One … Conservatives believe that war is a “last option” that should only be initiated when there is a direct and imminent threat to the United States. Iran does not currently pose such a threat.
From New Yorker by Seymour M. Hersh
L ate 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. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations.
From TheNewYorker.com, by Seymour M. Hersh
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. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include gathering intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program.
Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” in the President’s war on terror, who may be captured or killed. But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials. Many of these activities are not specified in the new Finding, and some congressional leaders have had serious questions about their nature.
Under federal law, a Presidential Finding, which is highly classified, must be issued when a covert intelligence operation gets under way and, at a minimum, must be made known to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate and to the ranking members of their respective intelligence committees—the so-called Gang of Eight. Money for the operation can then be reprogrammed from previous appropriations, as needed, by the relevant congressional committees, which also can be briefed.
Full Story…
From JPost.com, by Abe Selig
Having adamantly denied for months that Israel could possibly be purchasing any oil originating in Iran, an Israeli official has now acknowledged that the Jewish state cannot be sure that Iranian oil is not coming here indirectly, and a former Israeli energy minister has told The Jerusalem Post that Iranian oil may have been imported indirectly for years and that he would have readily authorized such purchases himself.
“I don’t see any problem if Iranian oil is arriving in Israel,” said Moshe Shahal, who served as energy minister from 1984 to 1990, “because it’s not coming straight from Iran.”
Shahal explained that once oil is on the open market, its source becomes clouded. In a sense, he said, the oil loses its nationality while retaining its quality.
From ATimes.com, by Kaveh L Afrasiabi
“So foul a sky shall not clear without a storm,” wrote William Shakespeare in the play King John and, indeed, the deafening saber-rattling against Iran by the United States and Israel increasingly reveals a coming storm that will likely dwarf the magnitude of the Iraq war, in light of Iran’s military prowess and ability to strike back throughout the Middle East.
The US’s and Israel’s decision to escalate the threat levels against Iran, reflected in President George W Bush’s statement in Europe this week that all options remain on the table, has been matched by an equally resolute defiance by Iran. As a result, the growing anxiety over a summer war with Iran threatens to send already rocketing oil prices to unimaginable levels.
This is not “new realism” in US foreign policy, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice self-congratulatingly narrates in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs [1], but rather a new level of American “dumb power” that harms its own self-interest by the pursuit of warmongering policies.
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
Washington, Jun 10 - Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio
In the United States House of Representatives
Monday, June 9th, 2008
A Resolution
INDEX
Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of H. J. Res114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor.
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes.
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq.
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources.
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries.
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq.
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors.
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives.
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy.
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture.
Article XX
Imprisoning Children.
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government.
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws.
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment.
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens.
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements.
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply.
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice.
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare.
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency.
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change.
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001.
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders.
From Al Jazeera
The state of Israel has at least 150 nuclear weapons, Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has said according to reports in the UK.
The announcement marks the first time a US president has publicly acknowledged the Jewish state’s nuclear arsenal.
Carter made the remark while responding to a question at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival in Wales in which he was asked how any future US president should deal with the Iranian nuclear threat.
For Americans who may have been hungry for a credentialed conservative candidate in the 2008 Presidential contest, the wait is over.
Bob Barr today announced his candidacy for the presidency. Barr will run as a Libertarian and have to secure the their party’s nomination at a convention in Denver in two weeks.
In discussing the 2008 race earlier this year, GOP insider Andy Card said the early primaries and potential candidate overexposure in the media may have voters looking for options by summer.
“This year will present the perfect storm for an independent candidate,” Card advised.
Barr clearly hopes to take advantage of exactly that kind of opportunity. And, as a former CIA officer, a Reagan appointed U.S. Attorney and a Congressman who was known for hardcore conservative principles, Barr is a long way from the pro-pot fringe some may associate with the early days of the Libertarian Party.
Any honest assessment of his voting record in Congress will make both Obama and McCain look like liberals and his long time leadership on Second Amendment issues is not likely to be forgotten by the legions of N.R.A. loyalists. Finally, Barr’s pro-life credentials are certainly equal to John McCain’s, if not stronger.
As a campaigner, Barr is a thick skinned and seasoned professional. Having run severally hotly contested races in Georgia, his former opponents have come to understand that there are simply no skeletons or scandals to be found in Bob’s long history of public service.
On the major issues, Barr said he would look for a way to begin bringing troops home from Iraq and would evaluate other ways to reduce the military’s footprint abroad. He also said he doesn’t want to see America ushered into a war with Iran. On illegal immigration, he said that major reforms are needed because, “The United States of America is not a charity.”
In announcing his candidacy, Barr said that as President, he would focus on reducing the size of government, supporting original intent of the Constitution and restoring checks and balances between the three branches of government.
One thing is for sure, this race has just gotten a lot more interesting.
Washington, DC - At a packed meeting of the American Conservative Defense Alliance on Wednesday, Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R-TX) addressed a wide range of national security issues.
During the meeting he expressed serious concerns about what the Patriot Act has meant to the liberty of Americans stating, “What’s left of the 4th Amendment? Not much really.”
He called on Americans to unite behind candidates who support the Constitution, conservative fiscal policies and limited government.
He also expressed concern that President Bush would attack Iran before leaving office. He believes a conflict with Iran would lead “overnight” to $200 a barrel oil prices and a cascading collapse of the American economy.
Congressman Paul also said that the President is provoking Russia by attempting to place missiles in former satellites of the USSR, an act he compared to Russia placing nuclear arms in Mexico.
Finally, he expressed concern over the expanding number of lobbying ”complexes” that wield enormous power in Washington. Congressman Paul said in addition to the traditional lobbying power of the Defense Industrial Complex, that other special interest alliances representing the healthcare, insurance and finance industries have garnered massive amounts of power in recent years.
Congressman Paul details these and other issues in his best selling book, The Revolution: A Manifesto.
From World Net Daily
The neocons may yet get their war on Iran.
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.
Iran, Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, has “fueled the recent violence in a particularly damaging way through its lethal support of the special groups.”
These “special groups” are “funded, trained, armed and directed by Iran’s Quds Force with help from Lebanese Hezbollah. It was these groups that launched Iranian rockets and mortar rounds at Iraq’s seat of government (the Green Zone) … causing loss of innocent life and fear in the capital.”
Is the Iranian government aware of this – and behind it?