If we don't wake up and get rid of these war hell bent pushers, we may end up just like the rest of the major powers of the world, gone.

I encourage all you hawks like Jim B. to reassess your the assumptions here.  You claim the US has tried diplomacy over the last 3 years and now we need the stick...I get that right Jim B.?  Well unfortunately if you too the time to look into our proposal for diplomacy, you'd understand that our diplomacy comes with several stipulations before we even sit down.  The most significant of these is that Iran give up its nuclear energy program entirely.  Second, I would point out that Iran is a signed member of the NPT, the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which gives them the right to develop nuclear energy.  If you've been listening to the escalating rhetoric on the part of the Bush administration, they now purport that Iran cannot even develop the knowledge for enriching uranium, which is clearly allowed under the NPT.  The more I learn about this issue, the more I realize that its about who can sell enriched uranium and the associated materials for developing nuclear power versus those who can only buy it.  Read up on the nuclear deal between the US and India and you'll begin to get a sense of what I'm talking about.  Shame on the US for trampling on another treaty and cornering countries into pursuing nukes as a deterrent against US aggression .

Those who blame Rice for no diplomacy success in her resume are too naive to Bush REGIME. This regime is all about war, war, war, and more wars!
Please keep in mind that it will take dozens of years for US troops to recover its strength, which means billions of taxpayers money for Lockheed Martin and Halliburton even after this REGIME. What a brilliant REGIME. Oh, by the way, I haven't mentioned how each single instability can drive up profits for oil companies in a decade that every single storm in Mexican Bay could be used to increase the oil price.

some of you people are not very well informed. Iran has been responsible for more American deaths through terrorist attacks for the last 30 years than any other country in the world.The Iranian president believes he has a personal role in the coming of the 12th iman which would be the beginning of the armageddon. he also calls the U.S.A. the great satan and believes we will be destroyed.The reason this situation is different than previous nuclear stand offs is his idealogy, we dont want to die. To him it would be glory & 70 virgins.

To: Carl Liu, Redmond, WA

Most of us are saying essentially the same thing in different ways, the most urgent REGIME change needed is an end to the Bush REGIME!

January 20, 2009 cannot come soon enough . . .

It will take time (1) to resolve the problems the Bush REGIME greated and (2) to address the problems it ignored.  

ok colt pheonix, enlighten us please, if by your post you think that Iran is a major problem and has been for 30 years, the please explain why the f are we bombing and killing people in Iraq?  This administration is nothing but lies and propaganda for war.  They like war because it makes many for them -- See Haliburton-  I am suspicious of this administration's sabre rattling at this point in time because of upcoming elections -- see past elections under this administration and you can draw a line of suspicious things they claim.  I don't doubt Iran is troubleing but I am really concerned with the dunce in chief's remarks about Iran and WWIII.  Why on earth would someone say something like that unless they have a wish to start it?  The you add in the shoot you in the face tricky (darth vader) dick and you see this administration is hell bent on war.  Heck even the dunce in chief has stated that this fiasco he started in Iraq will be finished by another peron not him.  Suspicious timeing and suspicious claims has landed us in a fiasco in Iraq, if we are not careful the samething is about to be replayed, but with greater consequences.  So please since you think some of us may not be smart, please enlighten me (us).

Colt, what makes you think the Iranian people aren't as sick and disgusted by their war-monger idiot president as we are?

"George W. Bush has the diplomatic skills of a doorknob.  "

I see no reason to dispare innocent doorknobs to that level of incompetence.

"If that idiot-in-chief is so damned determined to start war with Iran, let him ride the first bomb down. "

All the more reason to impeach these idiots NOW!

Does anybody recall Martin Sheen in the movie The Dead Zone?  

Is that who's in office right now?

Seriously, she is one of the better looking Klingons. If she didn't furrow her brow everytime she lies you'd hardly know she is from outer space.

UMMM Colt Phoenix you say that " Iran has been responsible for more American deaths through terrorist attacks in the last 30 years than any other country in the world" So the 15 hijackers from Saudi Arabia don't count? And I think we all know how Bin Laden (A Saudi) feels about us

I am wondering how easily we ignore those who are behind all these events and benefit since the Bush administration started. They required Sep 11 adjusting the budget for war increasing it from 133 billion to 600 billion just in 3 weeks! Now it’s more than 6 years it’s going up! The oil prices have the same story. The military machine got its existence form our wealth and those companies are still hiding the truth. Who is our real enemy?

I believe Lybia was a succes,or has everyone forgotten that they got scared s&%$less and gave up all thier WMD's. Way to go Condi! Now please, Ms. Albright (uncle Fester) or maybe the shrimp Mr. Christoper, they were by far the two worst Sec. of State we EVER had.
Now as for diplomacy with Wakadimajihda, yes following 9/11 iran offered support regarding the Taliban, but the lunitic in Iran was mayor of Teheran at the time not the president. Larinjiani was the president and considered  a moderate, he was quickly ousted by the supreme clerics for a more anti US leader.
Colt in Pheonix good post, but its 72 virgins. By the way can anyone tell me about the human rights record of Iran? If what was going on in that country occured here in the US all you libs would be freaking out calling for change , oh wait a minute no you wouldn't you would be thrown in jail or worse you'd be shot. But enough on that subject for now, I would like someone to explain to me how do you talk to the leaders of Iran when all they want to do is kill Americans? Can anyone hear tell me they think the holocaust of WW2 was imaginary, that it didn't happen? We all know what Wakidimajhad thinks.        

Someone said they trusted putin more than GWB......?Did you read Puty's lastest here on MSNBC, a missle DEFENSE SHIELD is compareable to the Cuban missle crisis what are you somoking ?  

well terry, the current president of iran is far more hard line and inflammitory than his predessor.heres another fact,irans nuclear program has been clandestine for 20yrs. only because it was discoved is it aknowledged.why would you hide a peacful nuclear program for two decades if it is for peacful purposes. they also handed over documents to the IAEA which included a nuclear weapon design by accident & when questioned could not explain why they had it. I would also like anyone to explain why any country would work on building a icbm for several years with a baby bottle reentry vehicle which is ideal for nuclear weapons. the miisle is the shahab 4. no country on earth builds these missles for use with conventional weapons. You dont have to be a brain surgeon to correlate their ballistic misssle program with a nuclear weapons program. Iran is very different than past proliferation problems because mutually assured destruction (our current deterent) wont work with someone that thinks they will have a personal role in the end of times and has no fear of death. the time to act has passed when iran has aquired a nuclear weapon.as far as iraq goes everybody wants to blame bush, we have thousands of people that work in the intelligence community and at that time we had bad intel. the president needs to make decisions based in the intel he is given. we should also note that most other european countries had the same intel. on a unrelated note I read some of your blogs and am astounded how many of you have your head in the sand, if you spent half the time looking at the facts and doing some real research as you do bashing bush you may have a different opinion.

Ron Florida, we asked to put a missle defense system in that region and we were told no.  The we decided that what the heck were going to do it anyway or noew the SecDef says maybe we can wait.  -  Let me think here for a second- done, when someone says no and you decide to do it anyway, then all you are doing is escalting the problem.  The problem with the dunce in chief and his administration is just that they like to antagonize people enough to get things started that has been his way of life being a spolied rich brat. If you want to join the fight, JOIN!!!!!

well todd, the 15 highjackers were not funded or sanctioned by the saudi govt. I said country.

Terry the missle shield is going into Poland and the Czech Republic both free and independant countries that want the shield in thier nations. You are correct when someone says no you abide by them, however when did Putin become President of Poland and The Czech republic? Why does Putin get any say in the matter? By the way I did fight. 82ND Airborne first Gulf War.

colt pheonix, my head has never been in the sand, I have been through the valley of hell.  You want war JOIN

Ron [[Now as for diplomacy with Wakadimajihda, yes following 9/11 iran offered support regarding the Taliban, but the lunitic in Iran was mayor of Teheran at the time not the president.]]

Yes, and he became president of Iran thanks in large part to Bush's belligerence. The moderates in the Iranian government fell out of favor because their overtures to the US after 9/11 and their aid against the Taliban were met with a slap in the face from Bush. Ahmadinejad didn't become president until 2005, well after Bush made his idiotic "Axis of Evil" speech, and 2 years after the invasion of neighboring Iraq, when it already looked like Iran was next in line for a US invasion.

Why not a nuclear free Middle East; but that would mean Israel having to give up its nuclear arsonel and of course, the hypocritical US will not want that either, which begs the question...who is the real trouble maker in the regeon? Is it Iran?

Diane: If you do,then why are you not in prison or dead yet? The hysterical rantings on this board,perpetuated purely by the hatred of the president,offer no lucid examination. Take the use of the UK Telegraph excerpts for instance. This was the same newspaper that also cited leftwinger Sy Hershs intel in a piece he did in the NEW YORKER that we would be at war in Iran[''bunker busters''tac-weapons'',airstrikes'' etc. by September of 2006].
             There will be no war in Iran. The oft-used charge of ''AIPAC''goading Bush foreign policy is false and is borne of leftwinged provacateurs picking up pages from the Sean Penn/Tim Robbins playbook. anti-Semitism on the half-shell being infinately easier than dealing with true monsters.
             However,and there is more weight to this than there is in phony posturing over ''another war'',is that Iran will gain the neccesary means to develop its nuclear bomb at about the time of the first year of the new administration. Foolishly believing that the way to ''peace''lay with more rogue nations arming themselves with nuke ICBMs,leftwingers cling to the forlorn hope that Iran will act no differant than any other nuclear-armed nation. This is a fallacy which Iran has proven to be a dead-end by its very meddling in the destinies of all of the nations that neighbor it. What becomes even more hideous is the fact that Iran is actively engaged in killing our soldiers in Iraq,Afghanistan,those of the nations of Lebanon and Israel,and seeks regional hegemony of the Middle East. The Joe Kleins and Paul Krugmans of the world want us to go hat-in-hand before the Mullahs,projecting weakness which these detest. The media eggs on the ''coming war'',succeeding,as is their objective,the mental derangement of the bleating sheep.[as opposed to the ''dire threat''they will print instead once Iran gets its nukes,and  once their handpicked Democrat becomes president].

               All of this said,the choice to include Irans Guard army into a designation as a terrorist front is a sound one,based in what soldiers on the ground are finding in Iraq. Their determination is based upon finding these personnel operating with impunity in Iraq devising methods with which to kill our soldiers. The Iranians and the Arab states by extention,less even the Russians,will come to depend upon American weakness and exploit it to the fullest,creating a world that will become more dangerous in its composition than the one endured today. There will be no new Golden Age. Hopes will be pinned on the chimera of party change in Washington and the rising belief in a new American isolationism,that will by its very neccecity,allow large portions of the world to tear themselves apart,and further weaken this nations fortunes.''Engagement''from this position of weakness,will result in nothing accomplished save minor third-tier-state victories at a maximum.

well todd, the 15 highjackers were not funded or sanctioned by the saudi govt. I said country.

"If you do,then why are you not in prison or dead yet? The hysterical rantings on this board,perpetuated purely by the hatred of the president,offer no lucid examination."

Then you're just the man for the job, because you are rarely lucid and never honest. The press is "hysterical." The posters are "hysterical." GWB is calm and rational - I see a bright future for you in the coming fascist America.

    Like I said Lee, its papa Bush's New World Order, dutifully carried out by his son.Not my choice.

lee holmes, well done I agree with you. to some of you others, is there anything in the world that isnt bushes fault?

the way we handle this will have a lasting effect. peace through stregth.

Lee Holmes [[This was the same newspaper that also cited leftwinger Sy Hershs intel in a piece he did in the NEW YORKER that we would be at war in Iran[''bunker busters''tac-weapons'',airstrikes'' etc. by September of 2006].]]

It looks like Sy Hersh could have been right, leftwing or not. The request for money to outfit B2 bombers with bunker busters was in Bush's supplemental. It was stated to be an the "urgent" need.

[[All of this said,the choice to include Irans Guard army into a designation as a terrorist front is a sound one,based in what soldiers on the ground are finding in Iraq. Their determination is based upon finding these personnel operating with impunity in Iraq devising methods with which to kill our soldiers. ]]

As if anyone should buy that pig in a poke from the same people who assured us that Iraq had WMD. The Iranian "operatives" that the US seized were on diplmatic missions, according to the Iraqi government itself. The Iranians no doubt have been aiding the Iraqi Shia and some of that assistance may have been in the form of weaponry, but Bush's evidence is flimsy to nonexistent. The charge that Shia Iran is in cahoots with the Sunni Taliban is completely ludicrous. It looks like another bald-faced lie.

[[''Engagement''from this position of weakness,will result in nothing accomplished save minor third-tier-state victories at a maximum. ]]

Bush's engagement from a position of weak-minded belligerence has proved to be disastrous. There's nothing weak about effective diplomacy; it's just too complicated for someone like Bush who prefers simple minded violence as the solution to the world's problems.

Ron Florida, thanks for serving brother, (reference to brothers and sisters in arms that is) the point that I was making which you caught is if we keep pissing everyobody off with the dunce in chief's cowboyism then we will fall just like the rest of the superpowers.  My challenge to people who advocate war who have never served should JOIN because our military could use them.  

Ron, the success in Libya was the result of 20 years of international sanctions.  They only buckled after Britain insisted on handling the final negotiation without our assistance.  In particular they did not want neocon loose cannon John Bolton involved.

House call: If ''dishonest''then you should have no problem illuminating said ''dishonesty''. Jump to it cretin. I have not all day.

Desmond: What makes you believe that Iran has no plans for a NWO of their own? Your ''choice''would be to see a SHAHAB-IV ICBM aimed at New York. There will be your ''new world order''.

colt phoenix, there are plenty of things that aren't Bushes fault.  The problem is he doesn't wish to take responsibility for the things that ARE his fault.  And he's screwed up virtually everything over which he has influence.

For the time being, the Iranian program is certified by the IAEA as fully civilian and within the framework of NPT. Just check for yourselves. What we need are safeguards in place to insure that it stays this way. The current policy of Bush administration is not to find an accommodation, it wants full suspension of their program that is incidentally fully legal, before engaging in negotiations. Now if someone came to you and said, do as we say and then we will talk about why you should do as we say, what would you do?

Houston:

As usual,you are a day late and a dollar short. You forget[or have conveniently ignored to tell our audience],that these so-called ''diplomats''[of which one is still suspected of being a QUDS force member],were released BEFORE the latest captures of more QUDS force members north of Basra[10 of these] by the 82nd AB in September and the capture of two Shia militia members tied to QUDS that confessed Irans involvement in the murders of five US soldiers,and by your OWN precious New York Times no less.[though this is hardly the only source.The following at the end of the post will be from military embedded reporters regarded as the best in America for their coverage of thr Iraq War].

New York Times July 02,2007:''US Ties Iran To Deadly Attack''[excpt]:

'' General Berger said interrogations of Qais Khazali ,a senior Shia militant who oversaw Iranian-supported cells in Iraq showed that QUDS force members planned the operation''[which killed these five US soldiers].

Also see:

www.michaelyon.blogspot.com ''Ghosts of Anbar''et al.

www.billroggio.blogspot.com

These guys have been in Indian Country for four years serving with every single major US force and every single major operation since 2004 dodging bullets,eating crummy food,wearing the same clothes for weeks on end,and risking their own deaths daily. They are beloved of troops that despise the American MSM hiding inside of the Green Zone,standing in front of the same palm trees every day to deliver their BS ''first hand''reportage,and they offer the most accurate reports of what Iran is up to in Iraq. For more US military deploring of the American MSM,and the Democrat majority in Congress,legion in its sheer amounts,go here:

www.military.com MILBLOGS

I can't help but wonder if an elected Democratic President, and facing the same set of cicumstances as what Bush is facing today, regarding Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan if he/she would advocate a more passive or aggressive approach than what is currently being excercised. I also have to wonder if many of the same people who are now railing so virolently against Bush, would be doing the same against a Democratic President. Its funny how having the ultimate responsibility for the national security and general welfare of a nation doesn't allow for a President being faint of heart or indecisive in doing what needs to be done to fulfill that end. Thats exactly why a Democratic presidential candidate will never again be elected in a time of war. The general population of this country will not let it happen. Thank goodness for that being a reality of life in this country.  

The missile defense shield idea is as ludicrous as the concept of Iran as a global nuclear threat (we've already got a couple of those in Pakistan and N. Korea - real nuclear weapons, not neocon fantasy projections of future possibilities).  

Of course the host countries want the construction of said defense shields - this translates to very large dollars flowing into those respective countries and their paltry economies.  Just what our national budget needs....another trillion for a stupid-ass defense shield that has no chance in hell of working as planned.  Another Reagan/Bush boondoggle at our expense.  And hey, we're now working on our second trillion for Iraq.  

The USA can't buy their way out of trouble by throwing more money at problems that our own government helps create - but it's damn good for business and for bolstering the defense budget - in the mean time, the bill is coming due one day soon.  It really feels like we're headed back to the 1950s.
Always moving backward - the Bush operating policy.

Bomb shelters anyone??

Connie & Georgie sitting in a tree K I S S I N G......

BUSH WHACKED

Bush believes he plays a part,
In the Christian's bible story.

Frustration shows and grows each day,
He's obsessed with thoughts of glory.

Hell bent on playing out the role,
He longs for the Earth's judgement day.

For his god has told him loud and clear,
"Stay the course George, do it your way."

Lee Holmes [[New York Times July 02,2007:''US Ties Iran To Deadly Attack''[excpt]:
General Berger said interrogations of Qais Khazali...]]

How reliable that is depends on who did the interrogation. Now that we know that Bush has authorized the use of torture to get prisoners to say what the interrogators want to hear, lots of "confessions" are dubious.

Even if the Iranians are involved in this sort of activity,  you continue to dodge the fact that Bush's belligerence toward Iran after they assisted us in Afghanistan is one of the reasons the Iranian moderates were ousted from power and replaced by leaders as belligerent as Cheney/Bush. Or do you ignore the facts because, as Steven Colbert said, facts have a liberal bias?

[[These guys have been in Indian Country for four years]]

This is Iraq, not "Indian country." Use of that term only shows the contempt you have for the people we're supposedly trying to save, although I suppose there are some parallels to what the U.S. government did to "help" the American Indians.

    Lee Holmes, I apoligize for not responding to yor post to me sooner. I have been away from my computer.
    I did see a blog entry of yours though,i n the last couple of days. You warned of using Wikepedia as a source of information. I was puzzled by that as, in the past, you have used them quite a few times.
    If I were you, or Bush, I'd stay away from anyone named Curveball if they were trying to give us information about Iran. That ball didn't end up bouncing so well in Iraq. Sure did get us into a war though.

Houston: You can offer no proof whatever that the 82nd ABs intelligence sections engaged in torture in gleaning this information from the captured Shia terrorists. You are thus presenting a lie rather than a factual analysis.[theres some more of this alleged ''support for the troops''we keep hearing about]. The fact remains that the 82nd did capture Iranian QUDS personnel based upon this intelligence.
  You are evading the issue and turning it into one that is irrelevant to my rebuttal of your earlier post. This is,that Iranian military,vice ''diplomatic'' personnel have been captured in Iraq since April of this year. Further,as we have seen through the offices of the United States Armys Central Command,that they are not offering any ''help''whatever in Afghanistan. Their deadly influence is continuing to spread,''cowboy diplomacy''notwithstanding. Again,you would see this nation effect a hat-in-hand diplomacy in a mirror image of what Pelosi tried[and failed] to do with Syrias Assad while Iran yet gets in nukes and projects its military power throughout the region.[we will point out here that in the region of ''diplomacy'',the EU and the IAEA,lead by ElBaradei,have failed to stop a single nation from developing a military nuclear weapons program,or stopped the improvements in ICBM capabilities in nations that already have these].Seeing these failures,and thouroughly aware of what a nuclear Iran will mean to the Middle East,Egypt now demands entry into the nuclear club. Thus your facile,weak ''diplomacy''will merely have the effect of spreading weapons of mass destruction. Not in alliviating or diminishing these.

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