Sept. 30, 2007

Washington's Debate: What To Do With Iran?

Tensions Rise As A New Report Claims The Pentagon Is Redrawing Strike Plans Against Iran

  • Video Roundtable On Ahmedinejad

    The Washington Post's Robin Wright and Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute weigh in on the Iranian president's visit to the U.S.

  • Video War Of Rhetoric At The U.N.

    When President Bush addressed the U.N., he largely avoided Iran. But when President Ahmadinejad spoke, he targeted the U.S. Jim Axelrod reports.

  • Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to the media during a news briefing upon his arrival at the Mehrabad airport in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, after his trip to New York for attending U.N. General Assembly. Photo

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to the media during a news briefing upon his arrival at the Mehrabad airport in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, after his trip to New York for attending U.N. General Assembly.  (AP)

  • Timeline The U.S. And Iran

    Key events in once friendly, now contentious relationship between Washington and Tehran.

Related Information
60 MINUTES
  • Read Scott Pelley's report on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
  • Watch the full interview.
  • Read part one of the interview transcript.
  • Read part two of the interview transcript.

  • (CBS)  An American strike on Iran would be "another disastrous foreign policy decision" for the United States, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said Sunday on Face The Nation, after a report claimed that the Bush administration has ordered the Pentagon to update its attack plans.

    "It would be enormously unwise for the Bush administration to start another war before ending this tragic war we're in today," Richardson told Bob Schieffer. "And it does sound like the administration is ramping up - you can just see it."

    The White House has long claimed that Iran is secretly enriching uranium to build nuclear weapons, but U.S. officials have shifted their focus toward claims that Iran is supporting anti-American forces in neighboring Iraq.

    While Iran denies both accusations, the U.S. Senate voted Wednesday 76-22 in favor of a resolution urging the State Department to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.

    The proposal attracted overwhelming bipartisan support, but a small group of Democrats said they feared labeling the state-sponsored organization a terrorist group could be interpreted as a congressional authorization of military force against Iran.

    In a new article in the New Yorker, Seymour Hersch writes that the focus of the Pentagon's new plan is not Iran's nuclear facilities but other bases that allegedly send terrorists - and explosives - into Iraq, to kill Americans.

    "The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran's known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites," Hersch writes. "Now the emphasis is on 'surgical' strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq."

    President Bush acknowledged the chance for military confrontation with Iranian forces in a speech last month, saying, "I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities."

    But, in a meeting with CBS News executives on Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, "We still believe that the diplomatic track has legs and can still resolve this if we remain very tough on that track."

    Rice also said, however, that the president hasn't taken the military option "off the table."

    Two foreign policy experts who appeared on Face The Nation said that the debate over Iran was definitely heating up in Washington, but that no one seemed ready to take any military action.

    "There's almost kind of a small hysteria in Washington about what we do with Iran," said Robin Wright, a Washington Post reporter who has written three books on Iran. "The reality is that largely because of Iraq and to a certain degree Afghanistan, we now find our selves in what is a kind of cold war with Iran for regional influence. And this is likely to define the region, I think, for the next decade."

    A Quote

    The reality is that largely because of Iraq and to a certain degree Afghanistan, we now find our selves in what is a kind of cold war with Iran for regional influence. And this is likely to define the region, I think, for the next decade.

    Robin Wright, The Washington Post
    But Wright said her sources in the Bush administration were telling her that "this talk right now is way ahead of where they actually are."

    "We need to have an effective sanctions regime. We need to have one that actually bites," Danielle Pletka, who is vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said. "We need to give a lot more effort to that before we begin to consider military operations, because they're not the silver bullet that some people want to suggest that they are."

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly earlier in the week that his country would defy attempts to impose new sanctions by "arrogant powers" seeking to curb its nuclear program, accusing them of lying and imposing illegal penalties on his country.

    As for Iranian activities in Iraq, Pletka said chaos in Iraq benefits the Iranians and Tehran would not want to see a stable Iraq as "either as a democracy or as a counterbalance to their own influence in the region."

    Richardson said he would not threaten Iran with military strikes, but there were two issues on which the U.S. would be forced to deal with Iran.

    "We cannot have Iran have nuclear weapons, but I believe we can work with them to develop a civilian nuclear fuel cycle, perhaps with the Russians," he said. "We cannot have them, obviously, continue helping the Revolutionary Guards in Iraq."

    "But calling them names, labeling them terrorists, drawing up military options is just making the situation worse and inflaming the Muslim world at a time when we need in the Persian Gulf, in the Middle East, and in Iraq a political solution," Richardson said.

    Richardson said if he were to become the president, he would engage Iran. "But I would go around Ahmadinejad," he said. "I would go to the moderate Muslim clerics, Islamic clerics. I would talk to students. I would talk to university professors, business leaders."

    © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

    Video and Galleries from Face The Nation

    Add a Comment See all 225 Comments
    by kaelinda September 30, 2007 7:07 PM PDT
    Let''s hope the elections get here BEFORE Bush decides to attack Iran!
    Reply to this comment
    by robertkjjj September 30, 2007 7:10 PM PDT
    Let''s hope Bush nukes Iran back to the Stone Age before he leaves office!!!! I hate those Iranian f*ckers. Turn that country into a glass parking lot and take their oil. Boom boom boom, all over.
    Reply to this comment
    by baghdadshere September 30, 2007 7:12 PM PDT
    Looks like everybody is afraid of Iran. I know what to do with those terrorist sponsors: The same thing they are doing to US troops in Iraq.
    Reply to this comment
    by glossypan September 30, 2007 7:13 PM PDT
    Scorebook for The Mideast Religious War

    Iran - shia (shi''ite).
    Afghanistan - mixed, sunni & shia.
    Iraq - mixed, sunni & shia.
    Al-Malaki - shia.
    al Qaeda - sunni.
    ALL the REST of Islam - sunni with a few pockets of shia.

    The US taxpayer - paying for an ill conceived, ill executed strategy put forth by a clueless administation. Helping preserve shias around Iran, the only predominately shia nation on the planet. The rest of Islam hates Iran as much as most Christian nations.
    Reply to this comment
    by jeff776 September 30, 2007 7:27 PM PDT
    A military strike on Iran would incite a a larger conflict in the middle east that the USA can not afford to "go it alone".
    Reply to this comment
    by jowand September 30, 2007 7:29 PM PDT
    The US taxpayer - paying for an ill conceived, ill executed strategy put forth by a clueless administation. Helping preserve shias around Iran, the only predominately shia nation on the planet. The rest of Islam hates Iran as much as most Christian nations

    Not true, half of Lebanon likes them, the Syrians like them, Hamas like them, Chavez likes them. So do a lot of race baiting idiots who post on this site don''t you read the stuff.
    The Axis of evil, one down two to go.
    Some people, Churchill was one, wanted to take Hitler out in the mid 1930s while it was possible they were called crazies and war lovers, by people like you, look what happened in Europe through inaction 60 million dead.
    Reply to this comment
    by cbs_oliver September 30, 2007 7:29 PM PDT
    A US attack on Iran - no matter how it is prepared and wrapped - would be a war of agression equivalent to murder.

    Only psychopaths kill their neighbor because they buy a gun.

    Fear/cowardice is not justification for murder.

    Only criminals kill their neighbor to take their money/oil.

    For all practical purposes we have become a dangerous psychopathic criminal serial killer nation.

    We really should stop.

    It would be better.
    Reply to this comment
    by jowand September 30, 2007 7:31 PM PDT
    Let''''s hope the elections get here BEFORE Bush decides to attack Iran!


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    Posted by Kaelinda at 07:07 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    Better order your Burkha while you have time.
    Reply to this comment
    by jowand September 30, 2007 7:34 PM PDT
    A US attack on Iran - no matter how it is prepared and wrapped - would be a war of agression equivalent to murder.

    Only psychopaths kill their neighbor because they buy a gun.

    Fear/cowardice is not justification for murder.

    Only criminals kill their neighbor to take their money/oil.

    For all practical purposes we have become a dangerous psychopathic criminal serial killer nation.

    We really should stop.

    It would be better.


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    Posted by CBS_Oliver at 07:29 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    Your ignorant or stupid, Iran has been killing Americans for 25 years, starting with the Marine barracks in Beiruit and continuing through to killing GIs in Iraq with bombs under trucks. You''re Yellowdog Progressive.
    Reply to this comment
    by pakaal September 30, 2007 7:35 PM PDT
    What to do? Hmm, let''s see, this is a Democracy, right? And what do leaders a Democracy do in a Democracy? Something about listening to the will of the people, who overwhelmingly say "don''t attack Iran."

    Oh that''s right, I forgot for a moment that the Bush administration doesn''t care about the will of the American people.
    Reply to this comment
    by walt1944-2009 September 30, 2007 7:36 PM PDT
    Everyone is nervous because the Great Emperor Bush II has stepped up plans to do something militarily about Iraq.

    The Great Emperor feels that if his "idol" (Adolph Hitler) could wage war on 2 fronts, so could the Great Emperor Bush II. (FDR also carried out a war on 2 fronts, but is not the Emperor''s idol because FDR was an evil, liberal-minded Democrat)!

    Unfortunately, the Emperor''s thought processes do not extend to the consequences of what happens when war is carried out on more than one front. In his "idol''s" case, the Nazis thought their military was invincible and could handle a war on 2 fronts. They were wrong and Germany was destroyed because of it.

    However, we all know how "dedicated" (perhaps stubborn is a better word), the Emperor and VP Darth Vader Cheney are in attacking Iran before the fall of next year, in order to "help" the chances of the GOP in the fall, 2008 elections (provided they are held, of course).

    LONG LIVE THE MILITARY "GENIUS" OF eMPEROR bUSH AND VP DARTH VADER CHENEY!!!

    SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
    Reply to this comment
    by menofoz September 30, 2007 7:43 PM PDT
    a glass parking lot and take their oil. Boom boom boom, all over.


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    Posted by robertkjjj at 07:10 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    Just like 9/11 again!
    Reply to this comment
    by patriotic9 September 30, 2007 7:44 PM PDT
    I suggest to attack Iran. It will be so much fun seeing ISLAMIC RADICALS killed by the hands of PSYCHOTIC CHRISTIANS and PSYCHOTIC CHRISTIANS killed by the hands of RADICAL ISLAMIST.
    Reply to this comment
    by gkc99 September 30, 2007 7:48 PM PDT
    Watch for Bushit''s "September Surprise"--gotta keep those neocons in power somehow, and they can''t just hack the voting machines any more!
    Reply to this comment
    by baghdadshere September 30, 2007 7:51 PM PDT
    I know what to do with Iran. Lets leave 20k troops in Iraq on a support role and move the rest to Iran in a combat role. If we have to deal with iranian made IEDs and roadside bombs it should be done inside their land. This way iraqis will live in peace.
    Reply to this comment
    by ioweign September 30, 2007 7:52 PM PDT
    Your ignorant or stupid, Iran has been killing Americans for 25 years, starting with the Marine barracks in Beiruit and continuing through to killing GIs in Iraq with bombs under trucks. You''''re Yellowdog Progressive.

    Posted by jowand at 07:34 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    You better go back a few more years to around 1953 and Operation Ajax !!

    In summer of 1941 Britain and the USSR invaded Iran to prevent Iran from allying with the Axis powers. The Allies occupied Iran, securing a supply line to Russia, Iran''s petroleum infrastructure, and forced the Shah to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1951, a nationalist politician, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh rose to prominence in Iran and was elected Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, Mossadegh became enormously popular in Iran by nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later British Petroleum, BP) which controlled the country''s oil reserves. In response, Britain embargoed Iranian oil and began plotting to depose Mossadegh. Members of the British Intelligence Service invited the United States to join them, convincing U.S. President Eisenhower that Mossadegh was reliant on the Tudeh (Communist) Party to stay in power. In 1953, President Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax, and the CIA took the lead in overthrowing Mossadegh and supporting a U.S.-friendly monarch; and for which the U.S. Government apologized in 2000.
    Reply to this comment
    by lastdance2 September 30, 2007 7:58 PM PDT
    US to attack Iran ? ? ?

    Digg this ....

    Condoleezza Rice was a Chevron Oil Director from 1991 until January 15, 2001

    Before she was transferred by President George Bush Jr. to National Security Adviser

    Chevron named an oil tanker the "Condoleezza Rice"

    Iran recently - refused to give - Bush - Oil Exploration Rights
    A matter of written record ! !

    Lastdance

    Reply to this comment
    by jowand September 30, 2007 8:00 PM PDT

    You better go back a few more years to around 1953 and Operation Ajax !!

    In summer of 1941 Britain and the USSR invaded Iran to prevent Iran from allying with the Axis powers. The Allies occupied Iran, securing a supply line to Russia, Iran''''s petroleum infrastructure, and forced the Shah to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1951, a nationalist politician, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh rose to prominence in Iran and was elected Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, Mossadegh became enormously popular in Iran by nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later British Petroleum, BP) which controlled the country''''s oil reserves. In response, Britain embargoed Iranian oil and began plotting to depose Mossadegh. Members of the British Intelligence Service invited the United States to join them, convincing U.S. President Eisenhower that Mossadegh was reliant on the Tudeh (Communist) Party to stay in power. In 1953, President Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax, and the CIA took the lead in overthrowing Mossadegh and supporting a U.S.-friendly monarch; and for which the U.S. Government apologized in 2000.


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    Posted by IOWEIGN at 07:52 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    I repeat
    Your ignorant or stupid, Iran has been killing Americans for 25 years, starting with the Marine barracks in Beiruit and continuing through to killing GIs in Iraq with bombs under trucks. You''''''''re Yellowdog Progressive.

    Reply to this comment
    by jowand September 30, 2007 8:02 PM PDT
    US to attack Iran ? ? ?

    Digg this ....

    Condoleezza Rice was a Chevron Oil Director from 1991 until January 15, 2001

    Before she was transferred by President George Bush Jr. to National Security Adviser

    Chevron named an oil tanker the "Condoleezza Rice"

    Iran recently - refused to give - Bush - Oil Exploration Rights
    A matter of written record ! !

    Lastdance




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    Posted by lastdance2 at 07:58 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    Al Gore''s father made his money, millions, from kickbacks from Occidental Petroleum-Armand Hammer.
    Reply to this comment
    by jowand September 30, 2007 8:04 PM PDT
    Watch for Bushit''''s "September Surprise"--gotta keep those neocons in power somehow, and they can''''t just hack the voting machines any more!


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    Posted by gkc99 at 07:48 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    Watch for Hillary''s suprise in Sept, you Yellowdog Progressives, she''ll have a Mexican accent this time.
    Reply to this comment
    by shanev137 September 30, 2007 8:06 PM PDT
    The morally-good Christers will start World War 3 very shortly....they have waited for Armageddon long enough.
    Reply to this comment
    by ssm9451 September 30, 2007 8:07 PM PDT
    Good Bye. BOOM!!!!!
    Reply to this comment
    by downtowner97 September 30, 2007 8:08 PM PDT
    Who''s going to pay for this war? Israel? If Israel is afraid of Iran going nuclear, they can go bomb Iran''s nuke plants. Who will defend Israel when the US is bankrupt? Oh. I forgot. Jesus is coming back before the US debt comes due.
    Reply to this comment
    by bluestardad September 30, 2007 8:09 PM PDT
    AMERICANS SHOULD MARCH ON WASHINGTON AND DRAG THESE NEOCONS AND ADMINISTRATION OIL IDIOTS FROM THEIR CHAIRS!

    THEN TRY THEM IN INTERNATIONAL COURT FOR WAR CRIMES!
    Reply to this comment
    by lastdance2 September 30, 2007 8:09 PM PDT
    Sen. Prescott Bush : Who shipped War Materials
    and Weapons to : "Nazi" - Germany. To kill
    American Soldiers in Europe.

    The same organization shipped War Materials to
    North Vietnam. To kill American Military in Vietnam.

    The same organization has - Supplied Iran with
    War Materials and Weapons to : Kill American Military in Iraq.

    Iraqi-owned company : Shield Group Security Co.
    Involved in selling : Guns - Land Mines and Rocket-Launchers
    All of them being sold for cash. The buyers were Iraqi Insurgents

    Former ; Defense Secretary Rumsfeld - Was involved in Selling
    a Nuclear Plant to : North Korea
    Along with the Technology to Refine : Uranium and produce Plutonium.
    The Main Ingredients of a : Nuclear Bomb

    VP Cheney : Former Chairman of Halliburton :
    Halliburton came under fire in the early ''90s for supplying Libya and
    Iraq with equipment. Which could be used to detonate nuclear
    weapons. Halliburton was also Charged with shipping Six Pulse Neutron
    Generators to Libya. In 1995

    Blackwater USA - Suspected in smuggling weapons

    Criminal (Republican) Corporate America has - In Every War - Always -
    Financially Supported - Enemies of the United States.

    There was a - Time when - "Treason" -
    Was a - Criminal act ! ! !
    Reply to this comment
    by downtowner97 September 30, 2007 8:09 PM PDT
    Everyone go max out your credit cards! Jesus is coming! If our government is doing it, we should too!
    Reply to this comment
    by glossypan September 30, 2007 8:12 PM PDT
    477 days until regime change.
    Gen Wesley Clark (Ret) will probably get first consideration as Sec Of Defense. He will be a good one.
    Reply to this comment
    by downtowner97 September 30, 2007 8:15 PM PDT
    The neocons need to rewrite the bible to justify their actions. Blessed are the warmakers! Blessed are the killers! Turn the other turret! Jesus nuked the Romans! On the 8th day, God made land mines! Kill kill kill kill. The bible tells you to.
    Reply to this comment
    by lastdance2 September 30, 2007 8:20 PM PDT
    Condoleezza Rice was a Chevron Oil Director from 1991 until January 15, 2001 when she was transferred by President George Bush Jr. to National Security Adviser

    Chevron named an oil tanker the - "Condoleezza Rice"

    Iran - Refused to give - Bush - Oil Exploration Rights
    A matter of written record ! !

    Cheney and Condoleezza Rice - Delivered the contracts ! ! !


    Lastdance
    Reply to this comment
    by ioweign September 30, 2007 8:23 PM PDT
    AMERICANS SHOULD MARCH ON WASHINGTON AND DRAG THESE NEOCONS AND ADMINISTRATION OIL IDIOTS FROM THEIR CHAIRS!

    THEN TRY THEM IN INTERNATIONAL COURT FOR WAR CRIMES!

    Posted by bluestardad at 08:09 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    It is coming !!
    Reply to this comment
    by straightmate September 30, 2007 8:24 PM PDT
    Looks like they''re going to find a use for the MOAB after all
    Reply to this comment
    by downtowner97 September 30, 2007 8:25 PM PDT
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

    The US has never been attacked by Iranians on US soil. We have a habit of being killed or kidnapped when we go march around on their soil or in Muslim countries adjacent to theirs.

    We also "accidentally" killed 290 Iranian citizens in a civilian airplane (see link above), but they don''t hold that against us.

    Iran is a crappy place SO DON"T GO THERE!!! We don''t need to get a bunch more Americans killed building bases there and occupying the place. We could shut down their nuclear facilites with conventional weapons about 2 hours from any minute of any hour of any day of the week.

    Better yet, we could develop alternative energy, sell it to the world, and bankrupt Iran so they can go back to selling camel rides and dates. (dates the fruit, not nights out with Iranian women. Yurghh!)

    As much as I would love to have my pick of millions of war widows like my grandfather did after WW1, I''d rather America stayed out of Iran and Iraq.
    Reply to this comment
    by scotty5720 September 30, 2007 8:36 PM PDT
    The Iranian leader is dangerous. Just as soon as he has the weapons he seeks he will become a great enemy of the US and Israel. As we have proven Iran has assisted our ememies in Iraq we should do no less than target Iran''s nuclear facilities and the sooner the better.
    Reply to this comment
    by wonderyman-2009 September 30, 2007 8:38 PM PDT
    Everyone - outside of Iran - in favour of Iran commanding nuclear weapons - please raise their hand!
    Come on! - someone must be in favour?
    Just one?
    No one?
    Really?
    I hereby declare this vote finished with 100% concecouse against Iran commanding nuclear weapons!
    Reply to this comment
    by lastdance2 September 30, 2007 8:39 PM PDT
    scotty5720

    Spoken like a true - Republican (Nazi) Party Member

    Lastdance
    Reply to this comment
    by mh4cbs1 September 30, 2007 8:43 PM PDT
    Yes, what should we do about Iran...

    The same question was asked in 1953. The answer of course was to have the CIA overthrow the democratically elected president, Mossadeq. He had the nerve to nationalize their own Oil, taking control back from the British Oil companies.

    So the CIA overthrew Mossadeq, and we installed the brutal dictator "Shah of Iran", our puppet, who ruled like Saddam (who we also supported, remember?).

    The Iranians and Iraqis remember their history. They remember the US-led coups, our support of dictators, our theft of their Oil. They know we invaded Iraq on a pretext of LIES. They know we are pressuring the Iraqi parliament to pass an Oil Law that would give US corporations control and profits of their Oil Reserves.

    Yes what should we do to protect "American Interests"? Or actually "American Corporate Interests".

    Make know mistake about it. We ARE an empire. We WILL invade and kill as many as it takes. We WILL sacrifice all the middle-class troops that it takes. We WILL maintain permanent US military bases in Iraq.

    WE WILL TAKE THEIR OIL.
    Reply to this comment
    by scotty5720 September 30, 2007 8:44 PM PDT
    Ex-Marine who already fought to keep Lastdance free and able to type. Ever call a man a Nazi to his face?
    This Iranian pig is as comparable to Hitler as any leader in recent memory. You might want to give up the futures of your kids slimeball but not mine. I would love to be right in your lame Nazi face right now.
    Reply to this comment
    by downtowner97 September 30, 2007 8:45 PM PDT
    By the way, when the Vincennes shot down Iranian flight 655, it was in Iranian waters. People denounce Ron Paul for saying we bring Muslim agression on ourselves. 290 people died due to US carelessness. Meanwhile, the US continues to build more nukes, presumably so we can blow up every planet in the solar system.

    I belive in a strong military. I believe in border patrols and deportation of non-citizens. I believe having a strong military means having highly trained soldiers who know they won''t be sent to an illegal war they can''t win without hope of coming home to see their families, or hope for decent care and treatment from their government when they come home.

    Vote for Ron Paul!!!
    Reply to this comment
    by lastdance2 September 30, 2007 8:49 PM PDT
    Alan Greenspan : "Iraq War - was Oil"
    Bush has always insisted the War had nothing to do with - Oil.

    The Initial Reports given by - Bush - The CIA and The FBI
    Were Purposely and Intentionally - Fabricated and were Fraudulent ! !

    Intentionally Delivered to the American people
    In order to- Falsely and Fraudulently - Advocate a War ! !

    Iran - recently - Refused to give - Bush - Oil Exploration Rights
    A matter of written record ! !
    Cheney and Condoleezza Rice - Delivered the contracts ! ! !

    There was a time - Treason - was a Criminal Act

    Lastdance
    Reply to this comment
    by downtowner97 September 30, 2007 8:52 PM PDT
    For a country in the sights of the US war machine, having nukes is like you having a lock on your front door. It''s the only way to keep Imperial America from marching in and taking over the place. Look at Pakistan. They harbor Bin Laden, so we should march across the border and take over the place, right? Problem is, we can''t, since they have nukes. Pakistan is, therefore, safe from US agression.

    Iran doesn''t want American troops driving down their streets, so they are making nukes. They are only strong enough to challenge us because the US armed them to fight Iraq. What''s the solution? Develop alternative energy so we don''t need oil from the Middle East, and stop arming them.

    Not shooting down any more of Iran''s passenger planes from Iranian waters would be a nice gesture too.
    Reply to this comment
    by downtowner97 September 30, 2007 8:59 PM PDT
    Think about this: The US government feels it''s our duty to disarm a group of countries that have no way of launching an attack on the US while our borders are defenseless. I crossed the US/Canada border 6 times in the last month, and it''s ten times harder to get into Canada than into the US.

    The headquarters of the UN are in New York. That''s like having a portal to hell in your living room!!! People like Amadinanobjob and Castro can fly into New York, drive around, pay for terrorists'' flight lessons, take in a Nicks game, leave a bomb in a hotel room, or run over somebody in their limo if they feel like it, and they have FULL DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!!!

    Millions of people are in the US illegally, and unless they try to get a job at the post office, no one knows who or where they are.

    Why do we need to go halfway around the world to find enemies to fight?
    Reply to this comment
    by missingamerica September 30, 2007 9:09 PM PDT
    I don''t know what color a non-nuclear trigger is, but I have a feeling Cheney has been leaving the one marked "Iran" sit on the President''s coffee table, on his desk, on top of the his toilet, on his night table, on the President''s bicycle seat, on the President''s chair at the breakfast table, on the stairs...
    Reply to this comment
    by iceman_1960 September 30, 2007 9:09 PM PDT
    From CNN: "U.S. monthly death toll in Iraq lowest in a year"

    This graph puts it in perspective:

    http://icasualties.org/oif/US_chart.aspx

    CNN continues: "The U.S. monthly death toll in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level in more than a year, although the figure is "still too high," the military said Sunday. September''s preliminary death toll is at least 62, according to military reports, the lowest number since August 2006 when 65 American troops were killed in the war."

    That last sentence appears to be a typo, as 65 is not lower than 62. They meant, since July of 2006, when 43 were killed.

    Source:

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/30/iraq.main/index.html
    Reply to this comment
    by mh4cbs1 September 30, 2007 9:23 PM PDT
    For all you NeoCon fascists and spineless complicit Democrats....

    Do you really believe the latest propaganda and demonization about Iran, being laid on us by the corporate media, the same media that blasted us with the WMD LIES??

    Somehow the Iranian *government* is arming the Shia''s in IRaq??

    What is the scale of arms coming across the Iranian border? Does it compare in any way to the 170,000 occupying US troops, with all their weapons, ammunition, tanks, helicopters, planes... Does it compare to the 100,000 US mercenary contractors, including the Blackwater civilian-killer terrorists?

    IF any weapons are coming across the border it probably amounts to about 1/1,000,000,000th the amount of destructive killing power that the US has brought into Iraq.

    Remember also that we INVADED Iraq, Hitler style, based on deliberate WMD lies. Remember we are there to set up permanent US military bases and steal their Oil.

    Now who is the aggressor nation? Who sponsors terrorism? Who is responsible for the deaths or a few hundred thousand Iraqis?
    Why that would be Bush and Cheney and the enabling Democrats!

    JAIL BUSH JAIL CHENEY Vote OUT the complicit spineless Democrats who won''t say NO to this NeoCon Nightmare.



    Reply to this comment
    by sharncedar September 30, 2007 9:26 PM PDT
    Let''s get these Iranians! All right! more war is *exactly^ what we need, kick some Iranian behind and show the world we are not losers! Uuuummm, can we have $700 billion for the war, yeah, from you liberals, could you pay us some taxes and can we borrow money in your name ... then with the money, we''ll start a big war! And kick some behind! Oh yeah, booooooooyaaaaaaah! A bargain at ... let''s see .. did we say $700 billion we meant $10 trillion ... we can hock some more factories to the Chinese, maybe NASDAQ too, c''mon, liberals, be sports and give us the money ... we really need the money, so we can kick behind! Yeah! An prove we''re not the world''s worst military! Yeah! We''re winners! Boooooooyaaaah! Attack!
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 September 30, 2007 9:35 PM PDT
    it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid,,,

    non muslims of the world unite,,, fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside,,,

    I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
    By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
    More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770

    Bless the Beasts and Children
    Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
    http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

    Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
    http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

    the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
    http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 September 30, 2007 9:36 PM PDT
    LOOK WHO IS TARGETING CIVILIANS!!!

    Qaeda warns of attacks ''worse than 9/11''
    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070530102648.wuwa6k96&show_article=1

    Hizbullah Deputy Sec-Gen Sheikh Naim Qassem: We Have Jurisprudent Permission to Carry Out ''Martyrdom'' Operations, Fire Missiles on Israeli Civilians From Ayatollah Khomeini
    http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD154907

    Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp

    But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.

    "It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.

    Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.

    The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/60minutes/main2761108.shtml?source=RSSattr=60Minutes_2761108
    American Al Qaeda Member Threatens Attack
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/29/terror/main2865282.shtml
    Reply to this comment
    by vincan-2009 September 30, 2007 9:37 PM PDT
    We are being led by the same idiots that made up all the lies that led us into this unending war of billions of dollars and deaths and maimed for life Iraq War. Stop these criminals who don''t have the sense God gave a roach. They are chickenhawks and oil crazy pychos. Stop them or we are going to be in War World III and is not going to be pretty. The whole world will be harmed.
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 September 30, 2007 9:40 PM PDT
    Posted by Vincan at 09:37 PM : Sep 30, 2007

    the war is legal, demonic-rat hero al bore says so,,,

    the resumption of hostilities was only a matter of time since iraq broke the ceasefire agreement,,,

    blame saddam for iraq,,, Even clintoon and the dems wanted the resumption of hostilities back in 1998,,,

    "We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

    "Iraq''s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

    Moreover, no international law can prevent the United States from taking actions to protect its vital interests, when it is manifestly clear that there is a choice to be made between law and survival. I believe, however, that such a choice is not presented in the case of Iraq. Indeed, should we decide to proceed, that action can be justified within the framework of international law rather than outside it. In fact, though a new UN resolution may be helpful in building international consensus, the existing resolutions from 1991 are sufficient from a legal standpoint. - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
    http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/gore/gore092302sp.html
    Reply to this comment
    by getloud1 September 30, 2007 9:41 PM PDT
    Ever Wonder About The Truth Of The Economy that the Feds aren''t telling you? And who is Legally robbing you and taking your property? Watch This Movie..You''ll See.. Paste The Entire Link Below:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2277423672226579556&q=in+debt we trust duration%3Along&total=35&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
    Reply to this comment
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