Iran

Like a Mirage in the Desert: U.S. exit from Iraq may recede into the time horizon
by Charles Knight

Key advisors to Barack Obama have put forward an Iraq withdrawal policy which they have labeled "conditional engagement." In their words:

"Under this strategy, the...time hori­zon for redeployment would be negotiated with the Iraqi government and nested within a more assertive approach to regional diplomacy. The United States would make clear that Iraq and America share a common interest in achieving sustainable stability in Iraq, and that the United States is willing to help support the Iraqi gov­ernment and build its security and governance capacity over the long-term, but only so long as Iraqis continue to make meaningful political progress." [from Colin Kahl, Michele A. Flournoy and Shawn Brimley, "Shaping the Iraq Inheritance", Center for a New American Security, June 2008.]

Rally focuses on Iran, saber-rattling
Hundreds protest prospect of US acting against Iran
By Susanne Cervenka | Florida Today | Event Photo Gallery

Gillian Myers held a sign firmly over her head. Its message: "Even children know to march for peace."

The 4-year-old from Palm Bay was among about 500 people participating in Florida's First Mass March to Stop War on Iran. Rallies similar to the one Saturday -- which was led by Brevard Patriots for Peace -- have increased across the country as some believe U.S. leaders are building up to war with the Middle Eastern nation.

"We were misled into one war and we don't want it to happen again," Gillian's dad Ray Myers said. "Sitting at home and complaining doesn't do anything."

By Dave Lindorff

One of the sorrier legacies of eight years of Bush and Cheney in the White House has been the conflation of the terms “National Security” and “Foreign Policy” by both Republicans and Democrats.

Granted that the history of US foreign policy in the world has been heavily larded with wars, many of them at America’s instigation. It is nonetheless true that foreign policy is much bigger and more far reaching than just what has come to be known as “national security” issues.

In Bush-speak, national security come to mean having big guns, lots of heavily armed troops, cruise missiles, nuclear weapons, naval armadas and a bully’s willingness to use these weapons on a whim, with no thought of consequences.

Nationally acclaimed scholar and author on Iran, Israel and the U.S. to Speak

When: Wednesday, September 24th, 7 p.m.

What: Dr. Trita Parsi will discuss and sign his book, Treacherous Alliance - The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States.

Where: Whitaker Campus Commons, Hood College, 401 Rosemont Ave., Frederick, MD 21701

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, has called Dr. Pari’s book, “A penetrating, provocative, and very timely study that deciphers how U.S. policy in the Middle East has been manipulated both by Iran and by Israel even as relations between these two oscillated between secret collusion and overt collision.”

Blockades: Acts of War
by Stephen Lendman

From July 21 - 31, Joint Task Force (mostly US, but also UK, Brazil and Italy) "Operation Brimstone" large scale war games were conducted off the US East coast in the North Atlantic. Its purpose may have been to prepare for a naval blockade of Iran. Initial reports after its completion were that participating ships were deployed to Persian Gulf and Arabian and Red Sea locations to join up with the present American strike force in the region. The major media cover none of this, and US Navy sources deny it. So precise information is unclear. From what's known, however, redeployment may be planned, and a blockade may ensue. The situation remains tense and worrisome.

By Dave Lindorff

Well, it’s happened, and it’s no surprise.

Barack Obama, the prospective Democratic presidential candidate, has managed to turn a 5-8 point lead over prospective Republican opponent John McCain into a 7-point deficit—a double-digit slide—in just two and a half months following a campaign that had voters really excited over his candidacy.

How did he manage this feat (which is documented in the latest latest Reuters/Zogby poll)? Simple: he followed the tried-and-true strategy of Democratic centrist advisers who have increasingly dominated his campaign since the end of the primaries, and who have a proven track record of producing Democratic electoral disasters now for several decades.

By Dave Lindorff

American Secretary of War Robert Gates knows a real leader when he sees one. “Clearly, as far as I’m concerned,” he said, Vladimir Putin, and not President Dmitry Medvedev, "has the upper hand right now."

Well hell, Gates should know. After all, he deals on a daily basis with the same peculiar situation here in the US, where the president also is a figurehead and the real power lies in the hands of Vice President Dick Cheney.

But Gates doesn’t speak with such clarity and directness in other matters. "I think that there is a real concern that Russia has turned the corner here and is headed back toward its past rather than toward its future, and my hope is that we will see actions in the weeks and months to come that provide us some reassurance," he said, speaking on ABC and CNN, claiming that the country was returning to the authoritarianism of the old Soviet era.

Ahem.

Three major US naval strike forces due this week in Persian Gulf
DEBKAfile Special Report | August 12, 2008

DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the arrival of the three new American flotillas will raise to five the number of US strike forces in Middle East waters – an unprecedented build-up since the crisis erupted over Iran’s nuclear program.

This vast naval and air strength consists of more than 40 carriers, warships and submarines, some of the last nuclear-armed, opposite the Islamic Republic, a concentration last seen just before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Our military sources postulate five objects of this show of American muscle:

Massive US Naval Armada Heads for Iran
By Lord Stirling

Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area. The massive war games included a US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates playing the "enemy force".

The lead American ship in these war games, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) and its Carrier Strike Group Two (CCSG-2) are now headed towards Iran along with the USS Ronald Reagon (CVN76) and its Carrier Strike Group Seven (CCSG-7) coming from Japan.

Govt finalizing war emergency plan
Kuwaittimes.net

KUWAIT: The government is finalizing its emergency plan this week in order to ensure that the country is protected from foreign dangers in case the regional situation escalates and a war breaks out between Iran and the USA.

An unnamed senior official revealed that the government has learnt that two aircraft carriers are scheduled to arrive in the Gulf and the Red Sea in preparation for the expected war at any time. The official said that this information led the government to accelerate its emergency plan preparations, which include arrangements for protecting all sectors and vital installations.

War with Iran - On, Off or Undecided?
by Stephen Lendman

There's good news and bad, mostly the latter but don't
discount the good. On May 22, (non-binding) HR 362 was
introduced in the House - with charges and proposals
so outlandish that if passed and implemented will be a
blockade and act of war. It accused Iran of:

Actions in more than 100 cities

CBS News Video.
Medill Video.

As the threat of war and sanctions against Iran grows, “No War on Iran” was a slogan and chant that resonated across the U.S. on the weekend of Aug. 1-2 as emergency marches, rallies, vigils, teach-ins, honk for peace picket lines and leaflet distributions were held to protest U.S.-Israeli war threats against Iran.

In response to the Emergency Call to Action issued by the Stop War on Iran Campaign in mid-June, anti-war activists in more than 100 cities voiced their opposition boldly in the streets despite the short notice in which the initial call was made and the difficulty of organizing during the summer.

National Day of Action Wednesday August 6 (Hiroshima Day)
FREEZE-IN at 6pm - West End of Navy Pier on the Chicago Lakefront

Normal People
Normal Looking
Normal Acting

=== Until WE ALL JUST STOP === (for 5 minutes)

Once before, the world just stopped for a whole city, when on August 6, 1945, the US dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

Most people around the world (but only 70-80% of US college students we've surveyed) know that the US is the only country that has ever used their nuclear arsenal on another nation, in fact, the civilians of that nation.

George Bush, unfortunately, remains commander in chief, and recklessly threatens a massive strike against Iran, that could well be launched before the next president is even sworn in.

He is again fabricating, while the mainstream media parrots them, the same kinds of lies used to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

By xofferson

Does public pressure, personal contact with legislators, and protest matter in shaping public policy? After eight years of Bush and Cheney many might say no, our voices and opinions are ignored in Washington. But read on.

Today's exhibit: Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois. She appears to have had an awakening. READ THE REST.

By Jill McLaughlin, World Can’t Wait Steering Committee Member

By Jes Richardson

Leslie has just returned from Washington, DC. We're currently staying in a friend's lovely San Francisco flat overlooking the Castro. As you may know, when we returned from Iran last year, we left our home behind and traveled to Washington, DC to become full time activists/lobbyists for diplomacy with Iran. There are times when we miss having a "normal" life, but we also understand how important it is for us to be out there talking about the positive experiences we had in Iran.

Nancy Pelosi is currently on a book signing tour and spoke in DC. She had appeared on The View earlier in the week and suggested impeachment is off the table because "there is no evidence President Bush has committed any criminal acts." CodePink came to the book signing and Gael Murphy handed her pages of impeachable criminal acts.

Get em here.

By Dave Lindorff

Some people are expressing consternation and disbelief at a report by journalist Seymour Hersh that Vice President Dick Cheney had discussed the idea in his office of having some Navy Seals dress up as Iranians, and then putting them in faked Iranian speedboats to make a fake attack on US ships in the Persian Gulf. The ensuing faked battle, with fake Iranians shooting at US ships and US ships firing back, he suggested, could be used to spark a war between the US and Iran.

` I don’t know why people would find it hard to believe that this vice president would think up an idea like having Americans shoot at other Americans in the interest of his own warped view of national security.

After all, this is a guy who shoots his own friends.

Here's a list of locations and times that probably includes a protest near you!