Will Busu Attack Iran?

[chicagogato]

This in from Brasscheck;

 

The Bush Administration is on track with its plans toattack Iran before George Bush Jr. leaves officein 18 months. Unfortunately, few Americans think this is probable,let alone possible. It is both. I agree with Scott Ritter and Daniel Ellsberg (of "The Pentagon Papers" fame) that this attackwill have negative consequences on the world and American citizens far in excess of 9/11 and the Iraq War. It could very well be the final nail in the coffinof American democracy. With that in mind... Here are some facts to share with your friends and colleagues about the Iran situation to stop this war before it starts:

 

*** Reality check The Bush propagandists are hard at work trying to draw a comparison between Nazi Germany and Iran. There are a few major problems with their fairy tale.

 

For example: 1. Modern Iran has no history of military aggression Fact: Iran has never invaded or attacked another country in the Middle East or elsewhere. In contrast, the US has savaged Iraq causing the deathof over 600,000 civilians since 2003 alone. In the summer of 2006, Israel bombarded Lebanon in a"search for terrorists" killing over 1,000 civilians and causingbillions of dollars in damage to the country's infrastructure(airport, ports, roadways, housing, and factories.) In 1980, the US encouraged its ally Saddam Husseinto attack Iran and he did with terrible consequencesfor the Iranian people. 2. Who has nukes?

 

Facts: a. Iran has no nuclear weapons b. Iran lacks the ability to create nuclear weaponsc. Iran is permitted by international treaty to develop a nuclear energy program. In contrast, the US has the largest nuclear weapons stockpileon earth and has stated, under the Bush administration,its "right" to use them "pre-emptively" at PresidentBush's discretion. The US continues to develop newand "improved" nuclear weapons. Israel has a well developed nuclear weapons programand is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. 3. The US attacked Iran in the 1980s using Iraq as a surrogate Saddam Hussein, who was put in power by the US, was supportedin his invasion of Iran with billions of dollars in US weapons shipped to him by Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. and coordinated by people including Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Over 300,000 Iranians were killed in this US-funded war and over 500,000 were wounded. It was during the US supported-Iraq attack on Iran that theUS transferred chemical and biological weapons technologyto Iraq. There is evidence that the Bush family commerciallyprofited from these arms exports.

4. The US installed and maintained a tyranny in Iranthat operated from 1953 to 1979. In 1953, the US and CIA with help from the UK engineered a violent overthrow of the country's democratically elected government and then supported a brutal, anti-democratic dictator in Iran - the so called "Shah of Iran" - who jailed thousands of dissidents and engaged in vicious torture.

 

*** Military considerations 1. Iran is the 18th largest country in the world by size - the area of the UK, France and German combined. 2. Iran has over 70 million people - three times the population of Iraq 3. The Iranian military Unlike Iraq, which lost a war with the US in 1990 and wasmilitarily attacked non-stop up to the US invasion in 2003,Iran has had approximately 20 uninterrupted years tobuild and refine it defense capacity 4. Iranians are as patriotic about their country asAmericans are about theirs and will stand and fightas they proved when attacked by Iraq in 1980. When fighting Iraq, Iran used every human andmaterial recourse it had including "human waves"of poorly armed and equipped suicide troopswho overcame the Iraqis with their sheer numbers. We have 160,000 troops in the region. The Iranianshave 70,000,000 people and they will be fightingon their home turf for their homeland. 5. Invaders are always at a disadvantage no matter how technologically advanced. Invaders who have a supply line many thousands of miles long are at an extreme disadvantage. 6. Iranian tactics and operations are up-to-dateand formidable. Iranian-trained militias in Lebanon were ableto counter an all out attack on Lebanon by theUS-equipped Israel army and air force and compelthe Israelis to retreat and agree to a cease-fire. 7. Potential Iranian responses to a US attack Iran in a counterattack has the option of: a. closing the Straits of Hormuz (through which over 20% of the world's oil passes), b. attacking Israel, and/or c. attacking US military installations in Iraq None of these operations would be difficult or expensive tocarry out. However, the financial and human consequences could be extreme. Oil, already at $80 a barrel could, according to Wall Streetanalysts, hit $200 per barrel - or more - with a doubling ofcurrent gasoline prices. Thousands of civilians and military personnel could bekilled and wounded in a matter of days.

 

*** Is war with Iran possible? Yes. 1. Bush has the legal authority Bush secured the legal authority to attack any countryany time for any reason post 9/11 and pre-Iraq invasion.Congress has never taken this power back from him. They need to do it. NOW. 2. The troops, weapons and plans needed are already in place The so called "surge" has put many extra thousandsof US troops and equipment into the region. (For the geographically challenged Iran is right next to Iraq.) 3. The propaganda war has already started A very well funded and well organized propagandaoperation - Freedom's Watch - staffed by formerBush administration officials has set up in Washington DCwith a multi-million dollar budget to "sell" war withIran to the American people. Sadly, they are doing an excellent job and fewAmericans are aware of how they are being conned(again.)

 

*** Who benefits from attacking Iran? The people who will benefit from an attack on Iranare very same people who benefited - and continueto benefit - from the invasion of Iraq: 1. Oil companies - the price of their product willskyrocket 2. Weapons makers - including the Carlyle Group,which the Bush family owns a major stake in. 3. Virulent Anti-Muslim and Arab zealots in Israel and elsewhere- and the idiots in America who support them 4. Insiders with the financial resources place "bets" on thewar: buy gold, buy oil, short the US dollar etc. 5. Anti-democratic forces in the United States About this last point... Starting with the Reagan administration and continuingunabated through the Clinton administration andaccelerating after 9/11, the executive branch of the UnitedStates government has methodically been: 1. Destroying traditional rights and protections guaranteed to US citizens by the Constitution 2. Creating a police state apparatus designed to silenceand suppress dissent with maximum force. Simply by declaring you an "enemy combatant" orsomeone who "supports" a declared enemy, you can bearrested and held without charge indefinitely and withoutthe right to counsel. This means that should the Bush administration engagein a war of naked aggression against Iran openly killing thousands of innocent Iranian civilians with bombardment, including nuclear attacks, the very act of speaking out about the immorality of such an attack could land you in jailfor the rest of your life or until such time the Presidentof the United States decides to release you. Does this sound improbable? It's not.

Imagine this possible scenario. The US attacks Iran. Iran counterattacks hitting Israel and US troopsin Iraq. Underestimating the capacity of the Iranians todefend themselves, the US finds its troops pinneddown in Iraq by a military that is capable of killingthem by the thousands. What would the US do if, in yet another Bushblunder, Bush put thousands of US troops atthe immediate risk of being killed? How would the average uneducated American,coming late to the story, react to the news thathundreds of US servicemen and women werebeing killed daily? Would this give Bush the green light for whathis administration has been creating themilitary doctrine for: a unilateral, first strikenuclear attack? You bet it would and in the perverse world ofthe Bush family and its allies, it's possible theymay welcome the chance to finally let thatparticular genie out of the bottle. Bottom line: Once a military attack against Iran gets started, there is no imaginable positive outcome and potentialnegative outcomes are worse than anything anyof us have seen in our lifetime.

For example: * The reputation and moral standing of the US, which has already been smeared by the blatant criminality of the Bushadministration, will be ruined, perhaps beyond repair * Thousands of civilians and troops - perhaps tensor even hundred of thousands - could be killed orwounded. There could be casualties in ONE DAY thatdwarf all the casualties in Iraq since the invasion.

* The world economy will be thrown into a tailspinand the US economy, the world's most dependenton oil, will be hit especially hard. * Underlying financial instability caused by a cultureof corruption and fraud (Enron, WorldCom, sub-primemortgages etc.) will be further strained perhapsto the breaking point.

* China and Russian, two very formidable potentialenemies with human, natural and technologicalresources equivalent to the US, may decide (ifthey already haven't) that they need to join forcesto "check" US power and may begin to do so inan aggressive way. Again, this is all great news for the oil companies,the weapons makers, the anti-Muslim and Arab zealots, the opponents of civil rights and the Constitution. and plugged in Wall Street operators. It will be a disaster for American citizens. Disasters for average Americans is what the Bush family has been about for four generations now: 1. The great grandfather *Samuel Bush* was Woodrow Wilson'sliaison to the weapon's industry and profited mightily in thatrole. He was one of a handful of architects "present at creation" of the modern military-industrial complex which has steadily bled the US financially and morally for privateprofit for decades. 2. The grandfather *Prescott Bush* was US banker to the Nazis, helping them before, during, and after WorldWar II with their financial operations. 3. Bush Sr. was behind the Iran-Contra operationwhich illegally sent arms to Iran and siphoned the profits for personal gain and to fund terroristoperations in Central America. He also workedwith the Bin Laden family and others to fund theso called Afghani resistance which became the Taliban and al Queda. 4. And finally, George W. Bush, who in seven years has done morelasting harm to to the United State than any group of external enemies, real or imagined, could ever do. Undermining fundamental America values andstrengthening US enemies been a lucrative businessfor the Bush Family for four generations now.

*** Action items to stop the coming war Let your friends and colleagues - and the media and your local representatives know that: 1. You don't buy the Bush administration's anti-Iranian propaganda 2. A war against Iran would be potentially catastrophic,much worse than the current disaster in Iraq 3. Advocacy for this war as practiced by Bush administration front groups like Freedom's Watchis against American interests and needs to be exposed 4. Bush needs to have the war powers granted to himpost 9/11 taken away and taken away now. Brasscheck TV will be posting a number of new videosabout the impending war with Iran. Until then, I recommend that you: 1. Familiarize yourself with the relevant videos on the Brasscheck TV web site and, 2. If you have not already done do, become a free subscriber to the e-mail video announcement service so we can keepyou informed as new information is available. http://www.brasschecktv.com

[shygye]

I wonder which banned member is this one.

[Steve]

Can't happen without Congress. Bush may be a lot of things but he's a not a king or dictator who can act arbitrarily.

[chicagogato]

Looks like I've been a member about as long as you. What makes you think I'm banned?

[chicagogato]

*** Is war with Iran possible? Yes. 1. Bush has the legal authority Bush secured the legal authority to attack any country any time for any reason post 9/11 and pre-Iraq invasion.Congress has never taken this power back from him.

 

You can check this to see if it's true. I believe it is.

 

 

[Torneyboy]

yes.

 

And let's hope not we don't need anymore trouble at the moment

[chicagogato]

Agreed!

[Bangkoktraveler]

Sure Bush is going to Iran and he is going to go to Korea. Maybe even Cuba. Betcha he is going to get every last one of those axis of evils before his shift is over. And yes, Ben Laden is not going to be killed or captured and Iraq and Homeland USA is going to get several doses of freedom and democracy.

[liquidflux]

Maybe Iraq really was a well thought out plan. Now no other nation will give us shit for fear that their country too will be invaded and occupied.

 

Or maybe not.

[Faustian]

I think the total stupidity displayed has emboldened China and Russia. Really, the US looks weak and pathetic now. The economy is displaying signs of meltdown, the government can't govern its own nation and the foreign policy has been a disaster. Both domestically and internationally i think the US has never looked so fragile and ineffectual. Whilst Bush has been at the helm the power has shifted away from the US, i doubt it'll ever return.