You're all being PUNKED on IRAN. Just like you got punked on immigration

[radwriter0555]

and "THE MEXICANS ARE COMING!"

Same thing. It's wag the dog to distract from crimes and treason on the white house.

*buffs the crystal ball with sleeve*

[Catch22Dem]

1. Fortunately, I don't think many DUers are getting punked on anything

But the rest of the country is.

[saltpoint]

2. I'm with Catch22Dem. I think DU and the other progressive blogs

have been dead-on regarding Bush's foreign policy generally and the Iran/nuclear question specifically.

I agree that the Bush administration is masterful and persistent at misinformation and manipulation of the press, etc.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. According to PNAC... Iran and Syria are up next in the plan. I don't

believe we're being punked.

[liberal N proud]

4. Actually, I think the immigration issue was a diversion

Amazingly they did nothing on immigration before going on VACATION.

They all want to go to Disney World one last time before allowing bu$h to start WW-III

They just used immigration to keep the public and media occupied going into the break.

[sadiesworld]

5. Are you saying that all those business-sponsored protests

were planned to deflect attention from * crimes? Were the various legislative proposals also distractions (some dem proposals)? :shrug:

[Earth_First]

6. PUNKED nothing!

I've been worried about this for over a year now.

Unfortunately it's the rest of the country that's being PUNKED.

[Justice Is Comin]

7. If he thinks he's got troubles now,

let him throw a cruise missile into Iran.

[lonestarnot]

8. We ARE going to war with Iran... I am just beside myself as to how to

stop them.

[flyarm]

20. we are already in Iran!..

from everything i have read we have already been flying qircraft over iran and we suposedly already have troops ( special opps) in Iran in strategic places mapping out where we are going to bomb..

so who is being punked??

its already happening!

fly

[0007]

27. Tell us you're sources and we won't say a thing!

I don't doubt your opinion but perhaps it may be the other way around.

[flyarm]

29. Sy Hersh..real his latest article! n/t

[lonestarnot]

42. Saw him on Face the Nation this a.m.

[lonestarnot]

44. or maybe it was Wolfie, not sure.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

38. Sy Hersh wrote some time ago that we had spec ops troops in Iran....

...looking for WMDs, armories, and other military targets. The date of the article below is 2005-01-04, and Hersh states that U. S. forces have been inside Iran "at least since last summer", making their first acknowledged arrival in Iran to be roughly mid-2004 or earlier.

THE COMING WARS
What the Pentagon can now do in secret.
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
Issue of 2005-01-24 and 31
Posted 2005-01-17
<http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050124fa_fact>

QUOTE:

The Administration has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran at least since last summer. Much of the focus is on the accumulation of intelligence and targeting information on Iranian nuclear, chemical, and missile sites, both declared and suspected. The goal is to identify and isolate three dozen, and perhaps more, such targets that could be destroyed by precision strikes and short-term commando raids. “The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible,” the government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon told me.

[countryjake]

39. It has been reported long before this month.

THE COMING WARS
What the Pentagon Can Now Do In Secret
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
The New Yorker Jan. 17, 2005
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050124fa_fact

~snip~

The Administration has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran at least since last summer. Much of the focus is on the accumulation of intelligence and targeting information on Iranian nuclear, chemical, and missile sites, both declared and suspected. The goal is to identify and isolate three dozen, and perhaps more, such targets that could be destroyed by precision strikes and short-term commando raids. “The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible,” the government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon told me.

Some of the missions involve extraordinary coöperation. For example, the former high-level intelligence official told me that an American commando task force has been set up in South Asia and is now working closely with a group of Pakistani scientists and technicians who had dealt with Iranian counterparts. (In 2003, the I.A.E.A. disclosed that Iran had been secretly receiving nuclear technology from Pakistan for more than a decade, and had withheld that information from inspectors.) The American task force, aided by the information from Pakistan, has been penetrating eastern Iran from Afghanistan in a hunt for underground installations. The task-force members, or their locally recruited agents, secreted remote detection devices—known as sniffers—capable of sampling the atmosphere for radioactive emissions and other evidence of nuclear-enrichment programs.




U.S. Uses Drones to Probe Iran For Arms
Surveillance Flights Are Sent From Iraq
By Dafna Linzer Staff Writer
Washington Post February 13, 2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19820-2005Feb12.html

~snip~

U.S. officials confirmed that the drones were deployed along Iran's northern and western borders, first in April 2004, and again in December and January. A former U.S. official with direct knowledge of earlier phases of the operation said the U.S. intelligence community began using Iraq as a base to spy on Iran shortly after taking Baghdad in early April 2003. Drones have been flown over Iran since then, the former official said, but the missions became more frequent last year.


Iran 'Shoots Down Unmanned Plane'
From correspondents in Tehran
The Daily Telegraph April 09, 2006
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18766793-5001028,00.html

~snip~

IRAN had shot down an unmanned surveillance plane in the south amid reports that the United States is planning military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, a press report said today.

"This plane had taken off from Iraq and was filming border areas," a report in the hardline Jumhuri Eslami newspaper said. It added the Islamic Republic "officials have obtained information from the plane system and recordings", without giving any further details.

US publications reported over the weekend that the White House was studying options for military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities to pressure Tehran to abandon its controversial nuclear program.

The US media has reported that the US military has been secretly flying surveillance drones over Iran since 2004 using radar, video, still photography and air filters to detect traces of nuclear activity not accessible to satellites.

[lonestarnot]

45. Yes reported but we were not THIS close.

[LoZoccolo]

9. The front page of each forum holds over 50 topics.

I think we can talk about two at a time.

[bullimiami]

10. i seriously hope they are trying to punk us.

the possible consequences of bombing iran are horrifying.

[Pavulon]

11. Oil Bourse?!

According to the threads earlier we are already supposed to be invading. Like last month.

If this un sourced story is true it lacks context. We are planning a nuclear attack on Pakistan, India, Russia, France, etc. The pentagon pays people to sit around and write war plans for every conceivable theater of war.

[Lerkfish]

12. I pray you're correct, but I am certain the PNAC already had the plans

drawn up since 1997 to achieve "global leadership". I don't think they're going to get this close and then walk away from it.

whether nuclear or not, the intent is to use Iraq as a central base to colonize the entire middle east, and then the world.

I just personally think they HAVE to go nuclear, because number one, they're batguano crazy, and number two: conventional weapons depend on ground forces and frankly, we don't have enough.

[bowens43]

13. Right....just like we were punked on Iraq........

Maybe you should try to broaden your horizons a little. This administration is quite capable of committing many crimes simultaneously.

[QC]

14. Yeah, they're great at multitasking. n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. This story came from Sy Hersh though. HIM, I trust.

He's on our side.:hi:

[davsand]

17. If it was anybody but HERSH I'd question it too.

You got it, in_cog_ni_to! I agree.

I trust Hersh. He gets it right an awful lot of the time, and he's one of the few journalists that I take very seriously. If he's putting out there now, I'm inclined to think that (like a lot of other times) this is gonna be a big part of the news internationally in the near future.



Laura

[Slit Skirt]

16. nah...I think immigration came out of the Dubai Ports thing

it showed repugs were NOT strong on security...raising issues with the right wing about immigration, which is a huge sore spot and devisive among republicans

With Iran....I think Bush is testing the waters...that ass would nuke Iran if he thought it would bring up the polls

[Eric J in MN]

18. The Bush Admin has a power-drunk

might-makes-right mentality.

While I hope they never use any type of nuclear weapon against Iran, the time to speak out is now.

Please tell your Senators to ban the use of nuclear weapons unless in retaliation against a country which has nuked us first.

http://contactcongress.blogspot.com/

[Jim__]

34. delete - posted in the wrong place.

[cali]

19. Gee, now why would

I trust Sy Hersh's research and thousands of words over your off the top of your head 40?

Have you even read the article? Do you know Hersh's record for accuracy?

Please, if you want to make this argument, try providing something beyond one rash statement.

[radwriter0555]

21. Because I'm always right. bush has no support to invade iran from any

sector.

It takes money, power, and reasons to invade another nation. No one is going to be stupid enough to support another bogus invasion without iran firing the first shot. Now... if bush can make that happen, he MIGHT have a chance. But, the dude is out of gas. The military is dessicated, the US is broke, the troops are deserting at all time highs... he's got nothin.

It's a sleight of hand. Between indictments and trials, the bush regime is fucked. All they have going for them now is diebold.

Simplistic? Sure. But I'm always right.

[cali]

23. LOL, now you are seriously deluded or

ignorant or both. It's not about invasion, it's about bombing and he doesn't need either public or congressional support to do it. That's just a fact.

[Ms. Clio]

24. But the article is not about invasion, it's about bombing

Please see the opening paragraph of the piece

The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack."

Moreover:

The Pentagon adviser said that, in the event of an attack, the Air Force intended to strike many hundreds of targets in Iran but that “ninety-nine per cent of them have nothing to do with proliferation. There are people who believe it’s the way to operate”—that the Administration can achieve its policy goals in Iran with a bombing campaign, an idea that has been supported by neoconservatives."

So I guess in that sense, you are right!

[madrchsod]

22. i agree

LOOK THE OTHER WAY!!!!!! high crimes and misdemeanors

[QC]

25. It's a good thing you're here to protect us ignorant masses

from ourselves! Otherwise there's no telling what we would do!

[Individualist]

26. Naysayers also said

the administration wouldn't invade Iraq.

[OzarkDem]

28. Something to consider

Bush may not necessarily "punking" Dems with Iran, but he's no doubt using it to distract the public from his corruption, lies and failure in Iraq and on the domestic front.

[Neil Lisst]

30. No, we're not being punked on Iran.

When Ronald Reagan lost 250 marines in Beirut, he just turned around and started a war in Grenada.

Bush is insane, not rational. He's going to attack Iran, and the more trouble he's in, the closer we are to that reality. I suspect he wants to use that 700 ton bomb they're alleged to have. He wants to use nuclear, but I don't think the military will do it.

[question everything]

31. For those of us who do not watch MTV - what does "punked"

really mean (besides being used by Demi Moore's spouse)?

[Neil Lisst]

32. it means being played, being fooled, being suckered

[question everything]

36. Thanks (nt)

[Emit]

33. This Iran thing

has been in the news for well over a year now. Sy Hersh originally wrote an article, similar to the one he put out yesterday, back in January of 05, The Coming Wars, and articles such as this, Iran: The Next War Is Closer Than You Think, by Joshua Kurlantzick have been coming out since Spring of last year.

It would be very dangerous to take the attitude that we're being punked about this news.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

35. Isn't this being posted on the wrong board? I doubt seriously that....

...anyone on DU is being "punked" on the NeoCon desire to attack Iran.

[Jim__]

37. Sy Hersh has been an extremely reliable reporter.

That doesn't mean that he isn't wrong about this. But, do you have anything to offer by way of evidence? Any specific evidence that the story reported by Sy Hersh is incorrect? Any specific evidence that the story was disinformation leaked by the admin or its supporters?

If not, why should we take your unsupported opinion over Sy Hersh's well-researched story?

[Beelzebud]

40. People on MTV shows get "punked".

Iran is no laughing matter with this madman in office.

[robertpaulsen]

41. Be careful radwriter. You're starting to sound like Mike Ruppert!

RAPPROCHEMENT? - Not Only Will the US Not Attack Iran, It Looks Like the Biggest Thaw in US/Iranian Relations Since 1979 is Suddenly and Inexplicably Underway - by Michael C. Ruppert

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/

;)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

43. yes. we are. and we are dehumanizing ourselves

when we refer to poor workers in any country as illegals....it doesnt reflect very well on anyone.

[Sugar Smack]

46. Eh, not me, baby!

;)