over a Barrel If wasn't clear before it should be now: the Bush Administration can't afford to attack Iran. With gas already at $4 a gallon and rising almost every day, Iran figuratively and literally has the United States over a barrel. As much as the Administration is tempted, it is not about to test Iran's promise to "explode" the Middle East if it is attacked......Israel cannot attack or contain Iran on its own; it needs the full military might of the United States behind it. Which is why Israel is trying to force us - with a kind of blackmail of their own - into yet another Middle East war on their behalf.


06-11-08 - 'Hotline to Iran' Aims to Head Off War


06-11-08 - Bush warns Iran of 'all options'


06-11-08 - Senate report exposes key role of the Israel lobby in fomenting war with Iran What the second portion of the Senate report shows, however, is that we are also prisoners of the Israel lobby, which is inexorably pushing us into war with Iran


06-11-08 - War? the campaign to discredit Rice seems to have hit its mark. Not only did she sound defensive in her own speech to AIPAC Tuesday morning, but she assumed a more-hawkish tone on Iran than she had previously


06-11-08 - Group Forms To Head Off War on Iran the campaign also has the backing of a smattering of right-of-center groups, including the American Conservative Defense Alliance, the Libertarian Party, and the American Cause, which is headed by Patrick Buchanan.


06-09-08 - Iran vows 'painful response' if Israel attacks


06-09-08 - Iraq will not be used against Iran, PM vows Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought to reassure Iran over a planned security pact with Washington on Sunday, vowing Iraq would never be used as a platform to attack the Islamic republic.


06-09-08 - The fallacy of Islamic 'national suicide' "National suicide" will soon be an incantation by neoconservative and other pro-Israeli pundits and politicians on the "bomb Iran" bandwagon.


06-09-08 - Fearing Escalation, Pentagon Fought Cheney Plan


06-09-08 - Israel tries to play down minister's warning of attack on Iran Defence officials criticised Mofaz, saying his comments would make it more difficult for Israel to convince the international community to intensify its efforts. Political rivals accused him of exploiting Israel's fear of Iran for political gain.


06-09-08 - The Iran Trap Obama, in a miscalculation that will have grave consequences, has given his blessing to the widening circle of violence and abuse of the Palestinians by Israel and, most dangerously, to those in the Bush White House and Jerusalem now plotting a war against Iran.


06-07-08 - Preventing the next war? In the first half of 2008, newspaper front pages and television news have begun repeating a message about a Middle Eastern country that has not attacked the United States but which allegedly "poses a grave threat," "may build nuclear weapons" and "must be prevented from making war on its neighbors." In


06-07-08 - West is 'resigned' to Iran bomb: Israeli minister Ben-Eliezer insisted he was not advocating a preventive military strike on Iran but said "Iran should know the price it will have to pay when it begins to think concretely about attacking Israel."


06-07-08 - Report: Olmert to urge U.S. attack on Iran


06-07-08 - Analysis: Growing talk of Iran attack One scenario being discussed by Israeli analysts is that there could be an attack, by Israel or by the Americans, after the US election in November and before the new president is inaugurated in January, with the tacit consent of the incoming president. That might be easier if it is Senator Obama's Republican rival John McCain.


06-07-08 - Israeli threat to attack Iran over nuclear weapons Mofaz is Israel's transport minister, but he is also a former chief of staff, privy to secret defence planning as a member of the security cabinet, and leads regular strategic talks with the US


06-07-08 - Oil hits $139 as jobless figures stun US Already jittery oil markets were sent into spasm by remarks from Israel's transport minister that an attack on Iranian nuclear sites looked "unavoidable". Any attack on the country would threaten supplies from the whole region.


06-07-08 - US says it will emphasize diplomacy with Iran The White House on Friday reiterated it would focus on diplomacy to persuade Iran to renounce sensitive nuclear activities after an Israeli official said force was the only option left.


06-07-08 - Daniel Pipes: If Obama Wins, Bush Will Attack Iran in November


06-07-08 - Commentary: AIPAC and liege fealty Israel is the largest recipient of direct economic and military U.S. aid since the creation of the Jewish state 60 years ago. It also receives its annual aid from the United States at the beginning of the fiscal year so that it can earn interest. Other foreign aid recipients get aid in quarterly installments......Bellicose anti-Iran statements at the AIPAC convention got the biggest hand. Neocon kingpin Richard Perle made another pitch to put Iran next on the terrorist regime hit list.





06-05-08 - During D.C. visit, Olmert eschews goodbyes in favor of Iran talk Olmert said he and Bush discussed "means, ways and a timetable" in getting Iran to end its suspected program. "Each day that passes we take another step to deal with this effectively," Olmert told reporters after the meeting. "The United States is not just a partner but the leading factor in these efforts.".....Asked particularly about reports that he is urging Americans to lead a blockade of Iranian ports, Olmert would say only that "it is important to tack action not just through the U.N. Security Council. Nations can also take steps."



06-05-08 - 'Unavoidable' attack on Iran looms, says Israeli minister "If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective," Mofaz, who is also Israel's transport minister, said in comments published today by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.


06-05-08 - U.S. intelligence chief in Israel to discuss Iran Mike McConnell, the director of U.S. national intelligence, is in Israel to hear its spymasters' arguments that Iran could obtain nuclear weapons within two years, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.


06-05-08 - Bush to Olmert: 'Existential' Iran threat must be taken seriously The Washington talks came a day after Olmert issued his
toughest warning yet to Tehran, saying Iran's nuclear program must be stopped by "all possible means."


06-05-08 - Olmert to ask Bush to step up action against Iran Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert will ask President George W Bush Wednesday to step up US and international action against Iran and prepare for a possible military strike against its nuclear facilities, the Yediot Ahronot daily reported.


06-05-08 - Nuclear report: parsing Iran's intent the IAEA's technical report and the interpretations of its findings are spinning into an overheated strategic standoff between Western nations, Israel, and Iran that, analysts say, may become reason for a military strike against Iran.


06-05-08 - US to give Israel "security package," report says The 'security package' Israel will receive will enhance Israel's defence against long-range missiles, and includes radar, as well as cruise missiles and a permanent hook-up to a worldwide warning system that identifies whenever a ballistic missile is launched from anywhere.


06-05-08 - Obama at AIPAC As president I will use all elements of American power to pressure Iran. I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything


06-03-08 - Iran nuclear bid must be stopped by all possible means: Olmert "The Iranian threat must be stopped by all possible means. International economic and political sanctions on Iran, as crucial as they may be, are only an initial step, and must be dramatically increased," Olmert said in a keynote speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.


06-03-08 - Israeli warning over nuclear Iran Speaking during a visit to Washington, he said Tehran must be made to see it would suffer devastating repercussions if it pursued atomic weapons. Washington and Israel's agents therein are being given their orders.


06-03-08 - Both McCain, Obama exaggerating Iran's nuclear program In a major speech Monday to a powerful Jewish American lobbying group, McCain asserted that Iran is actively developing nuclear weapons that threaten the security of Israel and could be passed to terrorist groups.


06-03-08 - Iran Accusations Merit Skepticism by Philip Giraldi Israel is now playing the same game in an attempt to implicate Iran. An odd series of "leaks" to the media last week by Israeli security sources reporting anonymously seeks to demonstrate that Iran is supplying sophisticated weapons to both Hamas and Hezbollah and playing a major role with a number of militant groups......There is another sure sign that what the Israelis are putting out is disinformation. The Israel National News Service reported the same story and attributed it as "according to the Associate Press." In fact, the source is the Israeli government itself ? the Associated Press was only reporting the story. Using a planted bit of information to confirm the same information that has been planted elsewhere is a classic intelligence service technique.


06-03-08 - McClellan's Warning on Iran by Ray McGovern White House spinners are at it again ? "fixing" the intelligence around the policy, this time on Iran. The fixing is obvious, but don't expect to hear about it from the FCM. Olmert is on his way to Washington to provide us with more 'evidence' of Iran's nuclear program, no doubt.


06-03-08 - Aipac Instructs Delegates To Stay 'Positive' Left out of the letter was the impetus for such a warning: At last year?s annual conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi received scattered boos when she spoke about the problems created by the war in Iraq. Organizers appear determined to avoid such political statements at this year?s event, which will be attended by presidential candidates John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.......Obama is at odds with Aipac in his willingness to enter into talks with Iran.....A draft obtained by the Forward of the lobby's 2008 policy "Action Agenda" calls on the administration to designate Iran and North Korea as "major national security threats" and to take "all appropriate measures to halt Iran's pursuit of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them."
AIPAC's job: to make ISRAEL'S problems AMERICA'S problems.


06-01-08 - IRAN: Former German official says war imminent He wrote a piece that appeared in today's Daily Star, an English-language Lebanese newspaper, arguing that President Bush's recent visit to the Middle East was a precursor to a war on Iran's nuclear program


05-30-08 - Murdoch Goes After Condi, Urges Blockade Against Iran both Stephens' column and Feith's op-ed were relatively tame compared to Wednesday's opinion pages. In the lead editorial, entitled "Punxsutawney Condi," the newspaper called for the U.S. drop its diplomatic efforts to get Tehran to freeze its uranium enrichment program and instead mount a "month-long naval blockade of Iran's imports of refined gasoline" - a clear act of war - in order to, in its words, "clarify for the Iranians just how unacceptable their nuclear program is to the civilized world."


05-30-08 - The road to peace in Iraq runs directly through Tehran To some, this may all sound like dancing on a pinhead. But Scott McClellan, Bush's former press secretary, has just accused his former boss of manipulating the truth and mounting a dishonest propaganda campaign against Iraq before the invasion. We ignore similar efforts against Iran at our peril.


05-28-08 - Bush ?Plans Iran Air Strike by August? Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.


05-26-08 - Report: Iran 'Paid Iraq Insurgents to Kill U.K. Soldiers' According to a leaked British government document obtained by London's Daily Telegraph, Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) ? also known as the Mahdi Army ? used hundreds of thousands of dollars funneled from Iran to pay fighters to carry out strikes against U.K. forces in Basra. Making the case for war.


05-26-08 - Israel 'would consider strike' amid fears over Iran's weapons programme With US President George Bush nearing the end of his term, the likelihood of US military action appears to be fading. The strong chance of Democrat Barack Obama winning the presidential race means Israel will have to consider going it alone.....Bar also pointed to a paper to be published next month by the Washington Institute for Near East Strategy. Its authors, Patrick Clawson and Michael Eisenstadt, argue that it should not be assumed an attack on Iran would result in a doomsday-type scenario. That aforementioned 'thinktank' is another neocon front.


05-26-08 - LET'S REMEMBER TO NOT START ANOTHER WAR as we approach this sad milestone, it is insane that the same people who were so disastrously wrong before miring us in Iraq are again beating the drums for an another unnecessary military action, this time against Iran.


05-24-08 - Building a Case for Attack on Iran's Nuclear Sites it appears that the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) is preparing the case for why an attack ? either by the U.S. or Israel ? on Tehran?s nuclear facilities might not be as calamitous as most analysts, including top Pentagon brass, believe. WINEP, of course, was founded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and has acted as an integral part of the so-called Israel Lobby since its launch.



05-24-08 - An Act of War according to Haaretz, Prime Minister Olmert "suggested" that, among other more drastic steps, the US impose a "naval blockade," using U.S. warships, "to limit the movement of Iranian merchant vessels."





05-23-08 - Bombing Iran: The Clamor Persists Listening to the questions asked of Gen. David Petraeus in the Senate Thursday, you might think the U.S. was headed for a new war in the Gulf. Senators from both sides of the aisle spent as much time asking him about Iran as they did about Iraq and Afghanistan. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut grilled Petraeus on Iran's anti-U.S. activities in the region. Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii plaintively asked about the utility of negotiations with Iran.....Following Bush's visit this month, the Jerusalem Post reported that a senior U.S. advisor on the trip had told Israeli officials that Bush was prepared to attack Iran, but that Gates and Rice were blocking the way


05-23-08 - China, Russia rule out military actions on Iran


05-23-08 - March to War in Lebanon? by Rep. Ron Paul I am concerned that this kind of similarity is intentional and will inevitably result in US military action in Lebanon, or against Syria or Iran.


05-21-08 - Journal: US report on Iranian weapons in Iraq 'delayed significantly' In a little-noticed story, the Los Angeles Times reported two weeks ago that American promises to offer proof that Iran was arming Iraqi militants had fallen through.


05-21-08 - Olmert proposes naval blockade on Iran: report The Haaretz daily quoted Olmert as telling Nancy Pelosi that "the present economic sanctions have exhausted themselves" and the international community needed to take more drastic steps to stop Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons....The prime minister's suggestions, Haaretz said, included a naval blockade of Iran using U.S. warships to limit the movement of Iranian merchant vessels. That's a blockade 'USING US WARSHIPS', folks. Whose war is this?


05-21-08 - To Admiral William Fallon (USN ret.), With Respect You are acutely aware of the dangers of attacking Iran, but seem to be allowing an inbred reluctance to challenge your erstwhile commander in chief to trump that oath, and to prevent you from letting the American people know of the catastrophe about to befall us if, as seems likely, our country attacks Iran. By former CIA Ray McGovern.


05-21-08 - Military officer: Iran jeopardizing peace in Iraq Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that "irresponsible actions" by Iran's Revolutionary Guard "directly jeopardize" peace in Iraq. Making the case for war.


05-21-08 - Hyping the threat from Iran War talk against Iran is rising again in Washington as the Bush administration enters its final months with little to show for its labors in the Middle East.


05-21-08 - The Fourth Estate Fails Again by Philip Giraldi Those who have been following the issue know well that planning to attack Iran is nothing new, that there are many in the Bush administration and outside it who are eager to bomb the mullahs into the stone age. What is different now is that there is a consensus inside the White House that a military attack is not an option but rather a necessity to "send a message" and restrain Iranian ambitions......That a dim bulb like Bush might draw all the wrong lessons from a historical analogy, confusing appeasement with diplomacy, comes as no surprise. But, perhaps inadvertently, he has clearly and unambiguously restated the centrality of Israel to the security problem posed by Iran Philip Giraldi is a former CIA COUNTERTERRORISM official.


05-21-08 - Report: U.S. Will Attack Iran A leading member of America?s Jewish community told Newsmax in April that a military strike on Iran was likely and that Vice President Cheney?s March trip through the Middle East came in preparation for the U.S. attack.


05-21-08 - White House denies Iran attack report Army Radio had quoted a top official in Jerusalem claiming that a senior member in the entourage of President Bush, who visited Israel last week, had said in a closed meeting here that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action against Iran was called for.


05-19-08 - Bush?s Nazi-Iran Analogy


05-17-08 - War With Iran Might Be Closer Than You Think by Philip Giraldi


05-17-08 - Why All of Our Efforts Won't Stop an Attack on Iran A cruise missile strike on an alleged training camp site won?t end there. It will be designed to provoke an Iranian response and legitimate further U.S. attacks, not only on Iran but Syria and Lebanon, probably in coordination with Israel. Some in Israel badly want the U.S. to behead all their main enemies in the region before their good friend George Bush leaves the White House.


05-16-08 - U.S. sees need for "tangible action" on Iran: Israel Regev described diplomatic efforts so far to exert pressure on Iran as "positive," but added: "It is clearly not sufficient and it's clear that additional steps will have to be taken."


05-16-08 - Bush skirted main goal in Middle East in favor of threatening Iran In 22 minutes, Bush offered one of the strongest demonstrations of support for Israel ever made by an American president. And he reawakened lingering hopes among hawks in Israel or the United States for a U.S. military strike to thwart Iran's nuclear program.

05-15-08 - Top U.S. officer says would prefer no war on Iran


05-15-08 - Condi Stomps the Mullahs by Philip Giraldi The war drums are again beating. It's beginning to look like the neocons have cranked up their useful idiots in the Bush administration for a fall offensive, target Iran. And maybe also Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinians. The bad guys' list, which is remarkably similar to a roll call of Israel's enemies, seems to have expanded both vertically and horizontally at a time when the U.S. military is using paper clips and chewing gum to hold together its efforts in Iraq.


05-15-08 - Iran: Will it be jaw-jaw or war-war? by Patrick J. Buchanan With Israel, the Israeli lobby, the neocons and Dick Cheney insisting on air strikes, and even Hillary Clinton talking about Iran being "obliterated," the last course would seem the least probable.


04-30-08 - Hamas are Iran's proxy warriors: Rice In a speech Tuesday to the American Jewish Committee in Washington that underscored growing US concerns about Tehran, Rice mentioned Iran as not just a threat in the Palestinian territories, but also in Lebanon, Iraq and even in Afghanistan.


04-30-08 - Warships 'to remind Iran of US power' The decision to send a second US aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf should be a "reminder" to Iran of Washington's military might but was not an escalation of force in the region, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday.


04-30-08 - Iran Remains World's Top Sponsor of Terrorism, says US Report A U.S. State Department report says Iran remains the world's most significant state sponsor of terrorism, and that al-Qaida is regaining strength in enclaves in Pakistan. The congressionally-mandated report says North Korea might soon be removed from the U.S. terrorism list. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department. Making the case for war.


04-30-08 - The Iraq War Morphs Into The Iranian War Under cover of the mayhem and propaganda, Israel can grab the remains of the West Bank and have another go at grabbing the water resources of southern Lebanon.


04-30-08 - "Hostile" Iran Sparks U.S. Attack Plan A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran.


04-28-08 - Running a Risk with Iran Our Israeli friends like to remind us of the danger Iran presents to them, but between the two nations, which one is the more dangerous? Iran is too far from Israel to bring its air, sea or land forces to bear against it. Iran might be able to lob ballistic missiles at Israeli cities, but any warhead it throws at Israel would pale in comparison to what Israel throws back (remember, Israel?s the nation with nukes, not Iran).


04-28-08 - The neoconning of a nation Cheney and fellow militarists are pushing hard for attacks on Syria, Lebanon and Iran before President George W. Bush leaves office. Neocons have flocked to Sen. John McCain's banner -- in spite of Hillary Clinton's vow to "obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. They believe U.S. attacks on Arab states and/or Iran would prove decisive in winning the presidency for McCain this November. A U.S. attack on Syria could well be the first step of a broader air war against Lebanon and Iran.




04-28-08 - Is War With Iran Imminent? Standing behind this developing pro-war Popular Front, the central factor in turning the U.S. toward a policy of confrontation rather than constructive engagement with Iran has been the Israel lobby.


04-28-08 - Iran says Iraq situation makes U.S. attack unlikely Iran said on Sunday a "disastrous situation" facing the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan coupled with Washington's domestic issues made any U.S. attack on the Islamic Republic unlikely.


04-26-08 - Hawks Resurgent? some analysts believe that Petraeus' promotion to Centcom was actually engineered by Gates and Mullen not only because he is likely to enjoy exceptional influence with Bush, but also because, despite his championship by neoconservative hawks, they consider him a fellow-realist who shares the conviction that war with Iran would be a major strategic error.


04-26-08 - Britons kidnapped in Iraq are 'held by Iran' Pretext for action?


04-25-08 - US found date-stamped Iranian weapons in Iraq: report Making the case for war.



04-25-08 - Iranian interference a source of growing concern: military chief
Making the case for war.


04-25-08 - Is an Attack on Iran Imminent? According to former U.N. chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter, the Pentagon has contracted for additional bunker-buster bombs and planes that carry them. Delivery is due this month.


04-25-08 - U.S. Weighing Readiness for Military Action Against Iran The nation's top military officer said yesterday that the Pentagon is planning for "potential military courses of action" as one of several options against Iran, criticizing what he called the Tehran government's "increasingly lethal and malign influence" in Iraq.





04-24-08 - Petraeus Promotion Frees Cheney to Threaten Iran Fallon's resignation announcement on March 11 was followed less than a week later by a 10-day Cheney trip to the Middle East in which the vice president talked explicitly about the military option against Iran during visits to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. That suggested that Cheney felt freer to wield the military threat to Iran with Fallon neutralized.


04-23-08 - Ross Issues Urgent Warning on Iran The U.S. and its allies probably have no more than a year to take action against Iran before that nation acquires nuclear weapons, warns Dennis Ross, an architect of the Mideast peace process. Why? Has Iran threatened us (in the absence of any threats we've made towards them) ,ATTACKED us? NO. So, why is it our job to disarm Iran of any purported nuclear weapons? Who made it so? ISRAEL. And not coincidentally, Dennis Ross is a staunch Israel-supporter.


04-23-08 - Clinton warns Iran of U.S. nuclear response Clinton said it was vital that the United States create a new "security umbrella" to reassure Israel and its other allies in the region that they would not be threatened by Iran. She said she would tell them that "if you were the subject of an unprovoked nuclear attack by Iran, the United States, and hopefully our NATO allies, would respond to that."


04-20-08 - Iran fighting proxy war against U.S.? by Patrick J. Buchanan Needed now are congressional hearings to determine if President Bush has authorized a proxy war against Iran ? by funding or arming guerrillas to attack the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and if that is what is behind the IRG-backed attacks on U.S. forces.


04-20-08 - Iran groups offering extra aid to Iraq rebels: US A US general said on Sunday that the increasingly sophisticated attacks carried out by Shiite extremists in Iraq were evidence they were getting extra aid from Iranian groups in the country. Making the case for war.


04-16-08 - Source: U.S. Strike on Iran Nearing


04-14-08 - Israel to connect to US missle early warning system: report The United States has agreed to connect Israel to its ballistic missile early warning system to warn of any missile attack from archfoe Iran, a senior Israeli defence official said on Monday.


04-12-08 - Gates: Iran boosts support for militias Making the case for war.


04-12-08 - Cheney on the Warpath Again? Cheney also notably refused to comment about any recent conversations he may have had with Israeli leaders about the possibility of their bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. Some observers suspect Cheney of encouraging Israel to attack Iran as a proxy.


04-12-08 - Bush says no plans to attack Iran: interview "The message to the Iranians is: we will bring you to justice if you continue to try to infiltrate, send your agents or send surrogates to bring harm to our troops and/or the Iraqi citizens," he said.


04-10-08 - McCain won't rule out pre-emptive war


04-10-08 - US-Iran conflict likely to deepen As the Bush administration draws closer to the end of its tenure in office, the prospect of a US military strike against Iran is increasing, partly caused by the serious misjudgment of each other's strategies.


04-10-08 - Iran and al Qaeda among greatest threats to U.S.: Bush Making the case for war. And, according to recent polls, the American sheeple are buying it up (again).


04-10-08 - Petraeus points to war with Iran by Patrick J. Buchanan Ever since President Nouri al-Maliki ordered the attacks in Basra on the Mahdi Army, Gen. David Petraeus has been laying the predicate for U.S. air strikes on Iran and a wider war in the Middle East.....Israel has been hurling invective at Iran and conducting security drills to prepare its population for rocket barrages worse than those Hezbollah delivered in the Lebanon War. Adm. William "Fox" Fallon, the Central Command head who opposed war with Iran, has been removed.



04-08-08 - Hizbullah: IDF preparing for new war


04-06-08 - Israel prepares for future war on three fronts with five-day emergency drill ISRAEL yesterday began a five-day nationwide civil defence exercise that analysts say aims to prepare the country for being bombarded by missiles in a possible future war with Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas.


04-05-08 - British fear US commander is beating the drum for Iran strikes British officials gave warning yesterday that America's commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government. A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran's intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment




04-04-08 - US defence chief in Oman for talks with sultan US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Oman on Friday for talks with Sultan Qaboos, the ruler of this key Gulf state which faces Iran across the strategic Strait of Hormuz.


04-04-08 - Ritter says White House preparing for war in Iran there is an 80 percent chance of war with Iran, he told about 200 people Wednesday at Middlebury College as part of a series of talks facilitated by the Vermont Peace and Justice Center.....Everyone needs to start understanding and caring about their Constitutional rights, and everyone needs to start finding the facts for themselves and taking strong individual stands, Ritter said. If you do nothing but take in what the TV and newspapers tell you, "all you're going to get in return is puke." Right on.


04-03-08 - Israel fears Syrian army moves may signal Hezbollah attack According to defense sources in Israel, the Syrians are preparing for the likelihood that Israel's response to a Hezbollah attack will be severe and may result in a regional confrontation.


04-01-08 - Delusional Bush Dances Toward War Why attack Iran? Israeli officials have not been reluctant to insist publicly that they want our impressionable president to take care of their Iran problem before he leaves office.....Bush's open-ended rhetorical commitment to defend Israel if attacked could spell big trouble. If Iran were to strike Israel, Bush has said, "We will defend our ally, no ifs, ands, or buts." That is great rhetoric; trouble is that it surrenders the initiative to the Israelis, who have it within their power to provoke the Iranians.


03-29-08 - Saudi Shura council to discuss plan for sudden radioactive hazards The Saudi Shura council will secretly discuss national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts? warnings of possible attacks on Iran?s Bushehr nuclear reactors, media reports said Saturday.


03-28-08 - The March 20, 2008 US Declaration of War on Iran


03-28-08 - Jitters over new Israel-Hezbollah war Adding to the jitters, U.S. warships recently deployed off Lebanon and Saudi Arabia advised its citizens to leave Lebanon.


03-26-08 - Cheney Contradicts Facts and Findings Concerning Iran?s Nuclear Goals The vice president?s statement was the second time in a week that a White House official has made an allegation regarding Iran?s nuclear program and its intentions that did not square with publicly known facts. Cheney is making the case for war.


03-26-08 - Operation Cassandra Adm. Fallon's (forced?) resignation was the last warning we are likely to get of an attack on Iran. It does not mean an attack is certain, but the U.S. could not attack Iran so long as he was the Centcom commander. That obstacle is now gone.


03-25-08 - Cheney Tells Israel He Will Counter 'Iran threat' US Vice President Dick Cheney speaking with Israeli president Shimon Peres on Sunday promised that Washington would do everything in its powers to counter Iran's 'nuclear threat against Israel'.


03-24-08 - Report: Iranian, Syrian missiles to pound Israel in next war Someone's gearing up for something.


03-24-08 - Cheney talks Iran in Israel; U.S. strike seen as remote it was the Iranian dilemma that topped the agenda in two meetings Cheney held with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and one with Defense Minister Ehud Barak.......if the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate published last December suggested a chasm between Israeli and American assessments, Israeli officials say the views of both sides now are almost identical......Israel also figures that the chances of the Bush administration ordering a pre-emptive military strike against Iran are virtually zero. The only such scenario the Israelis envision is if the Democratic presidential candidates appear to be far ahead of their Republican rival and Bush senses a "now or never" strike option.......the Israelis are hoping that the hard-line Cheney will push the envelope -- a role he reportedly played vis-a-vis the U.S. invasion of Iraq. One official said Cheney is seen as "a significant player" who could influence "serious issues that cannot wait."
This from the Jewish Telegraph Agency (registration is free). Israel is still trying hard to get us to attack Iran for them (like we did Iraq).


03-24-08 - Barak to Cheney: We must keep all options open vis a vie Iran Who's 'we'?


03-24-08 - Iran 'behind Green Zone attack' Gen David Petraeus told the BBC he thought Tehran had trained, equipped and funded insurgents who fired the barrage of mortars and rockets With Fallon out of the way, the sh#t's really heating up now.


03-22-08 - Bomb, bomb Iran? The danger of a McCain presidency is not only that he would prolong our presence in Iraq but that he would seek to fulfill neoconservative dreams of a war expanded from Iraq into Iran and Syria, leading to a regional conflagration. With his campaign already sowing the arguments for a wider conflict, we will not be able to say we weren't warned.





03-21-08 - Israel, Pentagon talk arms sales Buhris also asked about the latest model F-22 stealth jet, the Jerusalem Post reported, concerned that it might face a confrontation with Iran before the JSF is ready. Congress has banned selling the F-22 abroad.


03-21-08 - Dick Cheney tour sparks Iran war rumours


03-20-08 - Annan warns against conflict with Iran


03-20-08 - Russian FM warns military action on Iran 'disastrous' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday warned that any military means to solve Iran's controversial nuclear programme would have a "disastrous" effect.


03-20-08 - Architect of War(s) The containment and eventual emasculation of Iran has always been the Administration's principal post-Iraq objective in the Persian Gulf, and now that Cheney can claim a "successful" outcome to its first war in the region, it can begin laying groundwork for the next. The chief obstacle standing in the way of war against Iran has been the opposition of senior US military officers, who fear that another major military operation would further burden America's already overstretched combat forces.


03-20-08 - Beware an attack on Iran


03-20-08 - Cheney trip not aimed at preparing Iran strike US Vice President Dick Cheney?s nine-day trip to the Middle East and Turkey does not aim to set the stage for a US military strike on Iran, a senior aide said on Thursday......."The vice president talked about the concerns we have about the full range of their activities," said the official, underlining what the United States sees as "an increase in the Iranian relationship with Hamas." Riiiight. And even if we believe that there is such an "an increase in the Iranian relationship with Hamas", what the hell does that have to do with the AMERICAN national interest?


03-20-08 - Israel, U.S. commanders test 'extreme' scenarios in joint drill At the completion of the exercise, both the Israeli and the U.S. sides announced that extreme scenarios were tested that challenged the participating armies to assist each other. The scenarios were set in the present and based on events of the past several years or events that are expected to occur in the near future.


03-19-08 - VP: Iran May Have Resumed Weapon Program Notice he is saying this as he's touring the Middle East (to gain/keep support from Arab allies for a forthcoming US attack on Iran).


03-18-08 - The Circus Comes to Town Even more importantly, Democrats here must use these weeks to press Clinton and Obama on Iran and its drive for nuclear weapons. There is simply no other issue on which so many lives will hang during the next four years as this one. We know that both favor diplomacy (as does Republican candidate Sen. John McCain and the State of Israel) to persuade the Iranians to drop their push for nukes. But if, as seems likely, Tehran gets the bomb during the next administration, we must know if these leaders are afraid to do whatever it takes, including pre-emptive strikes, to see to it that the mullahs and their genocidal frontman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad don't have the power to unleash mass murder on Israel or any other country. Note the source. These Israel-supporters want to ask of the candidates for the AMERICAN presidency? will you attack Iran for Israel?


03-17-08 - Israel to hold massive emergency drill In the face of a possible escalation with Syria and Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, parts of the country will shut down next month in what security officials say will be the largest emergency exercise in Israel's history.


03-16-08 - Iran high on Cheney's Mideast agenda No kidding? Whodda thunk it!


03-16-08 - Rice, Gates to talk missiles in Russia United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates are due in Moscow today for talks with their Russian counterparts. It sounds to me like members of the Bush administration - Cheney, Rice, etc - are still working that part of the world in the runup to action on Iran.


03-13-08 - An alternative intelligence view If John McCain does not make it to the White House, Israel is likely to be faced with a cruel decision at the end of the decade: to attack a nuclearizing Iran or accept a nuclear-capable Iran. This coming from the ISRAELI news site, Ha'aretz. Whose war is it? And notice how the author blames the US for the failure to democratize the Middle East when it was Israel's minions in this nation that foisted this on us in the first place. If the Israelis have their way, we won't be leaving Iraq any time soon.


03-13-08 - Iran still a target? The fact that most Americans seem to believe the threat of such an attack has receded may actually make it more possible. Officials in Washington could easily take the lack of sustained public and political protest as a sign that citizens don't really care whether the U.S. launches this new war.


03-13-08 - Blowback of Iran War Likely to Be 'Terrible' And last year, after further tightening economic sanctions against Iran, Democrats in Congress removed a provision in an Iraq war spending bill that would have forbidden an attack on Iran without congressional approval. The measure was removed after intense lobbying from groups such as the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, an influential lobbying group that is seen as supporting policies in line with Israel's right-wing Likud Party.




03-12-08 - Israel urges more pressure on Iran's leaders "We must increase the pressure on the Iranian leadership now if we want to avoid difficult dilemmas in the future," Tzipi Livni said in a speech to Massachusetts state lawmakers after a visit to Washington this week. Whose war is it?


03-12-08 - US not seeking war with Iran: White House Riiight.


03-12-08 - Dissenting Views Made Fallon's Fall Inevitable Fallon's greatest concern appears to have been preventing war with Iran. He was one of a group of senior military officers, apparently including most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who were alarmed in late 2006 and early 2007 by indications that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were contemplating a possible attack on Iran.


03-12-08 - US: Syria backs foreign fighters in Iraq Despite increased counterterrorism efforts by Damascus, as much as 90 percent of the foreign fighters in Iraq cross the border from Syria, according to a Pentagon report that says Iran's support for Shiite militants also is hurting efforts to improve Iraq security. Making the case for war.


03-12-08 - The losers' game by Scott Ritter Iraq had been placed in the impossible position of having to prove a negative, a doomed process which led to war. I am fearful that the EU-3 is repeating this same process, demanding Iran refute something that doesn't exist except in the overactive imaginations of diplomats pre-programmed to accept at face value anything negative about Iran, regardless of its veracity.


03-12-08 - 'Fox' Fallon Fired What makes this particularly ominous is that, according to former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Patrick Lang, Fallon told him, upon taking over at Centcom, that war with Iran "isn't going to happen on my watch." Lang asked him how he thought he could stop it: "'I have options, you know,' Fallon responded, which Lang interpreted as implying Fallon would step down rather than follow orders he considers mistaken."


03-12-08 - Fallon's Exit Provokes Concern on Bush's Iran Policy Fallon's resignation came after publication of an article in Esquire magazine, written by Thomas P.M. Barnett, a former professor at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, that portrayed the admiral as the bulwark opposing a U.S. offensive against Iran. "If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it'll come down to one man," Barnett wrote. "If we do not go to war with Iran, it'll come down to the same man. He is that rarest of creatures in the Bush universe: the good cop on Iran, and a man of strategic brilliance."



03-11-08 - 6 Signs the U.S. May Be Headed for War in Iran Cheney is also going to Saudi Arabia, whose support would be sought before any military action given its ability to increase oil supplies if Iran's oil is cut off. Back in March 2002, Cheney made a high-profile Mideast trip to Saudi Arabia and other nations that officials said at the time was about diplomacy toward Iraq and not war, which began a year later.....Israeli airstrike on Syria....Israeli comments.....Was Peres speaking for himself, or has President Bush given the Israelis an assurance that they won't have to act alone?



03-11-08 - US military chief quits amid claims of Iran rift The article's author, Thomas Barnett, had predicted that if Fallon was pushed out of his job "it may well mean that the president and vice-president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don't want a commander standing in their way".


03-11-08 - Admiral William Fallon quits over Iran policy The article, entitled The Man Between War and Peace, described Admiral Fallon as as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear programme.


03-11-08 - Defense chief says Fallon's leaving is not precursor to war Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it would be "ridiculous" to suggest that Fallon's resignation signals that the United States is planning to go to war with Iran.


03-10-08 - The Iran hawks' latest surge . On the Iranian issue in particular, there has long been a close relationship between the Israeli and U.S. governments, and the NIE's disclosure set off a flurry of activity in both countries. It had put hawks in an extraordinary position: If they wanted to keep up the pressure to go after Iran -- using diplomacy and sanctions, or perhaps military force if deemed necessary -- they would now have to discredit the highest-level intelligence report produced by the United States. In Jerusalem, top Israeli leaders convened a meeting to decide how to deal with the problem. One result of the meeting was that when President Bush visited Israel in January, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was tasked with briefing him on Israeli intelligence on Iran, allegedly including some new information, in order to convince Bush to continue applying maximum pressure on Iran.
Whose war is it?


03-09-08 - Crisis Over Teheran's Alleged Nuclear Plans Nearing Climax Iran, a nation of proud people in a neighborhood of proud peoples, sees only absurdity in the discrimination against it when the nearby nations of India, Pakistan, and Israel have all developed their own nuclear weapons without the U.S. stopping them.


03-09-08 - US Navy strike group responds to increasing Lebanon, Syria tension Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the United States' Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Nassau group would operate in the region "for a while" and that the deployment signals the navy "is engaged" in "a very important part of the world".


03-08-08 - Fallon's 'No Iran War' Line Angered White House A new article on CENTCOM commander Adm. William Fallon confirms that his public statements last fall ruling out war against Iran last fall were not coordinated with the White House and landed him in trouble more than once with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.


03-06-08 - Congressman Ron Paul's Statement on Gaza Bill As one who is consistently against war and violence, I obviously do not support the firing of rockets indiscriminately into civilian populations. I believe it is appalling that Palestinians are firing rockets that harm innocent Israelis, just as I believe it is appalling that Israel fires missiles into Palestinian areas where children and other non-combatants are killed and injured.......Additionally, this bill will continue the march toward war with Iran and Syria , as it contains provocative language targeting these countries.


03-06-08 - US embassy fears attacks on citizens in Lebanon "There is a general concern that extremist groups may be planning to attack US citizens and interests in Lebanon," the US embassy said in a statement dated March 4, posted on its website and circulated to US citizens. I should point out the story about the two other warships moved off the coast of Lebanon from yesterday's news batch.


03-05-08 - Cole replaced off Lebanon by two US warships: official Two US warships have taken up position in the eastern Mediterranean off Lebanon, replacing the USS Cole, a US Navy official said Wednesday.


03-04-08 - PM: Israel has strength, might to defend itself against Iran "Israel definitely sees itself threatened by Iran," Olmert said in a tour of northern Israel. "Israel has the might and power to defend itself against any threat."
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But he quickly added, "I don't think the Iranian matter is primarily Israel's responsibility. It is the responsibility of the United States and the leading countries in the international community that are convinced Iran constitutes a threat."
Oohh, I see. So it's OUR responsibility to deal with Israel's primary threat (just like Iraq was).


03-03-08 - Israel buys supply of pills to protect against nuclear radiation





03-01-08 - Bush rules out talks with Iran "Now that there's no military option, there's no credible reason for those countries to build up that effort," Berman said. Calabrese attributed the removal of the military option to the trouble the Bush administration would have justifying an attack that was sure to be unpopular domestically and internationally.



02-28-08 - U.S. sends warship off Lebanon coast Signaling impatience with Syria, the United States has sent its USS Cole warship off the coast of Lebanon in a show of support amid Beirut's political crisis, U.S. officials said on Thursday.


02-21-08 - Jaw-Jaw In Order to War-War? It?s worth noting that Gerecht, like other neo-cons including several of his AEI colleagues, appears to have given up hope of an attack before the end of Bush?s term and now believes that it will up to his successor to decide what to do about Tehran?s nuclear program


02-21-08 - What would it take to launch a war with Iran? Johns says a struggle is under way in Washington, D.C. Those opposed to an attack include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff. Those wanting an attack, he says, are the deputy national-security adviser for global democracy strategy, Elliott Abrams; Vice President Dick Cheney, "and the hard-line Israel lobby."


02-14-08 - Israel on high alert after Hezbollah threat "If the Zionists want war, then they shall have it," Mr Nasrallah said.
"If you want an open war, then let it be an open war."
I think Israel is trying to provoke the war she has been waiting for, by involving Syria in this too. Beware. And these guys have responded just the way Israel had hoped to boot.


02-14-08 - Damascus in shock over killing "This means that the war on Iran has become a reality more than ever before. It is a dangerous security penetration in Syria,"


02-12-08 - Israel sure Iran seeking nuclear arms: Olmert Asked if Israel would consider using military force in dealing with Iran, Olmert cited US President George W. Bush's refusal to rule out force in dealing with Iran's defiance to halt sensitive nuclear work Whose war is this?


02-12-08 - John McCain and the Neocon Resurgence by Philip Giraldi The neocons and McCain do not disguise their belief that Iran must be dealt with by military means because diplomacy has failed. Indeed, one might well regard de-fanging Iran as their principal foreign policy objective, one that they share with the White House and the Israeli government.


02-11-08 - McCain's rapprochement with the right? by Patrick J. Buchanan There is another consideration. McCain has said he will stay in Iraq another 100 years if necessary, that Russia should be thrown out of the G-8, that he will do whatever it takes to halt Iran's nuclear enrichment program. He has told us: "There's going to be other wars. ... I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars. We will never surrender, but there will be other wars."


02-11-08 - Barak: U.S. unlikely to attack Iran nuclear installations


02-11-08 - The Hawks' Last Hurrah? Podhoretz, for his part, agreed: "Unless Bush realizes or fulfills my fading hope of air strikes, it is undoubtedly up to Israel to prevent" Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.


02-10-08 - No need to wait for Russia or China Certainly, the report published by the American intelligence community has tied President George W. Bush's hands and seriously narrowed his prospects of ordering an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. The question is: What should Israel do? Fight its own battles?





02-08-08 - What did Israel bomb in Syria? by Seymour M. Hersh The former U.S. senior intelligence official told me that, as he understood it, America's involvement in the Israeli raid dated back months earlier, and was linked to the Administration's planning for a possible air war against Iran. Last summer, the Defense Intelligence Agency came to believe that Syria was installing a new Russian-supplied radar-and-air-defense system that was similar to the radar complexes in Iran. Entering Syrian airspace would trigger those defenses and expose them to Israeli and American exploitation, yielding valuable information about their capabilities. Vice-President Dick Cheney supported the idea of overflights, the former senior intelligence official said, because "it would stick it to Syria and show that we're serious about Iran.".....There is evidence that the preëmptive raid on Syria was also meant as a warning about?and a model for?a preëmptive attack on Iran


02-07-08 - U.S. heading to war in Iran, says former inspector The White House is using outright fabrications and exaggerations to persuade the American public that Iran has an active nuclear weapons program, Ritter and Peck claimed. The ultimate goal, they said, is overthrow of Iran?s Islamic theocracy.


02-06-08 - A pre-election attack on Iran remains a possibility


02-05-08 - Iran will have nuclear weapon in three years: Mossad Israel's Mossad spy agency estimates Iran will develop a nuclear weapon within three years and continue to provide rockets to regional armed groups, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.


02-05-08 - In about turn, U.S. says Iran may be able to make nukes by 2009 Speaking two months after an American intelligence report cast doubt on Tehran's nuclear ambitions, National Intelligence Director John Michael McConnell made his remarks during an appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee to present an annual report on threats to the U.S. Geez. I wonder why. Say, who is it that keeps trying to convince our government that Iran is still a threat?..


02-05-08 - Israelis Want Next US President to Deal With Iran Israel also is concerned about Iraq -- and a "haphazard [U.S. troop] withdrawal that would strengthen militants and radicals in the Middle East," Gilboa said.


02-04-08 - US anti-missile ship to dock in Haifa An American missile ship set to dock at Haifa Port on Monday is equipped with an anti-missile defense system that could be deployed in the region in the event of an Iranian missile attack against Israel.


01-30-08 - Why lovers of Israel should vote for McCain (according to Lieberman) He does not believe that talks with Iran will make the difference. Lieberman calls this approach "just naive". You can't expect that "words" will do the trick. The Iranians will react to "strength." And in McCain Lieberman found the "principled leader in time of war" that will not be swayed by public opinion. Whose war is this?


01-29-08 - UK diplomat rules out war with Iran ?I think the recent US intelligence report proved that Washington has no intention to escalate the conflict. It is very clear that all the parties involved in the conflict with Iran are fully supporting a peaceful solution,?


01-29-08 - Buchanan: McCain win would mean war with Iran


01-27-08 - Iran Vows to Retaliate Against US Bases in Gulf if US Attacks First General Mohammad Ali Jaafari, commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards, told Al-Jazeera television that it is Iran's "natural right to respond" if attacked by land or air.

01-25-08 - The Sanctions Trap by Scott Ritter Russia and China, and to a lesser extent France, Great Britain and Germany, may view the sanctions as a vehicle for a diplomatic resolution of the issues. The United States views the sanctions as a means to a different end, this one culminating in the elimination of the theocratic regime in Tehran.


01-23-08 - The Return of Dick Cheney by Philip Giraldi One would have thought that both Israel and the United States, not to mention Mahmoud Abbas, would have finally realized that there is no military solution to Hamas in Gaza, but the newer, more robust attitude is a product of the resurgence of Vice President Dick Cheney and the neocon hawks that surround him. Cheney and his friends are again planning to attack Iran before Bush leaves office.......The resurgence of Cheney and the instability arising from Bush's attempts to reinvigorate the faltering anti-Iran Arab coalition has alarmed several senior members of the American intelligence community who are now backing away from their optimistic assessment that the NIE on Iran ensured the US would not attack Iran.


01-21-08 - Israel may have to take military action against Iran: Bolton "One can say with some assurance that in the next year the use of force by the United States is highly unlikely," Bolton told AFP on the sidelines of the Herzliya conference on the balance of Israel's national security.

01-18-08 - The Hormuz Hoax


01-15-08 - Egypt, Turkey warn against war on Iran "There is no need for the use of force. Use of force will lead to very serious consequences in the region and the world,"


01-15-08 - US, Iran One Misstep From the Edge by Philip Giraldi President Bush still apparently dreams of confronting Iran, even if the imploding situation in Pakistan makes it unlikely that he will risk doing so. Israel makes no secret of the fact that it would like Washington to act, and Israel's wishes are seldom denied in Washington. And then there are the hotheads on the Iranian side. The U.S. national interest in the Middle East would be best served by marginalizing those who want war and beginning to negotiate seriously. As Winston Churchill put it, "To jaw jaw is better than to war war."


01-15-08 - Bush warns Iran not to be provocative in Gulf U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that he would hold Iran responsible if it hit American ships and warned the Islamic Republic not to behave provocatively in Gulf waters


01-14-08 - Bush's Arab world tour is significant for Israel From an Israeli perspective, the three key elements were
isolating Iran, coaxing moderate Arab countries into moving toward normalization with Israel and getting oil-rich Arab states to honor their financial pledges to the Palestinians......Bush's post-NIE Mideast diplomacy can be read in two different ways: bolstering the moderate Arab coalition against Iran as part of an ongoing policy of containment through diplomatic and economic sanctions, or as laying the diplomatic groundwork for a possible military strike against Iranian nuclear installations before the president leaves office.


01-14-08 - Gulf of Tonkin Will BeTough to Repeat by Ray McGovern It is my view that the only thing that has prevented Bush and Cheney from attacking Iran so far has been the strong opposition of the uniformed military, including the Joint Chiefs.

01-12-08 - Bush to reach out to Iranians from across the Gulf in an embarrassing climbown that was gleefully seized on by Tehran, the Pentagon admitted that a sound recording it had released of a voice threatening to blow up the US vessels may not have emanated from the Iranian vessels......."They tried to bring it up at the same time as Bush was travelling to the region to paint Iran in a bad light. But their plans fell flat,"


01-12-08 - Saudi cannot be launchpad for Iran attack: report A leading Saudi newspaper on Saturday ruled out any attempt by the United States to use the oil-rich Gulf kingdom as a launchpad for a possible war on Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme......"Iran's supposed danger does not minimise the real danger of Israel, which is among 10 countries in the world to have nuclear weapons,"



01-12-08 - Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel The new information that appears to contradict the original version of the incident includes the revelation that U.S. officials spliced the audio recording of an alleged Iranian threat onto to a videotape of the incident. That suggests that the threatening message may not have come in immediately after the initial warning to Iranian boats from a U.S. warship, as appears to do on the video.


01-12-08 - Objects From Iranian Boats Posed No Threat, Navy Says The small, boxlike objects dropped in the water by Iranian boats as they approached U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf on Sunday posed no threat to the American vessels, U.S. officials said yesterday, even as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff charged that the incident reflects Iran's new tactics of asymmetric warfare.


01-12-08 - Iran showdown has echoes of faked Tonkin attack "One might've thought that they would be able to pinpoint it exactly, but it turns out that's not so," said Aftergood, who runs FAS's Project on Government Secrecy. "It's also surprising that President Bush was permitted to get so far out in front on this issue, even though there were significant uncertainties on what transpired."


01-11-08 - US-Iran stand-off not mere propaganda What is clear is that there are grave doubts about who uttered the warning picked up by the US ships. A deep voice was heard to say: "I am coming at you. You will explode after a few minutes." The video released by the US implied that the warning was part of a series of transmissions to the ships from the Iranian craft. It turns out that the warning was added onto the video. It was a radio recording made separately.



01-11-08 - US Navy fired warning at Iranian craft The U.S. Navy said Friday that one of its ships fired warning shots at a small Iranian boat in the Strait of Hormuz in December during one of two serious encounters that month.


01-11-08 - Military option against Iran is 'still on the table' Asked whether Israel had shown the president any intelligence contradicting the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate that Iran had stopped its clandestine military nuclear program in 2003, the official said: "This is one of the areas our countries and establishments, including the intelligence establishment, are working in very close cooperation. We don't wait for any special event before passing on information. I assume that the president knows whatever we do."


01-09-08 - 'A Heartbeat Away' From War We are expected to believe that five minuscule speedboats "menaced" the USS Hopper, a destroyer armed with missiles; the cruiser USS Port Royal; and the USS Ingraham, a frigate. That's rather like five gnats "menacing" a trio of elephants. My sentiments exactly (per yesterday's news batch).


01-07-08 - Iran boats 'threatened US ships' Iran played down the event, describing it as an "ordinary occurrence". "This... happens for the two sides every once in a while and, after the identification of the two sides, the issue is resolved," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.



01-07-08 - US almost opened fire on Iranian boats, Pentagon says The Pentagon claimed the American ships were in international waters, although the demarcation of the border between Iran and Iraq on the Strait remains a matter of dispute.


01-06-08 - Israel warns of Iranian missile peril for Europe The Israeli government is furious about the recent US intelligence assessment which concluded that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, and hopes to convince the American leader that work is continuing on a bomb that poses a widespread threat.....He said Israeli officials would warn Mr Bush that failing to take action would have serious consequences beyond the Middle East, where Iran was funding groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza

01-05-08 - Bush: We'd defend Israel in event of Iranian strike "If Iran did strike Israel," Bush said, "We will defend our ally, no ands, ifs or buts."


01-05-08 - Israel to brief George Bush on options for Iran strike Ehud Barak, the defence minister, is said to want to convince him that an Israeli military strike against uranium enrichment facilities in Iran would be feasible if diplomatic efforts failed to halt nuclear operations. A range of military options has been prepared.

12-27-07 - Paul: 'We're getting ready to bomb Iran' Despite a recent National Intelligence Estimate finding that Iran has halted its nuclear weapons program, libertarian-leaning GOP presidential contender Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) says there is still "a great possibility" of US military action against the country.


12-27-07 - Ron Paul insists: 'Israel encourages Americans to go into Iran' Russert showed him a quote of something he said on CNN: "Israel is dependent on us, you know, for economic means. We send them these billions of dollars and then they depend on us. They say, well, you know, we don't like Iran. You go fight our battles. You bomb Iran for us. And they become dependent on us."


12-25-07 - US institute: Israel could survive nuclear war Even if Iran gained the means and knowledge to create nuclear weapons, according to the report it would still be limited to 100 kiloton weapons, which can cause a far smaller radius of destruction than the 1 megaton bombs Israel allegedly possesses. .......The report cites Israel's Arrow missile defense system as an obstacle facing a possible Iranian strike and says that it could shoot down most of the missiles. Israel, on the other hand, would be capable of hitting most of the Iranian cities with pinpoint accuracy due to the high resolution satellite imagery systems at its disposal.

12-24-07 - Report: Iran Would Suffer Up to 20 Million Casualties in Nuclear War With Israel The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) also estimates that between 200,000 and 800,000 Israelis would be killed, the Jerusalem Post reported.......It estimates that a nuclear war would last approximately three weeks and ultimately end with the annihilation of Iran, based on Israel's alleged possession of sophisticated and powerful nuclear weapons. So you see, it is difficult to imagine that Iran would ever even think of using its nuclear weapons that it is purportedly developing (according to Israel) against that nation.


12-23-07 - Anti-war groups target Bush on Iran Major anti-Iraq war groups have made preventing war with Iran a priority for next year


12-21-07 - Outgoing senior FM official calls for military pact with Washington Signing a defense pact with the U.S. would mean that Washington would treat any attack on Israel as an attack on the U.S. and would act to protect Israel or retaliate against the assailant. However, such a pact could also limit Israel because it would require the Americans' approval for any military act Israel would consider.
Oh bullsh#t. The sovereignty of this nation, the national security of this nation has been utterly compromised by foreign elements. Israel seeks to make ITS problems OUR problems to the detriment of THIS nation.


12-21-07 - No More Slam Dunks by Philip Giraldi An alarmed Israel, where the report?s conclusions have been rejected by both politicians and media, is considering taking unilateral action against the principle Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz. If Israel were to attack Iran, it would need Washington?s help, and U.S. forces would almost certainly be involved in any Iranian retaliation......Both the Iraq NIE and the 2005 NIE on Iran suffered from White House staffers, mostly neoconservatives from Vice President Cheney?s office, participating in the review process. To deal with the problem of such political pressure, Director of Central Intelligence Michael Hayden and DNI Mike McConnell isolated analysts from policymakers and also took steps to deal with the groupthink problem. The efforts of these guys who refused to be cowed by the neoconservatives can not be overstated. God bless 'em.


12-21-07 - What Will Israel Do? "I came back from a trip to Israel in November convinced that Israel would attack Iran," Bruce Riedel, a former career CIA official and senior adviser to three U.S. presidents--including Bush--on Middle East and South Asian issues, told me Thursday, citing conversations he had with Mossad and defense officials. "And that was before the NIE. This makes it even more likely. Israel is not going to allow its nuclear monopoly to be threatened." .........One reason for Bush's abruptly announced nine-day visit to the region in mid-January is to deal with the fallout from the NIE, which includes not only the possibility that Israel will act unilaterally but also that Bush's prized Annapolis peace process will stall.


12-19-07 - Putin hopes U.S. had no hidden agenda in Iran nuclear report Putin said it is theoretically possible that the report was published to "divert Iran's attention from preparations for military action," which would be a "grave mistake."



12-19-07 - Ex-CIA man predicts U.S. war with Iran Those who hope to prevent a military conflict in Iran should make their voices heard, he said......He cited the close American relationship with Israel, which he said considers Iran a threat, as a driving force behind a potential strike.



12-17-07 - US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel by Scott Ritter In threatening the world with war because America opted for once to embrace fact instead of fiction, Israel, sadly, has become like a cornered beast, lashing out at any and all it perceives to threaten its security interests......The United States must redefine its national security priorities in the Middle East and position Israel accordingly. At the very least, American aid must be linked to Israeli behavior modification. The standards America applies to other nations around the world when it comes to receiving aid must likewise apply to Israel. Mr. Ritter speaketh my language. My kinda guy :)

12-16-07 - Is Bush Stopped in His Tracks on Iran? The tug of war between those within the administration who advocate as many as 1,000 air strikes on suspected Iranian nuclear facilities and those who oppose an attack will be the most dramatic battle of the final Bush years.


12-15-07 - Israel: US report on Iran may spark war Israel will work to change the American intelligence agencies' view of Iran, said Dichter, a former chief of Israel's Shin Bet secret service agency


12-15-07 - Is World War III on hold? by Patrick J. Buchanan


12-15-07 - Midwest City Fights Back Against Iran War-Mongering


12-14-07 - Israel, U.S. to meet to discuss differing assessments on Iran Until the release of the American report, the defense establishment believed Israel might find itself involved in a military conflict with Iran in the coming year if Bush decided to act against Tehran and Iran responded against Israeli targets as well The American intelligence community stepped up to the plate and hit a grand slam. They stopped this nation from going into WWIII (at the behest of a foreign nation).


12-13-07 - Key Neocons Giving Up on Iran Attack?


12-12-07 - Bringing Iran in from the cold One of the reasons the NIE is so politically sensitive is that it is really not about whether a nuclear Iran threatens America but about whether it threatens Israel. The Israel connection makes it extremely difficult for any U.S. politician to advocate anything other than a confrontational stance with Iran......it's the existential threat to Israel that has allowed Bush to play let's-make-war-on-Iraq all over again, with just as little resistance. It's no accident that Bush used the inflammatory expression "nuclear holocaust" when discussing Iran in August. At an October press conference, Bush was even more explicit. "We got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," Bush said. "So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from hav[ing] the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."



12-12-07 - Sarkozy: Israel could attack Iran Israel is more likely to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities than the United States, Nicolas Sarkozy said.


12-12-07 - Israel eyes hitting Iran


12-11-07 - U.S. report on Iran forces Israel to alter strategy The Israeli dilemma is how to prove Iran is cheating without being accused of trying to push the United States into war. That is why the official strategy is to work quietly behind the scenes......The new Israeli strategy is based on four main elements:
· actively pushing for stiffer international sanctions on Iran, despite the U.S. report; · working quietly behind the scenes to convince others through Israel?s own intelligence material that Iran is intent on producing nuclear weapons; · refraining from arguing with the U.S. assessment in public, lest Israel be seen to be trying to push the United States into military action against Iran; · and Israel keeping open its own military options.......the scenario that would have had the United States "take care" of Iran in return for Israeli concessions to the Palestinians has been blown out of the water.



12-11-07 - Israel keeps up pressure on Iran Israel and the US seem to be working off the same intelligence sources.
The Israeli view, therefore, represents a different assessment of the same data. "Only time will tell who is right," Mr Barak said.
Well we know who was WRONG about Iraq. That's why the NIE took a different view this time (rightly so), geniuses.


12-11-07 - Bombed If You Do, Bombed If You Don't by Rep. Ron Paul The latest National Intelligence Estimate has been greeted by a mixture of relief and alarm. As I have been saying all along, Iran indeed poses no quantifiable imminent nuclear threat to us or her neighbors. It is with much alarm, however, that we see the administration continue to ratchet up the war rhetoric as if nothing has changed.


12-11-07 - Neocons Strike Back on Iran by Philip Giraldi Far from being relieved to learn that the United States is not seriously threatened and would not be fighting a second war in the Middle East, the neoconservatives who have been calling for an assault on Tehran lashed out, indicating that for many, agenda driven ideology trumps reality every time. The pundits who wanted a war last week still want one this week, NIE be damned.


12-11-07 - White House Fought NIE Over an Old Charge By November 2006, the Central Intelligence Agency had already circulated an assessment within the intelligence community that rejected the covert weapons program thesis, as Hersh reported in late November. However, Vice President Dick Cheney and his aides were trying to exclude the CIA's assessment from the NIE, a senior intelligence official told Hersh. .......Another tactic used by Cheney was to cite a new claim by Israeli intelligence that its spies inside Iran had learned that Iran had developed and tested a trigger device for a nuclear bomb......The CIA did not regard the report as reliable, especially in the absence of details that would allow verification. But Cheney asked for the original raw Israeli intelligence report, according to Hersh ? the same thing Cheney and top Pentagon officials had done in constructing their case for the invasion of Iraq in 2002.


12-10-07 - Calling on Congress to Stop a War By Scott Ritter The ongoing Israeli paranoia about a nexus of nuclear proliferation among North Korea, Iran and Syria, void of any hard intelligence to back it up and yet hyped to the point that an abandoned military warehouse in the middle of the Syrian desert could be pre-emptively bombed, serves as a warning to any who believe that the newly published NIE will, by itself, inject a measure of sanity and objective thinking into a process that has created an ideologically driven self-fulfilling prophesy that no amount of fact and reasoning can make go away......If the newly released NIE on Iran is to have any meaning, then let it be that it triggered a reawakening of the Congress of the United States to assert its authority and responsibility in a time of great need. Another excellent article by Scott Ritter.


12-10-07 - Iran, Nukes, and the 'Laptop of Death' The pushback against the recent finding [.pdf] by America's 16 intelligence agencies that puts "high confidence" in their evaluation that Iran stopped its covert nuclear weapons project in 2003 has the Lobby going into overdrive ? with (who else?) John Bolton leading the charge, crying "Putsch!" and decrying the NIE as pure "politics." Bolton and his neoconservative co-thinkers are really just echoing the Israelis, however, who have sullenly asserted their own dissent, albeit discreetly enough to maintain the fiction of their own complete lack of influence Now you get to see just how many friends Israel has in the US mainstream media and Congress judging by the amount of airtime they are given and noise they are making in response to the NIE. Per yesterday's news batch, the Israelis rolled out the Holocaust card in response to this NIE. So, it's to be expected that their shills in America are screaming bloody murder. How dare our intelligence community not go along with Cheney and the neocons (and their Israel-centric agenda)? The horror.

12-08-07 - Gulf countries speak out against military option in Iran "We are not for the military confrontation option,".....being "pushed into a military confrontation with Iran" would not be in the interest of the GCC countries.


12-08-07 - Unilateral military strike still an option, senior ministers insist Binyamin Netanyahu, the popular rightwing opposition leader, was asked whether Israel should launch its own military operation. "We always prefer international action, led by the United States, but we have to ensure that we can protect our country with all means," he told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz yesterday.


12-08-07 - Intelligence expert who rewrote book on Iran Almost single-handedly he has stopped - or, at the very least, postponed - any US military action against Iran.
His report marks a decisive moment in the battle between American neoconservatives and Washington's foreign policy and intelligence professionals - between ideologues and pragmatists. It provided an unexpected victory for those opposed to the neocon plans for a military strike......"We seem to have lucked out and have individuals who resist back-channel politics and tell it how it is," he said. "That is what the CIA and other agencies are supposed to do." Score one for the good guys.


12-08-07 - The Warpath to Regime Change From 2003 to 2005, Wurmser and his neoconservative colleagues were in denial about the increasingly obvious reality that the U.S. occupation of Iraq was actually boosting Iranian influence there rather than shaking the regime's power at home, according to former NSC specialist Mann. She was well acquainted with the neoconservatives' thinking from her associations with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in the 1990s, and she told IPS that she was "astounded" to hear neoconservatives in the administration suggest as late as 2005 that the situation in Iraq was on track to help destabilize the Iranian regime.


12-08-07 - Bush Spins Iran's Centrifuges Judging from President George W. Bush?s words and body language he is far from giving up on ways to "justify" attacking Iran's nuclear program ? weapons-related or not. He appears convinced he must honor the pledge he has made to Israel's current leaders to eliminate what they have called an "existential threat" to Israel......
there is no sign that Gates wants to abet using Iranian meddling in Iraq as a pretext for a military strike on Iran. Gates?s well-deserved chameleon-like reputation counsels caution here, since a word from Cheney or Bush could conceivably make Gates a fervent champion of this pretext for war.



12-08-07 - 'US report ended attack option on Iran' "It looks like this ends the military option against Iran for now. Israel won't attack alone. Iran's facilities are too many and spread too far apart." ......Time reported that Israel's leaders were surprised and disappointed by the American report, understanding that it considerably lessened the likelihood of an American strike on Iran, an action Israel hoped the US would take if sanctions failed to stop the Iranian nuclear program. I wouldn't discount Cheney and the neocons. They might cook something up to get their attack on Iran, as they've done in the past with Iraq (via the Office of Special Plans).


12-08-07 - Nuclear fallout / Who's right here? Over the last year, a certain hope has developed in Israel that the U.S. would do our dirty work for us; because what is possibly going on, quietly and secretly, between President Bush and his spiritual advisers will lead Bush to the conclusion that his supreme moral obligation is to remove the Iranian nuclear danger threatening Israel before he passes his job on to his successor.
....Is Israel capable of presenting the Americans with any information that can prove to the Americans their new evaluation is wrong? And what new policy will Jerusalem need to formulate on the Iranian issue, based on the reasonable assumption the U.S. will not change its mind?.....The report will most likely also have an indirect effect on the Israeli-Palestinian process. If Israel no longer enjoys the full support of the Americans on nuclear matters, then Israel is likely to feel less committed to make concessions and move forward in talks with the Palestinians. Hmm, so that last sentence suggests, as I and some others have too, that Israel is only putting on a dog and pony show for this peace agreement in order to get the US to attack Iran?...


12-06-07 - Meeting the Iranian Challenge by Joe Biden The Founding Fathers were, as in most things, profoundly right. That's why I want to be very clear: if the President takes us to war with Iran without Congressional approval, I will call for his impeachment.


12-06-07 - Realist Revenge The neo-cons have predictably launched a campaign against the NIE, arguing that the rejection of the 2005 predecessor begs the question why the 2007 conclusions should be taken seriously and (a la Podhoretz and Ledeen) that the the intelligence community is deliberately trying to undermine the president?s policies with which they disagree (Podhoretz? ?darker suspicion? ? a phrase that should elicit some kind of comment by Guiliani, hopefully)......the fact that the main conclusions of the report were known in top policy circles since at least last summer, if not well before then, helps explain why the administration?s hawks (and their neo-con allies) ? culminating in Cheney?s late October speech to the Washington Institute on Near East Policy (WINEP) ? started hyping Iran?s alleged direction of attacks on U.S. soldiers and marines in Iraq in August


12-06-07 - CNN: Seymour Hersh 'vindicated' by new Iran intel estimate As early as July 2006, Hersh had reported that the US military was resisting administration pressure for a bombing campaign in Iran, because "American and European intelligence agencies have not found specific evidence of clandestine activities or hidden facilities." ... ... As Hersh explained to Wolf Blitzer at the time, the White House was attempting to counter the CIA assessment with an Israeli claim, based on a "reliable agent," that Iran was working on a trigger for a nuclear device.


12-05-07 - Israel feels alone after report on Iran "This forces the Israelis to make a decision instead of being able to take some comfort that the U.S. would take action at some point," said Wayne White, former deputy director of the State Department's Middle East Intelligence Office. Well, but, whose war is it? Not ours. Chicken Little has already gotten us into one fine mess. They're on their own now, rightly so.


12-05-07 - No Iran Attack? Don't Be So Sure? keep your eye on the Iran-Iraq border, including the somewhat blurry line of demarcation in the Gulf. We aren't in the clear yet, not by a long shot, and we won't be until all U.S. troops are out of Iraq.


12-04-07 - Analysis: US loses leverage over Iran The biggest stick - a U.S. military strike on Iran in the near term - is now out of the question. Again, this time around, the intel community refused to be badgered into giving in to Cheney and the neocons (I hold the folks in the intel community in the highest possible regard for sticking to their guns). Thus they cannot be blamed for lost US credibility and leverage. The blame rests at the feet of those who are pushing for the war on Iran.


12-04-07 - Europeans relieved at US report on Iran The report may relieve European fears about a possible U.S. move toward war in Iran. Sarkozy has evoked the risk of "a catastrophic alternative: an Iranian bomb, or the bombing of Iran" if diplomacy and sanctions fail.


12-04-07 - Israeli officials reject U.S. findings on Iran Israeli officials, who've been warning that Iran would soon pose a nuclear threat to the world, reacted angrily Tuesday to a new U.S. intelligence finding that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 and to date hasn't resumed trying to produce nuclear weapons.......An analysis in the competing Haaretz newspaper suggested that Israel might come to be viewed as a "panic-stricken rabbit" and said that the U.S. intelligence estimate established "a new, dramatic reality: The military option, American or Israeli, is off the table, indefinitely." Ooops. Looks like Israel's 'intel' didn't fly this time around (paragraph 27 in particular).


12-04-07 - The Anti-Iran Annapolis Conference by Philip Giraldi The conference is only comprehensible in terms of the other agendas that drove it. Behind the scenes, the United States and Israel were less interested in making peace with the Palestinians than they were in building up a de facto coalition of Arab states against Iran, which is why there was intense diplomatic pressure to obtain the participation of every Arab country.


12-04-07 - Olmert: Nuke report on Iran shows need for tighter Iran sanctions "We discussed this report with leaders of the [U.S.] administration," Olmert told reporters. "It is vital to pursue efforts to prevent Iran from developing a capability like this and we will continue doing so along with our friends the United States.".....The report contradicts earlier U.S. intelligence reports, Israeli assessments, and the conclusions of senior officials in the Bush administration. .......The difference in the American and Israeli assessments is derived not from different information but rather different approaches


12-03-07 - Bombs away? First of all you have to note, from the public side, that very few Americans actually function as citizens anymore. What I mean by that are people who invest themselves in this country, people who care, who give a damn. Americans are primarily consumers today, and so long as they continue to wrap themselves in the cocoon of comfort, and the system keeps them walking down a road to the perceived path of prosperity, they don't want to rock the boat. If it doesn't have a direct impact on their day-to-day existence, they simply don't care.......The danger of going after Iran is that it is just not worth it. What we can lose is everything, and what we gain is nothing. So why do it? Apathy on the part of the American people is half the battle, as Ritter notes here, and I have mentioned in the past as well. Lobbies exploit the void left by an American populace which has largely turned a blind eye to the political status quo.


12-03-07 - US Democrats want rethink on Iran Washington's Iran hawks are horrified. Boy. Is it a coincidence that Wolfowitz gets back in, or what?


12-03-07 - US spies give shock verdict on Iran threat US intelligence agencies undercut the White House today by disclosing for the first time that Iran has not been pursuing a nuclear weapons development programme for the last four years. The disclosure makes it harder for President George Bush and the vice-president, Dick Cheney, to make a case for a military strike against Iran next year. I know that there was some kind of wrangling over this NIE report. It was reported on not too long ago. There was some kind of rebellion in the intel community along the same lines as what happened in the runup to the Iraq war (where Cheney regularly pressured this community to come up with anything on Iraq). In light of that, it is safe to say that we've got some good guys on the case who stood their ground, and frankly, I couldn't be prouder. It's heartening.

12-02-07 - John Bolton, the hawkish former US ambassador to the UN, says Tehran?s nuclear threat is growing and it will have to be halted by force


12-02-07 - Study: U.S., Israel should begin planning strike on Iran nuclear sites From Israel's perspective, Iran presents a potential existential threat, so its nuclear plans must be stopped at almost any price. In contrast, the U.S. is disturbed by the implications of nuclear weapons in Iran but does not see it as an existential threat. .....Freilich says Israel would prefer that the U.S. attack Iran


12-01-07 - Focus Grouping War with Iran After joining a half dozen other women in a conference room, she discovered that she had been called in for what seemed an unusual assignment: to help test-market language that could be used to sell military action against Iran to the American public. "The whole basis of the whole thing was, 'we're going to go into Iran and what do we have to do to get you guys to along with it?" Read on to see who's behind the curtain on this one. Surprise!


12-01-07 - Bush handed blueprint to seize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal The man who devised the Bush administration's Iraq troop surge has urged the US to consider sending elite troops to Pakistan to seize its nuclear weapons if the country descends into chaos. In a series of scenarios drawn up for Pakistan, Frederick Kagan, a former West Point military historian, has called for the White House to consider various options for an unstable Pakistan.
Kagan is a neocon. In light of this, and the US-Iran war scenarios here and here, you can draw your own conclusions as to the significance of this latest development. Hint, if the threat of rogues getting a hold of Pakistan's nukes are standing in the way of the neocons' long coveted war on Iran, then they got their miracle on 34th street a little early this year.


11-30-07 - Iran to give US "far worse destiny" than Iraq, ex-president says 'If the nuclear dispute is really intended to be solved, then negotiations would be the only way, but if other options (military attack) are envisaged, then the protagonists of such options should know that their destiny would definitely be far worse than in Iraq,' Rafsanjani said in a speech at Friday prayers in Tehran.


11-30-07 - Biden: Impeachment if Bush Bombs Iran Presidential hopeful Delaware Sen. Joe Biden stated unequivocally that he will move to impeach President Bush if he bombs Iran without first gaining congressional approval.


11-26-07 - Peace effort aims to repair damaged U.S. image "Call it a cynical bargain. The Arabs will help the United States on Iraq and Iran if the West helps towards a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because that is what is inflaming Arab opinion,"


11-26-07 - PM to discuss Iran with Bush during U.S. visit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President George W. Bush will on Wednesday discuss ways of stepping up efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear program before Bush's term in office ends in the coming year. The meeting will be held the day after the Annapolis peace conference......"This will be the most important meeting" of the prime minister's visit to the United States, said a senior Olmert aide.....The prime minister is concerned by what in Israel appears to be a drop in the U.S.'s determination to take action against Iran................Israeli officials said in closed meetings that it would be best if the United States attacked Iran - and not Israel alone.
Note that last sentence and the source. Whose war is this? This meeting will be held the day after the Annapolis conference because the conference itself is a dog and pony show to get the rest of the Arab nations to support US action against Iran (at Israel's behest).

11-23-07 - Hands Off Iran an attack on Iran--which appears increasingly likely before the coming presidential election--will unleash a regional conflict of catastrophic proportions


11-23-07 - A plan to attack Iran swiftly and from above


11-22-07 - Five reasons to bomb Iran now Note the source.


11-21-07 - Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence


11-21-07 - Look Who's Downplaying Iran's Nuclear Threat Podhoretz and company could have difficulties presenting a case for going to war against Iran in order to protect Israel?both Israel's foreign minister and a former head of the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, have suggested that if Iran does acquire nuclear weapons, Israel would deal with it by deterring Iran. Not attacking it.


11-21-07 - GOP Jewish group polls on Iran strike The questions, recalled by a focus group participant, were: "How would you feel if Hillary [Clinton] bombed Iran? How would you feel if George Bush bombed Iran? And how would you feel if Israel bombed Iran?"


11-21-07 - Gates again invokes possible Iran strike "This is not about changing the regime in Iran," Gates told a group of community leaders at a Whiteman Air Force Base lunch. "It's about getting the regime in Iran to change its behavior, and its policies."


11-21-07 - A Conservative View of Iran by Philip Giraldi Contrary to the repeated assertions by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, an endless series of threats emanating from Washington is not diplomacy. The United States is refusing to negotiate with Iran, and the only obstacle to a war from the U.S. side is the resistance coming from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and some military and naval officers, most notably the Central Command's Admiral William Fallon, who are heavily outnumbered by those in the administration and outside it who are pro-war.....Powerful lobbying groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) continue to resist talks and urge a military resolution.


11-20-07 - Focus Grouping War with Iran


11-19-07 - Why Attack Iran? More and more people seem to take it as given that a nuclear-armed Iran would use its nuclear weapons to attack the United States. Yet there is no plausible argument, and very little evidence, for that conclusion.

11-18-07 - As U.S. presses for more sanctions, nations remain divided on Iran As Iran expands its capacity to enrich uranium for what the Bush administration charges will become a nuclear weapons program, the international community is pursuing two diplomatic tracks that may be at cross purposes and lead to military action rather than a peaceful solution.


11-17-07 - Iran says ready to act if attacked "We never want any war in this region, but from another front, we have made all preparations, and if there is any suspicion on this matter, then we are ready," said Ahmadinejad, speaking through an interpreter.


11-15-07 - In the Hands of the Military The battle is between the Cheney camp, which would like to carry out strikes on Iran before Bush leaves office, and Gates and his senior generals.


11-13-07 - Is World War III on hold? by Patrick J. Buchanan Is a Bush pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz, or on the Al Quds force of the Revolutionary Guard, a more remote possibility today than it was several weeks ago? So it would seem.



11-13-07 - FT Also Sees Pentagon Opposition to Iran Attack I would add that the last week?s events in Pakistan ? not to mention the continuing rise in oil prices and rapid decline in the U.S. dollar ? have also probably set back the hawks? hopes of confrontation with Iran


11-11-07 - Rice denies US on warpath with Iran "The top of my agenda is Iran," Bush said as they met on his Texas ranch


11-11-07 - Iraqi Fighters 'Grilled for Evidence on Iran' 'They push a lot for us to establish a link with Iran. They have pre-categories for us to go through, and by the sheer volume of categories there's clearly a lot more for Iran than there is for other stuff. Of all the recent requests I've had, I'd say 60 to 70 per cent are about Iran.......Other military intelligence officials in Iraq refused to comment, but one said: 'The message is, "Got to find a link with Iran, got to find a link with Iran." It's sickening.'

Making the case for war.

11-10-07 - Elections in US, Iran could escalate nuclear row: former German FM Fischer warned the United States not to start again a war that could not be won. An attack on Iran would noly boost Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chances in or re-elections next year.


11-10-07 - Kucinich bill to impeach Cheney goes to committee Kucinich introduced a Cheney impeachment measure in April, but said he pushed to have it considered on the House floor on Tuesday because he fears that recent comments from Bush and Cheney indicate they're planning an attack on Iran


11-09-07 - Is a vote for Rudy a vote for war? By Patrick J. Buchanan A second member of Rudy's team is Martin Kramer, an Israeli-American who, according to Ken Silverstein of Harper's, "spent 25 years at Tel Aviv University and whose Middle East policy can best be summarized as, 'What's best for Israel?'" Silverstein calls Rudy's eight-man advisory group "AIPAC's Dream Team" ? AIPAC being the Israeli lobby, two of whose leaders go on trial in January for espionage against the United States.


11-08-07 - West Coast City Formally Rejects Iran Attack The eight-member city council of Oakland, home to nearly half a million people, unanimously passed a symbolic resolution opposing any U.S. attack against Iran Tuesday, in a bid to pressure lawmakers in Congress to reestablish their constitutional authority over U.S foreign policy and war policy and funding


11-08-07 - "Severe" consequences if US bombs Iran -- US Senator Hagel


11-08-07 - U.S. Says Attack Plans for Iran Ready The Army and Marine Corps are under enormous strain from years of heavy ground fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, the United States has ample air and naval power to strike Iran if President Bush decided to target nuclear sites or to retaliate for alleged Iranian meddling in neighboring Iraq.


11-08-07 - Giuliani: U.S. can't afford to rule out war with Iran


11-08-07 - US fears Israeli strike against Iran over latest nuclear claim The Pentagon is reluctant to take military action against Iran, but officials say that Israel is a ?different matter?.


11-07-07 - Bush elaborates on Iran nukes' warning President Bush elaborated on his recent warning that an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel would trigger World War III. Bush on Wednesday cited the threatening language from Tehran about Israel.



11-07-07 - Bush defends World War Three comments on Iran "The reason I said that is because this is a country that has defied the IAEA -- in other words, didn't disclose all their program -- have said they want to destroy Israel," Bush said in the interview with German broadcaster RTL. Whose war?


11-07-07 - Joe Lieberman's War by Philip Giraldi


11-06-07 - Gulf armies ready for possibility of US-Iran war: Saudi The armed forces of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are prepared for the possibility of an armed conflict between the United States and Iran, Saudi Arabia's deputy defence minister said on Tuesday.


11-05-07 - Mashaal: ME summit US 'distraction' for war with Iran "Strategically, it (the US) is setting the stage and covering up for the upcoming American war in the region,"

11-03-07 - Military action still an option with Iran, Cheney says in Dallas


11-03-07 - Why war with Iran is likely The yearlong hate-fest directed at Tehran is clearly paying off.


11-02-07 - Dems jockey over Iran Democratic presidential candidates jockeyed over moves to keep President Bush from attacking Iran.


11-02-07 - The Easy Way to Stop the Looming US Attack on Iran


11-01-07 - Helen Thomas: Giuliani Wants To Widen The War He is being guided by a bunch of discredited conservative hawks who once had advised Bush to attack Iraq in a "preventive war." For a while they ran for cover but now they are back and egging Bush on to bomb Iran's military sites.


11-01-07 - Stop the Insanity: No War With Iran By Gov. Bill Richardson


10-31-07 - 'IDF can destroy Iran's nuclear program' "We don't see anyone trying to stop Iran," he added They won't if they can get us to do it for them.


10-31-07 - U.S. to face "quagmire" if attacks Iran: commander


10-31-07 - For Neocons, Iran Aim Is Still Regime Change Vice President Dick Cheney and his neoconservative allies in the George W. Bush administration only began agitating for the use of military force against Iran once they had finally given up the illusion that regime change in Iran would happen without it. Wasn't Ahmadinejad democratically elected? Remember that whole democracy drive for the Middle East? Neocon 'democracy' defined: elect Israel-friendly regimes or else.


10-30-07 - FM: World must halt Iran nukes regardless of economic interest Even if it had the bomb, Iran would never be dumb enough to strike Israel. This matter is entirely about having the upper hand in the area - and Israel seeks to retain that edge, no matter the cost in American blood and treasure, because it sure the hell isn't Israel fighting in Iraq, and it won't be Israel that attacks Iran. Whose war is this?


10-30-07 - Iranian general warns of Gulf suicide bombings Iranian military and political leaders have vowed never to initiate an attack but have also warned of a crushing response to any strike against its territory.


10-30-07 - US downplays talk of Iran attack Cat's out of the bag.


10-30-07 - Attacking Iran for Israel? The Israelis appear convinced they have extracted a promise from Bush and Cheney that they will help Israel nip Iran?s nuclear program in the bud before they leave office. Ray McGovern = former CIA official.


10-30-07 - Bomb Iran, majority of Americans says in new poll The neocon propaganda blitz in the mainstream media worked (again).


10-29-07 - Secret move to upgrade air base for Iran attack plans The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources.


10-29-07 - Senators refuse to rule out Iran attack Appearing on CBS News' "Face the Nation," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said, "A military engagement with Iran is a very dangerous thing, and nobody wants to go down that road."


10-29-07 - Bush Budget Plans for Iran Attack An item buried in President Bush?s latest request for $190 billion in emergency war funding offers telling evidence that the U.S. could be preparing an attack on Iran.


10-28-07 - No evidence Iran building nukes: UN watchdog chief UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed El Baradei said he had no evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons and accused US leaders of adding "fuel to the fire" with recent bellicose rhetoric.


10-28-07 - Iran steps up preparations for US war


10-28-07 - Buchanan sees attack on Iran Former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan believes the Bush administration will attack Iran before the president leaves office in 2009....."A vote for Rudy becomes a virtual vote for permanent war in the Middle East," he said.


10-28-07 - Cheney's Plan for Iran Attack Starts With Israeli Missile Strike


10-27-07 - Will Bush really bomb Iran? A senior Pentagon source, who remembers the growing drumbeat of war before the invasion of Iraq, believes Bush is preparing for military action before he leaves office in January 2009. ?This is for real now. I think he is signalling he is going to do it,? he said.


10-27-07 - Edwards raps Clinton, Romney on Iran Edwards, a Democratic former senator, said Clinton made a mistake when she voted recently to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization because President Bush could use the designation to launch military attacks

10-26-07 - US denies being on warpath with Iran LOL.


10-26-07 - Iran says it's safe from US attack Iran's leadership boasts it is safe from U.S. military action, saying Washington knows an attack would find no world support and send oil prices skyrocketing. That confidence is buoying the government in its standoff with the West, despite new sanctions.


10-26-07 - We must bomb Iran, says US Republican guru The tough message at a time of crisis between the United States and Iraq was delivered by Norman Podhoretz, one of the founders of neoconservatism, who has also imparted his stark advice personally to a receptive President George W. Bush.


10-25-07 - Israel reissuing gas masks Israel plans to reissue gas masks to its citizens. 3 guesses why.


10-25-07 - US imposes new sanctions on Iran The US declared the Revolutionary Guards a "proliferator of weapons of mass destruction", a reference to ballistic missiles they are allegedly developing, while their elite overseas operations arm, the Quds Force, was singled out as a "supporter of terrorism". The opening shot has just been fired, folks.


10-24-07 - Media pundits ask: Should the US bomb Iran now?


10-24-07 - Cheney Lays the Foundation for War Is Cheney threatening war against Iran? Yes, that?s exactly what he is doing. As Greg Djerejian reminds us, in the lead-up to the war against Iraq, Cheney gave a number of speeches making clear the intention to resort to arms against Saddam Hussein. And he used exactly the same language, including specifically the key phrase "serious consequences."


10-24-07 - AEI?s Muravchik: 'I Don't Mind If We Bomb Iran Next Month Or The Month After' Muravchik added, "I don't mind if we bomb next month or the month after. I think we have to do it sometime in a short time frame." Matthews then suggested that the real reason Muravchik is pushing for war so soon is not because of national security imperatives, but because Bush is the most likely president to follow through We are being neoCONed again. These folks are the single greatest threat to the American national interest in terms of blood and treasure.


10-24-07 - Bomb Iran? U.S. Requests Bunker-Buster Bombs Tucked inside the White House's $196 billion emergency funding request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is an item that has some people wondering whether the administration is preparing for military action against Iran. Think gas prices are high now, folks?


10-23-07 - Fewer think US adequately thwarting terror Sixty-five percent said they preferred economic or diplomatic moves against Iran, compared to 19 percent who favored military action or threats. Looks like Cheney and the neocons (Israel lobby) have their work cut out for them.


10-23-07 - U.S. talking even tougher on Iran, but also pushing Palestinian state Israel and the pro-Israel lobby has long counted on Elliott Abrams, President Bush's deputy national security adviser and peace process skeptic who usually has the last word on such issues. Yet it is Abrams and his boss, Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, who are in Israel this week, precisely to make clear that Bush wants action ahead of Annapolis......Despite such pressures, Israel is getting relief on what it sees as the more pressing issue: Iran. In the Oct. 17 press conference, Bush made it clear how far he had traveled toward Israeli thinking. For the first time, Bush described nuclear know-how -- not just the acquisition of weapons -- as a red line.....Israel says the moment will come when the Iranians know how to build a bomb, which might be as early as next year. Until Bush's comments, the Americans had set Iran's capacity to build a bomb -- within three to ten years -- as the deadline for possible military action. Registration is free. Note the source (horse's mouth). All of this bs about I-P peace is a ruse. Notice how the closer we get to this conference, the more bellicose and fervent the rhetoric of Bush and Cheney about the need to strike Iran.


10-23-07 - Biden Says Bush Could Use Iranian Measure to Wage War (Update1) Democrat Joe Biden, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said President George W. Bush could use a measure calling the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group as a justification for war.


10-22-07 - On the Eve of Destruction by Scott Ritter . In 2001, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Hadley (then the deputy national security adviser) instituted what has been referred to as the ?Hadley Rules,? a corollary of which is that no move will be made which alters the ideological positioning of Iran as a mortal enemy of the United States. From an article in yesterday's news batch, you'll notice that Bolton too was in on that action.


10-22-07 - SAS raiders enter Iran to kill gunrunners BRITISH special forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret border war against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard?s Al-Quds special forces, defence sources have disclosed......Liam Fox, the Conservative defence spokesman, said: "Increasingly Iran poses a direct threat to our armed forces and our wider interests . . . they are playing a very dangerous game." And so it begins...


10-20-07 - US will not be able to use Afghanistan to attack: Iran FM "The people of Afghanistan will never allow America to use Afghanistan against any other country. This our belief, this is our trust,"


10-20-07 - Iran to fire '11,000 rockets in minute' if attacked Iran warned on Saturday it would fire off 11,000 rockets at enemy bases within the space of a minute if the United States launched military action against the Islamic republic


10-20-07 - Iran minister says U.S. in no position to attack The United States is in no position to attack Iran because it is bogged down in the conflict in Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.


10-19-07 - We can attack Iran, says US commander


10-19-07 - Military Resistance Forced Shift on Iran Strike The Joint Chiefs were soon joined in opposition to a strike on Iran by Admiral William Fallon, who was nominated to become CENTCOM commander in January. Mann says Pentagon contacts have also told her that Fallon made his opposition to war against Iran clear to the White House. The time to speak up is NOW.


10-19-07 - The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know When Mann and Leverett went public with the inside story behind the impending disaster with Iran, the White House dismissed them. Then it imposed prior restraint on them, an extraordinary episode of government censorship. Finally, it threatened them. Now they are afraid of the White House, and watching what they say. But still, they feel they have to speak out.......On Monday, Leverett went straight to Rice's office for an explanation. She told him that Ariel Sharon had called early elections in Israel and asked Bush to shelve any Palestinian plan. This time Leverett couldn't hide his exasperation. "You told the whole world you were going to put this out before Christmas," he said. "Because one Israeli politician told you it's going to make things politically difficult for him, you don't put it out? Do you realize how hard that makes things for all our Arab partners?".....In Time magazine, former CIA officer and author Robert Baer quoted a highly placed White House official: "IEDs are a casus belli for this administration. There will be an attack on Iran."....."We're tired," Mann says. "Nobody listens."

I'm listening! Thank you for having the courage to speak out. This is a long article, but well worth the read. It deals with the Palestine issue, and shows the influence that Cheney and the neocons have had over both that issue and the issue of Iran and Syria (two more targets on Israel's wishlist). Note Ariel Sharon's power over our president - George Bush.


10-18-07 - US Senator Coleman: 'If action is going to be taken, it's not going to be Israel alone' If military action is undertaken against Iran, Israel won't be doing it alone, US Senator Norm Coleman told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. No Senator. Like Iraq, it will be the US alone, on Israel's behalf.


10-18-07 - Commentary: Not since Stalin The bomb-Iran-now lobby received a new assist this week from one of
its most vocal armchair strategists. Michael Ledeen's new book, "The
Iranian Time Bomb," says the United States is faced with two
terrible alternatives: either accommodate a nuclear Iran determined
to create a global caliphate modeled "on the bloodthirsty regime in
Tehran, or bomb Iran and deal with all the unpredictable
consequences that entails."
Ledeen = neocon.


10-18-07 - PBS Frontline October 23 : Showdown with Iran FRONTLINE INVESTIGATES MOUNTING TENSION FOR THE U.S. IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND ASKS: IS IRAN NEXT?
And PBS is still giving prominent airtime to neocons, I see.


10-17-07 - US will continue to work with Russia on Iran nuclear threat: Bush "We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," Bush said at a White House press conference after Russia cautioned against military action against Tehran's suspect atomic program. "So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," said Bush.



10-17-07 - Will We Fall For War Vs. Iran?


10-16-07 - Gates Says All Options On Table For Iran Among a string of U.S. objectives in the Middle East, Gates listed an Iran that does not build nuclear weapons or ?hold Israel hostage with the threat of attack.?


10-16-07 - Pelosi Rejects Any House Vote On Iranian Revolutionary Guard The measure, sponsored by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Kyl (R-Ariz.), passed the Senate last month. And Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and other critics have said the vote gives the Bush administration a rational for military action in Iran.


10-15-07 - 'Many in the US military think Bush and Cheney are out of control' Many in the US military think Bush and Cheney are out of control. They are rebelling against Bush and Cheney...I regard the Israelis as opponents of a war with Iran which would involve them Excellent. Keep it up! As to the last statement in the excerpt: of course Israel won't fight that war: that's why she's getting US to do it for them (again).


10-15-07 - No Legitimate Justification for War with Iran: By Scott Ritter there is simply nothing transpiring in Iran today that constitutes categorization as an imminent threat to the national security of the United States, and as such nothing about the Iranian situation can be interpreted as providing justification for any accelerated military action that seeks to circumvent due process. However, the reality is that the United States continues to plan to initiate and sustain a military strike against Iran.


10-15-07 - WMD Chaser, Scott Ritter, Spreads Anti-War Advice Ritter also warned that preventing war with Iran should be liberals? top priority because that war would be far more dangerous than the war in Iraq.The Bush administration is heating up the rhetoric against Iran and making false claims that the country is trying to develop nuclear weapons, Ritter said. "The American public is being imprinted to accept at face value" that Iran poses a threat.



10-15-07 - Why are the Israelis lying about striking a "nuclear facility" in Syria? It also, I believe, prefigures, on a much smaller scale, the sequence of events likely to trigger war with Iran: an Israeli strike, Iranian retaliation via Hezbollah, followed by American intervention, which would be practically inevitable. Former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Giraldi has a similar article in the current (October 22) issue of The American Conservative. Israel wants to include Syria on the hitlist in any possible attack on Iran by the US, IMO. And she's looking for a pretext, any old one will do. This was a dry run. As we inch closer to a(nother) Israel-Palestinian 'peace agreement', we inch closer to WWIII.


10-14-07 - Iran darkens 2008 White House race The specter of a hypothetical US military strike on Iran is emerging as a dominant foreign policy theme in a 2008 White House race already haunted by the war in Iraq.


10-13-07 - "Seven countries in five years" While the Bush White House promotes the possibility of armed conflict with Iran, a tantalizing passage in Wesley Clark's new memoir suggests that another war is part of a long-planned Department of Defense strategy that anticipated "regime change" by force in no fewer than seven Mideast states. Critics of the war have often voiced suspicions of such imperial schemes, but this is the first time that a high-ranking former military officer has claimed to know that such plans existed. ..... '...We're going to take out seven countries in five years.' And he named them, starting with Iraq and Syria and ending with Iran."


10-13-07 - We rush to war in Iran at our own peril by Bob Barr


10-12-07 - Rudy: Romney Made 'Big Mistake' at Debate Responding to a hypothetical question about whether he would seek congressional action prior to involving the U.S. militarily with Iran, Romney said at the debate Tuesday: ?You sit down with your attorneys and tell you want you have to do, but obviously the president of the United States has to do what's in the best interest of the United States to protect us against a potential threat." Look at these pathetic SOBs, outdoing themselves with the talk of attacking Iran, in order to please their AIPAC overloads. Repulsive.

10-10-07 - How the Military Can Stop an Iran Attack .... a new appeal signed by Daniel Ellsberg, Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright and many other leaders of the American peace movement: "ATTENTION: Joint Chiefs of Staff and all U.S. Military Personnel: Do not attack Iran." The initiative responds to the growing calls for an attack on Iran from the likes of Norman Podhoretz and John Bolton, and the reports of growing war momentum in Washington by reporters like Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker and Joe Klein of Time......Asked in an online discussion September 27 whether the Bush Administration will launch a war against Iran, Washington Post intelligence reporter Dana Priest replied, "Frankly, I think the military would revolt and there would be no pilots to fly those missions." REVOLT NOW. Thanks.


10-10-07 - Israel's Strike On Syrian Facilities Was a Dry Run - Philip Giraldi


10-10-07 - The man who stands between US and new war Pentagon sources say Mr Gates is waging a subtle campaign to undermine the Cheney camp by encouraging the army's senior officers to speak frankly about the overstretch of forces, and the difficulty of fighting another war. I urge all relevant people in the administration and out to speak out now before - as one popular political commentator with whom this webmistress corresponds believes - it's too late.


10-10-07 - Bomb, Bomb Iran Hillary?s hawkish Iran vote was an ill-advised move, especially given her private view that Cheney is untrustworthy and given Sy Hersh?s New Yorker report claiming that Cheney had pushed to devise a plan to attack the Revolutionary Guard facilities in Iran.


10-09-07 - Fineman: Intel Community To Release ?Three Iran Reports? To ?Slow Down? Bush?s Warmongering On the Chris Matthews Show today, NBC?s Howard Fineman revealed that the intelligence community will release ?three different reports? in upcoming weeks to ?slow down? the administration?s current drumbeat for war with Iran:


10-09-07 - War on Iran cannot be ruled out: Albright Albright, who was born Marie Korbelova in Prague in 1937, defends the idea of a missile defence system in Central Europe despite resistance from Moscow.


10-08-07 - US steps up accusations against Iran Statements like those by General Petraeus could be part of an attempt to turn US public opinion in favour of military action against Iran - in particular, air strikes against revolutionary guard bases.


10-08-07 - Clinton's Iran Vote Prompts A Harsh Back-and-Forth Rolph asked Clinton to explain her Senate vote Wednesday for a resolution urging the Bush administration to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. Rolph interpreted that measure as giving Bush authority to use military action against the Iranians.




10-08-07 - The Big Lie: 'Iran Is a Threat' by Scott Ritter On every point, the case made against Iran collapses upon closer scrutiny. ....Most if not all the claims made by the United States concerning Iranian military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been backed up with anything stronger than rhetoric, and more often than not are subsequently contradicted by other military and governmental officials, citing a lack of specific evidence. Iran as a nation represents absolutely no threat to the national security of the United States, or of its major allies in the region, including Israel......The fact of the matter is that the ?Iranian Threat? is derived solely from the rhetoric of those who appear to seek confrontation between the United States and Iran, and largely divorced from fact-based reality.


10-07-07 - The fallout from an attack on Iran would be devastating Just as in the runup to the invasion of Iraq, the Washington air is thick with unsubstantiated claims about weapons of mass destruction; demonisation of the country's president has reached bizarre proportions; intelligence leaks about links with al-Qaida and attacks on US and British targets are now routine; demands for war from the administration's neoconservative outriders are becoming increasingly strident; the pronouncements of George Bush and his vice-president, Dick Cheney, are turning ever more belligerent - and administration sources claim that the British government is privately ready to play ball......despite the populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ugly remarks about the Holocaust, it is the nuclear states America and Israel that now threaten and have the capacity to attack Iran, not the other way round.


10-07-07 - Report: Britain to back U.S. air strikes on Iran British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has agreed to support U.S. air strikes against Iran if the Islamic country orchestrates large-scale attacks by militants against British or American forces in Iraq, a British newspaper said on Sunday.


10-07-07 - Making the Same Mistake Twice Certainly all of the negative comments about Iran that are coming from Israel, its lobby and its foot-kissers in Congress, and from the White House and the Pentagon, look remarkably like a buildup for a new war.


10-07-07 - Brown aide plays down US talk of Iran threat Diplomatic relations between Britain and the United States over Iran are under increasing strain after Gordon Brown's special security adviser warned that American claims about Tehran's military capability should be taken 'with a pinch of salt'.......More recently Freedom's Watch took out ads describing Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as 'a terrorist'. According to the New York Times, anonymous benefactors told the paper that the group plans to sponsor a private forum of experts on Islam to make the case that Iran poses a direct threat to the US.......But it is the link with Cheney that is the strongest, leading to the widespread view that the organisation is in effect his own creature


10-06-07 - Dubai police chief warns against Western attack on Iran Tamim, who was speaking at a forum on Friday night, was arguing for closer Gulf Arab ties with Iran and advocating that it join the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose six member states are close US allies.


10-06-07 - US hawk David Wurmser 'plotted Iran war' Preceding him through the exit doors were figures such as Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, Doug Feith, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Robert Joseph and J.D.Crouch. This string of departures, Mr Wurmser concedes, is partly because there is "some degree of frustration" with the direction of President George W. Bush's foreign policy as career diplomats under Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, have reasserted themselves.
Do we dare hope that the America-firsters, if any, in this administration will prevail before the neocons start WWIII by attacking Iran?...


10-05-07 - Iraq official says "big fat no" to attack on Iran "The whole area will be in flames, and Iraq will be the battlefield for all this, and we will pay heavily," Rubaie said at an event in Washington hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.


10-05-07 - Bush denies plans to attack Iran Bush pledged to support Palestinian security forces and help President Mahmoud Abbas financially so that ordinary people's lives would be improved.


10-05-07 - Byrd: Senate?s ?Saber-Rattling? Is ?Sleep-Walking? America To War With Iran It is deeply troubling to see the U.S. Senate joining the chest-pounding and saber-rattling of the Bush administration. I am no apologist for the Iranian regime, anymore than I was for Saddam Hussein, but I fear that we may become entangled in another bloody quagmire. We have been down this path before. We have seen all too clearly where it leads.


10-05-07 - Who Wants To Bomb Iran? Democrats, Not Republicans, Says Seymour Hersh When I asked Hersh who wants to bomb Iran, he said, "Ironically there is a lot of pressure coming from Democrats. Hillary Clinton, Obama, and Edwards have all said we cannot have a nuclear-armed Iran. Clearly the pressure from Democrats is a reflection of - we might as well say it - Israeli and Jewish input." He added the obvious: "a lot of money comes to the Democratic campaigns" from Jewish contributors.


10-05-07 - US 'must break Iran and Syria regimes' In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the first since he left government, he argued that the United States had to be prepared to attack both Syria and Iran to prevent the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and nuclear proliferation in the Middle East that could result in a much wider war. Unf'kingbelievable. Especially seeing as how Ba'athist Syria is nowhere near under the rule of Islamic fundamentalists. To the contrary: they quash that type of behavior and fast (as did Saddam, believe it or not). These two countries do not pose a threat to the US. They do however pose a threat to ISRAEL. Wurmser is a tried and true NEOCON, whose primary allegiance is clearly to said nation, not the US.


10-04-07 - We won't follow US into Iran says Downer Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has ruled out Australian involvement in any United States-led military action in Iran.


10-03-07 - Are U.S. and Iran headed for war?


10-03-07 - Clinton backs bill on Congress OK for Iran war U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) signed on to legislation requiring authorization for a war against Iran.


10-03-07 - Iran says US too tied up to fight Washington's military commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan would hamstring an attempt to wage war on Iran, the Iranian foreign minister has said.


10-03-07 - Sen. Gravel Say AIPAC Is Pushing Confrontation With Iran

10-02-07 - Paging Sen. Biden By Patrick J. Buchanan The War Party is said to be readying a rollout of a big propaganda campaign for war on Iran like the one that stampeded us into the war in Iraq. President Bush got the ball rolling at the American Legion Convention.....Bush's shifting rationale for war on Iran is consistent with what The New Yorker's Sy Hersh reports. The case for war and the initial target list have been changed -- from Iran's nuclear program to Iran's Quds Force.


10-02-07 - Beating the Drums for the Next War


10-02-07 - US garners support for strike on Iran AUSTRALIA, Britain and Israel have reportedly "expressed interest" in a US campaign to launch surgical bombing raids on Iran targeting Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities.


10-01-07 - Big Coffers and a Rising Voice Lift a New Conservative Group Mr. Sembler, who is on the board of directors of the American Enterprise Institute, said the impetus for Freedom?s Watch ?came out of A.E.I.? last winter These aren't conservatives. These are NEOconservatives.


09-30-07 - Richardson says war with Iran is unwise "I believe it would be enormously unwise for the Bush administration to start another war before ending this tragic war we're in today and it does sound like the administration is ramping up. You can just see it," he said.


09-30-07 - Dems would exhaust Iran options Democratic presidential candidates said they would exhaust diplomatic options before sanctioning an attack on Iran. Notice the fact that American national security isn't being threatened by Iran isn't a factor in this 'debate' about whether or not the US should attack Iran.


09-30-07 - Report: Israel unhappy with U.S. plan for Iran According to correspondent Seymour Hersh, the plan was shared with U.S. allies including Israel, which raised objections to the relative lack of Iranian nuclear facilities on a target roster that instead focused on military training camps.


09-30-07 - US considers strikes on Iran's military: report During a video conference over the summer, Mr Bush allegedly told Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq, that he was considering striking Iranian targets across the border and that the British "were on board", Mr Hersh writes. But Israeli leaders were dismayed that the US had decided not to target Iran's nuclear program and French officials expressed doubts about the possible limited air strikes, he said



09-30-07 - Neocons seek to justify action against Teheran Some US diplomats believe the exercise ? reminiscent of attempts by vice-president Dick Cheney and the former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to build the case against Saddam Hussein before the Iraq war ? will boost calls for military action by neo-conservatives inside and outside the administration.


09-30-07 - US trains Gulf air forces for war with Iran The American air force is working with military leaders from the Gulf to train and prepare Arab air forces for a possible war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.


09-30-07 - Stranger Than Strangelove Can it be that a lowly "airman" has thwarted one or more paranoids in the White House?


09-30-07 - Hersh: 'War with Iran will be about protecting the troops in Iraq' "They've changed their rhetoric, really. The name of the game used to be nuclear threat," Hersh said on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, adding a moment later, "They've come to the realization that it's not selling, it isn't working. The American people aren't worried about Iran as a nuclear threat certainly as they were about Iraq. So they've switched, really."


09-30-07 - Bolton calls for bombing of Iran


09-29-07 - Why Did Israel Attack Syria? before an attack on Iran could be countenanced, Hezbollah in Lebanon had to be destroyed and Syria at the very least cowed. The plan was to isolate Tehran on these two other hostile fronts before going in for the kill. Israel's attack on Lebanon was a prelude to an attack on Iran.


09-29-07 - Debunking the Neocons' Iran War Measure The Lieberman-Kyle amendment has just passed the Senate overwhelmingly after two sections were removed to satisfy Democrats that it will not serve as a backdoor authorization for war against Iran, using U.S. forces operating in Iran.


09-29-07 - Anti-Iran Hawks Win Partial Victory in Congress its huge margin of approval, which some observers said was boosted by this week's controversial visit to New York by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, helped demonstrate once again how responsive members of both major parties are to the so-called "Israel Lobby," which has made the sanctions bill its top legislative priority this year......the first call for cross-border attacks on Iranian targets was made by the Senate's "independent" Democrat, Joseph Lieberman, who is regarded as particularly close to the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)......As introduced, the amendment, which, according to several Capitol Hill sources, was drafted by AIPAC, actually went considerably further, deploying language that some senators argued could be interpreted as authorizing war against Iran.


09-28-07 - Attack on Iran Said To Be Imminent "It's not at all clear where Brown is at," Mr. Bolton told the Sun. "The question is, ?Will Britain follow in the footsteps of France?'" Either way, Mr. Bolton said he did not invest too much hope in Security Council diplomacy.


09-28-07 - Iraq Will Have to Wait By Scott Ritter


09-28-07 - US: Missile defense will avert Iran war The chief U.S. missile defense negotiator defended plans to place anti-missile sites in Eastern Europe, saying Wednesday that the system could prevent a war with Iran by building an effective deterrent.


09-26-07 - Webb: Lieberman And Kyl?s Hawkish Iran Amendment Is 'Cheney?s Fondest Pipe Dream' On the Senate floor today, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) made an impassioned appeal to his fellow senators, declaring that the Lieberman-Kyl amendment on Iran should be "withdrawn" because the "proposal is Dick Cheney?s fondest pipe dream." Webb cautioned that the "cleverly-worded sense of the Congress" could be "interpreted" to "declare war" on Iran


09-25-07 - THE MCLAUGHLIN GROUP Transcript for 09/21/07 MR. BUCHANAN: Everything you read about Cheney is he's saying, "Condi Rice has failed. Let's get on with it." I think the Israelis are pushing it. We don't know what that strike in Syria was about. The neoconservatives are pushing it; the AEI. They're holding their little sessions there, promoting this idea. It is the biggest issue in D.C. right now.


09-25-07 - What World War III May Look Like by Philip Giraldi That's former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Giraldi.


09-25-07 - Top neocon urged Bush to bomb Iran during private White House meeting One of the few remaining neoconservatives in America was recently granted a private audience in the White House to deliver a 45-minute sales pitch to convince President Bush, accompanied by political deputy Karl Rove, to bomb Iran.

09-24-07 - Cheney mulled luring Iran into war with Israel: report the weekly said the steady departure of neoconservatives from the administration over the past two years had helped tilt the balance away from war.


09-24-07 - Talk of war is 'propaganda': Iranian leader President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Monday dismissed talk of war against Iran as "propaganda" and combatively took on US critics who accuse him of denying the Holocaust and backing terrorism.


09-24-07 - Brzezinski: U.S. in danger of 'stampeding' to war with Iran "I think the administration, the president and the vice president particularly, are trying to hype the atmosphere, and that is reminiscent of what preceded the war in Iraq," Brzezinski told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.


09-23-07 - Military chief: 'No war' with Iran Mm k.


09-23-07 - Is Steve Clemons Right? ? Will Bush Bomb Iran?


09-23-07 - Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike


09-23-07 - Cheney seeks pretext for war as US reestablishes elite Air Force wing The group is led by Brigadier-General Lawrence Stutzriem, and assisted by a former Israeli military officer and cyberwarfare expert.


09-22-07 - Janeane Garofalo: 'Bush is a War Criminal,' 'O'Reilly Can Kiss My Fat A' Our support of Israel to the detriment of the Palestinian people and the American people is not wise, and it's been responsible for a lot of problems. And the way the mainstream media portrays the Palestinians is totally unfair...Our Israeli policy is very dangerous for us, and for them. I don't think the Knesset, the rightwing of the Knesset, represents the Israeli people any more than the rightwing of this government represents the American people.


09-22-07 - Iran leader warns West over perils of attack "Military aggression against Iran is no longer a case of 'you hit and you run away,'" said supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Anyone who launches an aggression will seriously suffer the consequences of this aggression."


09-21-07 - Is terrorism really a mortal threat? by Patrick J. Buchanan For all the blather of a restored caliphate, the "Islamo-fascists," as the neocons call them, cannot create or run a modern state, or pose a mortal threat to America. The GNP of the entire Arab world is not equal to Spain's. Oil aside, its exports are equal to Finland's. .......And why would Tehran, which has not launched a war since the revolution in 1979, start a war with an America with 10,000 nuclear weapons? If the Iranians are so suicidal, why have they not committed suicide in 30 years by attacking us or Israel?


09-21-07 - Israel consulted US before Syria strike, report says We are getting much closer to another Middle East war that's going to involve several countries. And if you think the price of gasoline is high NOW...


09-19-07 - The Iran offensive builds


09-18-07 - Adm. Fallon presses case against Iran The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East is pressing Arab allies to form a more united front against Iran, seen by Washington as the region's long-term threat.


09-18-07 - Petraeus not seeking military operations in Iran


09-18-07 - Drift into war with Iran out of control, says UN


09-18-07 - Russia, China worried by Iran attack talk


09-17-07 - IAEA Chief Warns Against Striking Iran Saying only the U.N. Security Council could authorize the use of force, ElBaradei urged the world to remember Iraq before considering any similar action against Iran.


09-17-07 - Britain cannot fight a new war in the Gulf General David Petraeus may be heading an American push to get Britain's forces more engaged along the Iraq/Iran border, but any major shift of British military priorities is effectively out of the question. The British may likely fall into a trap there on the border in order to draw them into a conflict with Iran.


09-17-07 - Abizaid: World could abide nuclear Iran "Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon.".....Abizaid suggested military action to pre-empt Iran's nuclear ambitions might not be the wisest course. Neocons and the rest of the Israeli lobby will now attack Abizaid.


09-16-07 - France warning of war with Iran


09-16-07 - Bush setting America up for war with Iran Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.


09-15-07 - Was Israeli raid a dry run for attack on Iran? The opaqueness surrounding the nature of what may have been hit in Operation Orchard has been compounded by claims that US knowledge over the alleged 'agricultural site' has come not from its own intelligence and satellite imaging, but from material supplied to Washington from Tel Aviv over the last six months, material that has been restricted to just a few senior officials under the instructions of national security adviser Stephen Hadley, leaving many in the intelligence community uncertain of its veracity. Red flag.


09-15-07 - Proxy war could soon turn to direct conflict, analysts warn Hawks led by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, are intensifying their push for military action, with support from Israel and privately from some Sunni Gulf states.......Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counter-terrorism chief who is now a security analyst, said: "The decision to attack was made some time ago.

09-14-07 - U.S.: Syria on Nuclear Watch List Thus will Syria be added to the US's hitlist based on dubious Israeli intel. Syria will get whacked when we hit Iran.


09-14-07 - Stopping the next war by Patrick J. Buchanan As for the "cakewalk" crowd that accused opponents of the war of lacking in patriotism, they never repented of their demagoguery. Despite the pre-invasion propaganda they pumped out about Saddam's awesome weapons and ties to 9/11, or their assurances that U.S. troops would be welcomed with candy and flowers, like Paris in '44, and their prediction that a democracy would arise in Iraq to which Islamic nations would look as a model, they have never been called to account. Now they are back with a new enemy for America to attack.



09-14-07 - War Against Iran and the Logic of Dominance Tom Donnelly was the main author of the neoconservative September 2000 blueprint for military policy in the Bush administration, "Rebuilding America's Defenses" which involved four prominent figures on the neoconservative right who would take prominent positions in the administration: Libby, Wolfowitz, Stephen A. Cambone, and John Bolton.


09-13-07 - INTERVIEW-US says talk of strike against Iran is nonsense The State Department's Iraq coordinator said on Thursday that Washington is studying how to push back against Iran over its atomic program and its actions in Iraq, but dismissed talk of military action as nonsense.


09-13-07 - Was a Covert Attempt to Bomb Iran with Nuclear Weapons foiled by a Military Leak? Consequently, there is considerable circumstantial evidence to argue that the nuclear armed B-52 was part of an apparent covert operation, outside the regular chain of constitutional military command. The alleged authority responsible for this was Vice President Cheney. He very likely used the Secret Service to take charge of a contrived National Special Security Event involving a nuclear armed B-52 that would be flown from Minot AFB. The B-52 was directed to Barksdale Air Force base where it would have conducted a covert mission to the Middle East involving the detonation of one or more nuclear weapons most likely in or in the vicinity of Iran. This could either have occurred during a conventional military strike against Iran, or a False Flag operation in the Persian Gulf region. Or the leak may have been psyops aimed at Iran in order to further their cooperation with the nuclear inspections.


09-12-07 - U.S. Officials Begin Crafting Iran Bombing Plan A recent decision by German officials to withhold support for any new sanctions against Iran has pushed a broad spectrum of officials in Washington to develop potential scenarios for a military attack on the Islamic regime, FOX News confirmed Tuesday. Thus does the neocon-led administration attempt to extort European support for more Iran sanctions.


09-12-07 - Surging Toward Iran A proxy war is being fought in Iraq, but it isn't one pitting the Iranians against the Iraqis: the U.S. is the proxy, fighting on behalf of Israel against Iran and Syria.


09-12-07 - Brown faces domestic pressure over 'proxy war' Gordon Brown faces anger over the deployment of UK troops to Iraq's border with Iran and warnings that the strategy could drag Britain into confrontation with Tehran.


09-11-07 - Anti-Iran hype reaches fever pitch With strong links to US Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the White House, Washington-based AEI has, since the attacks of September 11, 2001, enjoyed unparalleled influence in shaping US interventionist policy in the Middle East. The think-tank helped lead the drive to war in Iraq, and more recently has assumed a prominent role in rallying for regime change in Iran.
These neocons are the biggest threat to this nation.


09-11-07 - Lieberman blames Iran for Iraq attacks, asks if invasion should be authorized Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who is among the Senate's fiercest hawks, blamed Iran for the deaths of "hundreds of American troops," and claimed the US has evidence that Iran is training insurgents outside Tehran before sending them to Iraq. He asked whether the US should expand its invasion into Iran.


09-11-07 - The 'proxy war': UK troops are sent to Iranian border British forces have been sent from Basra to the volatile border with Iran amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran is fomenting a "proxy war". In signs of a fast-developing confrontation, the Iranians have threatened military action in response to attacks launched from Iraqi territory while the Pentagon has announced the building of a US base and fortified checkpoints at the frontier.


09-11-07 - US says Israel jets struck Syria Israeli jets carried out an air strike in Syria last week, a US defence official has said. Dry run.


09-10-07 - Hezbollah could attack US if it felt threatened: spy chief "We assess Lebanese Hezbollah, which has conducted anti-US attacks outside the United States in the past, may be more likely to consider attacking the homeland over the next three years if it perceives the United States as posing a direct threat to the group or Iran," Doubtful. Hezbollah only attacked US forces when we were on Lebanese soil, as horrible as that attack was. Hezbollah, like Hamas, is largely a territorial-based organization. I think that this may be an effort to set the stage for the three-pronged US attack on Iran/Syria/Lebanon(South).


09-10-07 - US plans base on Iraq-Iran border The US military is planning to build its first base near Iraq's border with Iran in order to curb the alleged flow of weapons to Shia militants in Iraq.

09-09-07 - Will the US Really Bomb Iran? Israel wants an attack on Iran, and the Israel lobby calls the shots in US foreign policy. What Israel wants, Israel gets.


09-08-07 - Israeli Jets Run Iran Attack Drill Israeli warplanes may have been testing air routes for a possible attack against Iran when they were fired on by Syrian forces, experts said yesterday. Israeli psyops.


09-08-07 - Outside View: A Sept. rollout for Iran war On Sept. 10 the American Enterprise Institute, a sort of neoconservative administration-in-waiting, will debut the newest book by its ?Freedom Scholar? Michael Ledeen, one of the foremost proponents of the military adventure in Iraq. Titled ?The Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots? Quest for Destruction,? it is a rehash of neocon arguments for ?regime change? -- by military force, if necessary -- in Tehran.


09-07-07 - U.N. nuclear head urges Western patience on Iran plan "We don't see based on evidence we have that (Iran poses) a clear and present danger requiring you to go beyond diplomacy," he said, alluding to military action mooted by U.S. hardliners. "I see war drums (being beaten) by those basically saying the short solution is to bomb Iran, which makes me shudder because the rhetoric reminds me of pre-Iraq war," he said.



09-06-07 - US more eager than Europe for military strikes on Iran: survey Far more Americans than Europeans believe that military force could prove necessary against Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Islamic state's nuclear drive, a major opinion poll said Thursday. That's because we are being prepped for an attack on Iran.


09-06-07 - U.S. Staging Nukes for Iran? Barksdale Air Force Base is being used as a jumping off point for Middle East operations. Gee, why would we want cruise missile nukes at Barksdale Air Force Base. Can?t imagine we would need to use them in Iraq. Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?.....Did someone at Barksdale try to indirectly warn the American people that the Bush Administration is staging nukes for Iran? Sounds like a case of American psyops on Iran.


09-06-07 - Russian Leader Calls For Urgent Delivery Of Anti-aircraft Missile Systems To Iran


09-04-07 - War With Iran Looks More Likely


09-04-07 - Selling War with Iran: Next Week at AEI It's getting to the point where we may need to be ultra wary of any new threats that would implicate Iran.


09-04-07 - The next war? the Bush administration and Israel are painstakingly fashioning a casus belli with Iran.


09-03-07 - Do We Have the Courage to Stop War With Iran?


09-03-07 - Will President Bush bomb Iran? for those who fear war with Iran, the less happy news is that the officials were real. The simulation, which took four months, was run by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with close links to the White House. Its conclusions, drawn up last month and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, have been passed on to military and civilian planners charged with drawing up plans for confronting Iran......Mr Bush's escalation of the rhetoric was deliberate. A former White House aide said that the reference to a "nuclear holocaust" was a precise attempt to bracket Mr Ahmadinejad's quest for nuclear weapons and stated desire to wipe Israel off the map with Hitler's destruction of the Jews. Neocons (Heritage Foundation) and Israel are behind this charade (too).


09-02-07 - Bush Plans War on Iran Lieberman is closely affiliated with American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. ?AIPAC leverages its power by an alliance with the Christian Right, which has adopted a bizarre ideology of ?Christian Zionism,?? according to University of Michigan professor Juan Cole. ?It holds that the sooner the Palestinians are ethnically cleansed, the sooner Christ will come back. Without millions of these Christian Zionist allies,? Cole added, ?AIPAC would be much less influential and effective.?

09-01-07 - Phase III of Bush's War by Patrick J. Buchanan What is to prevent Bush from attacking Iran and widening the war, at a time and place of his choosing, and sooner than we think? Nothing and no one.



09-01-07 - Bush Puts Iran in Crosshairs Not another warning about war with Iran! Well, suck it up. President George W. Bush's speech Tuesday makes clear his plan to attack Iran, and how the intelligence, as was the case before the attack on Iraq, is being "fixed around the policy."


09-01-07 - Showdown Over Iran


09-01-07 - Outsourcing the Case for War With Iran On the heels of President George W. Bush?s latest threats against Iran for its ?murderous activities? in Iraq, the Weekly Standard has obligingly published a 30-page report by Kimberly Kagan, spouse of Surge co-architect and American Enterprise Institute (AEI) fellow Frederick Kagan and director of an entity called The Institute for the Study of War, entitled ?Iran?s Proxy War Against the United States and the Iraqi Government?


09-01-07 - Pentagon 'three-day blitz' plan for Iran THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians? military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.....Israel, which has warned it will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, has made its own preparations for airstrikes and is said to be ready to attack if the Americans back down.




08-30-07 - AEI to Roll Out ?The Iranian Time Bomb? Sep 10 I think it?s very likely we will see a much bigger focus by AEI and the neo-cons, as well as their allies within the administration, on Iran and the necessity of a military confrontation before Bush leaves.


08-29-07 - War With Iran


08-29-07 - Bush Threatens to Confront Iran Over Alleged Support for Iraqi insurgents


08-29-07 - Has Bush Boxed Himself In? by Patrick J. Buchanan Who is pushing for attacks on Iran? Israel and its lobby. Vice President Cheney. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who has been calling for air strikes on al-Quds camps for months. And a War Party facing lasting disgrace for having lied the country into an unnecessary war, and for having assured the American people it would be a "cakewalk."




08-29-07 - Who's Killing American Soldiers in Iraq? by Philip Giraldi The Post's assertion that Iran is already at war with the U.S. has a familiar ring to it. It has already been used by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and was originally coined by the Israel lobby


08-29-07 - Poll: 71% of Israelis want U.S. to strike Iran if talks fail


08-28-07 - Iran dismisses threat of US attack


08-28-07 - Why the US and Israel Should Lose Middle East Wars Let's say it bluntly. War with Iran is inevitable before January 2009 unless Bush and Cheney are both impeached first. New Israeli-U.S. hostilities in Lebanon are also likely. Either warfare or covert actions conducted by the U.S. and/or Israel to bring about regime change in Syria are also probable. Former CIA.


08-28-07 - Bush Warns of Iran's Influence Over Iraq President Bush warned on Tuesday that Iran is plotting to extend its "murderous" influence over Iraq and is threatening to destabilize the Middle East under a "shadow of a nuclear holocaust." We are getting closer...


08-27-07 - Saudis set up force to guard oil plants In anticipation to a response to their backing another US strike on another Muslim country, methinks.


08-27-07 - What happens if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz? U.A.E. is weighing some projects Not a matter of if but when we attack Iran. The case is already being put forth to the American sheeple by the neocons and their many friends in the media.


08-27-07 - The Next War Draws Nearer Hardly a week passes in which I don?t get a message from someone within the great bureaucratic wasteland on the Potomac about the Bush Administration?s latest schemes relating to war against Iran. Now we?re going through another one of those periods in which the pace is quickening and the pitch is becoming more intense.


08-27-07 - Pat Buchanan: Democrats will fall in line with 'popular' war on Iran Buchanan pointed to recent claims by the US military that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (al-Quds) is the source of explosive devices that are killing American soldiers in Iraq, saying, "They're laying down a predicate for military strikes on the al-Quds camps inside Iran. ... And I think then they'd go for the nuclear sites. "

08-26-07 - Terror label 'paves way for air strikes' While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set on diplomacy, Vice-President Dick Cheney is understood to favour air strikes.


08-24-07 - An intensifying US campaign against Iran The result of this buildup of US allegations of Iranian involvement in Iraq could also prove to be a prelude to war: "If you can make the case that Iranians are actually killing Americans, that makes it extremely difficult for those opponents of military action to depict the administration as warmongering," adds Parsi, also the head of the National Iranian American Council.


08-24-07 - More War on the Horizon Israel cannot finish off the Palestinians until Hezbollah is destroyed. An Israeli attack on Syria while the US attacks Iran would leave Hezbollah without supplies in the face of a new Israeli attack......The agenda unfolding before our eyes may be the neoconservative/Israeli/Cheney plan to rid the Middle East of any check to Israeli territorial expansion. It sure the hell is.


08-24-07 - U.S. targets Iranian forces inside Iraq A U.S. regional commander in Iraq said he is ?actively targeting? as many as 20 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who are operating inside Iraq and helping Iraqi insurgents strike U.S. troops.


08-24-07 - CIA said to step up operations against Iran as hawks seek to tie Iraq bombs to Tehran In an effort to build congressional and Pentagon support for military options against Iran, the Bush administration has shifted from its earlier strategy of building a case based on an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons program to one invoking improvised explosive devices (IEDs) purportedly manufactured in Iran that are killing US soldiers in Iraq.


08-23-07 - Bolton: I 'Absolutely' Hope The U.S. Will Attack Iran In The Next 'Six Months' Bolton?s calls for strikes against Iran mirror those of other neocons, such as Bill Kristol and Michael Rubin, who also pushed for the Iraq invasion. Bolton?s claim that ?Iran is interfering in Iraq and is posing a direct threat to our troops? is not a reason to strike the country. In reality, both Gen. Peter Pace and the National Intelligence Estimate have confirmed that Iran is ?not likely? to be a major driver of violence in Iraq.


08-23-07 - Manufacturing Consent For War With Iran


08-23-07 - Drumbeat Of War: Unsavory logic In yet another transparent step in building the case for taking military action against Iran, the Bush administration has said that it intends to place Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps on its list of terror groups. The cool heads at the European Union disagree, but never mind them. Bush knows better, right?


08-23-07 - Bush's War Drums Our VIPS colleague Phil Geraldi, writing in The American Conservative, earlier noted that in the past Karl Rove has served as a counterweight to Vice President Dick Cheney, and may have tried to put the brakes on Cheney's death wish to expand the Middle East quagmire to Iran.


08-22-07 - Tehran gets ready for potential US strikes Despite US foreign policy's focus on the situation in Iraq and in anticipation of September's Congress hearing, high-ranking sources stated that the Iranian leadership is taking US threats to strike its nuclear sites very seriously.


08-19-07 - LOU DOBBS TONIGHT WOOLSEY: If it's not halted. I don't think we've to make that decision yet. My view is the same as John McCain's, which is that using force, air force, presumably, air power, is the worst option for dealing with Iran except for one other, and that's letting them have a nuclear weapon. Down bottom of the transcript. That's neocon Woolsey advocating for an attack on Iran.


08-19-07 - Iran? That's your problem All these goodies were meant to sweeten one simple fact: the United States is not planning to launch a military attack against Iran and is telling its allies in the region: We'll give you arms, and won't forget to encourage you. Good luck against Iran. Billions of dollars later and thousands of American soldiers dead, at some point Israel needs to learn to fight its own battles.


08-19-07 - Iranian commander warns of 'hell' in Gulf The Gulf would become a "hell" for Iran's enemies if they were to attack the Islamic Republic, a commander of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards said.


08-19-07 - Michael Ledeen's Dangerous Iran Obsession Ledeen, James Woolsey, Norman Podhoretz, and others want war now with Iran. They want the bombs to fly.


08-19-07 - Prelude to an Attack on Iran


08-19-07 - What Would War on Iran Do to the Price of Oil?

08-18-07 - Cheney, Lieberman and Iran War Conspiracy Lieberman was acting as a stalking horse for Cheney's proposal, softening up public opinion for later war propaganda.


08-18-07 - Effecting Regime Change in Iran


08-17-07 - U.S. actions against Iran raise war risk, many fear


08-16-07 - "An Attempt to Deceive Americans Into Yet Another War" the unprecedented attempt to label Iran?s 125,000-strong Republican Guard as a ?specially designated global terrorist? group ? is, as the congressman says ?nothing more than an attempt to deceive Americans into yet another war ? this time with Iran.?


08-15-07 - US: Military action on Iran 'not being contemplated' Mm k.


08-15-07 - US turns heat up on Iran If the United States designates the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a "terrorist" organisation, the question will be whether it is an extension of its current efforts to isolate Iran economically or a step towards military action.


08-14-07 - U.S. Weighing Terrorist Label for Iran Guards If imposed, the declaration would signal a more confrontational turn in the administration?s approach to Iran and would be the first time that the United States has added the armed forces of any sovereign government to its list of terrorist organizations.

08-12-07 - U.S. Pressure on Israel for a Palestinian State Foreseen Yogev explains that the Bush Administration is working under the pressure of the 2008 elections. "By then," Yogev posits, "Bush plans to hit the Iranian nuclear infrastructures. This is why he is in such a rush to give the Palestinians and the moderate Moslem states fat weapons deals and a Palestinian state - in order to silence them in anticipation of the planned attack on Iran.".....MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) told Arutz-7 this morning that the summit is something that must be strongly opposed: "This summit could well lead to a Palestinian state, with clear Hamas and Iranian influence, right on the doorstep of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ben Gurion International Airport. Even if it just serves as a small support for this idea, the summit is something that we must not allow."


08-12-07 - Bush, Congress Could Collide On Iran Taking military action against Iran could put President Bush on a collision course with Congress, leading Democrats and a Republican lawmaker cautioned Friday following Bush?s threat of unspecified consequences for alleged Iranian meddling in Iraq.


08-10-07 - Cheney urging strikes on Iran


08-10-07 - Pressure builds in US for tougher action against Iran The pressure is coming from Cheney and the neocons(Israel's primo lobbyists).


08-10-07 - The Iran Attack That Wasn't The story was a big break for the war-with-Iran faction in Washington. Within hours, Sen. Joe Lieberman issued a press release saying that the Iranian government "has declared war on us." That set the stage for the unanimous passage the following week of his amendment stating that "the murder of members of the United States Armed Forces by a foreign government or its agents is an intolerable act of hostility against the United States," and demanding the government of Iran "take immediate action" to end all forms of support it is providing to Iraqi militias and insurgents.




08-09-07 - 'Limited Peace' For Israel,'Limited War' Vs. Iran Destroying the Iranian nuclear infrastructure could be a limited operation. The United States Navy and Air Force, which are not heavily engaged in the Iraq War Again, it's assumed that America is going to (again) do Israel's dirty work. Note the source.


08-08-07 - President Bush promises 'justice' for Iranians interfering in Iraq in Fox interview When Neil Cavuto, host of Fox News' Your World asked if the President included a military attack on Iran among the 'consequences,' Bush gave a cryptic answer. "They will be brought to justice," he said.



08-08-07 - Prospects of Armageddon The same camp whose vocal endorsement led to the present catastrophe in Iraq are now hawkishly gazing at Iran. The same absurd and dangerous logic that defends the nuclear atrocities of 1945 can now be used to support the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons against Iran - the threat of which in turn makes the idea of a conventional attack appear more palatable.


08-06-07 - Study: Israel must initiate talks with U.S. on conflicting Iran interests Israel must prepare for the possibility that the United States will try to resolve the Iranian nuclear question by reaching an accommodation with Tehran, which will not include Israel. In such an event, the document notes, Israel must ensure that "the essential interests of the State of Israel are preserved." .....The document points out that Israel assumes that its interests and those of the United States on the Iranian nuclear question are identical.....The Reut researchers also point to a lessening likelihood of American military action against Iran, and growing support for dialogue with Tehran.



07-31-07 - Iran imperative spurs US aid move When the stated aim of such assistance is, in the words of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "to counter the negative influences of al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran", then it is not hard to see why Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, found nothing to criticise.


07-30-07 - Iran says U.S. is too stretched to attack it Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has told a German magazine that the United States has too many problems in Iraq to become involved in armed conflict with Iran.


07-30-07 - Heritage: Economic Blowback from Bombing Iran Will be Easily Managed Let me guess: it will be a "cakewalk".


07-30-07 - Analysis: Cheney favors attack on Iran a well-informed source tells United Press International that according to senior U.S. intelligence officials, President Bush has definitely decided not to strike any of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons production facilities this year. The sources say the officials stressed the words "this year," meaning in 2007. That, however, does not rule out the possibility of military intervention in 2008, right until January 2009, when Bush's term in the White House comes to an end.


07-29-07 - Israel says U.S. aid to Saudi military is understandable "We understand the need of the United States to support the Arab moderate states and there is a need for a united front between the U.S. and us regarding Iran," Olmert told a weekly Cabinet meeting. The rare agreement reflects shared U.S. and Israeli concern with the potential threat of an Iran with nuclear weapons. Israel doesn't dare complain. It knows that we are arming the Saudis and others for our upcoming attack on Iran.


07-29-07 - Armageddon ? Bring It On According to the Jewish Blumenthal, the typical CUFI member apparently believes "God" wants Bush to do what Lieberman and the Likudniks are urging him to do ? nuke Tehran ? to trigger an all-out nuke war to bring on Armageddon ? the final climatic battle, waged here on the planet Earth, between God and Satan.

07-28-07 - U.S. Outfitting B-2's with Monster Bunker Buster Bombs - Iran May Be Target Experts have noted that a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program could be difficult due to the large number of installations - some of which are buried deep underground in hardened bunkers.


07-28-07 - Christian Group Warns: Iran Wants to Hit Israel First, U.S. Next several Jewish organizations in the United States hold that U.S. officials must do everything in their power to persuade the international community to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear ambitions......"If diplomatic options, economic sanctions could work they could only work if there is a threat of another alternative," said Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League. The Israeli lobby makes sure that Israel's problems become OUR problems.


07-27-07 - U.S. plans big arms sale to Saudi Arabia: report the proposal for advanced weapons for Saudi Arabia has stoked concern in Israel and among its U.S. backers, the Times said......Senior officials, including State Department and Pentagon officials who outlined the deals' terms, told the Times they thought the Bush administration had resolved those concerns, partly by offering Israel more than $30 billion in military aid over the next 10 years, which would be a significant increase over recent levels.....The Times said officials described the plan as intended to bolster Gulf countries' militaries in a bid to contain Iran's growing strength in the region, as well as to demonstrate Washington's commitment to its Arab allies.




07-26-07 - Bush Line Distorts Iran?s Real Interest in Iraq Symptomatic of the toughening attitude in Congress toward Iran was the 97-0 vote in the Senate last week for a resolution drafted by its leading proponent of war against Iran, Sen. Joe Lieberman, stating that ?the murder of members of the United States Armed Forces by a foreign government or its agents is an intolerable act of hostility against the United States.?


07-25-07 - Iran fist-in-glove with Iraqi rebels: America builds its case


07-25-07 - Scott Horton Interviews Philip Giraldi: MP3 Former CIA counter-terrorism officer and Antiwar.com columnist Philip Giraldi debunks the War Party's claims that Iran backs al Qaeda, explains U.S. support for the terrorist groups Mujahadeen-e-Khalq and Jundullah against Iran, and the two most likely circumstances in which Cheney will use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against them. Philip Giraldi = one of the good guys. I strongly encourage you to listen to this interview.


07-24-07 - From Jan. 2007: Iranian Jews Reject Outside Calls To Leave In recent months, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Israeli officials and some American Jewish communal leaders have urged Iranian Jews to leave. But so far, despite generally being allowed to travel to Israel and emigrate abroad, Iranian Jews have stayed put. This goes along with the recent story of pro-Israeli/Israeli(?) officials offering Iranian Jews cold hard cash to lure them out of Iran and into Israel. The question: why? What's the rush? Impending attack?


07-24-07 - $100 Oil Price May Be Months Away, Say CIBC, Goldman Oil prices could triple in three months to more than $200 a barrel, given the right circumstances, according to Matthew Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co., a Houston investment bank. We can guess what they are prepping us for and why. Iran is next.

07-23-07 - Ahead of Talks Between US and Iran, The Economist Warns Against Conflict After the false intelligence that led America into Iraq, and the mayhem that followed, it may seem extraordinary to contemplate attacking yet another and much bigger Muslim country


07-23-07 - Brown refuses to rule out military action against Iran Thus will Britain again be dragged into the mess with us.


07-20-07 - Idiots on the March by Charley Reese Idiots in Israel, along with those American idiots in the punditocracy who can't see where they are going because their vision is blocked by Israeli backsides, are trying to pressure our idiots in the White House to commit an act of insanity. In a nutshell, yes.

07-19-07 - Can't Find Osama? Attack Iran Instead by Philip Giraldi The neoconservative architects of the Pentagon assault on Iraq that has turned that country into a failed state and a magnet for terrorism have left for greener pastures, but not a one has admitted to error or been publicly admonished. Several, including Vice President Dick Cheney and the National Security Council's Elliot Abrams, are still in positions of power, advocating a new war as part of a larger conflict that will go on indefinitely, everywhere. Former CIA official Philip Giraldi breaks it down for you.


07-19-07 - A Wake-up Call As even diehard Republican Patrick J. Buchanan observed on July 17, with three US aircraft carrier battle groups in congested waters off Iran, another Tonkin Gulf incident could easily be engineered to set us at war with Iran. If Bush?s intentions were merely to bomb a nuclear reactor, he would not need three carrier strike forces. Lately, the administration has switched to blaming Iran for the war in Iraq. The US Senate has already lined up behind the latest lie with a 97-0 vote to condemn Iran.



07-19-07 - Another Step Toward War with Iran Iranian influence in Iraq is now becoming the accepted reason among American political elites as to why US forces are failing. The Lieberman amendment also claims that Iran is providing a safe-haven for al Qaeda fighters, even though the group is allegedly blowing up Iraqi Shias daily.


07-18-07 - This flurry of Middle East activity is the product of a very real threat: Iran As the Guardian reported this week, the notion of military action to prevent a nuclear Iran is under serious consideration in the White House - with Bush apparently leaning towards Dick Cheney's view that it may be necessary to use force before they leave office in January 2009. The flock of US presidential candidates are all at pains not to rule out military action and so, strikingly, was David Miliband in his first interview as foreign secretary.

07-17-07 - Tonkin Gulf II and the Guns of August? by Patrick J. Buchanan As Congress prepares for its August recess, the probability of U.S. air strikes on Iran rises with each week. A third carrier, the USS Enterprise, and its battle group is joining the Nimitz and Stennis in the largest concentration of U.S. naval power ever off the coast of Iran. And Tonkin Gulf II may have already occurred.



07-16-07 - In coordinated moves, U.S. and Israel launch peace push In a meeting Monday in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to accelerate peace talks.
Several hours later, in a clearly coordinated move, President Bush issued a major policy statement in Washington, calling for a regional peace conference to help the parties "move forward on a successful path toward a Palestinian state.".....It has been a long time since the key players have shown such determination to move ahead. I will reiterate my strong belief that these moves made by Israel and thusly the US are part of the Attack Iran campaign.


07-16-07 - Report: Israel not ready for missile strikes The report also critcized a recent decision by the military to collect gas masks issued to Israelis during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as it would slow the public's response to any unconventional missile offensive by countries such as Iran or Syria. Based on related issues being reported dealing with war preparations in the past few weeks, Israel is quite clearly preparing for some sort of attack.


07-16-07 - 'IDF preparing for all-out war' When conflict breaks out with Syria, he said, Israel will face a challenge, because the Syrians "will be willing to take military and civilian hits but will strive to harm the Israeli home front in order to gain future achievements in a political process and to further split Israeli society.


07-16-07 - On Heels Of Senate?s Iran Vote, Brownback Declared I?m Ready To Strike Iran On Wednesday, the Senate voted 97-0 to pass a resolution sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to censure Iran ?for what it said was complicity in the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.? The resolution required the Bush administration to regularly report to Congress on Iran?s role in Iraq.


07-16-07 - Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned......"The red line is not in Iran. The red line is in Israel. If Israel is adamant it will attack, the US will have to take decisive action," Mr Cronin said. "The choices are: tell Israel no, let Israel do the job, or do the job yourself."


07-15-07 - Don't Delay: US Out of Iraq Now by Rep. Ron Paul We have no guarantee the new strategy demanded by this legislation would not actually expand our military activities to Iran and Syria and beyond. I urge my colleagues to reject this legislation and put forth an effective strategy to end the war in Iraq and to bring our troops home.



07-15-07 - Inside Track: Rudy?s New Foreign Policy Posse by Philip Giraldi Podhoretz has recently called on the United States to bomb Iran and he describes the current situation?pitting Washington against what he describes as "the Islamofascist threat"?as World War IV.


07-15-07 - Report: Iran has 600 targets for missile strike in Israel if attacked Iran's warning refers to talk in Israel and the United States of a possible military strike to prevent the Islamic republic from attaining nuclear capability. Various channels delivered the Iranian message, which also warns against an attack on Syria.

07-14-07 - Is War With Iran Inevitable? hunker down, get ready for the coming storm ? prepare yourself for gas prices that will make it impossible to drive without taking out a bank loan ? and, most importantly, stay online. Because the first news of the Big War will be headlined right here on Antiwar.com ? along with a thorough debunking of the alleged "incident" that sparks it.


07-13-07 - A Different 'Gut Feeling': Israel Attacking Iran It always pays to be suspicious when a U.S. official ramps up fear, but Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling" remark about an Al Qaeda attack on the U.S. this summer sparks a different suspicion ? and a similar sinking feeling: Israel is about to launch a unilateral strike on Iran.


07-12-07 - SHOCK AND HORROR IN AUGUST / IRAN ATTACK and Bush will give Israel the OK to attack Iran and when Iran retaliates ~ we will attack Iran.


07-11-07 - 'US hasn't yet grasped Iran threat' Ilan Berman, speaking at the Conservative Heritage Foundation on Tuesday, said that the US hasn't made that choice because it "hasn't yet grasped the fundamental threat to American interests" posed by Iran. That also leads to some divergence between America and Israel in their sense of urgency and "how much time is left" for dealing with Iran, he said.


07-11-07 - Lieberman: US will back Israeli strike on Iran Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday that he received the tacit blessing of Europe and the United States for an Israeli military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.


07-10-07 - Iran three years away from nuclear bomb: Israel media Public radio said that a special unit headed by a senior officer had been set up to coordinate all information gathered by Israeli intelligence services with the aim of deciding on potential targets in Iran. It did not elaborate.


07-10-07 - NATO sees Israel tackling Iran alone Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who visited NATO headquarters in Brussels two weeks ago, came away with the impression that Western powers are unwilling to resort to pre-emptive military strikes to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Yediot Achronot reported Tuesday. Israel is trying like hell to get us to do it. Cheney and the neocons are already onboard.


07-10-07 - 'Time running out for Iran strike' On Monday, The Washington Post revealed new satellite photos of Iran's enrichment facility at Natanz which showed the digging of a tunnel that analysts said could be used to hide and protect key nuclear components. Notice that 'thinktanks' satellite photos have immediately been siezed upon as fodder for the Attack Iran campaign.


07-09-07 - Israel luring Iranians with cash Israel is using cash incentives to encourage Jewish immigration from Iran.
An expatriate group of Iranian Jewish donors is behind a $1 million fund offering $10,000 to each Jew willing to leave the Islamic Republic for the Jewish state, according to media reports. WHY? Know something we don't?


07-08-07 - Will the US bomb Iran? Will Israel? In other words, Israeli fears aside, the U.S. does not face an existential threat and it must consider its own interests.


07-08-07 - Israel Expresses Concern over America's Policy on Iran The adviser, who requested to remain anonymous, said he noticed, that "Israel is preoccupied about Washington?s potential reaction vis-à-vis Iran, in the event that Security Council sanctions fail to be respected. Israelis are not sure that the United States will support a combat operation against the Islamic Republic's nuclear program


07-08-07 - Report: Iran general gives nuclear info Asghari has since revealed new and relevant information about Iran's nuclear progress, saying that in addition to reactors and uranium enrichment facility centrifuges being built in the country, Iran has also developed the technology to enrich uranium with lasers......If true, Asghari's information would lend credence to Western concerns regarding the increasing danger of Iran's nuclear program. Note the source.

07-06-07 - Second strike If the US or Israel bombs Iran's nuclear facilities, can Iran strike back at Israel with weapons of mass destruction? This is obviously a vital question to answer before deciding whether to use the "military option.".....The Sunday Times has reported that the IAF is training to drop bunker-busting "mini-nukes" on Iran's installations because they are so heavily fortified.....If Iran retaliates with WMD against Israel, it is knowingly putting its own survival in grave, immediate danger because of America's far superior WMD arsenal, which includes nuclear weapons 'If Iran retaliates with WMD against Israel, it is knowingly putting its own survival in grave, immediate danger because of America's far superior WMD arsenal, which includes nuclear weapons' HUH? Notice the knee-jerk assumption that America will fight Israel's enemies for it.


07-06-07 - Sen. Lieberman: Confront 'Proxy War' by Iran Sen. Joe Lieberman repeated his call for the United States to consider a military strike against Iran, saying Tehran is waging a "proxy war" by stoking anti-coalition violence in Iraq.


07-05-07 - Pandering Won't Be Enough - The endless presidential campaign should lead to sharp questions on Iranian nukes It is easy for all of them to wave the flag of devotion for Israel. And it is just as easy for candidates of either party to criticize the conduct of the war in Iraq. But the crucial question facing the eventual winner in November 2008 is what they are going to do about Iran......Will any of them have the mettle to face up to the challenge and to act to forestall catastrophe? Or will they weakly sit back and wait for futile diplomacy to defuse a crisis that will already be out of control?
Note the source and the fact that they poopoo the 'futile diplomacy' we are engaged in with regard to Iran. Just exactly what is this individual expecting us to do, attack Iran?


07-02-07 - Lieberman: Iran has declared war on the US Some neoconservatives believe that Lieberman's hard line stance on Iran will ultimately make US military action against that country easier for the White House to sell.


06-29-07 - Bargaining with Tehran The prospect of U.S. military action against Iran is making headlines ? again


06-27-07 - Anti-Lieberman rally contrasts with film "Lieberman heard we're coming so he moved to Stamford Friday," quipped Heller, a West Haven native. "The point is we are demonstrating against his calls for an attack on Iran." .....Lieberman acknowledged that "people are getting restless" but said foreign policy should not be made on the basis of public opinion polls. Oh? What should foreign policy be made on then? The security of a foreign nation?


06-27-07 - Bolton: Stop Iran by force The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said the American approach to Iran is doomed to failure and that force is necessary.
I'm afraid Bolton is under the impression that anyone actually gives a rat's about his opinion and his love for a nation other than this one.


06-27-07 - Bush Directive for a "Catastrophic Emergency" in America: Building a Justification for Waging War on Iran? Long.


06-27-07 - Tom Lantos, Warmonger Americans oppose an attack on Iran 2-to-1. By almost every measure, they want negotiations, rather than confrontation, with Tehran. Yet the House Foreign Affairs Committee recently gave its approval to a bill that, in effect, would fire the first shot at the Iranians, imposing draconian sanctions similar to those enacted against Iraq in the run-up to the invasion and occupation of that country Lantos is one of Israel's top agents on Capitol Hill. I would expect nothing less from him.


06-27-07 - Neoconned Again? by Philip Giraldi Many of the advocates of a muscular policy against countries regarded as outside the pale or perceived as a threat to Israel come from the same circle of neoconservatives, "resident scholars," and sound-bite experts who move seamlessly from think-tank to advocacy group to academia and back again.


06-25-07 - Iran says 'zero chance' of US attack An Israeli press report said that the Jewish state's army was in training for long distance missions, after agreeing a timetable with the US for sanctions against Iran's nuclear program to work. The Israelis are going to do their darndest (and that goes for their minions, the neocons, also) to get America to strike Iran.


06-23-07 - IAF, USAF greatly upgrade cooperation The Israel Air Force has significantly upgraded the level of its cooperation with the United States Air Force and now receives regular updates on American procurement decisions, The Jerusalem Post has learned.


06-22-07 - Have We Forgotten 2003 Already? by Rep. Ron Paul This resolution is an exercise in propaganda that serves one purpose: to move us closer to initiating a war against Iran.


06-22-07 - Report: IAF preparing for Iran strike


06-21-07 - US-IRAN: New Arms Claim Reveals Cheney-Military Rift The use of the phrase ?irrefutable evidence? suggested that the Burns statement was scripted by the office of Vice President Dick Cheney. The same phrase had been used by Cheney himself on Sep. 20, 2002, in referring to the administration?s accusation that Saddam Hussein had a programme to enrich uranium as the basis for a nuclear weapon......Given the very small scale of the arms in question, Cheney?s interest in the issue appears to have much less to do with Afghanistan than his aim of ensuring that President Bush goes along with the neoconservative desire to attack Iran before the end of his term.


06-20-07 - Iran poses no missile threat, Russia tells US Russia on Wednesday bluntly told the United States it saw no threat from Iran's ballistic missiles and was perplexed how Washington could use this to justify a planned US defence system in Europe....... The Islamic republic insists it would never be the first to attack although it has warned it would hit back with force if the United States launched an military strike against Iran. Well, if a country was planning on attacking Iran, and having the backing of the EU for said attack, then yes, there may be a potential missile threat, mmm?


06-20-07 - Houses urges charges against Ahmadinejad "I am unequivocal in my support for the security and survival of Israel, and I do have serious concerns with the remarks made by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran," said Kucinich, a long-shot candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. "But I object to resolutions that lay the groundwork for an offensive, unprovoked war." ...Kucinich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a long-shot contender for the Republican presidential nomination, were the only votes against.


06-19-07 - Bush says all options on table on Iran At the start of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Bush was asked if military action remained an option for dealing with Iran.


06-19-07 - Republican Thompson highlights serious Iran threat Military action must always remain an option and world powers must agree on the nature of what Thompson called the "very, very serious threat" from Tehran.

06-17-07 - Gulf Arabs won't be base for attack on Iran: Saudi


06-17-07 - Bush stresses Iran to Jewish leaders Bush emphasized the importance of containing Iran's nuclear ambitions through sanctions, participants said. Bush is to meet with Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday, and Iran will top their agenda. Israel wants to set an end of year deadline for Iran to retreat from its enrichment of uranium. The White House meeting followed discussions with congressional leaders. Conference representatives met with House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the House Republican leadership.


06-17-07 - Nancy Pelosi or Why War With Iran May Be Inevitable Hagee is probably the least known yet most dangerous man in America. He wields enormous political clout, using his powerful connections to encourage nuclear conflict with Iran, all for the ultimate goal of hastening End Times


06-17-07 - Lieberman defends comments on Iran


06-16-07 - Lying Us Into War, Again The drumbeat for war against Iran has begun again, led by Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent Democrat from Connecticut, and the usual pro-Israel crowd. Lieberman seems to be under the impression that the U.S. can bomb Iran and not get into a full-fledged war.


06-15-07 - US administration debates new Iran strategy Citing unnamed senior administration officials, the newspaper said the debate has pitted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her deputies against the few remaining hawks inside the administration, especially those in the office of Vice President Richard Cheney. Cheney's aides are pressing for greater consideration of military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, the report said.....Only a few weeks ago, one of CheneyÂ?s top aides, David Wurmser, told conservative research groups and consulting firms in Washington that Cheney believed that RiceÂ?s diplomatic strategy was failing, and that by next spring Bush might have to decide whether to take military action, according to The Times.
Wurmser - another neocon.


06-15-07 - Israeli, American air forces in joint exercises The weeklong exercises began Sunday in the southern Negev desert. Dozens of aircraft simulated bombing targets on the ground and dog fights.


06-15-07 - Why we must break with the American crazies While Mr Brown and the British media are still fretting about who said what to whom about WMD intelligence, the talk in American policy circles is about an article, The Case for Bombing Iran, published two weeks ago in Commentary and The Wall Street Journal and cited approvingly to anyone who cares to listen by officials close to Dick Cheney. Its author, Norman Podhoretz, is an intellectual mentor to the people who took America into Iraq......It is significant that Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, travelled to Washington at about the same time as the article was published to plead with congressmen ?not to tie President Bush?s hands over Iran?. Why do you think Israel just launched that spy satellite (when we already have some that provide adequate intel, I'm guessing)? Paragraphs 2 and 4.


06-15-07 - On the escalator to war with Iran by Patrick J. Buchanan What is going on? The most logical explanation is that the White House is providing advance justification for air strikes on camps of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that are allegedly providing training for and transferring weapons to Afghan and Iraqi insurgents. And if the United States conducts those strikes, Iranians will unite around Ahmadinejad, and Tehran will order retaliatory strikes against U.S. targets in Iraq and perhaps across the Middle East. President Bush will then have his casus belli to take out Natanz and all the other Iranian nuclear facilities, as the Israelis and the neocons have been demanding that he do.



06-15-07 - Joints Chief Choice Worried About Iran The Navy must stay in the Persian Gulf to reassure allies and maintain its ability to act quickly in a crisis, he said.


06-14-07 - It's All About Israel The United States should apply the same standards to Israel as it does to Iran. If the Iranians must disarm, then so must the Israelis. If nukes in the hands of the mullahs are threatening, then they are no less so when wielded by ultra-nationalistic Zionists of the Likudnik persuasion.


06-14-07 - Lieberman asked to resign from his own party The Connecticut for Lieberman Party is calling on Senator Joseph Lieberman to resign from the U.S. Senate following his remarks made Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation regarding military action against Iran.


06-13-07 - Accusations Pave Way for Assault on Iran by Philip Giraldi Sam Brownback specifically insisted that "we have to stand with our allies like Israel," revealing that he considers Israel's security paramount..... Cheney is reportedly very interested in obtaining definitive evidence confirming that Iran is arming the Taliban against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and it appears that he has been sending his staffers to get the goods by attending the weekly Afghanistan Interagency Operating Group


06-13-07 - Clark slams Lieberman on Iran Retired Gen. Wesley Clark has slammed Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., for threatening military force against Iran


06-13-07 - Israel threatening to attack us, says Iran ambassador to UN The protest came in response to statements made by Mofaz during a visit to Washington last week, heading an Israeli delegation that held strategic discussions with the US dealing mostly with the Iranian nuclear threat.


06-12-07 - Brown's bane will be getting dragged into an American attack on Iran The military clues are harder to detect. Veteran analyst Dan Plesch of the School of Oriental and African Studies wonders why the US is strengthening airbases in Afghanistan, Kurdistan and Iraq, forming a ring around Iran: "You don't need air power to fight the insurgency, do you?" It has to be preparation for an attack on you-know-who


06-12-07 - The Neocon Threat to World Peace and American Freedom The neoconservatives have put the elements of their plan in place. They have powerful naval forces on station off Iran's coast. They have convinced President Bush that only by attacking Iran can he prevail in Iraq.




06-12-07 - Talk of attacking Iran escalates tensions Statements by US and Israeli officials in recent days on the possibility of attacking Iran have been met with increased posturing on both sides, warnings of retaliation from Tehran, and worries by the head of the international nuclear watchdog of a "brewing confrontation." Israel and its minions in the US - the neocons - are behind it.


06-12-07 - Cheney?s Iran-Arms-to-Taliban Gambit Rebuffed Steve Clemons reported on his blog The Washington Note May 24 that an aide to Cheney has told gatherings at right-wing think tanks that Cheney is afraid Bush will not make the ?right decision? on Iran and believes he must constrain the president?s choices.


06-11-07 - Kuwait says US cannot use bases for any Iran strike


06-11-07 - Israel launches advanced spy satellite Israel successfully launched an advanced spy satellite into orbit Monday, giving it a sophisticated new tool in its efforts to collect intelligence on archenemy Iran and other regional adversaries. Israeli space officials said the Ofek-7 satellite can pick up even small objects from space, and that information will be shared with the United States............Though the U.S. has its own spy satellites, Ben-Israel said it was in the interest of both Israel and the U.S. to exchange intelligence. "There is no country in the world, not us and not the Americans, that is able to obtain everything alone," he told Army Radio......"If you have something that they don't have and if they have something that you don't have, you make an exchange."
with the emphasis on : "that information will be shared with the United States.". To build the case for war, no doubt. Something tells me that our intel will be fed (more) BS as a result of this satellite.


06-10-07 - Lieberman: U.S. should weigh Iran attack Only if the US can send Lieberman, his kids and all the rest of these bellicose neocons straight to the front lines. Bet they'd change their tune right quick.


06-10-07 - Iran 'to retaliate if attacked from US bases in Gulf' "We rule out the possibility that our neighbours... will allow the United States to use their territory in attacking Iran," Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel told reporters during an official visit to Kuwait. "But if this actually happens, we will be forced to defend ourselves... We will target those bases or points" used to attack Iran, he said.



06-10-07 - Israel, U.S. in air drill The joint drill, which began Sunday in Israel and was expected to last a week, drew attention in the Arab world given the expectation that Israel or the United States could bomb Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.


06-10-07 - 'Military plan against Iran is ready' A high-ranking American military officer told the Post that senior officers in the US armed forces had thrown their support behind Bush and believed that additional steps needed to be taken to stop Iran. Predictions within the US military are that Bush will do what is needed to stop Teheran before he leaves office in 2009, including possibly launching a military strike against its nuclear facilities. .......According to a high-ranking American military officer, the US Navy and Air Force would play the primary roles in any military action taken against Iran. Of course. You don't really think Israel is going to do it, do you (even though they are behind this push to war too)? Folks, we'll be going to war with Iran before Bush goes out of office.


06-09-07 - Military option on table concerning Iran Military action is one of the options in dealing with Iran's nuclear program, Israel's deputy prime minister said Saturday, after discussing the issue with senior U.S. officials.


06-09-07 - Was General Pace Fired Because He Balked at Iran I?ve been writing for over a year now that the Joint Chiefs have been blocking the White House?s efforts to expand the war to Iran. No matter what you might think of Gen. Pete Pace, this really is TERRIFYING news, unless you crave a wider war in the Persian Gulf and South Asia.


06-09-07 - Israel will pay the price for war in Iraq, former CIA official says ?It will be much more difficult to convince the American people of the wisdom of another military adventure in the Middle East after Iraq. Yes, a lot of American politicians are now saying ?we will not let Iran have nuclear weapons?, but it is very hard for me to believe that this Congress would authorize a military operation against Iran in the near future barring a clear provocation by the Iranians.? It's not hard for me to believe, given the power Israel and its lobby have over our Congress.


06-08-07 - Top Israeli negotiator: Give Iran until December to back down Mofaz and Meridor each stressed, however, that all options should remain available. Meridor was pleased that virtually every major presidential candidate, Republican and Democrat, agreed. "I hope they listen to the debates in America," Meridor said of Iran's rulers, "because they will hear a message."


06-08-07 - Is Iran a Terror Threat in the U.S.? Building the case for war: Iran behind grassy knoll? Iran behind 911? The BS gets more and more thick by the day. The question that must be asked: why is this all coming out NOW - conveniently when the neocons and their minion in the WH, Dick Cheney, want to attack Iran? It is NOT a coincidence.


06-08-07 - Countdown to War on Iran It's coming. It's been in the works now for 2 years. Be prepared to pay much more at the pump.


06-08-07 - If You Think Bush Is Evil Now, Wait Until He Nukes Iran Even the neoconservative warmongers, who deceived Americans with the promise of a "cakewalk war" that would be over in six weeks, believe that the war is lost. But they have not given up. They have a last desperate plan: Bomb Iran.


06-06-07 - Iran Adding Attack Boats in Persian Gulf, U.S. Says


06-06-07 - Israeli losing patience for Iran talks "I believe diplomatic efforts should bear results until the end of 2007," Mofaz added without elaboration.


06-06-07 - Republicans discuss tactical nukes against Iran Two minutes following Gilmore it was Senator McCain mentioning Israel by way of explaining why the US should not abandon Iraq. Five minutes later, it was Senator Brownback reminding the viewers that Israel was the country threatened by Iran...


06-06-07 - Could an al-Qaeda Attack Trigger War With Iran? Following revelations of a George W. Bush administration policy to hold Iran responsible for any al-Qaeda attack on the U.S. that could be portrayed as planned on Iranian soil, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski warned last week that Washington might use such an incident as a pretext to bomb Iran.


06-04-07 - Neocon drum beat "The Case for Bombing Iran," was the headline over Podhoretz's long piece in the June issue of Commentary, the magazine he edited for 35 years (until 1995) and where he serves as editor at large. "I hope and pray that President Bush will do it," Podhoretz wrote. His son-in-law Elliott Abrams is deputy national security adviser to President George W. Bush. His son John is editorial page editor of the New York Post. ......The neocon concludes by reminding Bush of his pledge not to leave office before making sure Iran does not become a nuclear weapons power. Saving Israel from nuclear destruction would then become the president's historical legacy -- writ large. "As an American and as a Jew," concludes Podhoretz, "I pray with all my heart that he will (bomb)."


06-04-07 - Israeli officials to US for talks on Iran, Syria An Israeli delegation will hold discussions in Washington this week focusing on Iran and Syria, including talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, an official said on Monday.


06-03-07 - Answering Prayers an answer to Podhoretz?s prayers.


06-02-07 - The Lady and the Veep news-week has learned that the veep's team seems eager to build a case that Iran is targeting Americans not just in Iraq but along the border of its other neighbor, Afghanistan.
In the last few weeks, Cheney's staff have unexpectedly become more active participants in an interagency group that steers policy on Afghanistan, according to an official familiar with the internal deliberations. During weekly meetings of the committee, known as the Afghanistan Interagency Operating Group, Cheney staffers have been intensely interested in a single issue: recent intelligence reports alleging that Iran is supplying weapons to Afghanistan's resurgent Islamist militia, the Taliban, according to two administration officials who asked for anonymity when discussing internal meetings......British officials who asked for anonymity because of the nature of their work emphasize that they lack hard evidence linking the shipments to the Revolutionary Guards, and that the weapons could just as easily have been bought on the black market in Iran. But according to one official familiar with the intelligence on Iranian interference in Iraq, Cheney earlier this year began exhibiting particular interest in any evidence detailing Tehran's aid to anti-American insurgents there
Cheney is looking to build a case for war.

06-01-07 - Rice: US not preparing for war with Iran The U.S. is not preparing for war against Iran and Vice President Dick Cheney supports that policy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says, taking a swipe at a U.N. official who says he's worried about "crazies" who want to start bombing. That and 50 cents will get you ... nothing really these days.


06-01-07 - US may collapse as a superpower: analyst About 10 minutes after the inauguration of the next President in January 2009, the evacuation starts. However, there is the possibility that the United States before Mr Bush leaves will attack Iran. And if that happens, I think we have a very different outcome. Former National Security Adviser in the United States, Zbigniew Brzezinski is on record as saying if the United States attacks Iran, it will lose its place in the world. And I think he's right.


06-01-07 - IAEA chief warns of "crazies" seeking Iran war He said one could not "bomb knowledge". Asked who the "new crazies" were he replied: "Those who have extreme views and say the only solution is to impose your will by force."


05-31-07 - Does 'The Decider' Decide on War? by Patrick J. Buchanan Has Congress given George Bush a green light to attack Iran?.....evidence is mounting that we are on a collision course for war:........While U.S.-Iran discussions have begun, there are reports Vice President Cheney and the neocon remnant, along with the Israelis, are opposed to talks and believe that the only solution to Iran's nuclear program is military. Go get 'em, Pat.


05-31-07 - Israel's Military Fears War This Summer Israeli forces are making their primary focus repelling a Syrian attack along its northern border in the Golan Heights. Troubles with their Palestinian neighbors are being downgraded to a secondary priority.


05-31-07 - PM, Bush to discuss Iran, PA on June 19 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet with U.S. President George Bush in Washington on June 19. Talks will focus on the Palestinian issue and the Iranian nuclear threat.



05-31-07 - Nuclear watchdog's attack warning The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has given one of his sternest warnings against using military action to halt Iran's uranium enrichment programme.


05-31-07 - Israel to ready public for 'all-out war' With Iran racing toward nuclear power and IDF preparations for the possibility of a conflict with Syria and Hizbullah in high gear, the Home Front Command plans to launch a publicity campaign to prepare the public for war. Know something we don't?


05-30-07 - Neoconservative 'hopes, prays' Bush will bomb Iran In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, prominent neoconservative Norman Podhoretz writes that he 'hopes' and 'prays' that President Bush will bomb Iran. Send these neocons to the front lines of every war that they push for - and get - via the US military. See how they like them apples. But it's ok to send SOMEONE ELSE'S kids to fight their battles. Neocons want American men and women to make the Middle East a safer place - for ISRAEL. Whose War is it?.


05-29-07 - AIPAC Intervenes on Iran It has happened again, and in the open. The American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC) which heads a network of pro-Israeli lobbies, persuaded Congress to drop a provision which would have required President Bush to ask for Congressional approval prior to attacking Iran.


05-29-07 - More Bad Intelligence on Iran and Iraq Both cases show how the Administration is still trying to manipulate intelligence to further its strategic goals. ABC says that Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams is behind the covert action against Iran, which reportedly stems from a "nonlethal presidential finding" signed by Bush to launch a plan that "includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions."


05-28-07 - Strategic talks stepped up Israel's representative to the discussions, Cabinet Minister Shaul Mofaz, is to set off shortly for the United States for a new round that is expected to focus on Iran's nuclear program.


05-28-07 - Talking to Iran ? or Talking War? Just days after the U.S.-Iran meeting, a group of powerful neo-conservatives ?including some of those who were most active in promoting the invasion of Iraq ? plan to gather for an all-expenses-paid conference entitled "Confronting The Iranian Threat: The Way Forward" at a luxurious resort in the Bahamas. Many of the 30 or so invited guests have been strident critics of Iran and hard-liners on maintaining the U.S. presence in Iraq


05-27-07 - Bush sanctions 'black ops' against Iran


05-27-07 - Bush okayed 'soft revolution' in Iran The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) received presidential approval for a covert operation in Iran aimed at destabilizing the Islamic Republic by "non-lethal" means, ABC news reported early Saturday morning.


05-27-07 - Report: Cheney aide clearing path to bomb Iran Cheney's team wants to work with Israel, nudging the country at some key moment to mount a small-scale attack on the suspected site of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, which could lead to an Iranian counter attack on US forces stationed in the Persian Gulf, Clemons reports.


05-27-07 - Ya'alon: Bring down Iranian regime, send ground troops into Gaza Attempts to prevent the nuclearization of Iran will fail, according to former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon, who asserted that the military option should be examined and the Iranian regime should be brought down.



05-27-07 - Former U.S. defense chief: Israel must not attack Iran They are trying to get us to do it.


05-27-07 - Effecting Regime Change in Iran There is reportedly a heated debate underway between members of the Cheney Cabal ? who want to bomb-bomb-Iran ? and members of the Condi diplomacy crowd, who want to conduct "covert" destabilizing operations within Iran and to impose crushing sanctions on the Iranians, themselves.


05-26-07 - Democrats Dither As Cheney, Neocons Plot To Nuke Iran Now that the US invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have failed, the AEI warmongers are conspiring with Vice President Cheney to foment war with Iran.


05-26-07 - Iran is nuclear threat, says Israeli general Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, the Israeli Defense Forces' defense and armed forces attache in Washington, D.C., was a guest speaker at Temple Beth Jacob's Shabbas service. In his remarks, he said Iran is "the most worrying" of three fronts with which Israel is dealing right now.


05-26-07 - Who Wants War with Iran?


05-26-07 - The Cabal Strikes Back In the end, however, when it comes down to launching a full frontal assault on Iran, it all depends on the Israelis. The War Party is counting on them to strike the first blow, with the guarantee that the Americans will strike the second, third, fourth, and fifth blows, ad infinitum. Blows directed not only at Iran, but also against Syria, Hezbollah, and the Palestinians.


05-25-07 - Neil Cavuto Uses His "Business" Show to Prime Pump for War on Iran Neil Cavuto has used his "business show" over the past week to unabashedly promote the concept of a unilateral strike against Iran either by the United States or Israel.



05-25-07 - FOX News Guest: We Must Stay in Iraq So Israel Can Bomb Iran FOX hosts never tell their viewers that these people have a hidden agenda that affects their attitudes towards the Middle East , i.e. in order for them to go to heaven, they believe that Israel must conquer its ancient biblical lands, now controlled by Muslims. As these end timers see their influence shrinking, they have gotten more and more desperate, creating hyperbolic threats and bending the truth. Why do these morons insist on taking the rest of us with them in their bonkers doomsday BS?


05-25-07 - Iran Threat On Fox - Again He welcomed Alireza Jafarzadeh, author of the book, The Iran Threat and he was also a Fox News Foreign Affairs Analyst. Gallagher said that the coming nuclear crisis seems to get closer everyday and that the president of Iran won't listen and that the sanctions have no teeth. Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, is a pro-Israeli.


05-25-07 - Why Congress Caved to Bush by Patrick J. Buchanan If and when Bibi comes to power, he will use every stratagem to provoke us into attacking "Hitler." Also drumming for war on Iran are the floundering neocons and the Israeli lobby. Under orders from the lobby, Nancy Pelosi stripped from a House bill a stipulation that Bush must come to Congress for authorization before launching an attack on Iran.



05-24-07 - Iran 'accused of attacks in Iraq to bolster US strategy' The Bush administration may be highlighting accusations that the Iranian government is behind attacks in Iraq in order to strengthen its hand in preparing for military strikes on Iran, according to a leading British think-tank. ....In a report sifting the evidence produced by US authorities against Iran, the independent think-tank Basic cast doubt on the strength of the intelligence, saying that proved links between the Tehran regime and militia inside Iraq remained "sketchy". And the "No Shit, Sherlock" award goes to...


05-24-07 - GOP Candidates Criticize ABC News Report on CIA-Iran Plan "I was shocked to see the ABC News report regarding covert action in Iran," Mitt Romney said as he opened a session with reporters in Tulsa, Okla. I was shocked to see Romney and so many others, veritably pledging allegiance to a nation other than this one.


05-23-07 - Two US aircraft carriers reach Gulf waters The USS John C. Stennis and USS Nimitz aircraft carriers and their strike groups entered Gulf waters to support troops in Iraq and conduct training exercises, the US Navy said Wednesday.


05-23-07 - U.S.: Iranian material found in Iraq Making the case for war.


05-23-07 - U.S. Navy sends carriers near Iran The U.S. Navy staged its latest show of military force off the Iranian coastline on Wednesday, sending two aircraft carriers and landing ships packed with 17,000 U.S. Marines and sailors to carry out unannounced exercises in the Persian Gulf.


05-23-07 - US armada enters Gulf amid nuclear row


05-23-07 - Iran ?plans attacks on British nuclear plants? . The call from the Conservative leader came amid reports Tehran was forging ties with al Qaeda in Iraq to prepare for a summer fight against coalition forces, and that it was arming Taliban insurgents fighting British troops in Afghanistan The BS is coming fast and furious.


05-23-07 - Don't get fooled again Iran, we are told, has a secret plan to force the US and Britain to withdraw from Iraq. Not only that, but "Iran has reversed its previous policy in Afghanistan" and is now supporting the Taliban. So when George Bush's famous "surge" - a desperate gambit to prop up a bankrupt policy - fails to usher in the cooperative commonwealth in Iraq, we Guardian readers will know it's really all Tehran's fault.


05-23-07 - "Buying the War," Now it's Iran You would think that after after all the official and unofficial lies that came out of the Washington spin machine during the 2002-03 run-up to the war in Iraq, newspapers would be a little more skeptical about similarly unsupported, high-level but anonymous and bellicose allegations about Iran (or anyone else).


05-23-07 - Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.


05-22-07 - Cameron: Don't rule out attacking Iran


05-22-07 - Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say. "US officials say". Still looking for a pretext for war. The BS campaign is really taking off now. Never forget - the 'bomb Iran' campaign has been in the works for almost 2 YEARS.


05-22-07 - Bush could double force by Christmas The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.


05-21-07 - Kyrgyzstan will close U.S. base if used against Iran - senior MP Recent media reports hinted at the possibility of the U.S. using the base in the Central Asian state to deliver air strikes against Iran.


05-21-07 - U.S. House seeks tighter U.S.-Israeli ballistic missile defenses The United States House of Representatives has adopted a measure aimed at weaving closer U.S. and Israeli defenses against ballistic missiles of the type that could be fired by Iran. Part of a $504 billion defense spending bill passed Thursday, the measure would redirect $205 million in Defense Department funds toward projects already underway in Israel. The humble American taxpayer is a servant to the state of Israel. Billions of our taxpayer dollars, both directly and indirectly go toward the security of a foreign nation - in contravention of our OWN interests.


05-20-07 - Czech Battle To Convince Hostile Public Over US Missile Shield Together with 10 interceptor missiles deployed in neighbouring Poland, the radar, which Washington says is aimed at protecting against a possible Iranian attack, has created rifts within NATO, roused Russian anger and split public opinion in the Czech Republic and Poland.

05-18-07 - House rejects funding caveat on Iran The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which favors a robust posture against any possible Iranian nuclear threat, strongly opposed the amendments. Two Jewish members close to AIPAC, Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), had kept similar language from appearing in the bill?s original text. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the House speaker, allowed the amendments to go forward to placate anti-war Democrats.


05-18-07 - Haaretz: Poll: 71% of Israelis want U.S. to strike Iran if talks fail Fully 71 percent of Israelis believe that the United States should launch a military attack on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to halt Tehran's nuclear program, according to a new poll. A similar article also appears on Newsmax: Israeli Poll: U.S. Should Strike Iran


05-18-07 - Military strike on Iran would be catastrophic: Pakistan PM Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that a military strike on Iran over its nuclear activities would be "catastrophic" and hoped US-Iranian talks this month would reduce tensions.


05-18-07 - Iran is safe ... for now Despite the bluster, there is no serious prospect of an American or Israeli military attack on Iran this year.



05-17-07 - Legislators reject bills about Iran The House rejected two measures yesterday that would have required President George W. Bush to seek congressional approval before attacking Iran.


05-16-07 - US continues to press for sanctions over Iran nuclear program Officially, France, Great Britain and Germany are on record as rejecting military action against Tehran, and Russia and China are even more emphatic in opposing force -- an option which Washington does not rule out.


05-16-07 - Pastor John Hagee's D.C. Meeting Worries Jews Pastor John Hagee says Armageddon will soon strike the nation of Israel, so he's enlisting Christians to help protect Israel against an attack from Iran.


05-16-07 - 'Iran could be year from nuke' Ambassador Dore Gold: Tehran not far from obtaining enough fissionable material to produce nuclear bomb BS alert.


05-16-07 - Jordan's territory won't be used to launch attacks against Iran: Abdullah During an interview with daily newspaper Alarab Alyawm, Abdullah said that the whole region will "be placed at risk" in case of war.


05-16-07 - All signs point to Cheney trip failing its objectives US Vice President Dick Cheney ended a Middle East tour on Monday amid signs that he had failed in forging an Arab alliance in supptort of a possible US strike against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, according to Jordanian politicians and academics.


05-16-07 - DeFazio Amendment Against Attacking Iran on House Floor Today An amendment blocking military action against Iran without Congressional authorization is expected to be voted on in the House today (Wednesday) as part of the debate on the defense authorization bill. The amendment is being introduced by Reps. DeFazio, Paul, Hinchey, and Lee.


05-16-07 - 'Bush may strike Iran near end of term' The neocons, AIPAC and rest of their delightful friends in the pro-Israel community are doing their best to make sure that Bush does just that.


05-16-07 - No Congress, No Peace There's already been some congressional push-back on the administration's murky claims that Iran is behind attacks on American troops in Iraq. That is a start, but ongoing, aggressive oversight of how the White House is using intelligence about Iran is critical.


05-15-07 - Poll Finds Clear Majority Of Americans Oppose War With Iran In light of this, watch out for the propaganda - via mainstream media - to be ramped up.


05-15-07 - We must attack Iran before it gets the bomb John Bolton, who still has close links to the Bush administration, told The Daily Telegraph that the European Union had to "get more serious" about Iran and recognise that its diplomatic attempts to halt Iran's enrichment programme had failed.


05-15-07 - Israeli top guns train, eyes on Iran Israel's three F-16I fighter-bomber squadrons have been training for what officials call "possible strategic scenarios" -- code for a confrontation with arch-foe Iran.


05-15-07 - Perle Turns on Bush in Harsh Terms "We have already seen a change in policy towards Iran," he said. "It is now firmly back in the hands of the Department of State." Meaning what? That Perle and associates want war on Iran, and the State Department is opposed to it.


05-15-07 - CENTCOM Commander?s Veto Sank Bush?s Threatening Gulf Buildup Admiral William Fallon, then President George W. Bush?s nominee to head the Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in February to an administration plan to increase the number of carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM, according to sources with access to his thinking.


05-15-07 - The Wacky World of Norman Podhoretz the economic ruin of the U.S. and much of the rest of the world is a small price to pay for the security of Israel, which is "existentially" threatened, as one Israeli politician put it, by Iran's nuclear program. Neocons want us to attack Iran and, with the help of their friends in the WH, Congress and the media, they will get it.


05-14-07 - Pipelines answer to Hormuz threat: IEA Gulf producers are weighing oil pipeline options to avoid the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway, should there be any escalation of tension between the West and Iran, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday.


05-14-07 - Israel stages nationwide war drill


05-14-07 - Ahmadinejad warns US against military action President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the United States on Monday that Tehran would retaliate severely to any possible attack over its controversial nuclear programme.


05-14-07 - Cheney sees Arab support on Iraq-2 "A separate proposition is the fact the international community, including the United States, is deeply concerned about Iran's pursuit of enrichment technology for building nuclear weapons," the vice president said.
"The Iranians are, in fact, in violation now of two unanimously approved United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for them to stop what they're doing,"



05-14-07 - Bush met with Dobson and conservative Christian leaders to rally support for Iran policy Dobson went on to enumerate a series of meetings convened by Christian right leaders in Washington to discuss the supposedly existential threat to the United States from a nuclear Iran. The Christian Right have taken their cue from their counterparts in AIPAC.


05-13-07 - Britain's PM-to-be Brown hints at steady foreign policy Responding to a question posed by Meacher about whether he would support the United States if it were to attack its foe Iran, Brown said it was not about committing to a position beforehand.


05-13-07 - Cheney to wrap up Middle East tour in Jordan Cheney's visit comes as Washington has repeatedly accused Tehran of sending fighters and equipment into Iraq, where they have been targeting US and Iraqi security forces, and stepped up pressure on the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme.


05-13-07 - US balancing act in dealing with Iran Aaron David Miller, a former US State Department adviser on Mideast issues to both Republican and Democratic administrations, said the diplomatic dance between Washington and Tehran is a difficult and high-stakes one, especially for Saudi Arabia. "The Saudis understand that if we end up with a crisis with Iran, either because the Israelis or the Americans use military force, that they're going to be extremely vulnerable to Iranian retaliation - particularly if the Israelis use Iraqi, Saudi or Jordanian air space, which they would have to,"



05-12-07 - Rattling the Cage: Bush and his good intentions I WANT to give Bush his due. There may have been other presidents who cared as deeply about Israel as he does - I'd put Bill Clinton, at least, in that category - but I don't think any president ever took sides with Israel against the rest of the world like Bush has done......And I only hope that this mutual reinforcement number that Bush and Israel have been playing stops short of a US attack on Iran. A lot of Israelis, maybe most, want Bush to do the job, and I imagine Bush is once again calculating the collateral benefit to Israel. As always, he has our best interests at heart. This notion that America is ordering Israel not to negotiate with Syria is utterly ridiculous. Not only was it denied by our officials(paragraph 3), but the case is almost always the other way around; Israel dictating to us its wants (and getting them).


05-12-07 - Cheney arrives on unannounced Saudi Arabia visit Cheney wants action on Iran. When he gets off his ass, that's how you know something is up.


05-12-07 - Olmert's not a partner Mofaz will have a lot to talk about when he finally arrives in Washington, possibly at the end of the month: Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria........Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said this week that Cheney's visit is meant to help the Bush administration understand "how useful several of Washington's closest allies are prepared to be," especially regarding the developing struggle with Iran.


05-12-07 - Bahrain preparing for a U.S.-Iran war


05-12-07 - Bush orders contingency plans for attack on U.S.

05-11-07 - Cheney warns Iran sea lanes must be open Vice President Dick Cheney issued a warning to Iran while aboard an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf on Friday, saying the United States would join allies to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons "and dominating the region."


05-11-07 - Analysis: Iran, Hamas remain wary partners The head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, said at a briefing for diplomats and foreign correspondents that Iran is the source for most of Hamas' knowledge about mines, explosives and anti-tank missiles.
Making the case for war, one Israel shill in the MSM at a time.


05-11-07 - ANALYSIS-Cheney, Saudi king to assess Iraq policy and Iran Cheney said Iran, which he described as a major concern to Sunni Arab states, would top his talks with Arab leaders.


05-11-07 - Kuwait says stocks up on food in case of war in Gulf Iran's neighbour Kuwait said on Wednesday it had prepared emergency food stocks in case a war breaks out in the Gulf amid tension between Washington and Tehran over Tehran's nuclear programme.


05-11-07 - Iranian cleric threatens Tel Aviv An Iranian cleric said his country would fire "tens of thousands" of missiles at Israel in response to an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program.


05-10-07 - U.S. official: Peace effort aimed at lessening Arab, EU pressure U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams on Thursday told a group of Jewish Republicans that the efforts the United States is now investing in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is aimed at lessening the pressure from ?Arabs and the Europeans, who weren?t happy with the United States? in its past approach. Why the sudden interest in pleasing those 2 groups NOW? The coming war on Iran.


05-10-07 - NSC denies Rice-Abrams rift The Forward article described a briefing last week that Abrams delivered to Jewish leaders under the auspices of Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the only Jewish Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. At that briefing and in other forums, Abrams reportedly said Rice's recent push to accelerate Israeli-Palestinian peace talks was "just process" and that President Bush would apply an "emergency brake" against any pressure on Israel.
It's 'just process' to get the Arabs on board for war with Iran. My guess.


05-10-07 - Livni advances Israeli-Arab talks The Israeli foreign minister met her Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, as well as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo on Thursday as part of recent attempts at rapprochement between Jerusalem and the Arab League. Coincidentally, Cheney was just in the region trying to lobby these same folks. Methinks that the real agenda here is the upcoming war on Iran. If it's not, then why doesn't Livni meet with her PALESTINIAN counterparts? That is who Israel is trying to negotiate peace with, no?


05-09-07 - Bush won't give up military option on Iran: Rice "The American president will not abandon the military option and I believe that we do not want him to do so," Rice said in an interview with Al Arabiya television, part of which was broadcast on Tuesday.


05-09-07 - Major ZOA Lecture: MK Gen. Effie Eitam Warned -- "Israel Will Take Action If Diplomacy/Sanctions Fail" To Stop Iran Getting Nuclear Bomb ?I pray that this country [the USA] which has so many times led a world coalition against evil, will wake up and not accept a nuclear Iran for its long-term existence. Recently, I spoke to the U.S. National Security Council (NSC). I was invited to give my views, the invitation came from U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. I was told at the NSC, ?We believe we missed some important views by failing to discover the views of right-wing Israelis.


05-08-07 - Saved by the bomb A year before 9/11, Paul Wolfowitz and Lewis "Scooter" Libby signed a statement for the Project for the New American Century, a neoconservative thinktank. They rather hoped for "some catastrophic and catalysing event like a new Pearl Harbor" to kickstart their dream of a world run by US military might. A nuclear war would do the trick in spades


05-07-07 - Report: Saudis, US sponsoring covert action against Iran The governments of Saudi Arabia and the United States are working with other states in the Middle East to sponsor covert action against Iran, according to a report in this month's edition of The Atlantic. The report also suggests that covert attacks may occur against Iran's oil sector.


05-07-07 - The case for strikes against Iran It would be lawful because the US and/or Israel would be acting in appropriate self-defense. Both countries could act on behalf of the international community and could do so lawfully without wider approval Can you believe that this is the Christian Science Monitor AGAIN giving front page treatment for this? This is the THIRD TIME. Unf%#kingreal.


05-06-07 - U.S. Navy replaces Persian Gulf carriers The USS Nimitz and the ships in its strike group were expected within two days to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, said Navy Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl of the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet. The San Diego, Calif.-based Nimitz will join aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, now on patrol in the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.



05-06-07 - Cheney Mideast trip to build on Iraq conference "He's really more going to focus on regional security, with Iraq being the centerpiece, and focus on the challenges posed by Iran," said US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe. Cheney is looking to get support for action on Iran. This is why the recent 'timeline' was drawn up which detailed some measures to be taken by both Israel and the Palestinians. Cheney will soon be seen whispering in (SA)King Abdullah's ear: "Can we attack Iran now, can we huh, huh? Will you help us? Did we do enough for I-P peace???!!" Same sh#t, different year, and different ME country to attack. Bush and co. sit on their ass for YEARS on Israel-Palestinian peace. The ONLY time they DO something is when the neocons want Arab support for another attack on a Middle Eastern nation. Or so it would seem.


05-04-07 - Hearing shows Israel at crux of U.S. missile defense plan The May 3 session also dropped a bombshell: A senior congressman claimed that an Iranian crew was behind the missile attack on an Israeli Navy ship off Lebanon's coast last summer that killed four Israeli seamen.


05-04-07 - GOP contenders: Nuke threat justifies strike "If there is a threat to the existence of the State of Israel, which is by the way I think a potential threat to the existence of the United States, then you have to come to the aid of Israel," Tancredo said. These folks have forgotten which country they were elected to serve. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say anything about defending Israel. Moreover, it's ridiculous to suggest that our existence is threatened because Israel's is. Preposterous.


05-04-07 - Reporter: Fall 2007 could see an 'uptick' in US-Iran tensions "If by September the 'surge' is deemed to be ineffective, the Bush Administration may seek to blame Iran for its continuing difficulties," Laura Rozen, a top correspondent for the American Prospect and the Washington Monthly, told Harpers' Ken Silverstein.


05-03-07 - Iran can target missile at US, Europe in less than eight years: US Iran may have a long range missile capable of striking the United States and Europe in less than eight years, a senior State Department official said Thursday. Making the case for war.


05-03-07 - Cheney to Middle East The U.S. vice president will discuss "key issues of mutual interest" with leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, the White House said in a statement. Cheney leaves May 8.


05-02-07 - A High Price to Pay for Ignorance by Philip Giraldi Multiple carrier groups in the Persian Gulf can only mean that another preemptive war, this time against Iran, is either about to take place or is being viewed as a serious option......The leading Iranian émigré group is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which pretends to have a network of independent sources within Iran but actually is largely dependent on information from Israeli intelligence. The "critical analysis" of events in Iran that reaches policy-makers in Washington frequently comes from it and other lobbying and advocacy groups such as the American Enterprise Institute, the Hudson Institute, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), all of which share an "Iran agenda" that calls for regime change. AIPAC is known to be the source of a position paper on Iran that most congressmen rely on to shape their own views. Israel's advocates, including peripatetic politicians such as ex-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, make frequent visits to the United States, where they have good access to the media and potential supporters, to reinforce the case that Iran must be dealt with forcefully.



04-29-07 - Pulling the Trigger on Iran Still, attacking Iran is on Tel Aviv?s wish list, as clearly evidenced by AIPAC?s "Policy Conferences" in Washington from the last 3 or 4 years, so something has to be worked out before Cheney and Bush leave office......It is entirely possible that a nuclear-armed Tel Aviv, acting "on its own" but in coordination with Dick Cheney, Elliot Abrams, David Wurmser and maybe even with George W. Bush, will initiate hostilities with a bombing run and/or cruise missile attack on Iran


04-29-07 - Countdown has begun Until recently, American intelligence estimated that this would only happen in 2015. Now US intelligence is falling into line with its colleagues in Israel and is estimating that an Iranian bomb can be expected as early as 2010. Imagine that?


04-27-07 - US troops seize gang 'smuggling bombs from Iran' The statement also said that the gang had sent "militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training." Making the case for war.


04-26-07 - A Calculus: Will Israel strike Iran? Israel would prefer that Iran be struck and weakened -- by some other power. For Israel it would be best if the United States and a coalition of the West emasculated and neutered Iran of nuclear capabilities. Should that not occur, then yes, I believe that Israel will under certain circumstances strike Iran.


04-26-07 - Clinton: US might have to confront Iran Democratic presidential candidate and New York Senator Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that it might be necessary for America to confront Iran militarily, addressing that possibility more directly than any of the other presidential candidates who spoke this week to the National Jewish Democratic Council.


04-24-07 - US missile defence chief warns of growing Iran threat The head of the US missile defence agency, General Henry Obering, warned of a growing Iranian threat as he sought to convince Czech officials to play host to a US anti-missile shield.


04-24-07 - Lieberman: Patience With Iran Wearing Thin "We have begun to work with reformers within Iran,? he said in remarks reported by the Montreal Gazette.


04-24-07 - War With Iran Could Force the ?Silent To Act' The Israeli minister of housing, Meir Shetreet, downplayed the prospects of an Israeli attack on Iran. "I don't think Israel should be the one to take on Iran," he said. "This is a threat against the Western world." Right.


04-23-07 - Trying to put an end to the Shiite-Sunni confrontation Members of the media often reason that if Washington's plan to attack Iran fails to meet support in the United States and Europe, it will try to win approval in the Muslim world -- primarily from Iran's rivals in the region. Many Muslim political scientists are convinced that the United States will do all it can to escalate the Shiite-Sunni conflict.


04-20-07 - 'Bomb, bomb, bomb' Iran, US senator sings "That old Beach Boys song, 'Bomb Iran'?" McCain said in response to a question about US policy on its diplomatic pariah at an electoral campaign meeting in the state of North Carolina......"Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel," McCain went on in a serious tone, however.
"That alone should concern us, but now they are trying for nuclear capabilities. I totally support the president (George W. Bush) when he says we will not allow Iran to destroy Israel."



04-20-07 - Video: Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran


04-20-07 - Kuwait readies for possible US-Iran war US ally Kuwait is to form an emergency team to draw up contingency plans for any conflict between the United States and Iran, a senior minister said in comments published Friday.


04-19-07 - Iran nuclear threat: What to do? As the wild ride known as the Bush Administration careens toward its end, the only question remaining is whether the president will order an attack on Iran.....Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) has been attacking the Bush administration for being too easy on Iran. Other Jewish members of Congress, and Israel's supporters, have been highly critical of the Iranian regime. There is clearly a Jewish constituency for a tough line with Iran, and the Bush administration knows that the Israel card is a powerful motivator. The neoconservatives, some of whom are Jewish hawks, seem hopeful that they can salvage their Iraq disaster with an Iran success.


04-19-07 - INTERVIEW-Israel urges tough diplomacy this year on Iran There is still time this year to deal with Iran diplomatically to halt its nuclear program, but a military option may await if such pressure fails, Israel's envoy to the United States said on Wednesday.


04-19-07 - No plan to attack Iran, says US naval chief Admiral Michael Mullen, who is visiting Pakistan for talks with officials, said efforts were focused on a diplomatic solution to resolve the ongoing row over Tehran's nuclear programme. "There is no plan for an attack on Iran,"


04-18-07 - Squeeze Play: Approach Tehran with Sticks, Not Carrots In short, all the key players in the Middle East -- Sunni, Shia, Israeli -- now have nuclear weapons at a moment when the simmering and, in some cases, quite open conflicts between the region's states, sects, and ethnicities are almost too numerous to count. If that situation sounds terrifying, it should.......Needless to say, a nuclear arms race in the Middle East would greatly increase the chances of war -- between Sunnis and Shia or between Israelis and Muslims -- through mistake or miscalculation. For this reason alone, we must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Another genius that has failed to grasp the notion that America is NOT Israel. That's Dennis Ross (a pro-Israeli) writing for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy - AIPAC'S 'thinktank'.


04-18-07 - Dems Divided over Webb?s Proposal Requiring Approval for Attacking Iran The reversal quieted some Democrats? concerns that reining in Bush on Iran could endanger Israel?s security in the Middle East.


04-17-07 - Outside View: Iran's nuclear strategy Although U.S. President George W. Bush may be very tempted to attack Iran, he is not a dictator and will not ignore public opinion and ruin his party.


04-16-07 - Iran tops agenda as Gates starts Mideast tour In Amman, Gates will meet King Abdullah II and senior officials for talks on regional developments but "Iran in particular", the official said. "He's going to want to look and see what King Abdullah has to say about Iran." This admin is trying to get support for action on Iran.


04-16-07 - GCC Countries Complicate US' Iran Plans The issue of public opinion becomes relevant in the context of a Zogby International survey of six Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where only six percent of respondents thought Iran a major threat to their security. About 80 percent considered Israel and the U.S. as the two biggest external threats


04-15-07 - A Paradigm Shift: America as Proxy While Iran's prime objective is to discourage an American military assault against it, Israel seeks regional hegemony, where it is left only with "moderate" neighbours. According to this vision, conceived and promoted publicly by Israeli leaders and their friends in Washington and emphasised to the point of boring repetition by every relevant US official at every possible opportunity, the Iranian "threat" must be eradicated at any cost..... Israel is still cheering for war. Former director of Mossad, Uzi Arad, told the British Guardian that, "A military strike may be easier than you think." He outlined what targets were to be bombed -- not just nuclear, but security and economic centres


04-15-07 - Conflict with Iran 'not desirable', 'not inevitable': US Diplomacy must be given time to work in the West's stand-off with Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs said on Thursday, adding that conflict with Iran was not "desirable" or "inevitable."


04-14-07 - Cheney's Nemesis In the same week that Libby was convicted in a Washington courthouse, Seymour Hersh outlined the White House's secret plans for a possible invasion of Iran in The New Yorker. .....I think Bush wants to resolve the Iranian crisis. It may not be a crisis, but he wants to resolve it.


04-13-07 - Blix doubts US attack on Iran "I don't personally think the US would attack Iran, mainly because people in the United States are tired of military adventures,"


04-13-07 - Is IRAN Next? This site is about stopping a US war against Iran.



04-13-07 - Russia rules out military scenario for Iran The United States has been building up its military presence near the Middle East nation, prompting Russian mliitary to talk about possible strikes on the defiant regime. Washington earlier also refused to rule out a military campaign, although highlighting a focus on diplomacy


04-12-07 - Awful Truth About Hillary, Barack, John... and Whitewash The Pentagon?s most likely next target is Iran.



04-12-07 - Iran May Be The Greatest Crisis Of Modern Times

04-11-07 - Divide and rule - America's plan for Baghdad the campaign has far wider military ambitions than the pacification of Baghdad. It now appears that the US military intends to place as many as five mechanised brigades - comprising about 40,000 men - south and east of Baghdad, at least three of them positioned between the capital and the Iranian border. This would present Iran with a powerful - and potentially aggressive - American military force close to its border in the event of a US or Israeli military strike against its nuclear facilities later this year.........Those attending the course - American army generals serving in Iraq and top officers from the US Marine Corps, along with, according to some reports, at least four senior Israeli officers - participated in a series of debates to determine how best to "turn round" the disastrous war in Iraq.
Read that last sentence again.


04-11-07 - Russian General Says U.S. Continues Preparations for Iran Strike "If Iran strikes back at Israel with missiles, Tel-Aviv is likely to use nuclear weapons on Iran," Ivashov said, adding that such a "development of the situation would undermine stability not only in the Middle East, but also in the entire world."


04-10-07 - Half of Americans Expect Conflict with Iran ~Swell~


04-09-07 - Another step towards a showdown with America Even before this latest challenge, relations between Washington and Tehran were more fraught than usual. The US accuses unspecified elements in Iran of providing sophisticated explosive devices to insurgents in Iraq for use against US troops. For the past three months, moreover, it has been holding five Iranians seized in the northern city of Arbil, despite Iranian demands for their release.


04-08-07 - Americans offered 'aggressive patrols' in Iranian airspace In the first few days after the captives were seized and British diplomats were getting no news from Tehran on their whereabouts, Pentagon officials asked their British counterparts: what do you want us to do? They offered a series of military options, a list which remains top secret given the mounting risk of war between the US and Iran.


04-08-07 - Magnanimous Mahmoud by Patrick J. Buchanan Ms. Pelosi might thus hurry home from Saudi Arabia, where she has been instructing the Wahabis on women's rights, and reintroduce that House resolution declaring that, before President Bush can take his country to war against Iran, Congress must first authorize it.


04-06-07 - A Provocation Backfires We can stop the next war before it starts ? but only if we catch the War Party at their game while they're playing it, and not after the fact, as in the case of Iraq.


04-06-07 - Knesset director searching for alternative building in case of attack Nuclear attack drills, testing anti-missile defense systems, joint US-Israeli war games, finding alternative buildings for government officials - all spaced within a month or so - expecting some big attack are we? Why's that?


04-05-07 - Democrats Earn Their Stripes in the War Party by Philip Giraldi The apparent shift in course should be greeted with relief by all those who want to avoid yet another preemptive conflict, but assurances from neoconservatives that war is no longer the preferred option for dealing with Iran should be viewed cautiously and even as disinformation intended to defuse opposition......Our Iran policy is heavily influenced by the Israel lobby, and the Democrats have long been closely linked to Israel for a number of reasons The Israeli lobby decides who our #1 enemies are.


04-05-07 - Who will bite first, the U.S. or Iran? On the other hand, the operation may not begin on April 6, despite the "telling signs" detected mainly by Russian military experts and the General Staff. One of the reasons is that there is no time left for the U.S. to speak about the "inevitability" of confrontation and warn Iran of the impending doom. I am referring to the requisite "demoralization stage," which is not part of the rules accepted in the civilized world. The Pentagon usually carries out pre-war demoralization preparations because they can reduce potential casualties


04-05-07 - US backing 'secret war' against Iran?


04-05-07 - Syria, Hizbullah, Iran prepare in case of war The prospect of an attack by the United States against Iran has triggered a flurry of military activity around the Middle East as Tehran mobilizes its allies to prepare a defense. In a region where suspicion dominates and trust is rare, politicians and analysts warn, mounting tensions between the US and Iran could spark a war by accident.
You've got the Israelis saying that they want a second round with Hezbollah, and that might just be the necessary spark to engulf the entire region as the neocons have wanted all along.


04-05-07 - Russia deems Iran's defense system strong enough Iran has a strong air defense potential to resist possible U.S. air strikes, a senior Russian military official told a news conference on Thursday.


04-05-07 - Kuwaiti media: U.S. to attack Iran by end of April Citing anonymous sources in Washington, the Times said that various White House departments have already started preparing the political speech, which will be delivered by the U.S. president later this month, announcing the military attack on Iran.


04-05-07 - Blair suspects Iran's hand in Iraq attacks Tony Blair today warned that "elements of the Iranian regime" were arming insurgents in Iraq after it was confirmed four British troops were killed in Basra last night.


04-05-07 - Israelis want rematch in Lebanon The difference this time around? The IDF will go into Gaza, too -- and it is all part of a plan to neutralize Iranian proxies on Israel's borders, one element of a strategic effort to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons and overthrow the mullahs in Tehran. The plan was laid out in Washington last month by Effie Eitam, a hawkish former general and darling of the orthodox hard right who now leads a small religious splinter group in the Knesset....Eitam said that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq 'before defeating the Iranian regime ... (would have) enormous strategic consequences.'


04-05-07 - US Navy steps up vigilance after Britain-Iran standoff


04-04-07 - Rep. DeFazio: Don't Attack Iran We?re concerned that there?s an embedded plan, embedded in the minds of the same neo-cons who manufactured the war in Iraq, the same neo-cons who have been so wrong every step of the way about us being welcomed as liberators, about how Iraq could pay for its own reconstruction, about the size of the force necessary. They?ve been wrong about everything, but they still think they?re right.


04-04-07 - ABC News Exclusive: The Secret War Against Iran Most recently, Jundullah took credit for an attack in February that killed at least 11 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard riding on a bus in the Iranian city of Zahedan.


04-04-07 - Antiwar Radio: Scott Horton Interviews Philip Giraldi Former CIA agent Philip Giraldi discusses the possibility of war with Iran, the 15 British captives recent media reports of preparations being made, the possible use of nuclear weapons, the danger to U.S. forces in Iraq if ?we? do attack, the lack of evidence for an Iranian nuclear weapons program, America?s support for Iran in Iraq, AIPAC and the American War Party and the status of ?al Qaeda in Iraq.?




04-03-07 - U.S. could strike Iran but not win: Russian general "The United States has a contingent in the region capable of launching a strike on Iranian territory. "However, such possible strikes would be a huge political mistake. Shockwaves from this attack could be felt around the world."



04-03-07 - U.S. strategy on Iran may have backfired Months of hard-nosed U.S. political and military pressure on Iran may have further radicalized and emboldened the regime, undermining Washington's stated aim of neutralizing the Iranian threat without resorting to war, analysts say.



04-03-07 - Russian Government Warns About Iran Attack Threat Denisov warned that "any military action near our borders is absolutely impermissible."


04-02-07 - Israel nixes Iran attack reports Ehud Olmert denied reports that Israel and the United States are planning a joint attack on Iran


04-02-07 - Iran says no need to try British sailors Meanwhile the USA has defended calling the 15 captives "hostages" and denied ramping up rhetoric towards Iran to set the stage for war."We reject any notion that suggests that we are ratcheting up the language in terms of trying to prepare to go to war with Iran. That is certainly not the case," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.



04-01-07 - Israel PM denies plotting with US against Iran Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed as baseless Sunday suggestions that Israel was working with the United States in drawing up contingency plans for conflict with Iran.


04-01-07 - IDF intelligence: Iran, Hizbullah preparing for possible US strike "Their preparation is defensive ahead of war ? They fear a war initiated by the Americans because they understand that there might be an attack against Iran over the summer, but not by Israel," Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Cabinet.


04-01-07 - Iran forces Israeli rethink Uzi Arad, former director of intelligence at Israel's spy agency, Mossad, has made a lifetime's study of revolutionary Iran. If international sanctions and diplomatic arm-twisting fail to halt its suspect nuclear activities, he is clear what the west must do: bomb Tehran.


04-01-07 - Treasuries roiled by Bahrain rumours The US Treasury bond market swung wildly on Friday on a report suggesting the US was preparing military action against Iran. US government bonds, a traditional haven in times of turmoil, soared on a rumour published by the Debkafile website - later denied by the White House - that American citizens in Bahrain had been advised to leave the country Debkafile


04-01-07 - What's Happening Around Iran I still see Israeli security concerns as the most significant driver of likely military action. A series of Israeli war drills last week, including simulated missile attacks on Israeli urban centers and on the main Tel Aviv power station, are particularly noteworthy.


04-01-07 - Brinkmanship Unwise in Uncharted Waters There is real danger that this incident, and the way it plays out, may turn out to be outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair's last gesture of fealty to President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and neoconservative advisers who, this time, are looking for a casus belli to "justify" air strikes on Iran.


04-01-07 - Any Casus Belli Will Do According to Russian intelligence, U.S.-allied armed forces in and around the Persian Gulf are being readied for an attack on Iran in the very near future.


04-01-07 - U.S. Carrier Nimitz to Deploy to Persian Gulf The new battle group will be in position by late April, but there will be no overlap with the Eisenhower, and the number of U.S. carriers in the area would stay at two, a navy official said on condition of anonymity.

03-31-07 - Iran army chief warns of Israeli 'suicide attack' "The Zionists plan to carry out a suicide plot in the summer," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, Iran's armed forces joint chief of staff, as saying.


03-31-07 - Israel Will be at War by Summer, Politician Says Dr. Eldad explained that Israel was facing a new strategic threat, caused in part by its own failure to deal a crushing blow to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the impression of weakness last summer's failed war created in the minds of Israel's enemies......Israel has "no choice" but to launch a pre-emptive war to destroy Hezbollah as an effective fighting force, he believes......Eldad is not suggesting economic or diplomatic "engagement," as the State Department might use the term. He is talking about having Israel's military take out Iranian nuclear and missile sites if the Western nations refuse to do the job......Like most Israeli leaders, Dr. Eldad would prefer that the United States and its partners take out Iranian nuclear and missile sites, if for no other reason than the vastly superior conventional firepower the U.S. could bring to bear. Why is it up to us to 'do the job'?


03-31-07 - War with Iran unlikely if Gates has any say As a senior former U.S. intelligence official who worked with Gates said of him, "If Bob Gates is Secretary of Defense, we are not going to war with Iran.".....Gates is also on the record as being opposed to those in the White House and elsewhere in Washington who think the Iranian issue can best be resolved by working with Iranian dissidents to overthrow the current regime. We shall see if Gates' view prevails.


03-31-07 - Is a U.S.-Iran War Inevitable?


03-30-07 - Saudis warned Iran not to underestimate US threat Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah reportedly warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he should not underestimate the US military threat on Iran.


03-30-07 - Iran: Attack fears spurred nuclear block Iran, in a confidential letter posted Friday on an internal Web site of the U.N. nuclear monitor, said its fear of attack from the U.S. and Israel prompted its decision to withhold information from the agency.


03-30-07 - The Real 'Existential Threat' The coming war with Iran will not end until the entire region is aflame ? with the fire spreading to three continents, and beyond. Is this the price the world is willing to pay to put an end to the "existential threat" to Israel?


03-30-07 - San Diego families prepare for warship's departure Up to five-thousand sailors and Marines will be aboard the aircraft carrier when she sets sail from Naval Air Station North Island, headed for the Persian Gulf.


03-30-07 - Resist the war drive against Iran The capture of the British sailors has all the hallmarks of the kind of incident that has been used in the past as a reason either for war or for escalating confrontation.


03-29-07 - Clark says Iran attack would harm Israel


03-28-07 - US missile shield for Mideast threat, Bush tells Russia's Putin The United States is currently concerned about Iran's ballistic missiles.


03-28-07 - U.S. to keep troop levels through fall


03-28-07 - US keen to avoid 'escalation of tensions' with Iran following capture of British sailors The fact remains however that the massive new war games in the Gulf were brought forward because of the incident with the British, according to a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The exercises, involving two carrier groups, are the largest of their kind since 2003. As Mr Bush made clear in an address on January 10 that directly blamed Iran for fomenting violence against US forces in Iraq, they are intended to send a clear message to Teheran.


03-28-07 - Easter Surprise: Attack on Iran, New 9/11? or Worse


03-28-07 - Moscow warns U.S. Iran policy may spark "clash of civilizations"


03-28-07 - Americans Reject Attacking Iran Over Iraq Bombs


03-27-07 - UAE will not be used in any Iran strike -president "We have informed the Iranian brothers ... that we are not party to its conflict with the United States and will not allow our territories to be used for any military, security or spy activities against it."


03-27-07 - US hawks see strikes on Iran as less likely now Mr. Rosbenberg says continued tough talk ? and the Democrat climbdown over the spending bill ? largely serve two functions: To hopefully soften up Iran in ongoing diplomatic negotiations over inspections of its nuclear facilities; and as a sop to hard-line groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which says it favors attacking Iran if diplomacy doesn't yield results soon, and whose lobbying was largely seen as leading Ms. Pelosi to take her action. I disagree with the author. It's coming, and that's why Rice is suddenly trying to make peace between the Israelis and Palestinians; to get support from those not on board for military action against Iran. All of this newfound talk of diplomacy and pragmatism is a ruse.


03-27-07 - US Navy starts war games in Gulf


03-27-07 - Russian intelligence sees U.S. military buildup on Iran border "The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched.


03-27-07 - Oil spikes $5 on rumors of Iran attack U.S. light crude for May delivery jumped $5.18, or about 8 percent, to $68.91 a barrel in electronic trading before giving back most of those gains to trade at $64.40 a barrel, $1.47 above Tuesday's settle price on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


03-26-07 - Fallout fear puts deadline on nuclear sites attack Sources cited by The Jerusalem Post say a US or Israeli strike on the Iranian facilities would probably be carried out before Iran had enriched weapons-grade material in sufficient amounts to trigger a nuclear catastrophe if hit.


03-26-07 - China, Russia leaders reject force on Iran, N.Korea


03-26-07 - US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran "The latest attacks inside Iran fall in line with US efforts to supply and train Iran's ethnic minorities to destabilise the Iranian regime."


03-26-07 - The Coming War With Iran , recent events include the kidnapping of Iranian consular officials in Irbil, Kurdistan, by U.S. forces, reports of covert U.S. support for terrorist attacks inside Iran, the "disappearance" of a major Iranian military figure in the elite Revolutionary Guards unit, and suspicions that the Mossad may have had a hand in killing a renowned Iranian nuclear scientist.


03-26-07 - Two US, one French aircraft carrier in Gulf region Lieutenant Commander Bertrand Bonneau, chief of press for the French navy, said the carrier group would be restricted to actions over Afghanistan. He said the carrier's deployment had "nothing at all" to do with exerting pressure on Iran.


03-26-07 - Chavez asks world to halt alleged planned US attack on Iran Chavez, speaking one day after the UN Security Council voted to tighten sanctions on Iran over Tehran's refusal to curtail its nuclear programme, cited a Russian press report which purportedly details the time and place of an attack on Iran by the United States, which he has dubbed "The Empire."

03-24-07 - U.S.: Defense shield no threat to Russia Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Pekala urged European leaders to get behind the plan to put 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic. He said the system would help protect the U.S. and its allies from the real menace: an Iranian airstrike.... "We consider the threat from the Middle East very real and quite urgent," Why? Because we are going to strike Iran?


03-23-07 - Exclusive: Embassies in Teheran prepare escape plans According to foreign sources, foreign diplomats believe a possible attack would take place before the end of 2007.


03-22-07 - Iran navy launches Gulf war games "If the United States starts a war against Iran, it won't be the US that finishes it," the ISNA news agency quoted a Revolutionary Guards navy general as saying.


03-22-07 - Iran not worried by prospect of US strike: Ahmadinejad


03-22-07 - Analysis: Mideast: Permanent Kefuffle At first, the idea was to make sure president Bush could not launch air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities without prior Congressional authorization. But friends of Israel in and out of Congress swung into action, arguing that Iran, under present management, was a second "holocaust" in the making......Meanwhile, Israeli settlements keep growing illegally just below the international radar screen, house by house, in some 140 settlements. Many are strategically located to command access to the main aquifer under the West Bank. A secure road network under Israeli control interlinks the colonies.


03-21-07 - Bolton: Only Force Will Deter Iran From Nuclear Program


03-21-07 - US looks to sell arms in Gulf to try to contain Iran the arms sales, which would come on top of a recent upgrade of US Patriot antimissile interceptors in Qatar and Kuwait and the deployment of two aircraft carriers to the Gulf, could spark concerns that further military buildup in the volatile region would bring Washington closer to a confrontation with Iran.



03-20-07 - U.S. 'Surge' in Iraq Is To Prepare Attack on Iran


03-20-07 - Conflict with Iran inevitable, Ya'alon says


03-20-07 - US Air Force Col.: Bulgaria - Option for Military Base aganst Iran The forces are in place to conduct a strike right now. The US has moved an additional carrier group, has deployed additional missile defense assets, has deployed an additional mine sweeping ship to the gulf. The US is in the process of adding oil to a strategic petroleum reserve. All of these are the steps that would be taken if one were going to conduct a strike in Iran.



03-20-07 - Israel to hold nationwide missile attack drill


03-19-07 - Report: U.S. shuns Israel on Iran plans according to Ma'ariv, the Olmert government is in doubt about whether President Bush is capable of mustering domestic support for anything other than diplomatic pressure on Tehran.


03-18-07 - Russia warns US not to use nuclear issue to change Iran Russia's security chief issued a veiled warning to Washington on Sunday not to use the Iranian nuclear issue to try to change Tehran's political course.


03-18-07 - Israel, U.S. test missile defense Israel and the U.S. are concerned that Iran could be developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles able to threaten Israel When did it become our job to defend the nation of Israel, I wonder? Soon it will be written into the Constitution. Thanks to these folks, that actually isn't necessary.


03-18-07 - Israeli, U.S. forces hold air defense drill Israeli and U.S. forces are holding a joint exercise on defending Israel against missile attack.

03-17-07 - Iran's military warns U.S. against "stupid move" Iran's army commander has warned the United States and other Western powers not to make any "stupid move" over Tehran's nuclear work, and suggested they would be surprised by Iran's military response if they attacked.


03-17-07 - Qatar voices Gulf fears of military action against Iran


03-16-07 - Analysis: Attacking Iran -- Part 1


03-16-07 - Analysis: Attacking Iran -- Part 2


03-15-07 - Apocalypse Now: Iran Threat Dominates AIPAC Confab just under the surface, support was clear for a military attack if sanctions failed. Indeed, AIPAC supported a move to smooth the way for such an attack during the conference itself. House Democrats fashioning a supplemental appropriations bill for the Iraq war this week had hoped to include a provision requiring President Bush to get authorization from Congress for any attack on Iran. But late Monday, the provision was kept out of the bill, according to several Capitol Hill sources, due to vehement opposition from AIPAC and pro-Israel members of Congress, including Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-L.I./Queens) and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.).



03-12-07 - Dems abandon war authority provision Top House Democrats retreated Monday from an attempt to limit President Bush's authority for taking military action against Iran as the leadership concentrated on a looming confrontation with the White House over the Iraq war. By coincidence, AIPAC - which admittedly has Iran as its top priority - opened its annual conference today. Imagine.


03-12-07 - Missing Iranian official was kidnapped: relatives "Personally I am sure that Iran's main enemies America and Israel have kidnapped my father," Asgari's daughter Elham told state radio after lodging a complaint at the Turkish embassy in Tehran over Asgari's disappearance.


03-11-07 - Mystery of former Iranian minister deepens "Although massive speculation by the foreign media about the fate of Ali-Reza Asgari has a special exaggeration, the latest evaluation more than anything else underscores [the likelihood of] his being kidnapped by Mossad [the Israeli intelligence agency] or the CIA,"


03-10-07 - Church coalition to Rice: repudiate attack Iran claims A coalition of U.S. mainstream churches urged Condoleezza Rice to assuage concerns in the Middle East that Israel or the United States is planning to attack Iran.


03-10-07 - A predator becomes more dangerous when wounded By an accident of geography, the world's major oil resources are in largely Shia areas of the Middle East: southern Iraq, adjacent regions of Saudi Arabia and Iran, with some of the major reserves of natural gas as well. Washington's worst nightmare would be a loose Shia alliance controlling most of the world's oil and independent of the US. Chomsky, while he makes an interesting point here, always wants to keep your attention away from the Israeli factor, seems.


03-10-07 - Ex-Weapons Boss: Iran War on Way "Don't believe the BS that you get out of Washington. Be good citizens; a good citizen thinks for his or herself."


03-10-07 - Iranian defector huge coup for Americans That allegation was denied by a U.S. government official who, in the Post story he Asgari disappeared on his own volition but suggested the Israelis helped him jump ship, according to the Washington Post. Asgari is willingly cooperating, another official told the Post, but would not disclose where he was being questioned or who was interrogating him. But a report in Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz said he was in the United States. Something stinks here.


03-09-07 - Analysis: Intelligence summit takes flak Old pros from America's secretive world of espionage and counterterrorism emerged temporarily from the shadows to convene for a three-day "Intelligence Summit" in a downtown hotel in St. Petersburg, Fla., earlier this week. They were joined by a handful of allies from friendly countries -- mostly from Israel -- to discuss what they see as the number one threat facing Western democracies, the ever-increasing form of militant Islam and its indiscriminate use of terrorism......Many would rather "not waste time" talking with governments they say will never keep its word. Instead, they would prefer to simply "kick butt," as one speaker put it, and making realistic plans to enable regime change in Syria and Iran through assassinations and intimidation. His comments were received with applause and cheers from the audience.


03-09-07 - Iranian general 'hands over vital documents after defecting to US' A former Iranian deputy defence minister, Ali Rez Asgari has documents and maps detailing the relationship between the elite Revolutionary Guards and Islamist groups such as Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad, the London-based Asharq Alawsat newspaper said. The newspaper said the general was also briefing Western intelligence on Iran's links to groups in Iraq. These include the Mehdi Army of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr organisation We all know in what direction this thing will go.


03-08-07 - Leveraging the Surge Skeptics believe the administration's recent decision to "surge" U.S. military strength in Iraq by at least 22,000 troops is related more to a strategy of increased pressure on Iran than to stabilizing the situation in Baghdad. The surge decision could be seen as putting the U.S. military in a better position to respond to Shiite attacks on U.S troops in retaliation to a possible U.S. strike against Iran.


03-08-07 - Webb Introduces Bill Barring Funding For Military Action Against Iran A Democratic senator on Monday introduced legislation that in some cases would deny funding for the Bush administration to take military action against Iran without first getting congressional approval.


03-07-07 - Israeli MK predicts attack on Iran Eitam told The CJN that Israel may have to act alone against Iran within "a window" to two to three years, but he suggested Israel would move before Bush leaves office. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama, the leading Democratic presidential candidates, have the stomach to tackle Iran militarily, Eitam said, and he wasn?t sure how Republican contenders Rudy Giuliani and John McCain would act...... "It would be a strategic tragedy if the United States stabilizes Iraq, but is so weakened by that operation that the credibility of the president is so low that they couldn?t strike Iran."



03-07-07 - Hardline Pastor Gets Prime AIPAC Spot And a time when pro-Israel forces are being accused of beating the drums for war with Iran, Rev. Hagee seems to believe such a conflict is both inevitable and necessary...... Congressional observers say AIPAC remains a legislative powerhouse, ?but more lawmakers will now feel free to ask questions, especially about routine and nonbinding resolutions praising Israel and criticizing the Palestinians,? said a longtime pro-Israel lobbyist.


03-07-07 - MoveOn Calls on Congress to Stop Escalation into Iran MoveOn will deliver more than 200,000 MoveOn petitions signed by members urging Congress to support a bill that would discourage military escalation into Iran


03-07-07 - Analysts: Iran's military poses little threat Cordesman also contended that tensions in the Gulf were being worsened by U.S. and Israeli leaders overstating the Iranian threat.


03-07-07 - US pressurizing Pak to get its support for attack on Iran: Gul


03-07-07 - Greenwald: State Department promotion sends Iran war signal "The Cohen appointment," he says, "is clearly another instance where neoconservatives place a watchdog in potential trouble spots in the government to ensure that diplomats do not stray by trying to facilitate rapproachments between the U.S. and the countries on the neoconservative War hit list."


03-06-07 - Can We Expect an Attack on Iran Next? An invasion of Iran would at least initially distract attention from the escalating failure of the Iraq occupation. And, unfortunately, even after the Iraq intelligence fiasco, Bush could probably count on the mainstream media to fall in line. The New York Times has already without embarrassment chimed in with new articles about Iranian weapons being used to kill U.S. troops, a piece filled with anonymous quotations.


03-05-07 - Attack on Iran would backfire, warns report Advocates of military strikes against Iran - largely confined to hawks in and around the Bush administration and the Israeli government - argue that Tehran has made a strategic decision to develop a nuclear weapon, which it would then readily use against Israel or the US itself, perhaps contracting a terrorist group to smuggle the warhead to its target.


03-04-07 - Report warns against Iran attack Military strikes against Iran could speed Tehran's development of nuclear weapons, according to a UK think tank.


03-04-07 - Who Will Stop The Next War? by Patrick J. Buchanan


03-04-07 - Strike on Iran would destabilize region: France


03-04-07 - How Far is Iran from the Bomb? Both Sen. Levin and ranking member John Warner (R, VA) picked up on this, to the dismay of Sen. Graham, who sounded as if he had just come from a briefing by the Israeli extreme right who, with Cheney, are pushing hard for a U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Graham said he thought economic sanctions might work but that, in any case, they were "the only thing left short of military action."



03-03-07 - Clinton doesn't support attack on Iran Former President Bill Clinton said Friday sanctions against Iran were working better than people think and questioned whether a military strike would work to end its nuclear program


03-03-07 - US Sen. Reid favors bill restricting attack on Iran Reid, in his remarks to reporters on Thursday, acknowledged the Pentagon's assurances. But he added, "There are many out there much smarter than I am who believe the administration is ramping up to have the same thing happen in Iran that happened in Iraq."


03-02-07 - Gray weapons market clouds Iran role There are also visible differences between 81mm mortar shells known to be made by Iran and those displayed Feb. 11 by the U.S. military at a Baghdad briefing. The Iranian mortar shell has four horizontal ribs below the lettering and no date; the one shown in Baghdad has three ribs above the lettering and the date 3-2006.


03-01-07 - Russia warns U.S. against striking Iran "We are concerned about the possibility of a military scenario," Lavrov was quoted as saying, in the government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta. "We are observing a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf. Such a buildup of forces always threatens to trigger a military conflict, even by accident."


03-01-07 - NATO approval not needed for missile shield says U.S. The United States vowed on Thursday to press ahead with a plan for a missile defense shield in eastern Europe to guard against attack from Iran, with or without the approval of NATO allies.


03-01-07 - Regime Change Is the Reason, Disarmament the Excuse One of the big problems is the Israelis refuse to provide equality to their Arab neighbors. Israel wants to have a situation where five million people get to dictate regional terms of coexistence to hundreds of millions of people. That calculus just doesn't work in the long run. It creates a situation where inevitably Israel is going to find itself in increasingly dangerous situations.


02-28-07 - Brzezinski: On The Path To War With Iran


02-28-07 - Iran's Very Bad N-Word Asked by Siegel to explain why the Israelis have suggested a much shorter timeline for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, Negroponte stated the obvious with bluntness uncommon for a diplomat. "I think that sometimes what the Israelis will do (is) give you the worst-case assessment."....Seldom have I heard an American senator so openly press the U.S. to mount an attack on a major country simply because it could be perceived as a threat to Israel


02-28-07 - Pentagon Meeting Discussed Escalating Pressure on Iran A meeting at the Pentagon in mid-February was said by the participant to have revolved around a plan to ratchet up U.S. rhetoric about an Iranian threat and make further military preparations for war in a way that would be reminiscent of what happened prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.....According to the account provided by the participant, the administration's decision last month to increase U.S. military strength in Iraq by at least 22,000 troops is related more to a strategy of increased pressure on Iran than to stabilizing the situation in Baghdad. As to that last sentence : that's exactly why the neocons were pushing so hard for the 'surge', IMO.


02-27-07 - US military chief "categorically" denies plans for Iran air strikes


02-26-07 - Collision Course With Iran Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich The White House is now selectively leaking intelligence to set the stage for a military attack on Iran.


02-26-07 - Russia 'worried' about talk of possible attack on Iran the New Yorker magazine reported Sunday that the United States is stepping up covert operations in Iran in a new strategy that risks sparking an "open confrontation" and benefits Sunni radicals.


02-26-07 - U.S. War with Iran would be Navy, Air Force show: Analysts


02-26-07 - AIPAC Demands "Action" on Iran


02-26-07 - Dems' Me-Too Iran Talk Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., told the AIPAC annual convention at the end of January, "In dealing with this threat ... no option can be taken off the table." Former senator John Edwards was even more vehement in a speech on Iran last month at the Herzliya Conference in Israel. "To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep all options on the table," he said, and then repeated the point for emphasis. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., appearing on "60 Minutes" recently, declared, "I think we should keep all options on the table."



02-25-07 - US aircraft carrier has no plans to 'intimidate Iran' However, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in January that reinforcing the US naval presence in the oil-rich region was a message to Iran, which has defied the international community over its nuclear drive.


02-25-07 - Arab League refutes Israeli reports on using Arab airspace against Iran


02-25-07 - UK doubles naval presence in Persian Gulf Cdre Winstanley said there was a message for Iran in the expansion of the coalition fleet in the waters of the Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman and Arabian Sea.


02-25-07 - U.N. calls U.S. data on Iran's nuclear aims unreliable Tips about supposed secret weapons sites and documents with missile designs haven't panned out, diplomats say.


02-25-07 - Report: 3 Gulf states agree to IAF overflights en route to Iran According to the report, a diplomat from one of the gulf states visiting Washington on Saturday said the three states, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace, despite their fear of an Iranian response. Coincidentally, Cheney is in Oman today.


02-25-07 - U.S. developing contingency plan to bomb Iran: report


02-25-07 - THE REDIRECTION by SEYMOUR M. HERSH The Administration is now examining a wave of new intelligence on Iran?s weapons programs. Current and former American officials told me that the intelligence, which came from Israeli agents operating in Iran, includes a claim that Iran has developed a three-stage solid-fuelled intercontinental missile capable of delivering several small warheads?each with limited accuracy?inside Europe. The validity of this human intelligence is still being debated......Patrick Clawson, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, depicted the Saudis? coöperation with the White House as a significant breakthrough. ?The Saudis understand that if they want the Administration to make a more generous political offer to the Palestinians they have to persuade the Arab states to make a more generous offer to the Israelis,? Well well well. IF you read on you will discover the influence of the Saudis in all of this. The same ones that are effectively gouging the price of oil which has at times caused Americans to assume the position. Mama no like.


02-25-07 - New US covert operations helping Sunni Muslim radicals Hersh also reports, citing unnamed sources, that the US Defense Department recently formed a special planning group to plan possible attacks on Iran "that can be implemented, upon orders from the president, within 24 hours."


02-25-07 - US Generals ?Will Quit? If Bush Orders Iran Attack Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack. Thank you for speaking up! Iran has not threatened us (in the absence of any threats we've made), Iran has not attacked us, nor does Iran have nuclear weapons with which to attack us. Mefears there will be a terror attack on US interests that will be blamed on Iran which was described in Giraldi's now famous Deep Background column that you can read here.


02-24-07 - Iran ready for anything in nuclear dispute "We do not see America in a position to impose another crisis on its tax-payers ... by starting another war in the Middle East," Mottaki said.


02-24-07 - Israel denies seeking US go-ahead for Iran strike


02-23-07 - Any U.S. strike might not destroy Iran nuclear sites


02-23-07 - Iran faces new sanctions over nuclear expansion some UN diplomats are not hopeful that Iran can be persuaded to give up its nuclear programme. One said that there was "a 60 per cent chance" of military strikes on Iran.


02-23-07 - Cheney hints at Iran strike He has endorsed Republican senator John McCain's proposition that the only thing worse than a military confrontation with Iran would be a nuclear-armed Iran.....The visiting Vice-President said that he had no doubt Iran was striving to enrich uranium to the point where they could make nuclear weapons. And I have no doubts that Cheney is planning for an Iran attack (and has been doing so since at least Aug. 2005).


02-23-07 - US keeps 'all options' open concerning Iran: Cheney


02-23-07 - Israel seeks all clear for Iran air strike Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.....A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Teheran developing nuclear weapons.


02-23-07 - American armada prepares to take on Iran The addition of a second aircraft carrier to its strike groups has fuelled the belief that America is gearing up for a fight with Iran. Not since the Iraq war in 2003 has America amassed so much fire power around the Gulf.


02-23-07 - Speculation Rages: Is Iran Bush's Next Target? "I still believe, at the end of the day, that he will bomb the Iranian (nuclear) facilities," said Joshua Muravchik, a neoconservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank with close ties to the Bush administration. Muravchik, who favors military action, sees Bush's current focus on diplomacy as a prelude to attack


02-23-07 - Old Europe and the Mullahs by Philip Giraldi AIPAC's formulation that the option of force "must remain on the table" when dealing with Iran has been repeated like a mantra by numerous politicians and government officials, not too surprisingly as AIPAC writes the briefings and position papers that many Congressmen unfortunately rely on


02-22-07 - British officials fear US will attack Iran Senior British government officials fear that US President George W. Bush will attack Iran before his final term in office ends in a little less than two years time, a newspaper reported in an early Friday edition.


02-22-07 - Russia warns U.S. on Iran moves Russia's foreign minister Wednesday warned the United States not to take military action against Iran.


02-22-07 - US Iran intelligence 'is incorrect' most of the tip-offs about supposed secret weapons sites provided by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies have led to dead ends when investigated by IAEA inspectors, according to informed sources in Vienna. Read the bit about the laptop and the data that's in, of all languages, ENGLISH. Comical.


02-22-07 - Escalating Threats of U.S. Attacks Against Iran Israeli rhetoric against Iran is largely paralleling U.S. claims; unlike the run-up to the Iraq War, Israel and the pro-Israeli lobbies in the U.S. are pressing hard for an attack on Iran, and any Israeli involvement would significantly undercut Congressional opposition.....The U.S. is more isolated now than at any time since the beginning of the 2003 Iraq War; no U.S. allies except Israel are supporting calls for a U.S. attack on Iran.
That's because US allies know this time around who is behind this second cry of 'wolf!'. They are not amused.


02-22-07 - Second US carrier arrives off Iran


02-21-07 - Two 'Gators' deploy from Norfolk in two different directions The 1,000 sailors of the Saipan had just six weeks to get ready. The Captain said they're needed in the Arabian Gulf, where they could remain for four to six months.


02-21-07 - Officials: Iranian patrol boats probe Iraqi waters


02-21-07 - US Navy denies reports of offensive military build-up in Gulf


02-21-07 - Scooter Libby and World War III


02-20-07 - New tensions over Iran's nuclear plans A new element emerging over the last couple of weeks is the linkage the US is making between Iran and events inside Iraq. It has publicised its contention that Iran is behind sophisticated technology that is being used by some Shia groups against US and British forces in Iraq. The timing of this claim, rejected by Iran, is significant, because it ties in with expiry of the Security Council demand on 21 February. It adds a new component into the equation



02-20-07 - Tehran dismisses threat of force


02-20-07 - Robert Fisk: Lebanon will be first victim of Iran crisis


02-20-07 - Pentagon dismisses report of Iran attack plan as "ludicrous" The Pentagon has dismissed as "ludicrous" a BBC report that the US military has drawn up detailed contingency plans for air strikes against Iran.


02-20-07 - Not Good News Although the devices were not IED?s like those found in Iraq, the explosions were in the area a group sponsored by the United States may be operating. The area in Iran is Sistan-Baluchestan near the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sy Hersh and a number of other reporters have said this is the area in which the MEK (or the mouthful name Mujahedin-e Khalq) have been operating.


02-19-07 - US 'Iran attack plans' revealed BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies.


02-18-07 - Iran's elite guards to hold war games Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards will launch their second war games in a month on Monday, just days ahead of a U.N. deadline regarding Iran's nuclear program.


02-18-07 - Israeli Rightist Warns That Bush's Iraq Policy Could Hurt Effort To Combat Iran Despite tepid public support in America for another military venture in the Middle East, Eitam asserted that he sensed strong bipartisan support in Washington for using all available means to stop Iran?s nuclear program. Eitam noted that while American intelligence disagreed a year ago with Israel?s assessment that Iran was three to four years away from reaching a critical point, Washington now endorses Jerusalem?s estimates.....Eitam said that even if Israel were to carry out strikes on its own, it would need American support for refueling, as well as authorization to fly over Iraq and intelligence cooperation. "This is why I tell the Americans that they will be seen as being part of it anyway, which is why they should prepare accordingly,"



02-17-07 - Iran chases militants behind new bomb blast Local officials said the unrest bore suspicious hallmarks of involvement by the United States and Britain, reiterating previous allegations of Western trouble-making in the southeastern Sistuan-Baluchestan province.


02-17-07 - Report: Weapons used in attack in Zahedan, Iran come from U.S. Explosive devices and arsenals used in a terrorist attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan on Wednesday came from the United States, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday.


02-17-07 - US not seeking Iran showdown: Pentagon official "They seem to think that the removal of Saddam from power in Iraq and the absence of a regional counterweight provides them with the licence to expand their influence and presence throughout the Gulf."


02-16-07 - Gulf states plan weapons buying binge If Iran were threatened or attacked by the United States or Israel, its ballistic missiles could hit land targets or ships, and its mines could block the narrow shipping lanes that carry oil from the Gulf. That scenario is pushing Gulf defense ministers to consider missile defense systems like the Patriot, sold by U.S. manufacturer Raytheon Co. They also are eyeing warships, including mine sweepers, and early-warning radar, Hughes said.



02-16-07 - Bomb explodes in southeastern Iran near site of previous blast IRNA quoted an unnamed "responsible official" late Friday as saying that one of those arrested in Wednesday's bombing has "confessed" that the attacks were part of alleged U.S. plans to provoke ethnic and religious violence in Iran.


02-16-07 - Iran arrests bomb suspects, police say U.S. link "Our investigations clearly shows their connection to American and British intelligence organisations and also to groups opposed to the Islamic republic,"


02-16-07 - U.S. patrol ship on alert in gulf Despite their differences in size and weaponry, the Firebolt and the Stennis share a stated mission: deter the Iranian navy from hostile acts in an area vital to oil shipments by showing Tehran that the strength of the U.S. military remains formidable despite its entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan.



02-16-07 - Frm. Bush NSC Dir. says US provoking pretext for Iran war


02-16-07 - Iran - Ready to attack British military sources told the New Statesman, on condition of anonymity, that "the US military switched its whole focus to Iran" as soon as Saddam Hussein was kicked out of Baghdad. It continued this strategy, even though it had American infantry bogged down in fighting the insurgency in Iraq.


02-16-07 - StratCom and the Plan To Attack Iran


02-16-07 - The Neo-Con Dog That Isn't Barking Carefully orchestrated and coordinated with their comrades in the offices of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld, neo-cons were able to create a powerful media "echo chambre" that, by late 2002, centred entirely on Iraq, and the necessity of going to war, to the exclusion of almost everything else. Sorry Jim, I disagree with your analysis. They ARE doing it again and the media is in fact going along with it (again). They are letting Israeli officials do the talking this time (Netanyahu, par.8-9, Steinitz, Olmert, etc). And one more thing, from the article : "Despite the sharply rising tensions between Iran and the U.S. over the past month, for example, the lead editorials of the last four issues of the Standard -- always a reliable indication of neo-con priorities -- were all devoted to rallying lawmakers behind the surge." Could it be because the 'surge' is part of the attack on Iran? Some have already suggested as much.


02-16-07 - Next Stop: Tehran by Philip Giraldi In some sense, the war has already begun. For the past two years, the U.S. has been conducting secret operations inside Iran, employing Special Forces units operating out of Afghanistan, while Pentagon-supported dissidents have been carrying out armed raids into Iran?s predominantly Arab provinces.


02-15-07 - Gates says U.S. not looking for excuse for Iran war "For the umpteenth time, we are not looking for an excuse to go to war with Iran," Gates said. "We are not planning a war with Iran." Right.


02-15-07 - Pelosi: Bush lacks power to invade Iran "I do believe that Congress should assert itself, though, and make it very clear that there is no previous authority for the president, any president, to go into Iran."


02-15-07 - Murtha seeks to restrain action in Iran


02-15-07 - War with Iran? Today I'm running responses from independent analysts?experienced policy experts who study the Middle East. Tomorrow's responses will come from former members of the CIA, and on Thursday we'll wrap up with opinions from people working at major think tanks.


02-15-07 - Hell-Bent on War Yahoo is complicit in this campaign. If the AP - notoriously pro-Israel -has a story that fuels the propaganda effort for war on Iran, then Yahoo will give it front-page honors without fail.


02-14-07 - Bush backs off key charge against Iran US President George W. Bush said he was unsure whether top Iranian leaders were behind arms shipments to anti-US fighters in Iraq, undercutting a volatile US charge levelled just days ago.


02-14-07 - Outside View: Risks of war with Iran


02-14-07 - Bush: Iran is source of deadly weapons


02-14-07 - US Briefing on Iran Discredits the Official Line Although it was clearly not the intention, moreover, the briefing revealed for the first time that the Iranians and Iraqis detained by U.S. forces in recent months did not provide any evidence implicating either the Iranian government or the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the acquisition of armour-piercing explosive devices and other weapons by Iraqi Shiite groups.


02-14-07 - Top Cheney Aide: 2007 Is ?The Year Of Iran,? U.S. Attack ?A Real Possibility? John Hannah?s comments about Iran should be taken seriously. He knows how to mislead a nation into war.


02-14-07 - For Neocons, an Attack on Iran Has Been a Six-Year Project While the Iraq war was publicly founded upon questionable sources, much of the buildup to Iran has been entirely covert, using non-government assets and foreign instruments of influence to conduct disinformation campaigns, plant intelligence and commit acts of violence via proxy groups


02-13-07 - Sadr has left Iraq for Iran, fearing US bomb strike: reports How conVENient. Well then we MUST strike Iran!


02-13-07 - Steinitz: US must stop Iran from arming "At this moment, Iran thinks that Israel is weak politically, so it would be better if the United States were to issue the threats," said Steinitz. Israel = the monkey on America's back. The same man was making the same calls in Sept. 2005. And then there's this from December.


02-13-07 - No one can prevent nuclear Iran, top defense official says Lubrani said the US "does not understand the threat and has not done enough," adding that the Americans and Europeans "must be shaken awake."


02-13-07 - Iraqi insurgents using Austrian rifles from Iran Audio: Revelation makes US action against Iran more likely, says Thomas Harding


02-13-07 - Anti-American cleric flees Iraq for Iran Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fled Iraq for Iran ahead of a security crackdown in Baghdad and the arrival of 21,500 U.S. troops sent by President Bush to quell sectarian violence, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.


02-13-07 - Bush rejects talk of Iran strike Democrats say they see parallels with the run-up to the Iraq war, when the US made a case for action on the basis of weapons which were never found.


02-13-07 - Iran drones 'can attack US ships'


02-13-07 - Joint Chiefs Chairman Sees No Evidence of Meddling by Iran's Regime A day after the U.S. military charged Iran's government with shipping powerful explosive devices to Shiite Muslim fighters in Iraq to use against American troops, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that he hasn't seen any intelligence to support the claim. ..."We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran. What I would not say is that the Iranian government per se knows about this," Pace replied. "It is clear that Iranians are involved and it is clear that materials from Iran are involved. But I would not say based on what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit." ....Democratic lawmakers and other administration critics, including some former senior U.S. officials, are worried that the White House may be exaggerating its case against Tehran to justify a military strike on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons facilities. Speak now or forever hold ...


02-13-07 - A Terrorist by Any Other Name Once again, amidst the thunderous roar of treason, the voice of reason is being muted and the pundits at the AEI and other neo-cons are taking America to war. The mainstream media, by affording them a platform, are putting a rope around our values, our liberty and justice, but above all, they are snuffing out the life of our citizenry. Are we ready to submit? Hell no.


02-13-07 - Wake Up! The Next War Is Coming The new NIE in 2005, though, was the first key estimate managed by widely respected Thomas Fingar, the State Department officer who took leadership of the National Intelligence Council earlier that year. Its key judgments were not welcome downtown, however, since they were issued at a time when Vice President Dick Cheney was warning of a ?fairly robust new nuclear program,? in Iran, and was painting the threat?and particularly the danger to Israel?as far more imminent.


02-13-07 - Blowup? America?s Hidden War With Iran


02-12-07 - Pulling the Iranian danger out of the shadows The Bush administration sincerely believes that Iran is now its main enemy in the world ............If US President George W. Bush actually plans to bomb Iran's nuclear installations before the end of his term, as many politicians in Europe believe, and in Israel hope, Somehow Israel's 'main enemies' become OURS. Recall that prior to the invasion of Iraq, Saddam was Israel's 'main enemy'.


02-12-07 - No 10 backs US claim over Iran arms


02-12-07 - Bush's New Iran Policy - No Evidence for IED Charge On Jun. 21, 2005, Gen. John R. Vines, then the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters that the insurgents had probably drawn on bomb-making expertise from former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's army......But sometime in the next six weeks, the Bush administration made a decision to start blaming its new problem in Iraq on Tehran. On Aug. 4, 2005, Pentagon and intelligence officials leaked the story to NBC and CBS that U.S. troops had "intercepted" dozens of shaped charges said to have been "smuggled into northeastern Iraq only last week".


02-12-07 - US claims against Iran: why now? the officials who presented the evidence could not make a direct link to Iran.


02-12-07 - White House Stands by Iran Munitions Evidence, Plays Down Talk of Military Action In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected U.S. accusations about Iran's involvement. Speaking to ABC News on Monday, Ahmadinejad said his country is opposed to any kind of conflict in Iraq. He also suggested the United States is trying to draw Iran into a conflict.


02-12-07 - Iran rejects 'baseless' US charges on Iraq bombs


02-12-07 - Target Tehran: Washington Sets Stage for a New Confrontation The allegations by senior but unnamed US officials in Baghdad and Washington are bizarre. The US has been fighting a Sunni insurgency in Iraq since 2003 that is deeply hostile to Iran......The evidence against Iran is even more insubstantial than the faked or mistaken evidence for Iraqi WMDs disseminated by the US and Britain in 2002 and 2003


02-11-07 - US accuses Iran over Iraq bombs US claims the bombs were smuggled from Iran cannot be independently verified.


02-11-07 - US baiting Iran retaliation White House officials are taunting Iran into an action the United States could use as an excuse for an attack, a former security official told Newsweek, the magazine reported.


02-11-07 - Democrats Urge Administration to Go Slow With Iran Evidence "Every leader in the region and every observer, every expert here in our country, tells us that Iran does not want a complete and total implosion in Iraq," Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said Sunday.....Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said the administration could be laying the groundwork for an attack on Iran and that "I'm worried about that. That's how we got into the mess in Iraq," by relying on what Dodd called "doctored information." Senate Intelligence Committee member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said, "the administration is engaged in a drumbeat with Iran that is much like the drumbeat that they did with Iraq. We're going to insist on accountability."


02-11-07 - It is No Use Blaming Iran for the Insurgency in Iraq The US media, gullible over WMD, is showing itself equally gullible over this exaggerated Iranian threat.


02-11-07 - Official says U-S commanders in Iraq showed lawmakers explosives that came from Iran Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut says he has seen some of the evidence and says he is "convinced" that Iran has been supplying insurgents in Iraq. No comment.

02-10-07 - Lebanon, Again? The Israelis want another go Those who fear war with Iran had best look to Lebanon, where the first shots are being fired


02-10-07 - Target Iran: US able to strike in the spring US preparations for an air strike against Iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the Bush administration, according to informed sources in Washington....Neo-conservatives, particularly at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, are urging Mr Bush to open a new front against Iran. So too is the vice-president, Dick Cheney. Philip Giraldi and Vincent Cannistraro, former CIA and two of the good guys. Heed their warnings.


02-09-07 - Helping Israel Die this is the inevitable consequence of the planned air and missile attack on Iran


02-09-07 - Gates: U.S. can prove Iran's Iraq role Gates told reporters Friday that markings on explosives provide "pretty good" evidence that Iranians are supplying either weapons or technology for Iraqi extremists...."I think there's some serial numbers, there may be some markings on some of the projectile fragments that we found" that point to Iran, he said.....Gates' remarks left unclear how the U.S. knows the serial numbers are traceable to Iran and whether such weapons would have been sent to Iraq by the Iranian government or by private arms dealers.


02-09-07 - Is Bombing Iran Bush's Call? by Patrick J. Buchanan will the neocons get their way and their new war ? on Iran?


02-09-07 - Al-Qaeda Suspects Color White House Debate Over Iran Last week, the CIA sent an urgent report to President Bush's National Security Council: Iranian authorities had arrested two al-Qaeda operatives traveling through Iran on their way from Pakistan to Iraq. The suspects were caught along a well-worn, if little-noticed, route for militants determined to fight U.S. troops on Iraqi soil, according to a senior intelligence official......Since al-Qaeda fighters began streaming into Iran from Afghanistan in the winter of 2001, Tehran had turned over hundreds of people to U.S. allies and provided U.S. intelligence with the names, photographs and fingerprints of those it held in custody, according to senior U.S. intelligence and administration officials. Paragraphs 4 and 5 from the bottom of the article are of interest as well.


02-09-07 - How close is Iran to a nuclear bomb? Some voices argue that Iran remains at least five years away from nuclear weapons capability, and US intelligence estimates have consistently pushed back when that might be - so some argue there is no rush. 'They almost have the bomb! No wait, can't use that. I know, they're supplying the bombs to Iraqis. Yeh yeh, that's it, that's the ticket!!'


02-09-07 - Norquist: Bush?s Advisers Telling Him ?Invade Iran. Then Everyone Will See How Smart We Are?


02-08-07 - Tehran warns US against attacks Iran will strike against US interests worldwide if it is attacked, the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned.


02-07-07 - Rice grilled over lack of smoking gun in allegations against Iran US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a blistering challenge in Congress over the administration's failure to provide evidence to back up allegations Iran is building nuclear weapons and fueling attacks on US forces in Iraq.


02-07-07 - 12 Consequences of Attacking Iran The containment and disbanding of the Israeli lobby, one of the consequences put forth by the author, would actually be good for America. The rest of course, would not.


02-07-07 - Sunni Arab view of US-Iran tensions There's virtually unanimous opposition to a US attack on Iran.


02-07-07 - Israel sounds alarm on Iran's nuclear efforts "It might be bad for Israel and bad for American Jews for Israel to be seen as pushing for action on Iran," said Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, a research institute in Jerusalem. "But we don't have the luxury of time anymore."....."I see a syndrome of America acting late," Sami Friedrich, an Israeli management consultant, lectured Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who joined the conference by video hookup from Washington.....Israel lacks the capability for a sustained offensive that might be needed to strike the bulk of Iran's facilities. Because of that, Ben-Israel and other officials say, Israel would prefer to join in an American-led attack on Iran Because, America doesn't have enough on its hands right now. K. If Israel seriously believed that it was in such grave danger - as it is leading us Americans to believe - there would be no talk. The Israeli nukes would've dropped on Iran by now. The fact is, Israel is not in imminent grave danger. That's why it's telling its own people ONE thing, and us quite another.


02-07-07 - What to Ask Before the Next War The writer, a former national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia, teaches security studies at Georgetown University Paul Pillar was interviewed in the PBS Frontline documentary The Dark Side, which is available (last I knew) to watch online.


02-06-07 - Iran's Guards to hold wargames in Gulf ? agencies Iran's Revolutionary Guards will hold two days of wargames in the Gulf and Sea of Oman this week, focusing on launching missiles, Iranian news agencies reported on Tuesday.


02-06-07 - Iran blames US for kidnap of embassy official in Baghdad According to an Iraqi official, Mr Sharafi was detained on Sunday by an Iraqi army unit that reports directly to the US military, outside the Baghdad branch of the Iranian Bank Melli.


02-06-07 - No plans for military action on Iran, says Blair "It's not what the international community wants, it's not what we want," he said, while citing US President George W. Bush's phrase that "you can't take any option off the table."


02-06-07 - Two Pearl Destroyers Head for Persian Gulf They're meeting up with the USS Reagan carrier strike group and they heading to the western Pacific


02-06-07 - From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq By now, the story of how neoconservatives hijacked American foreign policy is a familiar one. With Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld leading the way, neocons working out of the office of the vice president and the Department of Defense orchestrated a spectacular disinformation operation, asserting that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction posed a grave and immediate threat to the U.S. Veteran analysts who disagreed were circumvented......Once again, neocon ideologues have been flogging questionable intelligence about W.M.D. Once again, dubious Middle East exile groups are making the rounds in Washington?this time urging regime change in Syria and Iran......Ten years later, "A Clean Break" looks like nothing less than a playbook for U.S.-Israeli foreign policy during the Bush-Cheney era......Adds former C.I.A. officer Philip Giraldi, "I've heard from sources at the Pentagon that their impression is that the White House has made a decision that war is going to happen."
From Vanity Fair, no less. Excellent.


02-06-07 - The War: 'Ambiguous' Intel on Iran's Meddling in Iraq three U.S. officials familiar with unpublished intel (unnamed when discussing sensitive info) said evidence of official Tehran involvement is "ambiguous," in the words of one of the officials


02-05-07 - Eitam: Four years for Iran diplomacy Eitam was in Washington meeting privately with lawmakers and think-tank officials to outline Israeli military reforms in the wake of last summer?s war with Hezbollah.



02-05-07 - US eases tone on Iran's role in Iraq "Cat fights" are common, Mr. White says, between "policy people" who want to get the information out, and the intelligence side that is more focused on long-term effectiveness. "I suspect there was quite a lot of friction last week over Iran," he says.


02-04-07 - Grassroots worries growing over Iran The American public is asleep at the wheel on this issue.


02-04-07 - Iran strike 'would be disastrous' "Even according to the worst estimates, Iran is still years away from having a nuclear weapon.


02-04-07 - Iran steps up production of weapons-grade uranium Today a newly formed British alliance spells out the disastrous consequences of military action against Iran while urging greater engagement with Tehran to avert "global catastrophe".


02-04-07 - Report: Iranian Nuclear Scientist 'Assassinated' An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli security service.


02-04-07 - US military chiefs eye confrontation with Iran It is fuelling fears among some US diplomats - shared by Britain and its European allies - that hawks within President George W Bush's administration are preparing the ground for military action against Teheran before he leaves office in 23 months.


02-04-07 - Fight against Iran too familiar The Bush administration and close ally Israel have sharply intensified their war of words against Iran, claiming, implausibly, it poses a nuclear threat to the entire world.

02-03-07 - Groups Fear Public Backlash Over Iran While Jewish communal leaders focus most of their current lobbying efforts on pressing the United States to take a tough line against Iran and its nuclear program, some are privately voicing fears that they will be accused of driving America into a war with the regime in Tehran That's exactly what they're doing. Hello? Note to self: don't engage in an activity that I don't want to be accused of later on. Rocket science. (The authors go on to exonerate pro-Israeli groups of their role in the runup to the Iraq war - total baloney). True patriots and lovers of America, speak up now (against the forthcoming war on Iran), or forever hold your peace : "Jewish organizational officials and pro-Israel lobbyists on Capitol Hill downplayed the possibility that Congress might play a significant role in limiting the administration's response to Iranian nuclear ambitions. "It is very premature," one lobbyist said. "The administration has no war plan and Congress has no plan to block such a war." 'they always get what they want'


02-03-07 - Bush Targets Iran Congress should immediately pass a binding resolution reaffirming the United States' legal obligations and informing the Bush administration that it will not concur in any invasion or military action against Iran, would refuse to approve any funding for it, and would consider actions taken in contravention of the resolution as impeachable offenses.


02-03-07 - US ex-generals reject Iran strike Three former high-ranking American military officers have warned against any military attack on Iran.


02-03-07 - U.S. can't prove Iran link to Iraq strife Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates seemed to concede Friday that U.S. officials can't say for sure whether the Iranian government is involved in assisting the attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq.


02-03-07 - John Pilger: Iran: The War Begins Unlike Israel, the world's fifth military power - with its thermo nuclear weapons aimed at Middle East targets and an unmatched record of defying UN resolutions, as the enforcer of the world's longest illegal occupation - Iran has a history of obeying international law and occupies no territory other than its own.


02-03-07 - Sailors at Lemoore air base ship out on short notice to USS Reagan carrier. The Reagan's rapid deployment is part of the Fleet Response Plan, which the Navy says will provide the military with the ability to respond to any global commitment on short notice.


02-03-07 - Lawmakers Move to Restrain Bush on Iran Several influential senators have also posed pointed questions to the administration about whether it believes it has the constitutional authority to carry out military action against Iran without Congress's approval.


02-03-07 - Bush's Trash Talk About Iran Within the Bush administration, there is a sharp division ? once again, in part, pitting the State Department against the National Security Council and the office of the Vice President ? over how far to raise tensions with Iran. In that context, the neocons can only be crossing their fingers in the hope that Iran will respond provocatively, making what is now a low-grade cold war inexorably heat up.


02-02-07 - Bush Is Hiding the Ball on Iran instead of front-page stories about the dangers of an expanded war in the Middle East or an examination of alternative strategies that might be tried, the major U.S. newspapers act as if nothing is happening. Americans are clueless at this point. A repost of the Four Day War.


02-02-07 - Justifications for attacking Iran on shaky ground A new U.S. intelligence estimate on Friday, however, concluded that Iranian and other outside meddling is "not likely" a major cause of the bloodshed in Iraq, and a new McClatchy analysis of U.S. casualties in Iraq found that Sunni Muslim insurgents, not Iranian-backed Shiites, have mounted most - but not all - of the attacks on American forces.


02-02-07 - U.S. not planning for war with Iran, Gates says Gates said the United States was pursuing a purely diplomatic path to try to halt Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is for power generation but Washington says is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. This is a keeper. For, a few years from now, we'll be asking the same questions we are currently asking about Iraq - about Iran. Thus will there be the same backpedaling that we see now with regard to Iraq.


02-02-07 - US intelligence report projects deteriorating situation in Iraq Stratfor goes onto say that Israel, not wanting to take any chances and having realized that an overt attack on Iran is not really possible, is conducting covert activities in Iran, hinting that the recent death of a top Iranian nuclear scientist may be connected to Israel's secret service, the Mossad.


02-02-07 - Romney says Sen. Clinton 'timid' on Iran Responding to Romney's criticism, Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said Friday: "Senator Clinton believes that no option should be taken off the table when it comes to preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Given his record of flip flops, the only thing that's timid are Governor Romney's convictions The bipartisan game of 'who can kiss the pro-Israeli ass the best' has shifted into high gear - a game where America always seems to come out the loser. Look no further for the reason why we will be attacking Iran.


02-02-07 - Britain plays down claims of Tehran role Senior British officials, citing mistakes over Saddam Hussein?s alleged weapons of mass destruction, are voicing scepticism about US efforts to build an intelligence-based case against Iran.


02-01-07 - Ex-advisers offer revised Iraq plans "If the United States continues to be bogged down in a protracted bloody involvement in Iraq, and I emphasize what I am about to say, the final destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large," Brzezinski said. And that's exactly what the neocons want.


02-01-07 - ABC misled with coverage of Bush interview, repeated Bush myth: "I know you don't love polls" Summary: An ABCNews.com article about Betsy Stark's interview with President Bush reported only that Bush stated he "does not plan to invade" Iran; however, during the interview, Bush said he had not "ruled out military action in Iran."


02-01-07 - US fighter jets to patrol Iran-Iraq border, report says "Having the ability to attack Iranian military targets and political targets is not just a deterrent. It may actually be used if we feel the Iranians are trying to subvert democracy in Iraq."


02-01-07 - Chirac backtracks after Iran bomb threat brush off "Where will it drop it, this bomb? On Israel? It would not have gone 200 meters into the atmosphere before Tehran would be razed to the ground," the reporters quoted Chirac as saying. What's wrong with that statement? He's absolutely correct.


01-31-07 - US military probing Iran link in Iraq attack that killed five


01-31-07 - Israel has no plans against Iran Asked if he would rule out military action, Peres said, "By Israel, yes. Israel doesn't intend to use military action." Because in all likelihood, WE'LL be doing it for them.


01-31-07 - Hysteria at Herzliya by Patrick J. Buchanan There is no need for war. Yet, Israelis, neocons, and their agents of influence are trying to whip us into one. Senators who are seeking absolution for having voted to take us into Iraq ought to be confronted and asked just what they are doing to keep us out of a war in Iran.
Give 'em hell, Buchanan.


01-31-07 - The Big Question: Does the US intend to attack Iran, or is it only sabre-rattling?


01-31-07 - U.S.-Iran tensions could trigger war As the rhetoric grows more strident, a U.S. military official in the Gulf likened the U.S.-Iran standoff to the buildup in hostility in Europe before World War I, when the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne triggered a tragic war that engulfed a continent.


01-31-07 - Report: US plans strike against Iran The US was drawing up plans to attack sites where Iran is believed to be enriching uranium before President George W. Bush's candidacy comes to an end, the UK-based Times reported on Wednesday.


01-31-07 - Iran Clock Is Ticking Military and intelligence sources continue to tell me that preparations are advancing for a war with Iran starting possibly as early as mid-to-late February....According to intelligence sources, Bush?s Iran strategy is expected to let the Israelis take a lead role in attacking Iran's nuclear facilities in order to defuse Democratic opposition and let the U.S. intervention be sold as defensive, a case of a vulnerable ally protecting itself from a future nuclear threat.


01-31-07 - CCR and Other Groups Issue Open Letter Warning of Illegality of Any Offensive Military Action by US against Iran


01-31-07 - Europeans Fear US Attack on Iran as Nuclear Row Intensifies


01-31-07 - Sen. Robert Byrd: Bush Wants War with Iran


01-30-07 - Bush: Iraq failure impacts Iran Israeli leaders have expressed concerns that controversies surrounding the Iraq war will inhibit U.S. resolve in confronting Iran?s nuclear program.


01-30-07 - Senators warn against war with Iran Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., a possible presidential candidate, asked Negroponte if he thinks the United States is edging toward a military confrontation with Tehran. In response, Negroponte repeated President Bush's oft-stated preference for diplomacy, although he later added, "We don't rule out other possibilities."


01-30-07 - Officials: White House Holding Back Report Detailing Iran's Meddling in Iraq A plan by the Bush administration to release detailed and possibly damning specific evidence linking the Iranian government to efforts to destabilize Iraq have been put on hold, U.S. officials told FOX News.


01-30-07 - Bush 'spoiling for a fight' with Iran US officials in Baghdad and Washington are expected to unveil a secret intelligence "dossier" this week detailing evidence of Iran's alleged complicity in attacks on American troops in Iraq. The move, uncomfortably echoing Downing Street's dossier debacle in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, is one more sign that the Bush administration is building a case for war.


01-30-07 - Avoiding another US war in the Middle East


01-30-07 - Experts: US-Iran tensions could trigger accidental war Neocons are giddy at the prospect, no doubt.


01-30-07 - Kucinich: Bush's actions 'could lead to impeachment' Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) says the White House is "up to its old tricks" as it preparess for a U.S. attack on Iran, according to a press release.

01-29-07 - America ?Poised to Strike at Iran's Nuclear Sites' from Bases in Bulgaria and Romania Sofia's news of advanced war preparations along the Black Sea is backed up by some chilling details. One is the setting up of new refuelling places for US Stealth bombers, which would spearhead an attack on Iran


01-29-07 - On Iran, Bush confronts echoes of Iraq Washington: As President Bush and his aides calibrate how directly to confront Iran, they are discovering that both their words and their strategy are haunted by the echoes of four years ago ? when their warnings of terrorist activity and nuclear ambitions were clearly a prelude to war. It's what happens when people who stampede America to war under false pretenses are not held accountable. Read on: "It has not helped that even as the administration is making its case against Iran, the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was opening just a few blocks away." Is Fitzgerald going to be our savior? Will the Libby trial and all that comes with it deliver us from another major Middle East war?


01-28-07 - Nuclear plans in chaos as Iran leader flounders The detailed descriptions of Iran's problems in enriching more than a few grams of uranium using high-speed centrifuges - 50kg is required for two nuclear devices - comes in stark contrast to the apocalyptic picture being painted of Iran's imminent acquisition of a nuclear weapon with which to attack Israel.


01-28-07 - Expanding the War to Iran: Another 'Urban Legend'?


01-27-07 - Rattling the Cage: Against a preemptive Holocaust The Iranians have weapons of mass destruction - chemical and possibly biological, too. They also have missiles that can reach anywhere in Israel. If they are so bent on wiping us out, even if it means their own extermination, why haven't they showered tiny little Israel with WMD-armed missiles? The answer, again, is that while the Iranians are crazy, they're not that crazy. Some excellent points made towards the end there.


01-27-07 - Bush Is About to Attack Iran


01-27-07 - Stop the Iran War Before It Starts By Scott Ritter Summon the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), or any other lobby promoting confrontation with Iran, to the forefront, so that the warnings they offer in whispers from a back room can be articulated before the American public. Hold these conjurers of doom accountable for their positions by demanding they back them up with hard fact.


01-27-07 - Homage to Herzliya - The Lobby wants war with Iran


01-26-07 - US warns Iran of global wrath if it cranks up nuclear capacity "And if they think that they can get away with 3,000 centrifuges without another Security Council resolution and additional international pressure then they're very badly mistaken," Burns said.


01-26-07 - Iran condemns Bush's capture or kill order Iran says United States President George W Bush's order to his military to capture or kill Iranian agents in Iraq is a terrorist act that shows he has lost control of his senses.


01-26-07 - US missile system to counter Iranian threat America's proposed missile defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic are designed to counter the potential missile threat from Iran and will not affect Russian security, a senior US defence official said.




01-26-07 - Report: US adopts new lethal strategy against Iranian agents in Iraq


01-26-07 - Iran Attack


01-26-07 - US unveils tougher line on Iranians in Iraq Bush's comments came as US and Iraqi officials confirmed a report in The Washington Post that US forces were now authorized to kill or capture Iranian spies or members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.


01-26-07 - US says its has proof Iran is interfering in Iraq The Los Angeles Times said the US government lacks any proof of Iranian involvement in Iraq and that some observers fear there is a US plot under foot for a military operation against Iran. Before attacking Iraq in March 2003, the administration of President George W. Bush said it had irrefutable evidence dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but no such weapons have been found since in the country.



01-25-07 - Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq The White House has authorized a widening of what is known inside the intelligence community as the "Blue Game Matrix" -- a list of approved operations that can be carried out against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.....Officials said Hayden counseled the president and his advisers to consider a list of potential consequences, including the possibility that the Iranians might seek to retaliate by kidnapping or killing U.S. personnel in Iraq. It's beginning to appear that there will be an escalation in the Middle East that will include Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and possibly others - being instigated by Israel and the US. As to the last statement of the above excerpt - it seems that this administration is looking to get a response from Iran so that it can get the pretext it needs to attack. "The decision to use lethal force against Iranians inside Iraq began taking shape last summer, when Israel was at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Officials said a group of senior Bush administration officials who regularly attend the highest-level counterterrorism meetings agreed that the conflict provided an opening to portray Iran as a nuclear-ambitious link between al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and the death squads in Iraq.Among those involved in the discussions, beginning in August, were deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams, " Say no more.


01-25-07 - International Mobilization To Stop U.S. Attack on Iran


01-24-07 - Arab League's Moussa warns U.S. on Iran attack There is a 50/50 chance the United States will attack Iran and any such strike would risk spreading sectarian violence through the Middle East, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said on Wednesday.


01-24-07 - Iran Must Get Ready to Repel a Nuclear Attack


01-24-07 - Iran vows to crush any threat as US steps up rhetoric Iran vowed it was ready to crush any military strike or threat as the United States and its allies turned up the rhetoric over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and its growing clout in the region.


01-24-07 - The American hostility towards Iran The mood in the administration coincides with some strong talk in Israel about the dangers from Iran. No sh#t?


01-24-07 - Israel raises nuclear stakes with Iran A senior British military source said yesterday that the Israelis were serious about the use of military force to stop Iran, and were now engaged in preparing public opinion for such a prospect. "They're watering the turf. The Iranians are not under enough pressure," the source said.


01-23-07 - Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link


01-23-07 - The Unthinkable: The US- Israeli Nuclear War on Iran


01-22-07 - The X Factor in 2008 -- Iran By Patrick J. Buchanan Democrats failed to stop this war. Can they stop the next one? Or do they suspect and support what they think is coming?


01-22-07 - Israel: 2007 'decisive' on Iran Burns said the United States and Israel have the right to self-defense if Iran presses ahead toward attaining nuclear capability


01-22-07 - Intelligence vs. Evidence Forget the Iraqi civil war: the consequences of a U.S. military confrontation with Iran could prove particularly deadly to our troops in Iraq, where they are sitting ducks for Iranian attacks.


01-22-07 - Iran launches missile tests amid fresh nuclear defiance Short-range missiles were to be tested in the four-day exercise southeast of Tehran, which came as the US military was sending a second warship to Gulf waters amid growing international tension over Iran's atomic programme.


01-22-07 - Saudis Pressing Oil Prices Down We believe an Israeli attack is pending. It is just a question of when.


01-22-07 - Iran's strongman loses grip as ayatollah offers nuclear deal Under proposals now being debated, an international group made up of the permanent five members of the UN security council, plus Germany or a nuclear power such as India, would oversee and monitor Iran?s nuclear programme. Good idea.


01-21-07 - US plans to foment strife in Iran: Rezai "America will exploit (sanctions) against Iran to incite people to rise up against the (Islamic) revolution, provide aid to movements hostile to Iran, carry out operations inside Iran and promote a sectarian war," said Rezai, a former Revolutionary Guards commander. "An Iranian-US confrontation is inevitable," he said, adding that he would not rule out US missile strikes against Iran's nuclear installations.



01-21-07 - Is Bush planning war against Iran? Bush appears to have been influenced by pro-Israeli advisers such as Eliott Abrams, the man in charge of the Middle East at the National Security Council, and by arm-chair strategists at neoconservative think-tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute, who have long clamoured for "regime change" in Tehran.


01-21-07 - Israel, U.S. discuss Iran Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz hosted visiting U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns on Sunday for the first in a series of bilateral consultations on international efforts to ensure Iran does not acquire atomic weapons.


01-21-07 - US under secretary of state: We won't allow nuclear Iran' (VIDEO) Nicholas Burns says ?There is no doubt Iran seeking nuclear military weapons; stationing of two battle groups in Persian Gulf is part of our response?; adds: We are committed to being Israel's strongest security partner Note who he is speaking to.


01-21-07 - Ex-US official: Bush would approve Iran attack If all options were exhausted in the attempt to stop the Iranian nuclear project, and US military involvement was needed for a successful strike on Tehran, US President George Bush would give the green light for the operation, former director of the US Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, Richard Perle, told the Herzliya Conference on Sunday evening. Note who he is speaking to.


01-21-07 - Netanyahu: West must stop Iran from executing new Holocaust "When we are talking about rallying public opinion on genocide, who will lead the charge if not us?" he said. "No one will come defend the Jews if they no not defend themselves. This is the lesson of history." 2002, Netanyahu on Iraq: "Wolf! Wolf!". 2007, Netanyahu on Iran: "Wolf! Wolf!".


01-21-07 - How Congress Can Stop the Iran Attack


01-20-07 - U.S. plans envision broad attack on Iran: analyst "You're talking about a war against Iran" that likely would destabilize the Middle East for years


01-19-07 - Iraq Surge: Dilemma For Congress, Worries For Israel "Israelis and the American Jewish community are very concerned about Washington's total ineptitude in coming up with a strategy on Iran,"...But Jewish leaders are also wary of being seen as cheerleading for war with Iran. Too late. It is abundantly clear just who is pushing for this war. It is also clear that the US is being blamed for failure in Iraq - a war that was based on the Clean Break Strategy (crafted in Israel) and then foisted on this administration via the neocons. Read the entire article and note the unbridled chutzpah.


01-19-07 - Stop the Next War Before it starts. Support H. J. Resolution 14. Madam Speaker, after all, co-sponsored a bill during the last session of Congress, introduced by Rick Santorum and Ileana Ross-Lehtinen, both Republicans, that not only tightened sanctions on Iran, but also made "regime change" in Tehran official U.S. policy Pelosi is loyal to Israel.


01-19-07 - Dems seek to bar U.S. attack on Iran Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers.


01-18-07 - U.S. Launches Armed Force to Block Iranian Influence in Iraq U.S. officials see Iranian fingerprints in violent attacks throughout Iraq and all but blame Iran for complicity in the deaths of American soldiers. This is the type of propaganda that the NY Sun was referring to when it alleged that Larry Franklin is vindicated. But it's just that - propaganda. Because we are about to attack Iran (a goal of Aipac/neocons).


01-18-07 - US congressmen seek Iran block One of the Democrats who supports the legislation said that a new resolution was needed because the Bush administration had lied so many times in the run up to the Iraq war.


01-17-07 - Israel Warns Russia on Iran Arms Sale Defense officials predicted the systems would be used to defend Iran's nuclear facilities, particularly the uranium enrichment center at Natanz.


01-17-07 - The Bush Threat to Iran Israel and its friends have been pressing for such an attack, or threatening that Israel might make such an attack itself.



01-17-07 - What's next -- war with Iran? The American Jewish Committee took out a full page ad in The New York Times showing Iran in the center of concentric circles, including all the Middle East and beyond, asking: "Can anyone within range of Iran's missiles feel safe?"


01-17-07 - Iran ready but says strike on nuclear sites unlikely Iran believes a military strike against its nuclear installations is highly improbable but has nonetheless taken the necessary precautions in case it is attacked, top officials have said.


01-17-07 - NEWS ANALYSIS: U.S. turns focus to Iran Provocative words by President Bush and a fresh American military buildup in the Persian Gulf seem to mark a new focus on Iran that could signal another Cold War or even a deadly confrontation.


01-17-07 - Iran shoots down U.S. spy drone amid growing military pressure


01-17-07 - Bush administration provokes open war on Iran


01-16-07 - Mr. Bush, Meet Walter Jones by Patrick J. Buchanan The day after Bush's threat to Iran, Jones introduced a Joint Resolution, "Concerning the Use of Military Force by the United States Against Iran." Under HJR 14, "Absent a national emergency created by attack by Iran, or a demonstrably imminent attack by Iran, upon the United States, its territories, possessions, or its armed forces, the president shall consult with Congress, and receive specific authorization pursuant to law from Congress, prior to initiating any use of force on Iran."


01-16-07 - Russia completes delivery of missiles to Iran Russia has completed delivery of TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile defence systems to Iran, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has said


01-16-07 - Allies 'go after' Iran as beefed-up naval force sails for Gulf Britain?s contribution is two minehunters HMS Blyth and HMS Ramsey, which will remain in the Gulf for an unusually-long two-year mission to keep shipping routes open in the event that Iran attempts to block oil exports.


01-16-07 - Escalation Against Iran This has to be called escalation. We have to remind ourselves, just as Iran is supporting groups inside Iraq, the United States is supporting groups inside Iran. Just as Iran has special operations troops operating inside Iraq, we?ve read the United States has special operations troops operating inside Iran. Good point.


01-16-07 - Hezbollah Inside America: FOX News Tells All in Documentary This is pure propaganda - a la Fox News - to get you to believe that (another) one of Israel's enemies is our own (to justify an upcoming attack on Iran-who purportedly sponsors Hezb).


01-15-07 - Major investment bank issues warning on strike against Iran Preisdent Bush recently removed General John Abizaid as commander of US forces in the Middle East and John Negroponte as Director of National Intelligence, both of whom have said attacking Iran is not a priority or the right move at this time.


01-15-07 - Russian Admiral Says U.S. Navy Prepares Missile Strike on Iran


01-15-07 - It's All About Iran Washington wants war?


01-15-07 - On the Mideast Escalator by Rep. Ron Paul As I said last week on the House floor, speculation in Washington focuses on when, not if, either Israel or the U.S. will bomb Iran ? possibly with nuclear weapons. The accusation sounds very familiar: namely, that Iran possesses weapons of mass destruction. Iran has never been found in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and our own Central Intelligence Agency says Iran is more than 10 years away from producing any kind of nuclear weapon. Yet we are told we must act immediately while we still can!


01-15-07 - Gates: Time is not right for Iran talks


01-14-07 - Iran demands nationals' release


01-14-07 - America threatens to 'deal with' Iran over its support for insurgents


01-14-07 - White House: Can't rule out attack on Iran on ABC's "This Week," Hadley would not rule out the possibility of such an attack and would not say whether he agrees with those senators who say that the Bush administration would need congressional backing for such a move.
Hadley is a neocon.


01-14-07 - UN-weary, US opts for unilateral moves against Iran US administration officials now describe Iran as the single greatest threat the United States faces in the Middle East. Why, what a coincidence! Because Israel has made the same announcement (after we took care of Iraq for them).


01-14-07 - U.S. accuses Iran over officials seized in Iraq The United States accused five Iranians it arrested in Iraq of running arms and money to Iraqi militants as Iraq joined Iran in calling for the men's release. Washington also told Arab allies it would do more to contain Tehran.



01-14-07 - Senators: Cross-border raids not approved U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during hearings Thursday that the administration doesn't have the authority to send troops into Iran and Syria as part of Iraq operations, CNN reported Friday.


01-13-07 - U.S. Forces Fighting Iranians In Iraq Pentagon sources tell CBS News the U.S. military has planned covert cross-border raids into Iran ? but so far none has been approved.


01-13-07 - US sends warplanes to Turkey''s Incirlik military base


01-13-07 - US seeks to banish Iran war 'rumor' Too late. The cat ain't going back into the bag.


01-13-07 - Bush's Iraq Plan - Goading Iran Into War The next move may be Iran's. Tehran has likely sniffed the trap and will sit idly by for now and deprive the Bush administration of a pretext for escalation. But continued provocations from the U.S. through additional raids of Iranian consulates and offices will likely lead to an intentional or unintentional response, after which escalation and war may become reality. Iran has at times failed to exhibit the discipline necessary to refrain from responding to aggressions.


01-12-07 - Rice says Bush authorized raid on Iranians in Iraq: report Administration officials now describe Iran as the single greatest threat the United States faces in the Middle East, though some administration critics regard the talk about Iran as a diversion, one intended to shift attention away from the spiraling chaos in Iraq, the report said.


01-12-07 - Did We Just Declare War on Iran? Biden looked sternly at the secretary and made one last point: "If the president concluded he had to invade Iran ? or Syria in pursuit of these networks, I believe the present authorization granted the president to use force in Iraq does not cover that and he does need congressional authority to do that. ? I just want to set that marker."


01-12-07 - Bush's ace up his sleeve by Patrick J. Buchanan What Bush signaled in the clear Wednesday is that air strikes on Iranian "networks" are being planned. That would produce an Iranian response. That response would trigger U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, for which Israel and the neocons are howling.


01-12-07 - Action against Iran, Syria could escalate conflict: Rudd


01-12-07 - UPI Intelligence Watch "President Bush is using the idea of security in Iraq to put himself in a better position to strike Iran. And this is the one thing politically that he can control in the United States to prove who's really in charge,"


01-12-07 - Video: Recent US actions could signal Iran conflict, despite White House denials; GOPer's bill requires Congress OK on Iran


01-12-07 - Iranian Jews Reject Outside Calls To Leave In recent months, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Israeli officials and some American Jewish communal leaders have urged Iranian Jews to leave. But so far, despite generally being allowed to travel to Israel and emigrate abroad, Iranian Jews have stayed put. Why are they encouraging Iranian Jews to leave Iran, know something we don't?


01-12-07 - McCain defends Bush's Iraq strategy "I want to address kind of a rumor and urban legend that's going around, and it comes from language in the president's Wednesday night address to the nation, that in talking about Iran and Syria that he was trying to prepare the way for war with either country and that there are war preparations under way, Snow said. "There are not." Mm k, Tony.


01-12-07 - From Oct 2006: British Find No Evidence Of Arms Traffic From Iran


01-12-07 - From Mar. 2006: Top U.S. Military Official: No Evidence of Iran Involvement in Iraq Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, said today he has no evidence the Iranian government has been sending military equipment and personnel into neighboring Iraq.


01-12-07 - Eye on Iraq: An admiral to command a land war? President George W. Bush's choice of a Navy admiral to head Central Command after Gen. John P. Abizaid has set tongues wagging. Why send an admiral to command a land battle unless you don't expect the battle to remain a land one? Because we are going to attack Iran.


01-12-07 - Baghdad Crackdown Bush knows that if Iran was seriously involved in arming the Iraqi resistance, we?d be seeing the Russian-made, armor-piercing rocket launchers that were used so effectively by Hezbollah during their 34 day war with Israel. That hasn?t been the case.


01-12-07 - Escalation is Hardly the Answer By Congressman Ron Paul We should remember that Iran, like Iraq, is a third-world nation without a significant military. Nothing in history hints that she is likely to invade a neighboring country, let alone do anything to America or Israel. I am concerned, however, that a contrived Gulf of Tonkin- type incident may occur to gain popular support for an attack on Iran.


01-12-07 - The "Surge" Is A Red Herring Near the end of his "surge" speech, Bush adopts the neoconservative program as US policy. The struggle, Bush says, echoing the neoconservatives and the Israeli right-wing, goes far beyond Iraq.


01-12-07 - Iran and Syria in the Crosshairs


01-11-07 - Bush's tough tactics are a 'declaration of war' on Iran But if the US is preparing to confront Iran militarily - which some top military officials in Israel are reportedly recommending - the Bush administration will find itself involved in conflicts on four fronts.


01-11-07 - Senators fear Iraq war may spill to Iran, Syria "You cannot sit here today -- not because you're dishonest or you don't understand -- but no one in our government can sit here today and tell Americans that we won't engage the Iranians and the Syrians cross-border," said Hagel, a Vietnam veteran and possible 2008 presidential candidate.


01-11-07 - US legislator fears Bush preparing to attack Iran "He has blamed Iran for attacks on America. The president is vowing to disrupt Iran. He is going to add an aircraft carrier to the shores off the coast of Iran. He has promised to give Patriot missiles to 'our friends and allies.' Isn't one war enough for this president?"


01-11-07 - Neither sanctions nor bombs will end the Iran nuclear crisis It is not as if Iran presents any immediate, compelling threat. Israeli officials argue that a nuclear bomb in the hands of a man who talks about Israel being "eliminated from the pages of time" poses an unacceptable risk, but he wields no power in foreign affairs. Moreover, Israel's nuclear deterrent would mean mutually assured destruction.


01-11-07 - UAE rules out US or Israeli strikes on Iran from its soil


01-11-07 - Bush's Rush to Armageddon Though not considered a Middle East expert, Fallon has moved in neoconservative circles, for instance, attending a 2001 awards ceremony at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, a think tank dedicated to explaining "the link between American defense policy and the security of Israel."




01-10-07 - Bush vows action on Iran, Syria; beefs up defense in Middle East Announcing his latest strategy to tame Iraq, Bush said he had ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group and Patriot anti-missile systems in the Middle East to beef up regional security. Because we are about to strike Iran.


01-10-07 - Ayalon: Israel is not alone Iran has attempted to dispatch emissaries to try and get the United States to rule out military action against Tehran, and their efforts have failed, former Israeli Ambassador to the US, and Co-Chairman of the Nefesh B'Nefesh aliyah program, said during an interview with Ynetnews.


01-10-07 - Distracting Congress from the Real War Plan: Iran


01-09-07 - Jones: US will stand by Israel in face of Iranian threat He assured the audience that, "Israel's security and well being are of vital importance to the United States."


01-09-07 - US blacklists Iranian state bank


01-09-07 - Tories back US action on Iran Mr Fox gave the clearest signal yet that the Conservatives would support military action, including the use of nuclear strikes by the US or Israel, to halt the alleged production of a nuclear weapon by Iran.


01-09-07 - Israel plans to nuke Iran


01-09-07 - Who Is Planning Our Next War? by Patrick J. Buchanan Israel's war, says Bibi, must be sold as America's war. We are thus forewarned. A propaganda campaign, using Israeli agents and their neocon auxiliaries and sympathizers, who stampeded us into war in Iraq, is being prepared to stampede us into war on Iran.

Great article.


01-09-07 - Ominous Signs of a Wider War If engagement with Iran and Syria was even remotely on the agenda, Abizaid is exactly the man you'd want on the job at Centcom overseeing US forces and strategy in the region. But if that's not on the agenda, if you're thinking instead of using force against Iran and/or Syria, then Admiral Fallon is exactly the man you'd want at Centcom.


01-08-07 - Officials believe White House chose new Intelligence chief in effort to darken Iran Intelligence Estimate, broaden domestic surveillance "The NIE on Iran is at issue," said one former senior intelligence officer close to Negroponte.... "McConnell will go along with whatever (Cheney tells him to do) and make sure that no objective NIE comes out," one former senior intelligence officer said.


01-08-07 - Israel denies planning nuclear attack on Iran Ephraim Kam ? a former senior intelligence official now at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies ? also suggested the report should not be taken literally. "No reliable source would ever speak about this, certainly not to the Sunday Times," he said


01-08-07 - War with Iran is imminent The political deck shuffling also reflects a Bush administration decision to expand the war in the Middle East....The one wild card that would change the equation would be an aggressive move by Iran. Should Iran launch a cruise missile at a U.S. Navy ship in the Gulf, we will have war right now. Should an Iranian missile sink a U.S. carrier, the U.S. population would experience another 9/11 moment. At that point, a massive U.S.-led military strike on Iran would become inevitable. A note of caution: Corsi is a neocon. Note the last part of that excerpt there. Neocons anxiously await such a move which would be the pretext for war that they have been waiting for.


01-08-07 - The Coming Attack on Iran The Israeli/neoconservative plan, of which Bush may be a part or simply be a manipulated element, is to provoke a crisis with Iran in which the US Congress will have to support Israel. Both the Israeli government and the American neoconservatives are fanatical. It is a mistake to believe that either will be guided by reason or any appreciation of the potentially catastrophic consequences of an attack on Iran.


01-07-07 - The Bush administration's committee for regime change in Iran As was the case during the runup to the war with Iraq, the mainstream media outfits are filling their pages with neocon rhetoric for war - this time Iran. This is what happens when you fail to hold people accountable for deliberately deceiving the people of this nation into believing that another nation (Iraq) is an immediate and grave threat to us. They're at it again.


01-07-07 - To Win in Baghdad, Strike at Tehran This is a writer that is, not surprisingly, featured on both FreeRepublic and FrontPagemag - neocon country.


01-07-07 - Military strike is only way to stop Iran, says top Israeli strategist Zvi Shtauber, director of Tel-Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, was speaking last night after the Foreign Ministry denied a report in The Sunday Times that Israeli pilots were already training to strike three targets with low-yield nuclear weapons.



01-06-07 - Israel's Bad Influence By coincidence, an Israeli general has verified everything Ritter says.



01-06-07 - Report: Israel Planning Nuke Raid on Iran Uranium Enrichment Sites Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the nerve to attack Iran. Did Israel leaks its plans to the media before it struck Osirak? If not, why not? This would appear to be a move to extort some kind of action by the US.



01-06-07 - Osirak Redux? A few days of Israeli bombing may or may not retard the Iranian nuclear program, but it would impede any plan by the realists to engage Iran in an effort to stabilize Iraq, start withdrawing U.S. troops, and change the direction of American policy in the Middle East



01-04-07 - Exclusive: Iran War "In 2 Years" CIA specialist on Iran Reuel Marc Gerecht said there had been a "tidal shift" of opinion towards military action, especially in Israel.



01-04-07 - Mission Accomplished The War Party is desperate to provoke the Iranians into a military conflict, and they are pulling out all the stops to do so. With economic sanctions against Iran already in place, and likely to be ratcheted up ? along with the anti-Iranian propaganda campaign ? the likelihood of war with the mullahs of Tehran is an eventuality that seems almost fated to occur, whether or not the American people support it



01-03-07 - Geopolitical Diary: Israel's Options Against Iran With the United States currently lacking any solid options to contain Iran via a political resolution in Iraq, there has been intense speculation over the possibility that Israel might have to get its hands dirty and take military action against Iran -- with or without U.S. cooperation..... If the military option is to be used, Israel sees the value in having U.S. forces that are well-positioned in Iraq to help carry out the attacks.



01-03-07 - Israel seeks operational link with U.S. missile defense system The request for information from the U.S. was intended, according to the same source, "in the event that the American systems are deployed in Israel for reinforcement.



01-03-07 - Second U.S. carrier group to deploy to Gulf: sources The Pentagon will send a second aircraft carrier and its escort ships to the Gulf, defense officials said on Wednesday, as a warning to Syria and Iran and to give commanders more flexibility in the region.



01-02-07 - Russia anti-aircraft weapons sales to Syria, Iran on schedule The air defence systems are being stationed around Iran's civilian nuclear sites, according to ITAR-TASS.



01-02-07 - Iran warns West of 'historic slap' over nuclear drive President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has kept up his defiance over Iran's nuclear programme, saying Tehran would deal an "historic slap" to Western nations if they launched military action.



01-02-07 - Covert US group plots to isolate 'rising' Iran The US has repeatedly said its policy is not to overthrow the Iranian regime, but one former US official who attended a preliminary meeting of the group said he got the impression that regime change was a goal of many participants



01-02-07 - Analysis: Threat to Israel looming larger Today, the Bush-Cheney team faces the same spin scenario: how to weave the global war on terror and the Shiite powers that be in Iran. This one is relatively simple: Iran trains and funds Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories. Anticipating the new line, Sen. Joe Lieberman (Independent-CT) referred to "Iran and al-Qaida" on Wolf Blitzer's Sunday program on CNN. That Iran is Shiite and al-Qaida Sunni becomes irrelevant in the new game plan that will most probably lead to U.S. air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities in 2007/08...... The "neocons" who work closely with Netanyahu on what could be the next phase of a nascent regional war in the Middle East, say Bush has the authority to take out Iran's nuclear threat. Because it has only one purpose -- to take out Israel.....And if Bush doesn't take on Iran, prominent Israelis are speculating that president Clinton 2 (Hillary) will do so



01-02-07 - israel desperately seeks war with Iran



01-02-07 - Think tank: Israel could attack Iran's nuclear program alone Only if they can't get us to do it for them.



01-01-07 - Iran can still be stopped The diplomatic and PR effort: We must immediately launch an intense, international, public relations front focusing first and foremost on the US. The goal being to encourage President Bush to take up his specific promises not to allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons. We must make it clear to the government, the Congress and the American public that a nuclear Iran is a threat to the US and the entire world, not only Israel.



12-30-06 - Book: Israel, Lobby Pushing Iran War Later in the book, Ritter adds: "Let there be no doubt: If there is an American war with Iran, it is a war that was made in Israel and nowhere else."



12-30-06 - What to do with Iran? As an American strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help him pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and US newspaper editors. We need to do this in order to turn the Iranian issue to a bipartisan one and unrelated to the Iraq failure.....We must turn to Hillary Clinton and other potential presidential candidates in the Democratic Party so that they publicly support immediate action by Bush against Iran.....We must clandestinely cooperate with Saudi Arabia so that it also persuades the US to strike Iran.....The Americans must act. Yet if they don't, we'll do it ourselves



12-26-06 - Iran backed dangerously into a corner Israeli and right-wing American spokespeople are working the "wipe Israel off the map" statement as hard as they can as "evidence" that Israel is seriously menaced. It's ironic that while Iran does not possess that kind of capability Israel does and showed its willingness to use it in 1973 and 1991 when the country was on nuclear alert.



12-26-06 - Why did Russia and China vote to sanction Iran? The final conditions for the impending military action are being rapidly put in place as we speak



12-24-06 - Source says 'outsider' Gates prepped for confirmation by Cheney's office recent comments by Gates and President Bush, as well as military activities in the Gulf, raise serious concern about White House plans for Iran......Another CIA official reiterates what has been already reported here and in and other publications for the past year, that "Cheney has promised that Iran will be taken care of by spring (of 2007)."



12-24-06 - Could Bush Start Another War?



12-23-06 - Four reasons for ranting The ideal scenario, from Israel's point of view, would be an American military attack that would destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and remove the threat. "We have to get the United States to carry out what it promised to do, and to create the proper international climate," explains a senior official. It is not clear what President Bush told Olmert in private talks that had him leaving Bush's office feeling so satisfied. We can only presume that Olmert is depending on Bush's religious faith and obstinacy, which will lead him to attack Iran, even in light of American public opposition to military adventures in the Middle East.



12-23-06 - Are Bush and Cheney Planning an Early Attack on Iran?



12-23-06 - Target Iran: Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter and Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh on White House Plans for Regime Change So if you read the Azeri press, for instance, you?ll find out that the Israeli Mossad has upped its efforts to build a station in Azerbaijan. And the Azeri press will delve into that more. Why does the Mossad want to build a station operating? There?s a couple reasons. One, the Mossad is working with the Azeri population. You know, there is a Jewish minority in Azerbaijan that has emigrated to Israel. And so, there?s a number of Azeri Israelis that the Israeli government now is bringing back to Azerbaijan to work on this issue.... we're not allowed to do is discuss the notion that Israel and the notion of Israeli interests may in fact be dictating what America is doing, that what we're doing in the Middle East may not be to the benefit of America's national security, but to Israel's national security. But, see, we don?t want to talk about that, because one of the great success stories out there is the pro-Israeli lobby that has successfully enabled themselves to blend the two together, so that when we speak of Israeli interests, they say, "No, we're speaking of American interests."....The bottom line is, within two days of our decision to initiate an attack on Iran, every single one of you is going to be feeling the consequences of that in your pocketbook. And it?s only going to get worse. This is not something that only I recognize. Ask Dick Lugar what information he?s getting from big business, who are saying, ?We can?t afford to go to war with Iran.? SEYMOUR HERSH: Final question: given all this, are we going to do it? SCOTT RITTER: Yes, we're going to do it. Read the entire thing.



12-22-06 - Israeli think tank says only military strike will stop Iran: Report And they want US to do it as history repeats itself.



12-19-06 - Pentagon mulling show of force to Iran The Pentagon is considering a buildup of Navy forces in the Persian Gulf as a show of force against Iran, a senior defense official said Tuesday.



12-19-06 - Holy Warriors Set Sights on Iran



12-18-06 - "It is a missile launch bunker. Somewhere within a mile to five miles are silos with the missiles in them." another media outlet in Israel is reporting that the U.S. is building a massive new base for the Israeli military on the West Bank border.



12-18-06 - Iran within four years of nuclear bomb: Israel spy chief The boy who cried wolf.



12-17-06 - US or Israel will attack Iran by March Note the source.



12-16-06 - MK Steinitz: Believe US will attack Iran Member of Knesset Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said Saturday that he "believes a hundred percent that the United States will attack Iran?in order to eliminate its nuclear threat. This will occur after diplomatic efforts fail."



12-15-06 - Iran could hide sensitive nuclear work if attacked: senior official Experts have warned that attacking Iran's known atomic facilities might only drive the Iranian program underground and Soltanieh's comments were among the first from Iranian officials that they would do exactly that.



12-15-06 - Netanyahu wants Iran president tried for genocide at The Hague Netanyahu says Israel must get the Americans to take action, not just with words but through an act of Congress.



12-13-06 - Israeli PM urges international moves against Iran Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on the international community to coordinate efforts to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons.



12-13-06 - Democrat dilemma over Iran US and Israeli rhetoric has been echoed by Democrats, particularly incoming Speaker of the House, Representative Nancy Pelosi. In 2005, she told a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that "the greatest threat to Israel's right to exist ... now comes from Iran". AIPAC has long been associated with some of the more extreme sectors of the Israeli political spectrum. The organization has been particularly aggressive in lobbying for war with Iran, a war that polls show the US public strongly opposes.



12-11-06 - Labor's Paz-Pines praises Baker-Hamilton report "The report was good for Israel because as long as the US is in Iraq, America is impotent," he said. "As long as America is in Iraq, they cannot act on Iran, so Israel has an interest in helping America escape the Iraq fiasco. Really now. So Israel should seek to get us out of one war to send us into another (which again primarily benefits them, not us)? Isn't that nice of them.



12-11-06 - MCCAIN WARNS OF IRAN IN CITY VISIT Sen. John McCain swept onto the turf of potential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rudy Giuliani last night, vowing a strong defense of Israel and saying military action may be needed to prevent Iran from building nukes.



12-10-06 - Peres: Unite against Iran and prevent war "If there was an international coalition, there would be no need to go to war against Iran, and Iran would return to its natural dimensions." I was not aware that Iran was going to START any wars. In fact, it's just the opposite. Israel has warned of attacking Iran (in case we won't do it for them). Note that this was being discussed at the 'closed forum'. The closed forum at the Brooking Institute, no doubt.



12-09-06 - Israel's Olmert calls for dramatic measures against Iran Olmert criticised the international community's hesitation in dealing with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The West fears Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at developing nuclear weapons but Tehran denies this. "I am anything but happy," Olmert was quoted as saying in an interview released ahead of publication on Sunday. "I expect significantly more dramatic steps to be taken.



12-07-06 - Gates: Attacking Iran Would 'Worsen The Violence In Iraq And Lead To Greater American Casualties'



12-06-06 - Rep. Dennis Kucinch: No More Money for War on Iraq In an interview with Truthdig?s Joshua Scheer*, the Democratic congressman argues that the Pentagon?s new spending proposal would not only escalate the Iraq war but could be used to fund an attack on Iran. Story/headline have changed since having linked to it. This information has disappeared.



12-06-06 - Rice's Iran Strategy Fizzles, Cheney Waits in Wings aides to Cheney insisted that the administration is not yet prepared politically for a shift to the military track, according to Kaplan. But once Rice's diplomatic effort becomes a highly visible failure, Cheney and his allies in the administration are poised to begin the process of ratcheting up pressure on Bush to begin the political planning for an eventual military attack on Iran.



12-06-06 - 'Alternative Nobel' Winner Says U.S. Attack on Iran Likely before 2008 "It is more likely than not, in the next two years, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney will direct an attack on Iran," Ellsberg said at a news conference for the Right Livelihood laureates. "Such an attack ... might escalate too, to the use of nuclear weapons against underground installations in Iran, with incalculable consequences."



12-05-06 - Gates: Iranian nuclear strike unlikely Addressing the U.S. Senate in his confirmation hearings Tuesday, Robert Gates said he did not discount threats to Israel from Iran?s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but added that he believed that the religious establishment controlling Iran was less inclined to an attack....He said a U.S. attack on Iran or Syria could destabilize the region



12-04-06 - Clinton, Barak and Lieberman talk Iran Iranian nuclear threat and instability in Lebanon ? these are only some of the subjects high-level American and Israeli officials will discuss at third annual Saban Forum in Washington This will result in a renewed push by Israel and its lobbyists for US action on Iran, no doubt.



12-01-06 - Powell says U.S. should talk to Iran, not attack Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell does not believe the United States will attack Iran and says Washington should speak to Tehran and Syria.



11-30-06 - Iran War Games Aimed at Warning Shot to U.S. Allies Kenneth Pollack, a Middle East senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said Iran and its surrogates could take a toll on U.S. facilities in the Middle East and seriously undermine efforts to secure and stabilize Iraq. ''We don't want to lose Iraq in the course of taking down Iran's nuclear program,'' Pollack said.



11-29-06 - Avigdor Lieberman to Washington Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beitenu Party joined Prime Minister Ehud Olmert?s government last month, will participate in a conference at the end of next week at the Brookings Institution?s Saban Center. The conference, which is closed to the public, will include other top Israeli and U.S. officials. Lieberman is the new guy in charge of Israel's 'attack Iran' department.



11-24-06 - Expert: Bush can't attack Iran US President George Bush does not have sufficient credit to initiate a military strike on Iran , Giora Romm, senior researcher for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, told a forum attended by members of the Foreign Ministry and delegates from the American Jewish community in Jerusalem Tuesday.



11-24-06 - The rise and decline of the neo-cons There is no doubt that the top foreign policy priority for neo-conservatives in the final two years of Bush's presidency will be to goad him into attacking Iran's suspected nuclear facilities, if ongoing diplomatic efforts to contain or roll back Tehran's nuclear program stall or fail. Wrote Joshua Muravchik, an AEI scholar, in the November 2006 issue of the influential magazine Foreign Policy: "Make no mistake, President Bush will need to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities before leaving office."



11-23-06 - The Next Act: Will the Republicans? Mid-Term Loss Hurt Chances of a War on Iran? What's happening right now and the reason some of the people talked to me about the new Israeli intelligence, is that there's a great debate inside the community about how good it is, whether it's for -- you know, there is human intelligence about a warhead being manufactured, but nobody in the CIA knows much about it, who the source is, knows ? are there drawings, any evidence, any technical evidence? Those questions aren?t being asked and answered because the White House likes it. The Israelis are supplying us with intelligence on a Middle Eastern country's alleged WMD program - again.



11-22-06 - US could bomb Iran nuclear sites in 2007: analysts Israel has also been pushing Washington to get tough on Iran.



11-22-06 - Cheney to meet with King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday for a meeting with King Abdullah to discuss issues of "mutual interest" in the Middle East "mutual interest"=Iran



11-21-06 - Israel's Domestic Political Game Raises the Danger of a U.S.-Iran War One reason it won't be debated publicly because it's based on a fallacy promoted by a calculated campaign of hysteria by Israel's leadership



11-20-06 - Bush: I would understand if Israel chose to attack Iran The United States lacks sufficient intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities at this time, which prevents it from initiating a military strike against them, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told European politicians and diplomats with whom she has recently met. An attack on Iran by Israel would automatically involve us in it.



11-20-06 - White House dismisses Hersh article In his interview, Hersh alluded to a spat between the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency over an alleged Israeli intelligence assessment that puts Iran close to developing a trigger for a nuclear bomb. "The CIA isn't getting a good look at the Israeli intelligence," Hersh said



11-20-06 - Cheney, the neocons and Israel work together again - this time, Iran



11-19-06 - The Next Act - Is a damaged Administration less likely to attack Iran, or more? by Seymour Hersh



11-19-06 - Bomb Iran This individual had a similar article published on the AEI website - a notorious neocon outfit - just weeks ago. It's a curiousity why the LA Times felt the need to give his bellicose blatherings (additional) air time.



11-18-06 - CIA analysis finds no Iranian nuclear weapons drive: report A classifed draft CIA assessment has found no firm evidence of a secret drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, as alleged by the White House, a top US investigative reporter has said. Seymour Hersh, writing in an article for the November 27 issue of the magazine The New Yorker released in advance, reported on whether the administration of Republican President George W. Bush was more, or less, inclined to attack Iran after Democrats won control of Congress last week.....A current senior intelligence official confirmed the existence of the CIA analysis and said the White House had been hostile to it, he wrote.



11-18-06 - Washington gets real A senior political advisor to the Republican Party who has criss-crossed America in his clients' Congressional election campaigns, estimated this week that the chances of an American attack have dropped to zero. This, in his opinion, is the implication of the Democrats' victory last week. The public does not want to hear about a new military adventure. Only a large terror attack in the United States, or some other shocking event that can be connected to Iran, would make it possible to enlist public opinion for new hostilities. Ambassador Ayalon disagreed with this assessment this week. He believes that Bush will stop Iran, even by force. A good assessment of the president's intentions, but not necessarily of his ability to realize them.



11-18-06 - Olmert's drums of war The Democrat's victory in midterm elections in the United States also lessened the likelihood that Bush will bomb Iran. Israel, it seems, is facing Ahmadinejad alone.



11-17-06 - On Iran, U.S. may have to differ with Israel For the past six years there has not even been a sliver of light between the positions of the United States and Israel. It's safe to say that no administration has been as supportive of Israel's policies as the administration of President George W. Bush..... Gary Sick, an Iran expert at Columbia University, says it might be too late to stop Iran from developing weapons-grade nuclear fuel. But he says it could well be another decade or more before Iran would actually have a deliverable nuclear weapon; we are not in a crisis now, and we shouldn't be acting as if we were.



11-16-06 - Official says U.S. may mull pre-emptive Iran strike



11-15-06 - Israeli leader pays L.A. a visit Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a Los Angeles audience Tuesday night that it would be "an unbearable sin to future generations" if Iran is not stopped from developing nuclear weapons. Olmert and Netanyahu come HERE to discuss the dangers of Iran. Not Germany, not Britain, HERE. Because they want US to deal with Iran.



11-15-06 - Bush will not hesitate to use force in Iran: Israeli ambassador "First the president will try to exhaust the diplomatic process," he said. "I estimate that there is a 50 percent chance that the diplomatic effort will succeed. If not, he will advance another step and consider imposing isolation and a blockade on Iran, like the US imposed on Cuba in the past. "If this too does not succeed, he will not hesitate to employ force," he said. "If sanctions succeed, all the better. Otherwise, he will act by all means possible, including military action."



11-15-06 - Olmert calls for 'one voice' on Iran In his remarks Tuesday, Olmert called Bush "a great friend ... of Israel" but said America must have the support of the international community to "defuse this mortal threat."



11-13-06 - Olmert talks of Military Action against Iran



11-13-06 - U.N. negotiations continue, but can they stop Iran?s nuclear push? Many worry that Israel could act alone if it thinks the United States is progressing too slowly to contain Tehran. His menu of policy recommendations to the United States notwithstanding, Berman said he believes Israel will feel forced to strike within the year. "I think we're quite clearly entering a season of hard choices on the part of the Israelis," he said.



11-13-06 - Cheney?s Revenge So, how far will Cheney go to remove the obstacles for realizing his dark vision? Would he be willing to incite a war with Iran to restore himself to power?



11-13-06 - Iraq disaster warning Sources indicate increasing indications of "something big" happening between the Nov. 7 congressional election and Christmas. That could be the long-planned attack on Iran.



11-13-06 - No cakewalk in the park? The neo-conservatives (neocons) who gave us the "cakewalk" prediction for Iraq before the war are now plugging "a walk in the park" in Iran -- i.e., a U.S. bombing campaign to consign the mullahs' nuclear ambitions to oblivion, or at least to retard the advent of an Iranian bomb for a few years, hoping that in the interim good democrats would rise up and send the clerics and their Revolutionary Guards packing



11-13-06 - Israeli PM Brings Iran Agenda to U.S. The fear is that with American public opinion turning against the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Bush would be less likely to take decisive military or diplomatic action against Iran.



11-12-06 - Israeli unease grows over fraying U.S. ties As the Lebanon war demonstrated, Bush has been reluctant to impose the kinds of restraints on Israel that his father employed, to press negotiations with the Palestinians in the style of Bill Clinton or even to push Israel to ease up on Palestinian travel. That has pleased Israel's supporters in the Jewish community and among an increasingly vocal, fiercely pro-Israel community of evangelicals, who visited the White House at least once during the Lebanon war to voice support for allowing the air attacks on Hezbollah to continue unabated......"Can we rely on the United States alone and say we abdicate our responsibility for dealing with the matter, and let the United States do what it wants? No, by no means.".....The message seemed to Israelis perfectly clear: The Bush administration would demand Israeli concessions on the Palestinian issue to hold together an American-led coalition on Iran. .....No Israeli knows if the next American president will be as tough on Iran or as loyal to Israel as Bush. If Bush does not act, Israelis say, by the time the next president takes office in January 2009, Iran will be well on its way to a bomb, and Washington may not back Israeli responses....."We would like to be liked by everyone, of course," he said, "but it's the relationship with the United States that really matters."




11-12-06 - Iran key as Israeli PM meets Bush



11-11-06 - Analysis / A meeting in handcuffs for Ehud Olmert, George Bush In an ideal world, Ehud Olmert and George W. Bush would finish the weighty part of their meeting in five minutes and move on to talking about their families, their children and sports. Bush would promise to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and thus remove the existential threat hanging over Israel.....That will be Olmert's primary message to Bush. Will a veiled threat be sufficient to rouse the U.S. into saving Israel and attacking Iran? Will Olmert's promises to withdraw from the territories in exchange persuade the administration? "Will a veiled threat be sufficient to rouse the U.S. into saving Israel and attacking Iran? " And what veiled threat would that be?



11-10-06 - Olmert to focus on Iran in visit to U.S.



11-10-06 - Analysis: Bush, Olmert, Iran and Palestine Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will probe the likelihood of the United States providing a nuclear umbrella against Iranian nuclear threats when he meets President Bush in Washington next Monday. Yediot Aharonot Friday quoted sources close to Olmert as saying he "expects to hear" such a promise from Bush.



11-10-06 - Olmert to focus on Iran in Washington, hoping for steady course "Without the political support at home and in his party and among the American public, a decisive military or diplomatic move (by Bush) against Iran seems less and less likely."



11-10-06 - Israel official: Strike on Iran possible



11-09-06 - After the elections in America Political struggles between the administration and Congress should not be allowed to impede the handling of the existential threat to Israel, and the danger that the entire region will come under the influence of the radical Islamic regime in Tehran.



11-08-06 - Arabs react to U.S. election results "Israelis perceive the Iranian threat as imminent," said Prof. Menahem Blondheim of Hebrew University. "Without political support at home and in his party and among American public, a decisive military or diplomatic move against Iran seems less and less likely."



11-07-06 - US official: Israel won't bomb Iran "I do not see that Israel is going to do something like that. ... In all our conversations, thus far, Israel has stressed that this is an international problem. Israel does not want to make it an Israeli problem. Israel is committed to the political approach that the international community it taking,' .....The US official said the text of UN sanctions against Iran would be discussed with Olmert when the Israeli leader met with the US President George Bush in Washington next Monday



11-07-06 - US diplomat: Israel won?t attack Iran The official further stated that he did not believe Israel would attack Iran?s nuclear facilities, as 'Israel has repeatedly stated that this is an international problem and such an attack would make it an Israeli one.'



11-04-06 - Israel urges world action after Iran missile test Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz urged the world to act after Iran claimed to have fired longer-range ballistic missiles for the first time, the defence ministry said.



11-04-06 - Who's Targeting Iran ? and Why? So, even if Iran is telling the truth ? Iran says, 'We have no nuclear weapons program. We just want peaceful nuclear energy'? Israel says, 'So long as Iran has any enrichment capability, this constitutes a threat to Israel,' and they are pressuring the United States to take forceful action."



11-03-06 - Iran test-fires 3 new missiles in Gulf "Our enemies should keep their hostility out of the Persian Gulf," said Adm. Sardar Fadavi, the deputy chief of the Revolutionary Guards navy.



11-03-06 - "Weapons of Mass Destruction": Building a Pretext for Waging War on Iran?



11-02-06 - Bush 'would understand' attack on Iran Israel endorses US-led efforts to curb Iran s atomic ambitions through the threat of UN Security Council sanctions but, like Washington, has hinted that military action could be a last resort



11-01-06 - Iran announces military maneuvers Iran unexpectedly announced Wednesday that it would be holding military maneuvers in the Gulf this week, only days after U.S.-led navies held exercises in the same waterway.



10-30-06 - Iran sounds an awful lot like Iraq Recent months have seen the creation of an "Iran directorate" at the Pentagon, using some of the same personnel as the Office of Special Plans, the shadowy Pentagon outfit led by former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith that was accused of massaging raw intelligence on Iraq to make the case for war look far more solid than in fact it was. Iran has now supplanted Iraq as the greatest single threat to the United States, according to the National Security Strategy released earlier this year. Articles in the New Yorker and Time describe an accelerated rate of contingency military planning in an environment in which many senior officials ? on the military and civilian sides ? consider war with Iran more a question of when rather than if.



10-29-06 - Iran criticizes U.S.-led nuke exercise a U.S. State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the topic, said PSI members can halt and board Iran-bound ships if they are suspected of carrying banned shipments.


10-27-06 - US, others to conduct Gulf naval maneuvers off Iran The announcement came in the context of tensions over Iran's nuclear program and reports of possible terror threats against oil installations in the Gulf.



10-25-06 - Iran could have nuclear bomb by 2015: Germany Iran is unlikely to be able to develop a nuclear bomb before 2015, the chief of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency said on Tuesday.



10-25-06 - Military Build-up in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf: Israel and NATO sign Framework Agreement This Israel-NATO framework agreement not only has a bearing on the military build-up in the Eastern Mediterranean, which in practice is directed against Syria and Lebanon, it is also related to the massive deployment of US naval forces in the Persian Gulf, oppositie Iran



10-25-06 - 'US withdrawal from Iraq would be disastrous for Israel' "...And what if the US becomes trigger-shy? No one else except the US has the military might to set back Iran's nuclear program. Maybe Israel, but it's not certain. If the US gets trigger-shy, then we're in trouble." .....The result would be that "the terror efforts currently directed against US forces in Iraq would be turned against Israel,"



10-25-06 - US naval war games off the Iranian coastline: A provocation which could lead to War?



10-24-06 - Olmert pins hopes on Lieberman to stop Iran Beside Olmert's faith in President Bush and the United Nation to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms, the prime minister is seeking to speed up Israel's preparations for a possible confrontation with Iran.



10-24-06 - Moves toward War with Iran: Part 2



10-24-06 - Iran condemns US Gulf exercises Reports say the US is to hold naval exercises at the end of October with Bahrain, Kuwait, France and Britain



10-23-06 - Olmert appeals to world on Iran threats Israel considers Iran to be the greatest threat to its survival, and rejects Tehran's claim that its nuclear program is peaceful



10-22-06 - The Next War We face today a crisis similar to those of 1964 and 2002, a crisis hidden once again from the public and most of Congress. Articles by Seymour Hersh and others have revealed that, as in both those earlier cases, the president has secretly directed the completion, though not yet execution, of military operational plans?not merely hypothetical ?contingency plans? but constantly updated plans, with movement of forces and high states of readiness, for prompt implementation on command?for attacking a country that, unless attacked itself, poses no threat to the United States: in this case, Iran.... Assuming Hersh?s so-far anonymous sources mean what they say?that this is, as one puts it, ?a juggernaut that has to be stopped??I believe it is time for one or more of them to go beyond fragmentary leaks unaccompanied by documents. That means doing what no other active official or consultant has ever done in a timely way Speak up now before it's too late.



10-21-06 - Peres: Israel has no intention of attacking Iran Israel has said repeatedly it wants the United States and other countries to take the lead in dealing with Iran



10-20-06 - Iranian leader threatens Israel's allies President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad branded Israeli leaders "a group of terrorists" Friday, after Israel's prime minister warned Tehran would have "a price to pay" if it does not roll back its nuclear program.



10-19-06 - Scott Ritter on "Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change" Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter: "The path that the United States is currently embarked on regarding Iran is a path that will inevitably lead to war. Such a course of action will make even the historical mistake we made in Iraq pale by comparison." ...Look, Bush has already said that he doesn't want to leave Iran to the next president, that this is a problem he needs to solve now. And the other factor that we haven?t woven in here that we need to is the role played by Israel in pressuring the United States for a very aggressive stance against Iran



10-15-06 - "Cold War Shivers": War Preparations in the Middle East and Central Asia The overall significance of these military drills must be assessed in relation to the sequence of Russian, Chinese and Iran war exercises conducted since late August. There is a consistent pattern. These war games are not isolated events. They are part of a carefully coordinated endeavor, in response to the US-NATO military build-up. They should also be considered as acts of deterrence, intended to display military capabilities to deter military action by US led coaltion......The issue is not whether the war will or will not take place but what are the instruments at our disposal which will enable us to shunt and ultimately disarm this global military agenda.



10-14-06 - Clint, what about Iran? Why isn't Sheriff George W. Bush pulling out his rifle in order to drive the bad guys out of town, before they make the global village evaporate in smoky mushrooms? Because thanks to the neocons, he's got his hands full in Iraq.



10-13-06 - IDF: Only US operation can stop Iran



10-13-06 - The role of public opinion The United States is up to its neck in Iraq and Afghanistan, and cannot open another front. The U.S. weakness and the fact that even Japan and South Korea reject the use of force against North Korea - thereby accepting its nuclearization - encourages Iran to accelerate its own nuclear project. The "soft" sanctions on Iran, if they are imposed at all, will not bring forth salvation. Translation: "we may have to fight our own battle, and so we must prepare".



10-13-06 - Former Weapons Inspector, Experts Warn Against Military Action Toward Iran "Iran does not today, and in my judgment will not for some time, pose a nuclear threat to the United States or the state of the (Middle East) region," Kay said......However, Kay and others, citing media reports in recent months, worry that some officials in the Bush administration may be pressing for military action and regime change in Iran



10-12-06 - US General: Strikes on Iran possible by 2007 Israel prefers Washington to act on its behalf but academics, left-wing politicians and experts say a military option is not on the cards for the Bush administration because of the situation in Iraq "Israel prefers Washington to act on its behalf" - no s%#t? Really? I never would have guessed.



10-12-06 - Naval exercise planned Facing nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea, the US, Bahrain and other states will hold their first naval exercise in the Gulf this month to practice interdicting ships carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles, US officials said.



10-12-06 - Israel's Plan for a Military Strike on Iran Is the Israeli government using Shalev, wittingly or not, and is he in turn using the BBC, to spread Israeli propaganda? Propaganda that may soon propel us towards the "clash of civilisations" so longed for by Israel's leadership. This is in reference to the BBC's program of the same topic from this week.



10-11-06 - Will Israel bomb Iran? with its ongoing commitments in Iraq, some of Israel's strategic thinkers believe America has too much at stake to intervene militarily....According to Israeli intelligence sources, Iran's scientists are now within a year of reaching the technical point when they could enrich uranium to the level required for atomic arms.....The former chief of staff of Israel's armed forces, Moshe Yaalon concludes: "As a last resort, the West should be ready to launch military strikes to deal with Iranian nuclear capabilities ...but Israel should be ready to deal with this kind of threat, if anyone else doesn't do it."



10-09-06 - Bush?s Nuclear Apocalypse The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran



10-09-06 - Lebanon- Prelude to the Rape of Iran



10-08-06 - Olmert to convene panel of top officials to discuss Iran The group will debate Israeli policy toward Washington's proposed sanctions. It will also discuss developments in light of the Lebanon War, with even moderate states expressing concern about Iran. Olmert will update participants on his conversations last week with Condoleezza Rice on regional organization.



10-07-06 - Meet the "Whack Iran" Lobby A new Iran directorate inside the Pentagon features some of the same people who brought you the Iraq intel-cherrypicking operation at the Office of Special Plans.


10-05-06 - The March to War: Naval build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean. If war is to be waged or not against Iran and Syria, there is still the undeniable build-up and development of measures that confirm a process of military deployment and preparation for war.



10-05-06 - October Surprise? - A scary but plausible scenario To maintain his macho image, however, the president will also announce that the U.S. will bomb Iran's nuclear facilities if that country refuses to stop enriching uranium within a week.....Employing force against Iran will please the pro-Israel lobby and the hawks in and out of the administration. Vice President Dick Cheney has been urging an attack on Iran and will be outspoken in his support



10-01-06 - Rice will try to get Arab allies to join efforts against Iran Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was headed to the Middle East on Sunday night to rally Arab allies against Iran and try to resurrect Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. And that's the real reason for this - to garner international support, to build a coalition for the coming confrontation with Iran. It's the same situation as the run-up to the Iraq war. The original article has disappeared from USA Today, though the original headline is still available in in the Google News index (won't be for long though).



10-01-06 - US may accept Iranian nuclear bomb John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, has told President George W Bush that there is no rush to use force as Iran's nuclear programme is beset with technical errors. "He has been saying, 'Slow down, it's not an immediate problem'," said Patrick Clawson, an Iran expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Unfortunately, Bush is listening to some other 'intelligence agency' (again).



10-01-06 - HOW AN ATTACK WOULD UNFOLD - A military assault on nuclear plants in Iran remains an option for U.S. "The evidence is overwhelming that plans have not only been dusted off, but they are at the White House," Gardiner said. "The president believes that he has got to do this."



09-26-06 - PM: Bush won't allow nuclear Iran Olmert's assessment is at odds with those inside the intelligence community who argue that the US president is too over-extended in Iraq and Afghanistan, and too politically weak at home, to take military action against Teheran.



09-26-06 - Coming Soon: Gulf War III



09-26-06 - Why Bush Will Nuke Iran



09-26-06 - Media Tall Tales The Sept. 25 edition of Time magazine illustrates how the U.S. news media are gearing up for a military attack on Iran.



09-26-06 - From Sept. 2005: Israel: Iran may be 6 months from bomb know-how Iran may be as little as six months away from completing the know-how to build a nuclear bomb, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Monday.



09-26-06 - Consult America before Iran war by Patrick J. Buchanan Early this year, Israel was warning that if Iran was not stopped by March 2006, it would be too late. Iran by then would have acquired the knowledge and experience needed to build nuclear weapons. The neoconservatives, too, have been demanding "Action this day!" and were stunned by Bush's statement at the United Nations that America does not oppose Iran's acquisition of peaceful nuclear power.



09-26-06 - Russian fuel to be sent to Iranian plant once the fuel is delivered to Bushehr, new International Atomic Energy Agency requirements will come into force, including greater surveillance of the reactor operations. That would make an attack of Bushehr - for example, by U.S. or Israeli forces - much less likely, he said, since IAEA inspectors would have more access to the facilities.



9-23-06 - As Crazy as It Sounds So far, the Bush administration has eerily followed the exact same pattern it used to justify the attack against Iraq. Bush keeps insisting, without a shred of evidence, that Iran, despite its denials, is seeking nuclear weapons. Remember how he kept insisting that Iraq had huge stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction?



09-23-06 - US-Iran Shootout Is Inevitable As the Bushies see it, they need to "do something" to "correct" the current balance of power which has been shifting in favor of Iran (thanks to US policies, that is).



09-22-06 - Israelis' main fear is a nuclear Iran: poll Israel's fears become our fears.



09-22-06 - Déjà Vu on Iran? Which brings us to the media and Congress. Each will have to be far more discriminating and diligent than it was the last time around. No automatic transmission belt. No rubber stamp. No forgetting. I would not bet on that.



09-22-06 - Senior intel official: Pentagon moves to second-stage planning for Iran strike option



09-22-06 - War Signals? First word of the early dispatch of the "Ike Strike" group to the Persian Gulf region came from several angry officers on the ships involved, who contacted antiwar critics like retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner and complained that they were being sent to attack Iran without any order from the Congress......Colonel Gardiner, who has taught military strategy at the National War College, says that the carrier deployment and a scheduled Persian Gulf arrival date of October 21 is "very important evidence" of war planning. The October surpise?



09-21-06 - Iran War, Diplomacy on Parallel Tracks "It's very important for the American people to see the president try to solve problems diplomatically before resorting to military force," Bush told the group in what neoconservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer characterized as an "unmistakable" signal that "an aerial attack on Iran's nuclear facilities lies just beyond the horizon of diplomacy."



09-21-06 - The Surprising End of the New American Century US Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, who taught strategy and military operations at the National War College and who just finished a paper entitled "Considering the US Military option for Iran," appeared on CNN this week and said: "The order has been given (to strike Iran) In fact, we've probably been executing operations for at least 18 months...I've talked to Iranians (and they tell me) we've captured some people who worked with them (American Special-Ops) We've confirmed they're there." Gardiner added that "US naval forces have been alerted for deployment. That's a major step. ..And the (battle) plan has been sent to the White House."



09-20-06 - Israel calls Iran its greatest threat



09-20-06 - Expert: Tactical nukes needed to blast Iranian defenses "American experts have said they are not sure that conventional weapons would be able to infiltrate these sites," he said. "Based on information from public sources, any attack should use tactical nuclear weapons."



09-20-06 - Kurdish soldiers trained by Israelis One constraint facing the Israelis, should they ever want to hit Iran, is distance. Most Israeli jets are short range and they have few in-flight tankers. Some studies have suggested that Israel could make refuelling stops at a modern airfield in Kurdistan



09-19-06 - US stepping up pressure on Iran outside of UN Washington also is "taking steps to expand the information flow into Iran, support democratic activists and boost people to people contacts," he said, adding "our strategy toward Iran does not begin or end with the Security Council."



09-19-06 - It?s Getting Closer ?. BLITZER: How close in your opinion is the Bush Administration to giving that go ahead. GARDINER: It?s been given. In fact, we?ve probably been executing military operations inside Iran for at least 18 months. The evidence is overwhelming



09-19-06 - Outrageous and Dishonest Last year our intelligence community produced ? at the request of Congress ? a National Intelligence Estimate, which, inter alia, addressed Iran's nuclear programs. Although that 2005 NIE was highly classified, Dafna Linzer reported, "A major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years, according to government sources with firsthand knowledge of the new analysis..."



09-17-06 - A shift in U.S. policy toward Israel? However, Zelikow did say something of some significance. He was in fact establishing a link between dealing with Iran and progressing with the Palestinians. He was also saying that it was in Israel's best interest: It is threatened by Iran in a fundamental way, and working toward a solution there is worth the price it might be asked to pay in other areas. It's exactly what happened just prior to attack on Iraq. It's happening again for the exact same reason (war on Iran): to enlist international support for the next war.



09-17-06 - Israel says 'a few months' to avoid nuclear Iran Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that the world may have as little as "a few months" to avoid a nuclear Iran and called for sanctions. "The crucial moment is not the day of the bomb. The crucial moment is the day in which Iran will master the enrichment, the knowledge of enrichment," she said on CNN's "Late Edition."



09-17-06 - Ultimately, the U.S. will attack "I tend to accept the assessment of Israeli intelligence rather than that of the CIA, that Iran will have nuclear weapons within one to three years." ....Tanter believes that Israel can help legitimize Mujahideen-e-Khalq: "I'm not asking the Mossad to join them and cooperate with them. They should not be involved, and Israel should stay out of the picture. Mujahideen-e-Khalq do not wish such a tie with Israel. But Israel has influence in the United States. It has supporters and a lobby and it can ask them to have MEK removed from the State Department's list of terror organizations.



09-17-06 - What War With Iran Would Look Like by TIME Iran has sponsored terrorist groups in a handful of countries, but its backing of Hizballah, the militant group that took Lebanon to war with Israel this summer....The Bush Administration has said it won't tolerate Iran having a nuclear weapon.Once it does, the regime will have the capacity to carry out Ahmadinejad's threats to eliminate Israel. And in practical terms, the U.S. would have to consider military action long before Iran had an actual bomb.....U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte told Time in April that Iran is five years away from having a nuclear weapon First off, Israel's plan to attack Hezbollah was a year in the making. Secondly, since when is it our job to protect Israel and fight its wars? Is Iran threatening US, the United States? Then why is this our problem? Also, Negroponte said ten years, in another article. This writer obviously has a bias toward Israel. Whatever the case may be, the American people already believe, thanks to the propagandizing efforts of the pro-Israeli lobby in the media, that Iran is a threat to us and that we will go to war with that nation in the future. The war scenario in the article plays out similar to this one - put forth two years ago. Our troops in Iraq will be sitting ducks for Iran's retaliation should we strike Iran. They could do this now. But they don't. Lastly, it doesn't matter how much we can accomplish diplomatically - the Israelis will never believe it if Iran does actually cease enriching uranium. They may go ahead and strike Iran on their own - thus dragging the US into it along with them.



09-16-06 - U.S. had better be ready to raze Iran's nuclear sites Charles Krauthammer is, not surprisingly, a neocon.



09-16-06 - 77% in U.S. Unable to Learn a Lesson 77% percent of the people of this country believe that Iran will have nukes soon.



09-16-06 - Going Far, Far Beyond the NPT Last year our intelligence community produced ? at the request of Congress ? a National Intelligence Estimate which, inter allia, addressed Iran?s nuclear programs. Although that 2005 NIE was highly classified, Dafna Linzer reported that "A major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years, according to government sources with firsthand knowledge of the new analysis."Our intelligence says ten years, folks. Whom are you going to believe (this time)?



09-16-06 - 77% Believe Iran is Likely to Have Nukes "Soon" Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Americans believe that Iran is likely to develop nuclear weapons in the near future. Most doubt that anything can be done to prevent such a development.



09-16-06 - In a replay of Iraq, a battle is brewing over intelligence on Iran Several former U.S. defense officials who maintain close ties to the Pentagon say they've been told that plans for airstrikes - if Bush deems them necessary - are being updated. ....But they said this time, intelligence analysts and others are more forcefully challenging claims they believe to be false or questionable.....Adding to the unease, Rumsfeld's office earlier this year set up a new Iranian directorate, reported to be under the leadership of neoconservatives who played a role in planning the Iraq war. Current and former officials said the Pentagon's Iranian directorate has been headed by Abram Shulsky. Shulsky also was the head of the now-defunct Office of Special Plans, whose role in allegedly manipulating Iraq intelligence is under investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general



09-16-06 - Pressures mount on Bush to bomb Iran President George W Bush is coming under enormous pressure from Israel - and from Israel's neoconservative friends inside and outside the US administration - to harden still further his stance toward Iran....



09-15-06 - Israeli MP Says Sanctions May Defeat Iran Ephraim Sneh said Iran imports 40% of its gasoline and that cutting off the flow "may help the Iranian people to overthrow the regime."



09-15-06 - Ellsberg Calls on Insiders to Leak Details of Alleged War Plans he is calling on officials within the government to leak "the Pentagon Paper of the Middle East" to modern reporters, to short-circuit another possible war.



09-15-06 - The Hoekstra-Harman Hoax ; How the War Party plans to lie us into war - again Cserveny points out, as did some in the blogosphere when the report first came out, that the "weapons grade" enrichment described by Hoekstra-Harman as occurring at Natanz is a complete fabrication.



09-14-06 - Sneh warns of more war Efraim Sneh, a Knesset member from the Labor Party and former deputy defense minister, told a select Israel Policy Forum crowd Thursday in New York that Israel is the West's first line of defense in an ideological war emanating from Tehran
The Israelis are flooding into America to lobby for the war on Iran, seems.



09-14-06 - Britain Rejects Sending Troops to Iran 67 per cent of respondents think Britain should refuse to send troops if the United States decides to take action against Iran.



09-14-06 - US seeks Iran sanctions now The United States said on Wednesday Iran was "aggressively" pursuing atom bombs and should face sanctions now



09-14-06 - Bush: US committed to Israel's security After talks with Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington last week, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu said the Bush administration is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.



09-14-06 - US Iran report branded dishonest A Western diplomat called it "deja vu of the pre-Iraq war period".



09-13-06 - Bibi: Iran president more dangerous than Hitler



09-11-06 - Iran seen clearly as a threat - but powers can't agree on solution The suggestion of military action to stop Iran from going nuclear - something Bush administration officials have hinted at since the beginning of this year - earns approval from Israel, which considers a nuclear Iran a mortal threat. .....Netanyahu said the difference was that prewar intelligence on Iraq was never more than an educated guess, while the intelligence on Iran is a sure thing.


09-07-06 - Nuclear Déjà Vu: Now It's Iran That Does or Doesn't Intend to Make Nuclear Weapons But the same report also noted that Tehran had made little progress in setting up new equipment at its main nuclear site, at Natanz, to enrich uranium. In the last few days diplomats from the European Union and Russia have cited that finding to bolster the case that there is no urgency and no crisis ? and that the Bush administration should back off.


09-07-06 - Netanyahu points to 'cracks' in Iran leadership Netanyahu, who met with US Vice President Dick Cheney and a group of senators, said that the Iranian nuclear program could be stopped if the United States led a determined campaign....He refused to give details about his meeting with Cheney, but said that the people he spoke with in Washington understood the danger. That's because Cheney's office brims with neoconservatives.



09-06-06 - The Next Phase of the Middle East War Confirmed by official statements and military documents, the US in close coordination with Britain (and in consultation with its NATO partners), is planning to launch a war directed against Iran and Syria. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton has already initiated the draft of a UN Security Council resolution with a view to imposing sanctions on Tehran for its alleged (nonexistent) nuclear weapons program.



09-06-06 - Neocons Discredit Intel in Haste to Attack Iran The neoconservatives can be expected to work assiduously in the coming weeks and months to discredit the current intelligence analysis and substitute their own alternative as they position themselves for the attack on Iran they have long wanted.



09-05-06 - Bush steps up war of words with Iran US President George W. Bush called Iran's leaders "tyrants" as dangerous as Al-Qaeda terrorists and said they must not be allowed to get nuclear weapons -- "the tools of mass murder."


09-05-06 - The War Is Lost National security expert John Prados says, "The pattern of manipulation and misuse of intelligence that served the Bush administration in the drive to start a war with Iraq is being repeated today for its neighbor Iran."


09-05-06 - Report: Israel 'preparing for possible war' with Syria, Iran Ahmadinejad presides over a country where more than 40 percent of the population lives under the poverty line; his authority is contested, and Iran's neighbors are increasingly worried and have begun acting to counter its influence. If we could contain the Soviet Union, we can contain Iran


09-05-06 - Israeli panel: Giuliani is 'best' presidential candidate for Israel The panel also concluded that the chances of any of the candidates ordering future military action in Iran were not very high. Giuliani scored highest on this question, followed by Gingrich and McCain.


09-05-06 - Bush: won't allow a nuclear-armed Iran President Bush said Tuesday a nuclear-armed Iran would blackmail the free world and raise a mortal threat to the American people.


09-04-06 - Patrick J. Buchanan: Bush has no authority to launch a war on Iran There are powerful forces in this country and Israel that wish the United States to launch a massive preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, and her military and naval assets as well. They will push the president hard to do this before he leaves office. These forces include the Israelis, their strong lobby in the United States, the neoconservatives, some conservative and centrist newspapers, and GOP prospective presidential candidates


09-04-06 - Military option against Iran open, says US


09-03-06 - Israel plans for war with Iran and Syria (Note that neocon Perle is quoted in this article). There has been grave concern in Israel over a military pact signed in Tehran on June 15 between Iran and Syria, which the Iranian defence minister described as a "mutual front against Israeli threats". You know as well as I that America will be fighting this one too. Somehow, someway, America will be attacking Iran (and consequently Syria) very soon. This is not a new strategy for Israel, contrary to what they said in the article. Israelis demanded America next take care of Iran and Syria the minute we invaded Iraq. See also this article, and this one, and also this one.


09-02-06 - Former security chief urges Iran action ISRAEL should consider a military option to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the former head of the Mossad intelligence service said overnight.


09-02-06 - No Concrete Proof Iran Nuclear Program Is MilitaryUN nuclear inspectors have found no "concrete proof" that Iran's nuclear program is of a military nature


08-31-06 - Pentagon sees Iran with bomb in 5 years: report The U.S. military is operating on the assumption that Tehran is five to eight years away from being able to build a nuclear bomb, The Washington Times reported in its Thursday edition. Iran hasn't even been sanctioned yet, and already the propaganda has been ramped up. Earlier reports put this estimate at ten years. (This is also the estimate that Negroponte gave not so long ago, paragraph 9) And lest we forget, the Pentagon is neocon country.


08-28-06 - Iran called 'central banker of terror' "Iran is like the elephant in the room, if you will. ... They are the central banker of terror. It is a country that has terrorism as a line item in its budget," Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. Here we go again...


08-28-06 - Israel urges Iran sanctions Israel's foreign minister urged the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran.


08-28-06 - Americans Foresee War Against Iran Do you think the nation of Iran is a threat to the security of the United States? Yes 73%


08-28-06 - Olmert: We could have only dreamed of such a scenario Prime minister says that if someone would have told him a month and a half ago about the current situation, he would said he was dreaming of unrealistic goals. Says cautiously, 'could be deterioration' If you read the article, note the list of 'accomplishments' by this latest invasion of Lebanon.


08-28-06 - Not So Clean Break the U.S. had given Israel a green light to attack Hezbollah and push its troops into southern Lebanon. There was an agreement between Israel and Uncle Sam that Iranian nuclear plants would eventually have to be bombed. Once this was done, Iran would most likely order Hezbollah to attack Israel. Thus the U.S. and Israel agreed in secret that at some point before the attack on Iran, Hezbollah would have to be disarmed and that as soon as a pretext became available, Israel should use force.


08-26-06 - Republican Report Hypes Iran 'Threat' The timing appeared designed to take maximum advantage of the media attention generated by Iran's response, which rejected the demand for immediate suspension but called for additional negotiations. Normally, a report of this kind is reviewed by the entire Intelligence Committee before it is published.....The fact that Frederick Fleitz, a former CIA officer, was the report's main author, however, suggests that his effort to undermine confidence in the intelligence community's estimates regarding Iran is part of a larger campaign that includes many of the same hawks who led the drive to war in Iraq.


08-26-06 - Disarming Hezbollah put on hold ISRAEL has dropped its demand for the immediate disarming of Hezbollah and begun to focus on persuading UN forces to stop the flow of weapons into Lebanon...."It is not that we have given up on disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon, but we see it as a process and the most important thing is ? to prevent their strategic rearmament,"

So that when the US attacks Iran, they won't have fear that Hezbollah will in turn fire volleys of rockets at Israel, perhaps?....




08-26-06 - The Cheney presidency Cheney has planted aides in major Cabinet departments, often over the objection of a Cabinet secretary, to make sure his policies are carried out. He sits in on the Senate Republican caucus, to stamp out any rebellions. Cheney loyalists from the Office of the Vice President dominate interagency planning meetings.




08-26-06 - Why Bush will Choose War Against Iran Ray Close, member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. He worked for the CIA for 27 years




08-26-06 - Hoekstra's Hoax: Hyping Up the Iran 'Threat' The Hoekstra-issued draft bears the fingerprints of one Frederick Fleitz ? the principal drafter, according to press reports. Fleitz did his apprenticeship on politicization under John Bolton when the latter was Under Secretary of State, and became his principal aide and chief enforcer while on loan from the CIA.



08-25-06 - Study calls Iran 'biggest beneficiary' of US war on terror

But even more worrisome, the report seems intended to signal the intelligence community that the Republican leadership wants scarier assessments that would justify a more confrontational approach to Tehran. It was not the work of any intelligence agency, or the full intelligence panel, or even the subcommittee that ostensibly drafted it. The Washington Post reported that it was written primarily by a former C.I.A. official known for his view that the assessments on Iran are not sufficiently dire......The leak destroyed a U.S. intelligence program to collect information about Iran's efforts to get nuclear weapons material.

The leak to which that author was referring was the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. See how it all fits together now? The only intelligence on Iran that Cheney and the neocons want is that of the same brew cooked up by their own to justify their pre-emptive attacks on Middle Eastern countries that do not threaten us. They do however threaten Israel. Whose war is this?



08-25-06 - Israel feels US will not attack Iran There is growing consensus within the defense establishment that the United States will not attack Iran, and that Israel might be forced to act independently to stop the Islamic republic from obtaining nuclear weapons, a high-ranking defense official told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. ...The defense official blasted the US for "not doing enough" to stop Teheran's race to the bomb. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, he said, was leading the State Department in the direction of "appeasement."




08-25-06 - Threat of military action hangs over escalating tensions with Iran The steps to war could follow the same path that led to the invasion of Iraq: The U.N. passes a resolution demanding an end to Iranian nuclear-weapons development, then fails to enforce it. Bush prods the U.N. to support words with action. The U.N. dithers. Bush unleashes the U.S. military. ...."If George Bush is serious about denying Iran nuclear weapons and Iran doesn't respond to our diplomacy, then we're headed to a conflict," said Michael Rubin, an Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a research center with strong ties to the "neo-conservatives" who shaped Iraq policy in the Bush administration.



08-25-06 - The Neocons Ride Again - Priming us for war with Iran



08-24-06 - Washington takes aim at Iran as destabilizing force in Mideast

One Washington analyst said Barbero's comments were part of a move by the US administration to prepare the US public for war on Iran.

Iran is next in the Clean Break strategy imposed by the neocons onto the United States. See the related articles from (Neocon Watch) news about troop call-ups.



08-24-06 - Israel feels US will not attack Iran



08-23-06 - Israel buys upgraded subs to counter Iran threat The report of the sub purchase came a day after a cabinet minister and former Mossad spy warned Israel should prepare for a ballistic missile attack by Iran, its arch enemy and one of chief supporters of Hezbollah, against whom Israel waged the month-long war in Lebanon.





08-18-06 - Intelligence officials doubt Iran uranium claims, say Cheney receiving suspect briefings One former senior intelligence official is particularly concerned by private briefings that Vice President Dick Cheney is getting from former Office of Special Plans (OSP) Director, Abram Shulsky...Shulsky, a leading Neoconservative and member of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), headed the shadowy and secretive Department of Defense's OSP in the lead-up to the Iraq war -- helping to locate intelligence that would support the Bush administration's case for war with Iraq.




08-17-06 - Group Says Iran Is 'Not a Crisis'

Gard said the signatories - who included retired Marine Corps Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, head of U.S. Central Command from 1991 to 1994, and Morton H. Halperin, a senior State Department and National Security Council official during the Clinton administration - did not believe that Iran had the wherewithal to build a nuclear weapon in the immediate future and would push the administration to open negotiations with Tehran on the issue.



08-17-06 - US to move quickly on Iran sanctions





08-15-06 - Olmert's War, and the Next One by Patrick J. Buchanan
With our War Party discredited by the failed policies it cheered on in Lebanon and Iraq, there will come a clamor that Bush must "go to the source" of all our difficulty ? Iran. Only thus can the War Party redeem itself for having pushed us and Israel into two unnecessary and ruinous wars. And the drumbeat for war on Iran has already begun....Bush is on notice from the neocons and War Party that have all but destroyed his presidency: Either you take down Iran, Mr. Bush, or you are a failed president.


Some older posts

05-10-06 - Israeli PM to demand America move against Iran

04-21-06 - America must take action against Iran: Israeli official

03-10-06 - Bush: Iran's threats to Israel a 'grave national security concern'