by Tony Karon As I wrote on TIME.com last week, Bush is in no position to bring the Iraq war to a satisfactory conclusion; the U.S. is treading water in Iraq lacking both any reason to believe the current balance of forces there will allow the attainment of U.S. goals, and any leverage capable of altering that balance of power. The Democrats, for their part, are posturing, demanding an immediate
TEHRAN — Iranian media launched a blistering attack on France Monday after its foreign minister warned the world to brace for war. Kouchner said Sunday his country must prepare for the possibility of war against Iran over its nuclear program. The French minister also told RTL radio and LCI television that the world’s major powers should use further sanctions against Iran. Kouchner said France had asked French firms not to
By Francois Murphy PARIS (Reuters) – French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday his country must prepare for the possibility of war against Iran over its nuclear programme, but he did not believe any such action was imminent. Seeking to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, Kouchner also told RTL radio and LCI television that the world’s major powers should use further sanctions to show they were serious about
by Michael Lerner 1. A Zionist Boy Reads the Prophets—How I came to critique the Israel Lobby I grew up in the heart of what would eventually become the Israel Lobby in the U.S. My father and mother were national leaders of the Zionist movement in the U.S. My mother used to talk proudly of how, at five years old, I was standing outside the local bank on Bergen Street
by Peter Symonds An 80-page study written by two British security analysts and released on August 28 makes a chilling estimation of the overwhelming force that the US would use in the event of any attack on Iran. “The US has made military preparations to destroy Iran’s WMD, nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus and economic infrastructure within days, if not hours, of President George W. Bush giving the
By Philip Sherwell in New York and Tim Shipman in Washington Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow
US strikes on Iran predicted as tension rises over arms smuggling and nuclear fears by Julian Borger and Ian Black for the Guardian The growing US focus on confronting Iran in a proxy war inside Iraq risks triggering a direct conflict in the next few months, regional analysts are warning. US-Iranian tensions have mounted significantly in the past few days, with heightened rhetoric on both sides and the US decision
By Shirl McArthur Global Research, September 15, 2007 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA) Because of the uncertainties and ambiguities associated with U.S. aid to Israel, arriving at a precise figure for total direct U.S. aid to Israel probably is not possible. Parts of it are buried in the budgets of other government agencies—mostly the Defense Department (DOD)—or in a form not easily quantifiable—such as the early disbursement of
by Nebojsa Malic The September morning six years ago that saw three hijacked jetliners slam into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon has often been called “the day everything changed.” What really changed was Americans’ skepticism of their own government – a fact that has been abused ever since. The man from Crawford who campaigned on the promise of a “more humble foreign policy” and against Clintonian “nation-building” quickly
by Mizgin (for more on Mizgin click here) “What is most troubling to me as a Jew is that the plight of fifteen million Kurds in Turkey most closely parallels the plight of Jews throughout centuries. For unlike the Iraqi Kurds who have always been at liberty to be Kurds, those in Turkey were ruthlessly legislated out of their ethnic identity and have remained so for more than sixty years.”~
by Patrick Cockburn Ten days after President George Bush clasped his hand as a symbol of America’s hopes in Iraq, the man who led the US-supported revolt of Sunni sheikhs against al-Qa’ida in Iraq was assassinated. Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha and two of his bodyguards were killed either by a roadside bomb or by explosives placed in his car by a guard, near to his home in Ramadi, the capital of
By Webster G. Tarpley ‘Solid Curtain’ And ‘Citadel Shield 2007’ Military Drills Raise Spectre Of Imminent False Flag Provocation And Attack On Iran WASHINGTON, DC — US military bases in the continental United States (CONUS) will go on special lockdown between September 17 and September 21 under the auspices of Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield ’07, a reliable source reported today. Under these exercises, US installations will institute enhanced anti-terror force protection
WASHINGTON: The U.S. has a 14-ton super bomb more destructive than the vacuum bomb just tested by Russia, a U.S. general said Wednesday. The statement was made by retired Lt. General McInerney, chairman of the Iran Policy Committee, and former Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force. McInerney said the U.S. has “a new massive ordnance penetrator that’s 30,000 pounds, that really penetrates … Ahmadinejad has nothing in
TEHRAN, — US President George W. Bush failed and defeated in his Middle East plan and would one day stand trial for “atrocities” in Iraq, Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Friday. Ayatollah Khamenei made the remark in his second sermon to this week’s Friday prayers at Tehran University on the second day of the fasting month of Ramadhan. “Today the Americans are condemned by the public opinion of
According to the Jerusalem Post, Germany’s unwillingness to impose further sanctions on Iran has pushed the United States closer towards a decision on a military strike, FOX News reported on Wednesday. According to the report, Germany’s decision has spurred senior US army officials to try and convince US Foreign Secretary Condoleezza Rice to abandon once and for all the diplomatic route of preventing a nuclear Iran. The report further stated
BAGHDAD — The most prominent figure in a revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaeda in Iraq was killed Thursday by a bomb planted near his home in Anbar province, 10 days after he met with President Bush, police and tribal leaders said. Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as the Anbar awakening – an alliance of clans backing the Iraqi government and US forces.
By Michael E. Salla, M.A., Ph.D. “The Canadian” – Critically exploring whether or not there was a covert attempt to instigate a catastrophic nuclear war against Iran is illuminated through an introduction using the recent B-52 Incident. On August 30, a B-52 bomber armed with five nuclear-tipped Advanced Cruise missiles travelled from Minot Air Force base, North Dakota, to Barksdale Air Force base, Louisiana, in the United States. Each missile
By Gareth Porter “Huffington Post” — – — If the Bush administration launches an attack on Iran, the reason won’t be that Iran was about to obtain a nuclear weapon. The real reason will be that United States, as the world’s only superpower, wants to establish clearly that it — not Iran — is the dominant power in the Middle East. That would make us all less secure, but the
by Tom Engelhardt I often think of the letters that come into the Tomdispatch email box as the university of my later life — messages from around the world, offering commentary, criticism, encouragement, but mainly teaching me about lives (and versions of life) I would otherwise know little or nothing about. Then again, the Internet has a way of releasing inhibitions and, from time to time, the Tomdispatch email box
By Robert Verkaik An al-Jazeera journalist captured in Afghanistan six years ago and sent to Guantanamo Bay is close to becoming the fifth detainee at the US naval base to take his own life, according to a medical report written by a team of British and American psychiatrists Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese national, is 250 days into a hunger strike which he began in protest over his detention without charge
