Where is the EVIDENCE that Iran threatens the US.....

February 2, 2007 at 08:18:22
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ron_full_070202_where_is_the_evidenc.htm
Where is the EVIDENCE that Iran threatens the U.S. in Iraq or anywhere else?

by Ron Fullwood

I don't think it's at all out of line to criticize Iran, or even declare military force against them an option, IF that military force is directed against some PROVEN provocation or some assault on our nation, including against our forces. It's a separate issue (not an unimportant one) that Bush has placed our soldiers in harm's way in Iraq and elsewhere. They shouldn't be anyone's targets for unwarranted assault. The U.S. can never tolerate any LEGITIMATE outside threat to our nation or our citizens, and that includes from Iran.

That said, there has been absolutely NO EVIDENCE of any threat to our nation or our citizens from the GOVERNMENT of Iran as Bush and other U.S. politicians claim. Reports yesterday indicated that the Bush administration has "postponed" plans to publish a "dossier" of Iranian interference in Iraq because they were "divided over the strength of the US evidence."

Indeed the same day there were reports that the incidents of Iranian assistance in the Iraq violence they intended to highlight were actually committed by Iraqi generals instead. Two senior Iraq generals have been implicated in an attack against American forces in Karbala on Jan. 20th that killed 5 American soldiers. The kidnapping and killing of the 5 soldiers had previously been blamed on Iranian elements.

The question of Iranian interference in Iraq is even more muddled when considering the conclusions of the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) which suggest Iran's meddling is far less than Bush is claiming (surprised?).

from the report: (http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20070202_release.pdf)

"Iraq's neighbors influence, and are influenced by, events within Iraq, but the involvement of these outside actors is not likely to be a major driver of violence or the prospects for stability because of the self-sustaining character of Iraq's internal sectarian dynamics. Nonetheless, Iranian lethal support for select groups of Iraqi Shia militants clearly intensifies the conflict in Iraq."

The U.S. intelligence report plays down the Iranian influence in Iraq, then asserts anyway that "lethal support for select groups of Iraqi Shia militants" has 'intensified' the violence in Iraq. Who's escalation is this anyway?

All of this is not to say that there aren't individuals and, possibly, organizations in Iran which would oppose our military 'interests', but, the Iranian GOVERNMENT has only declared they'd repel those military 'interests' within their OWN borders. If Bush doesn't threaten their sovereign nation, they don't threaten ours.

It's Bush's 'interest' in suppressing Iran's oil influence which is the ONLY reason that Bush is using the weight of our nation's defenses to pressure the Iranian government and destabilize yet another oil power in the region. After bombing Iran everywhere the Bush regime claims the 'underground nuclear bunkers' they imagine are located with our own nuclear bunker-busters, self-described 'democracy czar' Elizabeth Cheney is ready to fly in a compliant sampling of Iranian exiles to assume power after they chase Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into his own hidey-hole.

The Bush regime wants this next preemptive assault to be legal-like. A military assault on Iran at this point can't be called 'legal'. There is no law or venue that the Bush regime has at their disposal that they can use to find Iran guilty of, or as an accomplice to, anything illegal. Their entire aggressive posture toward Iran is based on the 'decider's' fanciful imagination. There is no international law which would allow PREEMPTIVE military action against Iran for any of Bush's charges, outside of IMMEDIATE self-defense as with our soldiers in neighboring Iraq.

The U.N., which finally agreed to weak sanctions against Iran which are un-enforceable by military means, hasn't found ANY EVIDENCE at all of any ambition by Iran to transform it's uranium production from their stated peaceful purpose of energy production to making weapons as Bush, Cheney and their WH minions regularly claim in their speeches and interviews.

The box that Bush is constructing around Iran with our battleships and his heightened rhetoric is designed to provoke Iran, perhaps, into retaliating with some direct assault on our Iraq forces so Bush can have his manufactured pretext for his planned bombing raids. It's also likely that he wants to use the full sheaf of false authority he's used so far to keep our soldiers in place; spreading chaos and unrest, suppressing Iraq's ability to become an oil power again; reaching out to stifle Iran's oil influence; all at the behest of, and the furtherance of Bush and Cheney's relationships with their Saudi Arabian benefactors who want Iran's oil off the market.

The U.S. position on the oil was made transparently clear by then National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, who testified in a Feb.2 hearing last year that, "a combination of rising demand for energy and instability in oil-producing regions is increasing the geopolitical leverage of key producing states."

"Record oil revenues and diversification of its trading partners are further strengthening the Tehran government." Negroponte warned the senate committee. Negroponte and others in the Bush regime are worried that Iran will just 'diversify' or change who they sell their oil to; like to Russia or China, who both have major oil deals pending with Iran.

Also, it should be clear to everyone by now that Bush' militarism has alienated the very sources of oil that we rely on for a steady supply at a reasonable price. Just as a change in driving habits here in the U.S. could pressure the price, a decrease in Bush's saber-rattling would unquestionably bring oil prices back down to Earth, and not just for U.S. market. A decrease in militarism by this American regime would cause a revival of the international cooperation which marked past periods of relatively low oil costs.

"If you can stop the politicians from making negative statements, I am sure you will see almost 15 dollars disappear from the price." Qatar's oil minister told reporters at the peak of last year's oil price rise.

On the other hand, a continuation of the present intimidation campaign against Iran threatens to lead to an actual military attack which would ensure prohibitive oil prices would remain in place for years, marked by increases of over $100 a barrel. No amount of manipulation could wipe away that self-inflicted wound on our nation, come to pass as a result of the actions of this lame-duck loser.

Bush is intent on wrapping all of his inventions toward Iran into another imagined defense of our 'national security' in his self-appointed role as the protector of the world, but he's fashioned himself, and our nation, into the aggressor in this face-off of interests with Iran. The question which is absent from all of those who are advocating for an escalation of our military posture toward Iran is also the most important contradiction in Bush's military posture toward Iraq: What happened to the due process and adherence to law which are inherent in the democracy Bush claims to be defending in his aggression toward these sovereign nations?

Where is the EVIDENCE that Iran poses a threat to our national security to the degree that military action is legal and appropriate under our own laws and Constitution? Where is the EVIDENCE?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ron_full_070202_where_is_the_evidenc.htm

Ron Fullwood, is an activist from Columbia, Md. and the author of the book 'Power of Mischief' : Military Industry Executives are Making Bush Policy and the Country is Paying the Price

:)

1) they have oil;
2) they have growing influence in their region;
3) they won't do what the U.S. says; and
4) their leader is nearly as much a nutcase as is ours.

An Iran invasion, strategically timed, will be perfect for diverting public attention away from Cheney crimes being uncovered (if the Corporate Media was thinking about giving them any coverage in the first place) :grr:

cause.. IT'S A SECRET! They were trying to buy yellowcake from Niger! :puke:

but they are doing a google search for a 'dossier' as we speak

the public discourse. Bushco's anti-Iran propaganda is nothing but LIES to cover their real agenda.

sw

:)

that has been lately ramped up into high gear.

We have GOT to stop Bushco BEFORE they drop a nuke on Iran. Because that is what they are absolutely determined to do.

In the name of humanity, this CANNOT be allowed to happen. We have to stop these people NOW!

sw

Only the potential for something which may or may not happen that causes our great leaders to feel the need to launch a pre-emptive attack. They may, or may not, get a nuclear weapon. They may get the bird flu and attempt to launch an all out attack of immigrants on our shores. They must be stopped before they do anything, or even think about doing anything. That is the new world way. Get with the program!

And he is like on CNN and stuff...

I know someone who watches Glenn Beck and thinks we need to bomb Eye-raaan.
Oh and the whole war with Eye-raaack was actually a clever scheme to start a war with Eye-raaan because the whole strategy was to actually smoke Eye-raaan into revealing its hand in Eye-raack or some such thing.

Glenn Beck the scholar :eyes:...

:D

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Roland99/19


I wish one could edit a journal entry. I have several others I'd like to add to it. Guess I could just create a new entry.

Iran has till the 23rd (i think) of Feb to comply with UN rules. Bush has got carriers on the way. WH lawyers are looking for a loophole in IWR. (hot pursuit) "Somebody" is shooting down helicopters in Iraq. (probably us) Iran's going to get blamed. (hot pursuit) I'd say it looks like this war is ON! I'm expecting to look up at the TV some time in late Feb or early March and see bombs dropping on Iran. The dems and the media are ignoring this. The time to stop this is BEFORE it starts.

"evidence free zone"
Perfect description for the US today.

Has he ever been wrong about anything???

nt

that the US loaded with approaching WMD's WILL attack Iran no matter what. The precedent of Iraq is a clear signal. Of course we can't offer much of a threat of actual invasion, whereby if they simply surrendered and let us march in we would forego the spectacular bombing that is the main action threatened this time.

So Iran is in an absolute box as far as reality is concerned. The only unreality is the disingenuous foolishness that is the American WH, media, Capitol, possibly people in their attitude that our intentions are not inevitable and that Iran offers some threat or other to US. In effect we know that Iran and all others there MUST conclude that the US is an imminent and irrepressible threat of a magnitude that makes our last claims against Saddam merely a trite joke. Putting the shoe on the Iranian "madman's" seeking to eliminate Israel's nuclear trump card sometime in the future is a GD lie we live in like rubes or scoundrels. Being the A-1 bully on the block means never having to face reality.

Our actions must be interpreted not as gunboat diplomacy but as minimally sneaky direct act of war. With the concomitant lack of diplomacy it could not be clearer if Bush started indiscriminately slaughtering Iranians and putting them in Gitmo all over the world. THEY know that and lie. America feigns buffoonish ignorance that Bush/Cheney is the imminent threat- and lie weakly, meekly, idiotically, to themselves or simply get interested in other Bush horrors, Convenient, useless, and a marked sign of stupidity equal only to our national guilt imposed by giving in to our worst controlling institutions. The world knows it and has some equal guilt in feigning absolute helplessness as they pursue peripheral intrigue waiting to game disaster.

The imminent threat to everyone's interest and security is Bush/Cheney. They know it. America should know it and the world does know it. How is anyone going to justify their absence of action THIS time? Can't, and Bush/Cheney cynically know that too. They expect shock to settle in stone the pathetic moral paralysis of this worst of all generations. Bush HAS declared war on America and the world. It has begun.

Impeach and remove the crooks. Like, yesterday.

We don't need EVIDENCE.

All we need is a PR campaign.

Either get on board or get out.













oh, uh, :sacasm:

:sarcasm: Either you're with our pretzeldent -- or your against freedom and Democracy. Why do you hate America and all * stands for? :shrug:
Again... said with as much :sarcasm: as I can muster.
Very good OP Joanne98!