Things Have Gotten So Crazy Now a Prankster Could Start World War III!
Submitted by dlindorff on Mon, 2008-01-14 23:05. Iran | Media
By Dave Lindorff
President Bush, a lame-duck loose cannon, is traipsing around the Middle East calling Iran a state sponsor of terror and condemning what he calls Iran’s “provocative” acts in the Strait of Hormuz at the choke point between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.
Everyone knows the president and his viceroy, Vice President Dick Cheney, are just itching to launch American bombers and cruise missiles against Iran before the end of this second nightmarish term of office, and now we hear that the so-called “provocative” incident, which we were told was replete with threats to blow up a destroyer in “15 seconds” was actually the work of a “prankster” who was making threats on the air using English with a faked (badly) Iranian accent.
So has this brush with disaster, which would have surely ensued had the US Navy fired on Iranian speedboats in their vicinity, led the president to pull back from his bellicosity?
No. On the contrary, he’s upping the ante, calling Iran a terrorist state, thus implicitly giving himself permission to “take them out.”
` Luckily for us and for the longsuffering people of Iran, the US Navy is run by officers who are not crazy, who don’t want another war, and who especially don’t want a war that includes having a fleet of American ships stuck like sitting ducks in the confined space of the Persian Gulf in the sights of hundreds of Iranian shore-to-ship missiles. (They were all sunk in minutes with a loss of a whole aircraft carrier battle group and 20,000 crewmembers in a Pentagon war game played in 2002 and then hushed up.)
As long as the admirals in Washington, and the captains on those ships in harm’s way, keep their cool, and don’t let themselves be provoked by the hotheads in the White House and in Tehran who see political benefits in provoking hostilities, Bush’s wet dream of a third war in the Middle East against Iran won’t come true.
The same can’t be said for the US media, which for the most part have been trumpeting all the president’s scariest and most threatening lines, while burying the news that the provocation in the Gulf was faked.
A real news organization worthy of the name would be trying to find out who’s behind the fakery. It shouldn’t be hard—a military that can use satellite technology to send a cruise missile or a Predator drone-fired missile crashing down onto the holder of a cell phone, should have no trouble locating the source of a fake ship-to-ship communication. (Unless of course it turns out that the message was the work not of a prankster, but of someone working for the Bush gang.)
Let’s be clear here. The naval armada that Bush has assembled in the Gulf has no function other than to threaten Iran. The US military has adequate air bases on land in and around Iraq to handle all the needs of US troops in that country, and the ships in the gulf are of no use whatsoever in the conflict in landlocked Afghanistan, because they can’t send planes there without overflying Iran.
Their role is simply to provoke. To provoke what? Why a war, of course.
Congress needs to pull the plug on this madness before one of the many scams and schemes of the Bush/Cheney gang succeeds in the president’s goal of getting a hot war going between the US and Iran.
A really amateurish effort—prank or black-op—to make a routine cat-and-mouse game by Iranian speedboats and a US battle group into a live-fire incident with dead bodies in the water—could have succeeded.
There must be no next time. It’s time to move forward, with dispatch, on Dennis Kucinich’s bill of impeachment against Cheney, which features the administration’s aggressive efforts to foment a war against Iran in violation of the UN Charter.
Happy '2008' and hope everyone is well. Just coming back after a long stretch and I'll be catching up on reading on my favorite and 'missed' blogs.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone!
Peace
It was dark. It was ugly. It was dirty. It was down right stupid. So, after 6 minutes, I saw exactly what I knew I would see, and hear.
Keep reading, reading. Signing, signing. And while you're at it, it would be a really good idea to take the blindfold off. They've been on WAY too long!
The Chinese Army walks straight, with a purpose...never...sideways, sideways, sideways.
The highlight of this whole mess was the elite "24%" agreeing that 2008 is going to be the end of time. In days such as these, it's difficult to distinguish fantasy from reality, unless of course your not a monkey.
The top "5" headlines from Buzzflash this morning:
1) The Bush Administration routinely has underreported the level of violence in Iraq in order to disguise it's policy failings, the Iraq Study Group report said Wednesday.
2) Elizabeth de la Vega's Criminal Indictment of George W. Bush Et Al, -- A Buzzflash Interview
3) Update
4) Update
5)Bush's war policies have failed in almost every regard, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded Wednesday, and it warned of dwindling chances to change course before crisis turns to chaos with dire implications for terrorism, war in the Middle East and higher oil prices around the world.
The interview with Elizabeth de la Vega is a must read.
Click on headlines to read the articles from my site (under "buzz it")...Buzzflash!
VFW BETRAYS IRAQ HERO
VFW SHOULD BE ASHAMED
Our troops deserve the truth, that they are being used by the rich Republican Leadership, so the rich can get richer.
If this was a REAL war against terrorism we would have used the full might of the United States to bring Bin Laden to justice for the 911 attacks, and believe me we could have Bin Laden within a week, IF we really wanted him.
If we were to get Bin Laden, and the war were to end, the war PROFITS would also end.
Those that start wars should not be allowed to have huge investments in corporations that profit off wars.
And America's Tax Payers should not be paying to re-build Iraq when Iraq is one of the richest countries in the world.
Iraq's Oil should be used to rebuild Iraq. Not tax dollars from American Workers scraping to get by while Iraq gets new schools, and a free ride.
We need to REMEMBER these Republicans when we vote.
I remember when Michael (in the Deer Hunter) came home and how shattered his dreams were for his future. I also remember greeting the plane that held my husband's body. They brought him home to me and all of my dreams for a future were shattered. I have friends who have never recovered from Vietnam, a war, that shouldn't have been.
Their lives as soldiers do not end when they return home; rather a continuation of the horrors they lived through, the suffering, and every dream became a shattered one. Over 200,000 souls were left homeless, without proper medical care and most suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They were treated as outcasts, after giving selflessly 5 and some, 7 years of their life never sure what they were fighting for, and losing hope.
The numbers from this war were staggering and although our government down-played these numbers...WE all knew the truth and are still living in it. In the horror of this truth.
After watching "Coming Home", a special Anderson Cooper is running, regarding our troops returning from Iraq, we're already seeing the 'homeless.' We're already seeing the red tape and all of the struggles and lack of sheer acknowledgement for their time spent over there. TIME SERVED.
One gentleman, who's body was crushed after an explosion, and after multiple surgeries, has been sleeping in his car (a familiar story) as he was only receiving $218.00 a month from the government for Disability.
Dragging his battered body to the Veteran's Administration and pleading for full disability, as $218.00 wasn't buying his food, let alone a safe and comfortable place to live. After 5 months, he was receiving $600.00 plus change. This still could not afford him a place to live. After more red tape and with help from volunteers, he is now on full Disability, $2600.00 a month. He is proud. He wants no hand-outs. He looks for work and after finding a job, and only working a short period, he ends up back in the VA Hospital, his back is so shattered. His discs are constantly being refused, so as to be able to just walk. He can lift nothing heavier than ten pounds.
This particular story will be just one of thousands, hundreds of thousands, we will be reading about in the months and years to come.
I am deeply saddened by this, although not surprised.
God Bless Our Troops......God Bless America.....Support Our Troops
