Breaking story of Hezbollah sending captured soldiers to Iran is ACT ONE!

[Vinnie From Indy]

It seems obvious that this latest bizarre story about Hezbollah trying to send two captured Israeli soldiers to Iran is a naked attempt to justify an Israeli or US strike on Iran. One must wonder why Hezbollah, which has a long history of being able to hold hostages for years on end without detection, would send any hostages to Iran. It seems that we might be witnessing a planned operation by the Israeli's and BushCo to accelerate and widen the war in the Middle East. Also, it would seem that revealing this tidbit of info about the soldiers being secreted to Iran by Hezbollah would destroy any chance of the Israeli's finding and freeing them. Why would they have the press report this unless it is to serve a larger goal?

It is also becoming apparent that one need only look at the lock step delivery of the exact same news by the BushCo cable news outlets to identify the latest BushCo strategy.

[helderheid]

1. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, just fuck.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Did you this news

on the CNN Brothers Grimm afternoon edition ? :)

[havocmom]

3. You may have a vaild point

What amazes me is how Isreal is helping Sauds/big oil make a killing in the market.

[cali]

34. For future reference

it's always good to know how to spell the name of a country one is discussing: Israel. And the rest of your statement is just absurd.

[havocmom]

39. ah, yes details of spelling so much more important that concepts

tests show otherwise, for future reference

[Lerkfish]

4. absolutely we are heading towards invading the region, this is all created

for that purpose.

[madokie]

68. Sure we are, only a blind person wouldn't see that

all I've heard from this criminal cabal is war, war and some more war. Never do I read or hear of them saying peace. Americans better wake the hell up don't you think. Theres something seriously wrong here.

[still_one]

5. hezbollah has been supported by Iran for years

that does not negate your argument, and based on what has happened in the last six years one would tend to be cynical

hopefully, a ceasefire can be negotiated, and all parties to the negotiating tables

[atreides1]

12. Yes Iran has been supporting Hezbollah

But the last time I checked, Lebanon doesn't share a border with Iran. And even the Syrians can't be stupid enough to get involved with this project, add the fact that the airspace over Iraq is currently controlled by the US, unless Hezbollah has the most secret elaborate tunnel system under Iraq, this initial report is highly questionable.

[MidwestTransplant]

24. Israel is not that far from Iran. They don't have to be flown

over Iraq. Also they could be transferred to Syria for a while. They could also be floated out (which is why the naval blockade).

This is a VERY small neighborhood.

[elehhhhna]

16. DOn't worry -- Bush & his galpal are on it. LOL

[Jacobin]

6. Hopefully, Iran won't accept them

I don't think they have a death wish, and this would give the neo-cons, fundies and Israel just what they were looking for...an excuse to bomb the beJesus out of Iran.

[BrightKnight]

62. Iran would be toast - n/t

[flyarm]

73. but since when do you think the * cabal will tell the truth about anything

they will lie snd lie and lie to get their war with Iran!

count on it..

fly

[SlipperySlope]

7. Brilliant move if they do it

Brilliant move on the part of Hezbollah if they pull it off. Would throw Israel into an absolute shit-fit, and plays right into the Hezbollah objectives.

[Terran1212]

27. Plays right into Bush's hands as well

Bush has gone from soft restraint talk to outright supporting the Israeli aggression across the region.

Don't you think he's just itching to have the Israelis drop some bombs on those Iranians?

[Chi-Town Exile]

50. Yes its "brillant" to start WWIII.

[SlipperySlope]

55. Hezbollah is determined to eliminate the state of Israel

Hezbollah is determined to eliminate the state of Israel. That is their stated goal.

Since Israel is not likely to volunteer to be eliminated peacefully, then war is a prerequisite to Hezbollah's goals.

It is not in the interest of Hezbollah to allow a period of detente to last. Hezbollah needs to keep the war progressing to achieve their goals. Demonstrating the weakness of Israel is also in Hezbollah's interest, as it encourages others to attack Israel.

Israel is determined to get their soldiers back at all costs. By transporting them to a location that they cannot be retrieved from, Hezbollah wins. Either Israel escalates the violence, and thereby escalates the required war, or Israel capitulates on this point and demonstrates their weakness.

The worst outcome for Hezbollah would be for Israel to successfully use force to retrieve their soldiers. The longer Hezbollah can keep these soldiers imprisoned and alive, in the face of an Israeli offense, the better.

The master propaganda stroke will be when Iran pulls a "reverse gitmo" and declares that since Israel is a illegitimate terrorist state, it will not be possible to release the prisoners until a legitimate government replaces Israel in Palestine.

[BrightKnight]

75. Hizballah needs conflict to exist

All they have to sell is fear and hate. They are a lot like Chimpy. Lasting peace and prosperity would put them out of business.

Nothing will be gained by the conflict but they are determined to promote it.

-------------
Two hot heads think alike.

[WilliamPitt]

8. Link?

[Howardx]

13. haaretz has it on their ticker

actually they have an article up now

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738310.html

[LSK]

14. here

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060713/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_lebanon_28;_ylt=AvwfVOdrHAQJqvETeThoes8UvioA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

"Israel has information that Lebanese guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers are trying to transfer them to
Iran, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Spokesman Mark Regev did not disclose the source of his information."

[formercia]

9. I wouldn't be surprised if Iran is not a party to this.

IMHO.

[The Magistrate]

10. As A Matter Of Curiousity, Sir

How do you envision any act of Hezbollah being recruited into an attempt by the U.S. to stage-manage a war in the Middle East? Command and control would seem difficult to arrange....

It is not by any means unreasonable to suppose this is at least being considered by Hezbollah. When it6 firmerly held captives for a long period, it did so in areas occupied by Syrian armed forced, which is what rendered the imprisonmenmt secure. No such safe fround exists in Lebanon at present.

[LSK]

17. i believe he is implying that it is not Hezbollah

And all this is staged by the CIA (or others who want war).

[The Magistrate]

25. Unfortunately For That View, Sir

The leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Nasrallah, has personally announced his fighters conducted the operation and hold the captives in a secure location the Israelis will never be able to reach....

It would be necessary, accordingly, to assert he and his organization are a C.I.A. asset for that to view to be accurate.

What is left out of such blinkered speculations is that Hezbollah may well feli its own interests are best served by an expansion of hostilities in the Middle East. The U.S. is hardly the only actor in the world.

[Vinnie From Indy]

37. To be clear, I never implied that Hezbollah was not responsible

for the soldiers abductions. My point is simply that the abduction of these soldiers by Hezbollah is being used by BushCo and the Israelis to begin to lay the foundations of an attack on Iran.

I believe Hezbollah's goal, as stated by them, is to use the abducted soldiers as an exchange for the hundreds of Lebanese held in Israeli jails. It defies logic to assume that Hezbollah would be unable to hold these soldiers without detection. They have a very long history of being able to hold hostages without detection. Your point about not having Syrian military power as a shield for Hezbollah to operate is not valid in light of the history of Hezbollah being able to accomplish these operations WITHOUT any help from anyone.

[Zynx]

11. Of course Hezbollah is trying to dump the soldiers. Israel is pissed.

People need to stop blaming everything on Bush. This is 100% Hezbollah's fault.

[gordianot]

36. Give Bush time even if he does not have a hand in this he will screw it up

Just like Katrina was not Bush's fault. Before it is over it will be much less than 100% Hezbollah's fault once Bush, Rice add their magic touch.

[elehhhhna]

15. When did "Captured" become "Kidnapped", btw? WTF?

[theboss]

20. If me and three of my buddies "captured" a soldier

It would be a kidnapping.

[Recursion]

52. Not if he was in uniform and on post

And you had previously declared your intent to inflict harm on the state they hold allegiance to. Then it's a capture, and an act of war. And, incidentally, the sort of thing that justifies a military response like Israel is doing.

Israel and the US need to stop pretending we are opposed by a vocal and extremist minority; that may have been the case in the past, but our actions have made us opposed by essentially entire nations and societies, which means violence in that cause is war, not terrorism.

[MidwestTransplant]

21. They are kidnapped when you invade another country and snatch them

they are captured when they are in your country. Hezbollah came into Israel to abduct them, just like Hamas did.

[spanone]

18. Elections are on the way...we need to have a war, quick.

What better way. fuck.

[theboss]

19. Link?

Because:
A. I doubt it, and
B. I'm not sure how they would get there.

[klook]

22. The only source for this information is the Israeli government

and they're saying Hezbollah plans to transfer the soldiers to Iran. Forgive me for being skeptical, but until there is better confirmation I'm taking a "wait and see" attitude on this news.

Israel has concrete evidence that Hezbollah plans to transfer the two Israel Defense Forces soldiers abducted Wednesday to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Thursday.

"We have concrete evidence that Hezbollah plans to transfer the kidnapped soldiers to Iran. As a result, Israel views Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran as the main players in the axis of terror and hate that endangers not only Israel, but the entire world," AFP quoted Deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry Gideon Meir as saying.
more - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738310.html

[hang a left]

23. Perhaps that carrier group that is supposedly heading for the

Korea's really isn't going there???

[MidwestTransplant]

26. Revealing the info is meant to justify the attacks on insfrustructure

and also let Hezbollah know that Israel knows what they are up to. It's totally reasonable that Hezbollah would try to do this. They are a proxy for Iran in Lebanon.

[Clark2008]

30. And we are a proxy for Israel.

We need to stop always siding with them. They are NOT always correct. It never would have gotten to this if we could be a more even-handed peace broker.

[Chi-Town Exile]

41. Yeah ... let's go ahead and BLAME ISRAEL for wanting their

soldiers back. The rotten Bastards.

Some of you truly do have your heads planted firmly up your asses.

[Vinnie From Indy]

59. Well gee Exile, if you would only tell us all how it really is,

we wouldn't be so annoying by thinking for ourselves. Simply stating that Israel's massive retaliation in Gaza and Lebanon is a bit out of proportion to the incidents they used to justify such actions is not in my opinion indicative of one's head up one's ass. Collective punsihment rarely de-escalates a situation. My original post was merely an observation that the allegation by the Israeli armed forces that Hezbollah was trying to send the captured soldiers to Iran was very odd and made no sense. Why would a group that had decades of experience holding hostages undetected suddenly be in such a hurry to send them to Iran or Syria? Why in the world would Syria or Iran want them? Why would the Israeli's put their soldiers in seemingly more danger by releasing this information? There are a host of questions that beg to be answered by this allegation that Syria or Iran are directly involved in the kidnapping of two soldiers by Hezbollah. I can recall no incident in the past where Hezbollah sent hostages to any other country.

[Llewlladdwr]

70. If the kidnapped soldiers were released...

this would all be over.

[Gloria]

74. Steve Clemons' comments about the escalation....from

a couple of days ago:

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001527.php

Dangerous Escalation in the Middle East

Hezbollah's entry into the already tense situation between the Palestinians and Israel is a major escalation of an already bad situation.

While I think that Israel has responded disproportionately in its incursion into Gaza, I think that the firing of rockets from inside Lebanon into Israel changes Israel's moral position to a degree. Israel has withdrawn from Lebanon -- and Lebanon should do everything it is able to do to secure its borders and to preempt this kind of attack on Israel.

The "politics of occupation and resistance" simply do not apply at this point to Hezbollah, and Israel should do what needs to be done to secure itself there. I would argue that it makes little tactical sense to create a full frontal assault against the people and territory of Lebanon -- and were I in Olmert's shoes I would have worked to try and coordinate with the Lebanese government and military to contain this incident. Israel seems not to have done that and seems to have proceeded unilaterally when collaboration should have been attempted.

But the regional picture is bleak, and sane strategists, advisors, and political leaders need to know that they are on the brink potentially of a full scale war. No one wins in such a case.

What Israel needs to try and stomach -- and then outmaneuver -- is that the Hezbollah elements who abducted two soldiers wanted exactly the reaction from Israel that they got. They wanted "massive retaliation". Why? Because it galvanizes the public -- the innocent public -- that sustains the punishment and helps terrorist thugs appear to be legitimate in the eyes of that country's citizens.

Israel is smarter than this. It has long preferred surgical strikes, covert activities and even assassinations coordinated by the Mossad, and responses proportionate to the incident triggered by terrorists.

One has to wonder whether Israel's reaction -- so dramatically different than in the past -- is designed to REMOVE from the table certain options America might prefer to have with the Palestinians, with the broader Arab region, and even -- eventually -- with Iran.

Israel's actions may be less directed towards recovering their soldiers than they are designed to dramatically alter America's options in the Middle East. Some inside the Bush administration are already grumbling privately about the character of Israel's responses to its recent security breaches.

The word "disproportionate" is not only coming from Arab Gulf nations and the Europeans, it is also a word being whispered in the halls of the Old Executive Office Building and the White House -- as long as Elliott Abrams is not in listening distance.

More later.

[gordianot]

28. You would think possession of any Israeli soldiers would not be desirable.

Everyone seems to have their own political agenda.

This is what happens when you have too many religious fanatics living in close proximity. That includes the pretend Neo-Con fanatics in D.C. who continue to cater and allow various types of religious in their midst.

[DearAbby]

29. That is exactlty what dear hubby said...

when we spoke about this latest twist this morning...It sounds like a set up.

[Javaman]

35. Same to me, because It appears to me that this military

re-"action" by Israel is far to heavy handed for two captured soldiers. They were biding their time to instigate our next war to help out moron*.

This whole thing stinks to high heaven.

We have our own little babydoc president for life* in the making.

[Chi-Town Exile]

45. Oh and it wasn't too '"heavy handed" of Hezbollah to march into Israel

and capture two soldiers?

Oh, that's right, terrorists are NEVER wrong on this message board if they are attacking Israel.

[Javaman]

66. are you trying to compare the invasion of a country

to the abduction of two soldiers as an equal responce? rethink what you just wrote. Sounds like you are taking a page out of morons* play book.

Have a truly beautiful day. :)

[Llewlladdwr]

71. So if a squad of Mexican soldiers crossed the border...

and kidnapped a couple of Guardsmen how would you say the US should react?

[Emit]

31. Posted this last night: Perle-Feith-Wurmser strategy, Israel’s enemy remai

In “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” written by, among others, Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, Meyrav Wurmser, and Perle, Syria is a key target, by way of Iraq. Maybe this was part of their plan all along. The "Clean Break" document, as I recall, was a precursor to PNAC defense plans, wasn't it?

"In the Perle-Feith-Wurmser strategy, Israel’s enemy remains Syria, but the road to Damascus runs through Baghdad."

My apologies in advance for referring to Pat Buchanan, but, considering the current events, his article is worth a look. I'm sure there are other articles from other sources examining the same notion. Buchanan wrote this in 2003:

In 1996, with Douglas Feith and David Wurmser, Perle wrote “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” for Prime Minister Netanyahu. In it, Perle, Feith, and Wurmser urged Bibi to ditch the Oslo Accords of the assassinated Yitzak Rabin and adopt a new aggressive strategy:

Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq—an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right—as a means of foiling Syria’s regional ambitions. Jordan has challenged Syria’s regional ambitions recently by suggesting the restoration of the Hashemites in Iraq.

In the Perle-Feith-Wurmser strategy, Israel’s enemy remains Syria, but the road to Damascus runs through Baghdad. Their plan, which urged Israel to re-establish “the principle of preemption,” has now been imposed by Perle, Feith, Wurmser & Co. on the United States.

http://www.amconmag.com/03_24_03/print/coverprint.html


Here's a report that makes reference to "A Clean Break" and Syria, as well:

U.S. Policy Towards Iraq: Unraveling the Web

Laurence A. Toenjes

~snip~

In 1996 IASPS prepared a report intended to provide guidance for the incoming Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with the title “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.” The advice to Netanyahu contained in the report has been succinctly summarized as follows:

"make a clean break from the peace process;" reassert Israel’s claim to its land by rejecting "land for peace" as the basis of peace; strengthen Israel’s defenses to better confront Syria and Iraq; and forge a new and stronger relationship with the United States based on self-reliance and mutual interest.

HTML version:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:tCe3qbnj7CkJ:www.opednews.com/toenjes_IraqPolicyWeb_withTables_July19.doc+U.S.+Policy+Towards+Iraq:+Unraveling+the+Web&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

PDF version:
http://www.opednews.com/toenjes_IraqPolicyWeb_withTables_July19.doc

[Beelzebud]

32. It's called Black Ops. They've been brainwashing us with them since 2001.

[C_U_L8R]

33. A second iranian hostage crisis??

i don't think so

[liberalmuse]

38. Bullsh*t!

The Bush propoganda is getting better. This way, the American masses will support both Israel's and the U.S. bombing of Iran. We know both nations have been itching to strike Iran. The politio-religious fanatics will not be happy until we are engaged in full scale war in the M.E. Good luck, is all I can say. We don't have the military might we used to have, thanks to the Bush cabal using and heinously abusing our troops for their phony war. If Israel strikes Iran, it's not just going to be Iran we're fighting against. Israel has taken their revenge campaigns into other countries before, but never has America been the facist state it is now, completely devoid of moral authority and intelligent leadership in all branches of government. Folks, we're f*cked.

[deaniac21]

40. This will all play out over the next 24 business hours.

[Chi-Town Exile]

42. It's amazing how you guys whip yourselves up into a frenzy.

Israel wants their soldiers back ... period.

Turning Israel into the "Great Satan" is complete bullshit. Hezbollah started this current crap and blaming Israel is beyond STUPID.

However, I know I'm going to be flamed for using ... OH MY GOD ... LOGIC!

[Bandit]

44. Yes it was Hezbollah that bulldozed all the Palistinian homes

for the last ten years. Right Israel is totally innocent. Just casual observers...

[Chi-Town Exile]

47. No, it wasn't Hezbollah that bulldozed the homes, but it was

Hezbollah that walked into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.

Try to keep up.

[Bandit]

49. Oh yes must not let history play any role at all

Israel is totally innocent here yeah right....two men get kidnapped so must kill thousands in retribution because it is God's will.

[Chi-Town Exile]

54. Reading is a skill.

My, what interesting interpretation. Where did I say that Israel is totally innocent?

They're not. However what has happened in the past does not justify Hezbollah walking into Northern Israel and KIDNAPPING two soldiers RIGHT NOW.

You must be one of those people that thought WE (America) deserved September 11th.

Sorry, I call all terrorists out when they perpetuate violence and murder. I also call Israel out on bulldozing the homes of Palestinians. It's a horrible policy, serves no purpose and creates more terrorists.

However, you cannot claim moral high ground when you only decry the killing and violence when it involves Palestinian blood. If you are on the side of PEACE you decry the nonsense on BOTH sides.

This action by Hezbollah is utterly stupid and destructive and will cost thousands (and potentially)hundred of thousands of lives.

To defend Hezbollah because you hate Israel does not strengthen the Palestinian cause.

[Vinnie From Indy]

58. LOL!

Of course no one condones or advocates violence by any party in the tinder box of the Middle East. In regard to Hezbollah's latest act of kidnapping two Iraeli soldiers, it might help if you knew what Hezbollah says about the incident. They claim that the soldiers were kidnapped and are being held to exchange for some of the HUNDREDS of Lebanese that have been languishing in Israeli jails for years. I do not condone or support this act by Hezbollah, but I do not agree that Israel's massive retaliation is warranted or appropriate. The scale of the response is way off the charts and the idea that "collective" punishment will make the situation LESS volatile is absurd.

Do you really think that the mighty Israeli armed forces are concerned about the tiny Hezbollah group? It seems they WANT to escalate the situation so they can hunt much bigger game to me.

[readmoreoften]

69. It is unknown as to whether the soldiers were captured on Israeli soil

or whether they were on the other side of the border. Hezbollah seems to want to use them for a prisoner exchange. If that is true, it is a somewhat different situation than you are portraying.

[Bandit]

43. Did the Hezbollah wear black uniforms with long hair and earrings

and little caps on the back of their heads?...just asking..

[5thJames]

46. or it is as the story says it is

Which is, that Hezbollah is actually trying to move their hostages to Iran. This wouldn't be at all surprising, given their strong ties to Iran. According to the BBC website:

"Hezbollah's political rhetoric has centred on calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. Its definition of Israeli occupation has also encompassed the idea that the whole of Palestine is occupied Muslim land and it has argued that Israel has no right to exist.

The party was long supported by Iran, which provided it with arms and money.

In its early days, Hezbollah was close to a contingent of some 2000 Iranian Revolutionary guards, based in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, which had been sent to Lebanon in 1982 to aid the resistance against Israel."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1908671.stm

By the way, where did you hear this story?

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[5thJames]

51. ha-ha

Those blasted facts! Sometimes they can be a real migraine.

[uppityperson]

53. yeah, like facts about what conservatives actually support.

[Chi-Town Exile]

56. I don't give a shit what Conservatives support. I can't

help it if REALITY gives you fits.

The only way to get to a cease-fire or on the road to peace is to accept reality.

When I stand up for Israel I am not saying they are completely innocent or justified in all their actions. However, I will not scapegoat them for everything that goes wrong in the ME. There is certainly enough blame to go around.

We on the Left are supposed to be intelligent. It serves no purpose to just pursue the blame Israel agenda when that is the very tactic used by the despotic regimes throughout the ME. They use Israel to control their people so they won't start analyzing their own governments. That fact contributes to the powder keg that is the ME.

[uppityperson]

57. my reply was not to you but to other poster, one I replied to.

not meant for you but for other poster.

[Vinnie From Indy]

63. Do you have a license to toss so many generalizations about?

Your ability to create straw men in such a prolific manner is impressive.

Simply stating that Israel's response to the kidnapping incident is out of proportion does not make one an "Israeli hater". Neither does asking why Israel would use this incident to point the finger at Syria and Iran when Hezbollah has never been known to send hostages to these countries in the past.

According to you the acceptance of "reality" involves the deaths and deprivation of hundreds if not thousands of Arabs for the kidnapping of two soldiers. I guess Hezbollah's offer to exchange prisoners with Israel for the two soldiers is irrelevant and unrealistic. I would assume that a region wide war is the reality you feel we must accept because these two soldiers were abducted. The reality, it would seem to me, would be that all sides in the conflict must renounce violence and work harder to stop the provocations and collective punishment.

[readmoreoften]

72. Don't blow it. You've lasted this long on DU because you're a polite

RW conservative. (Which this poster admitted in his first post, so I'm not out of line)

[uppityperson]

76. !

search is my friend too. It doesn't seem to want to play though, just pops in and out. Am waiting for an answer on other thread from this one.

[Red Knight]

60. Damn! There goes the deficit again!

Well, Bush is The War President.

This all seems very fishy to me. I don't trust these bastards at all. We know he's itching to strike Iran. This seems to be blowing out of proportion pretty damned fast.

[Generic Other]

61. It always seems like a chess game. Moves have been planned

well in advance. Our job is to keep them in check--or at least on the run!

[malaise]

64. It's bullspit

Neocon propoganda.

[LibertyorDeath]

65. You got it Vinnie and so does Chris Floyd

Diplomatic Deception: The Calm Before the Firestorm
Monday, 10 July 2006
DK at Talking Points Memo has this exactly right: the new mainstream media meme of a "quieter, more diplomatic" Bush foreign policy is yet another steaming crock served up by Karl Rove and swallowed whole by the fat and sassy gluttons of the press. As DK and Kevin Drum point out, the Bush Administration's whimpering reactions to provocations by North Korea, to the alarming resurgence of the Taliban (who have essentially trapped the British Expeditionary Force in the south in a loose but deadly siege), to the horrific death spiral in the raging Iraqi civil war, to the continuing imbroglio with Iran, etc., don't stem from some deliberate choice of "letting diplomacy work" but are simply the result of the Bushists' own blithering incompetence and utter cluelessness about how to actually govern a country and conduct a coherent foreign policy.

But of course they don't care about governing, coherent policies, etc. What they care about are loot and dominion. The only way they know how to get it is through strong-arm Mob tactics: you threaten the mark, and if he doesn't pay up, you beat him or kill him. (Actually, it is a pretty coherent policy after all: the logical consistency of a thug.) Thus this new "quiet" is in some ways even more dangerous than the bellicosity of old. Because as DK notes, the main reason for the lack of serious war-whooping at the moment is that the tin-pot triumvirate of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have broken the American military: they've smashed it to pieces on the stones of Iraq, poured out rivers of blood and whole seas of public treasure in their stupid, brutal greed. We can see the military unravelling before our eyes (Steve Gilliard has been tracking this closely), as discipline unravels, new atrocity cases emerge almost every week and , intent on using their combat training to bring their race war to America' s streets (more on this later in the week).

But their goal -- loot and dominion -- hasn't gone away. And their "policy" -- extortion and violent force -- remains the same. (Indeed, it's apparently the only thing they know how to do.) So if you still want to dominate and you still believe in force but your regular military force is broken, what do you do? What do you have left to bring out and swing around and show the world how big and tough you are? What else: "A smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud."


http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php

[Gloria]

67. Yup...I woke up this morning and said: MMMMMMM

The mention of Iran and Syria as this progressed made it clear to me that all this going to be used as our excuse to go into Syria/Iran. Nice touch, the TIME cover about "no more cowboy diplomacy", etc etc. All the wonderful "diplomacy efforts," praise being heaped all over the place....

Meanwhile....one soldier gets kidnapped and all of a sudden.....we just HAVE TO ACT to save peace in the ME, mark my words...Bush said today that "Israel is an agent of peace"....Meanwhile, Russia and France condemn the incursions. Russia has also said that this situation won't stop them from sending military hardware to Iran....

I feel sorry for Lebanon. Syria pulls out, the gov. is STILL unsettled.....their economy, just recovering, is now WRECKED as the tourism industry is going down the tubes....

http://www.menareport.com/en/business/200762

And the Palestinians sit there, no worry about their right to exist...

UGH

The only question in my mind is how much coordination was between Israel and the US in terms of escalating things...I wouldn't be surprised if something was planned....

And I feel terrible saying that. Not having an "honest broker" in the form of the US is really another crappy offshoot of Bushco....

[joe_shmoe]

77. **PETITION AGAINST MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAN**

Attack on Iran = WWIII and the collapse of the US. This madness must stop.

It is with grave concern that I observe the growing threat of a new U.S. war--this time against the people of Iran.

For a collection of articles and resources on this subject you can visit this link: http://reseaudesign.com/research/iran/iran_summery.html

I'm starting up a petition which I will be sending out to as many members of Congress as possible. I'm asking for help to get this signed by as many people, possible in the next month. Send it to as many people you can.

http://www.petitiononline.com/n0war1rn /


thanks,
J-shmoe

[Lithos]

78. Locking per I/P guidelines

Not based on a recent news or op-ed article.

Lithos
DU Moderator