Israel Prodding U.S. To Attack Iran

“Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen leaves Tuesday night on an overseas trip that will take him to Israel, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The trip has been scheduled for some time but U.S. officials say it comes just as the Israelis are mounting a full court press to get the Bush administration to strike Iran’s nuclear complex.

CBS consultant Michael Oren says Israel doesn’t want to wait for a new administration.”

Read more from CBSNews.com

See Also:

The AIPAC Girl: “[Nancy Pelosi] quietly agreed to strip out of the $100 billion funding bill for Iraq a provision that would have required President Bush to seek congressional approval before launching any new war on Iran.” This war-enabling, AIPAC-inspired move by Pelosi is also covered at accuracy.org.

Flashback- THE IRAQIS ARE COMING TO GET US!!!!

Iraqi Drones May Target U.S. Cities

Monday, February 24, 2003

WASHINGTON — Iraq could be planning a chemical or biological attack on American cities through the use of remote-controlled “drone” planes equipped with GPS tracking maps, according to U.S. intelligence.

The information about Iraq’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program has caused a “real concern” among defense personnel, senior U.S. officials tell Fox News. They’re worried that these vehicles have already been, or could be, transported inside the United States to be used in an attack, although there is no proof that this has happened.

Secretary of State Colin Powell showed a picture of a small drone plane during his presentation to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month.

“UAVs outfitted with spray tanks constitute an ideal method for launching a terrorist attack using biological weapons,” Powell said during his speech. “Iraq could use these small UAVs, which have a wingspan of only a few meters, to deliver biological agents to its neighbors or, if transported, to other countries, including the United States.”

Powell said there is “ample evidence” that Iraq has dedicated much time and effort to developing and testing spray devices that could be adapted for UAVs. “And of the little that Saddam Hussein told us about UAVs, he has not told the truth,” Powell said.

Read more from FOX”News”.com

Status of Forces Agreement in Iraq

There’s an important, controversial and (surprise, surprise) under-reported effort underway to legitimize our military occupation of Iraq past this coming December’s expiration of the UN mandate.

In Debate Over Permanent Bases In Iraq, U.S. Seeks Authorization For War In Iran
The ongoing negotiations between Iraqi leaders and the Bush administration over the future role of the military occupation “have turned into an increasingly acrimonious public debate.”

The Bush administration’s demand for 58 permanent bases in Iraq — a near doubling of the current 30 bases — are causing Iraqis to warn that the status of forces agreement would be “more abominable than the occupation.” The administration is reportedly holding hostage “some $50bn of Iraq’s money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement.”

The reason the White House is so hell-bent on signing a long-term agreement may have less to do with Iraq and more to do with Iran. According to press reports of the ongoing negotiations, the Bush administration is seeking the “power to determine if a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq.” Ali al Adeeb, a leading member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa party, confirmed:

The Americans insist so far that is they who define what is an aggression on Iraq and what is democracy inside Iraq. . . if we come under aggression we should define it and ask for help.

The administration’s request would seemingly allow the U.S. to brand Iran as an enemy of Iraq and attack Iran in the name of defending Iraq pursuant to a legal obligation under the status of forces agreement. Read more from thinkprogress.org

—

Iraq takes a turn towards Tehran
[Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki] is torn between appeasing the United States, which brought him to power and kept him there despite all odds, since 2006, and pleasing his patrons and co-religionaries in Tehran.

The Americans tell him to sign a long-term agreement between with the US, maintaining 50 permanent American military bases in Iraq. The Iranians angrily order him not to, claiming this would be a direct security threat to the region as a whole, and Iran in particular. The Americans reportedly are pressing to finalize the deal by July 30, 2008, upset that no progress has been made since talks started in February. Iran has carried out a massive public relations campaign against the deal, calling on all Shi’ites in Iraq to drown it. Read more from Asia Times Online

—

Baghdad insists on right to veto US operations
Iraq is insisting on the right to veto any US military operations throughout its territory under a “status of forces” agreement currently being negotiated between Baghdad and Washington, according to a senior member of the Iraqi government.

The agreement will last for a maximum of two years and can be terminated by either side with six months’ notice, Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq’s oil minister, told the Guardian yesterday.

His remarks come amid intensive closed-door negotiations between the Iraqi and US governments which have led to complaints in the US Congress as well as Iraq that the Bush administration is tying the next US president’s hands by seeking to maintain long-term bases in Iraq for possible attacks on Iran and other neighbouring states.” Read more from prisonplanet.com

—

Legalizing occupation: Bush’s last manoeuvre in Iraq
Now the Bush administration is ready to crown its Iraq travesty with a long-term strategy that would turn Iraq’s occupation into a lasting one. The US is ‘negotiating’ a treaty with the Iraqi government, one that would replace the UN mandate and legalise the US occupation of Iraq permanently.

Basically, time is running out for Bush. If no treaty is reached by the end of the year, his administration could find itself pleading to the Security Council for another extension of the mandate. This would be an embarrassing and dangerous scenario for US diplomacy because it would allow Russia and China to re-emerge as important players wielding fearsome veto powers. Read more from onlinejournal.com

—

SEE ALSO:
–Bill Presses Iraq to Recognize Israel from forward.com

States resist federal Real ID mandate

“Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed a bill today that prohibits the implementation of the REAL ID in Arizona. SB2677 received a Final vote of approval in the House last week by an overwhelming margin of 51 to 1. Napolitano’s signature was uncertain until today when she signed the bill into law.

The bill prohibits implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005, which was passed by Congress as part of a supplemental spending bill for tsunami relief and the War on Terror. The bill did not receive a hearing in either the House or the Senate, and the public was largely unaware of it until it had already been signed into law.

‘Everyone thinks that the REAL ID is just about protecting us against terrorism,’ said co-sponsor Senator Karen Johnson (R-18). ‘But it really represents a cash cow for technology companies as well as the birth of the National ID card, complete with all the biometric information that technology can handle face recognition, fingerprints, etc.’

‘Corporations which specialize in selling identity cards stand to gain millions of dollars in profits if the Real ID Act is implemented,’ said Johnson, ‘so, of course, they’re eager for everyone to be required to carry a National ID card everywhere they go.’ Two of those corporations are Digimarc ID Systems and L-1 ­ the Number 1 and Number 2 companies for the manufacture of state driver’s licenses and identity cards. L-1 is considered the main driver behind the REAL ID and last year had nearly $100 million in federal contracts involving identity cards. Digimarc spent $350,000 in the first six months of 2007 lobbying Congress on the Real ID Act. Apparently the two companies are soon to be merged, resulting in a powerhouse corporation, pushing the ‘identification-as-security’ concept to the maximum in order to increase company profits as they add more and more biometric features to state driver’s licenses.

. . . .

‘It’s odious, onerous, and a violation of our civil liberties.’

‘I refuse to be tagged and numbered,’ said Johnson. ‘Requiring people to carry papers takes away their freedom. There are other, better ways to stop terrorism and to protect us against criminals. The federal government needs to butt out and let the states handle driver licensing. It’s not the business of the Dept. Of Homeland Security to tell us how to run our state.’

Real ID ­ SB2677
1. Proponents always claim that the sole purpose of the Real ID is to prevent another 9/11-type attack by disrupting terrorists travel. That is bogus. If the government really wanted to prevent such an attack, they would secure our borders, which would (1) cost less than implementing Real ID, (2) would be more effective at keeping terrorists out, and (3) would be less intrusive and less inconvenient for American citizens. Until the borders are secure, all the rosy pleas for the Real ID are just so much hogwash.
2. The Real ID will cost the states billions of dollars. The Dept. Of Transportation estimates that in Arizona alone, it will cost $40 to $70 million to implement just in the first year, and $15 to $20 million in subsequent years. But they really don’t have a clue ­ they don’t know what the regulations are going to be yet. They are just estimating. It will depend on what the Rules say when they are finally issued.
They already do some things that will be part of the requirements. For example, they already check citizenship, or whether or not someone is legally authorized to be in the country. So that would not be an additional expense. But even factoring in that some things required by REAL ID are already being handled, the $40 to $70 million is over and above what we already do!!!
3. The Real ID is an invasion of privacy. Why should so much personal information be compiled on one place for so many people to have access to?
* medical history
* social security number
* insurance information

4. The Real ID increases the risk of Identity Theft. Identity theft is a major problem in Arizona already. Throwing everyone’s personal information ­ including social security numbers, birth dates, medical information, driver’s license and auto licensing information, etc. ­ into one massive data base just makes it easier for identity thieves to harvest identities for fraudulent purposes. The Real ID requires all Arizona driver’s license information to be compiled with all the information for the other 49 states and the District of Columbia into one massive database that will be accessible by thousands of clerks and government employees throughout the country. This is a horrendous idea, an invitation to identity theft on a massive scale.”

from rumormillnews.com

The rEVOLution in Idaho votes to abolish Fed

“It appears the Ron Paul wing of the Idaho Republican Party has scored its first victory at the party’s state convention in this North Idaho resort town.

The state party’s platform committee voted overwhelmingly Friday to add to state platform language supporting abolishing the Federal Reserve System and pegging the dollar to gold and silver.”

Read more from idahostatesman.com

Global War on Political Dissent Progressing in Europe

London:

“London police have announced a ban on anti-war campaigners hoping to protest against President George Bush’s visit to Downing Street this Sunday. The Whitehall ban has been immediately condemned as a ‘totalitarian act’ by the playwright Harold Pinter, while Stop the War organisers are urging people to defy it and to demonstrate nearby in Parliament Square.” Read more from thefirstpost.co.uk.

France:

“Not content with simply limiting itself to blocking despicable child sex abuse, a move three major ISPs in the US also agreed to today, the French government feels it necessary to go a radical step further and decide for its citizens whether or not they can view content it considers inappropriately racist and or linked to terrorism.

In fact, worse still is that any site is now game for a French blockade, as Sarkozy’s government is inviting people to send in huge long lists of sites which offend their delicate sensibilities. The French government, which will purportedly be able to receive complaints from Internet users in real time, will be able to add sites to a so called ‘black list’, which it will then force national ISPs to block.” Read more from theinquirer.net.

-Among my five prediction for 2008, was “the threat of child predators will be leveraged as an excuse to regulate the internet, or internet access.” Fascism is being carried to us with (arguably) good intentions and great slogans. I wonder if skaskiw.com might be considered linked to terrorism, since I advocate something other than obliteration of Islamic nations and peoples, since I sometimes say “Palestinian” without saying “terrorist,” since I refuse to hate or fear anybody, since I believe in liberty, in the Constitution.

What Obama Said

The unfortunate truth is that any and every media-approved politician goes before AIPAC and promises whatever they want. Even Obama, the supposed peace candidate, joins them in their great lies. Iran is NOT a threat to the the United States. Obama also weighed in very inappropriately on the long-standing issue of Jerusalem. I’m no longer sure I can vote for him.

I.

from ynetnews.com (6/4/08): “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday Iran posed a ‘grave’ danger in the Middle East and vowed to stop it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

‘The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat,’ Obama said in a speech to a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. ‘I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon; everything,’ he said to a standing ovation. (Reuters)”

-I’m tired of everyone pretending like this shit isn’t being said. He, like McCain, is pledging another needless war. More and death and destruction, more hatred and lies by our media, more deployments for our military, more coffins, more trillions of dollars borrowed from Asia or printed out of thin air. Enough is enough. The threat of terrorism best met by good police, and good border security, not military occupations of foreign countries, and certainly not by invasions of countries under false pretenses.

See Also:
–From salem-news.com: Carter Reveals Israel’s Possession of 150 nuclear weapons
–From thinkprogress.org: Lieberman, Bennett, And Kristol See Petraeus Hearing As ‘An Argument’ For ‘Going Into Iran’
–from english.aljazeera.net: Arabs Shocked by Obama Speech

II.

from ynetnews.com (6/4/08): “Democratic US presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke at an AIPAC meeting in Jerusalem saying that ‘Jerusalem will remain the undivided capital of Israel.'”

-Why does the road to the U.S. Presidency seem to run through Israel? Jerusalem was captured by Israel during the 1967 war. It’s status is a long-standing and very controversial issue between Israel and Palestine. Obama has no business siding so definitively on Israel’s side for political gain.

See Also:
–from nytimes.com: Israel Demolishes 8 Arab Homes in Jerusalem
–from haaretz.com: Israel razes Arab home in J’lem over illegal building permit. “While the home was built without a permit, Palestinians say it’s virtually impossible for them to obtain building permits in Jerusalem.”
–The Israeli Committee Against House Demolition
–from ynetnews.com: Israel approves plan to build 1,300 homes in East Jerusalem.
–from news.bbc.co.uk: “The rights group, B’Tselem, said the cameras were provided to enable Palestinians to get proof of attacks. A spokesman for the Israeli police said that an investigation was under way. So far, no-one has been arrested.” BBC News obtained video footage of yet another violent settler attack against Palestinians, this time, a 70-year-old farmer and his 58-year-old wife. Realize that this is what our taxes subsidize.
–from upi.com: US suspends move of embassy to Jerusalem.

Largest Swiss Newspaper Asks if Bush Was Behind 9/11

By Elie Peter – Sept 15, 2006, BLICK newspaper, Zurich, Switzerland

(translated from German into English, but not yet published online in English)

2,973 humans died with the attacks of 9/11. “Bin Laden” and “Al Qaeda”, the Bush clan cried. The world believed themm. In the meantime even scientists doubt the Bush version. Now, Swiss university professors Albert A. Stahel and Daniele Ganser raise new questions.

“Something is not correct”, says strategy expert Stahel in “World Week”, and here he refers to the “incomplete” official US Government 9/11 Report of 2004.

The university professor confirms his criticism in BLICK: “Osama Bin Laden cannot be ‘the large godfather’ behind the attacks. He did not have enough means of communication”.

Dr. Stahel doubts that a passenger airliner crashed into the Pentagon: “For trainee pilots it is actually impossible to crash into the building so exactly. Seven hours after the Twin Towers collapsed, the World Trade Center Building 7 next to it also collapsed. The official version: It burned for a long time. Nothing at all is clear.”

Raising questions along with Stahel is historian Dr. Daniele Ganser, his colleague at the University of Zurich. Dr. Ganser also calls the official US version “a conspiracy theory”.

“There are three theories, which we should treat equally”:

1. “Surprise theory” – Bin Laden and Al Qaeda implemented the attacks.

2. “Let it happen on purpose” – The US Government knew the Al Qaeda plans and did not react in order to legitimize a series of wars.

3. “Made it happen on purpose” – The attacks were actually planned and orchestrated by the Pentagon and/or US secret services.

Ganser: “3,000 humans were sacrificed for strategic interests. The more we research, the more we doubt the Bush version. It is conceivable that the Bush government was responsible. Bush has lied so much already! And we already know that the US government planned an operation in 1962 [Operation Northwood] that was approved by the Pentagon that would have sacrificed innocent US citizens for the government’s own interests.”

As for Ganser and Stahel: “We only ask questions.”
————-
German Version on blick.ch
This post is relinked, cut and pasted from www.whatreallyhappened.com. See their 9/11 archive.

The War Prayer

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved fire sides to smite the foe.

O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells;
help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead
help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain;
help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire;
help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief;
help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it —

for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”

— Mark Twain