Hillary, Lieberman & Bush: Their Push for War with Iran is Tipping Point

Strange bedfellows

John Edwards said it best. He and Hillary learned entirely different lessons from the Iraq War. And now that Hillary has joined Lieberman, Bush and the PNAC neo-cons to take those first steps toward war with Iran...her departure from real Americans is complete. And Obama's failure to even vote may well serve as a tipping point for him too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-durang/beware-kyllieberman-pro_b_65797.html

FROM THE DEBATE:

RUSSERT: Senator, are you suggesting that these candidates
suspend their campaigns, go back to Washington, and for 40 consecutive
days vote on the war?

GRAVEL: If it stops the killing, my God, yes, do it.

And, Tim, you're really missing something. This is fantasy land.
We are talking about ending the war. My God, we're just starting a
war right today. There was a vote in the Senate today. Joe
Lieberman, who authored the Iraq resolution, has offered another
resolution and it is essentially a fig leaf to let George Bush go to
war with Iran.

I want to congratulate Biden for voting against it, Dodd for
voting against it.

And I am ashamed of you, Hillary, for voting for it. You're not
going to get another shot at this because what happens if this war
ensues, we invade, and they're looking for an excuse to do it. And
Obama was not even there to vote.

RUSSERT: Senator Clinton, I want to give you a chance to
respond.

(NERVOUS LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: I don't know where to start.

RUSSERT: Please take 30 seconds.

(NERVOUS LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: Yes. Let me respond.

My understanding of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran is that it is
promoting terrorism. It is manufacturing weapons that are used
against our troops in Iraq. It is certainly the main agent of support
for Hezbollah, Hamas and others.

And in what we voted for today, we will have an opportunity to
designate it as a terrorist organization which gives us the options to
be able to impose sanctions on the primary leaders to try to begin to
put some teeth into all this talk about dealing with Iran.

We wouldn't be where we are today if the Bush administration
hadn't outsourced our diplomacy with respect to Iran and ignored Iran
and called it part of the axis of evil. Now we've got to make up for
lost time and lost ground...

EDWARDS: But I want to come back to a discussion that took place a few
minutes ago to make everyone understands what Senator Gravel is
talking and Senator Clinton was talking about. Because there was a
very important vote cast in the United States Senate today. And it
was, basically, in a resolution calling the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard a terrorist organization.

I voted for this war in Iraq, and I was wrong to vote for this
war. And I accept responsibility for that. Senator Clinton also
voted for this war.

We learned a very different lesson from that. I have
no intention of giving George Bush the authority to take the first
step on a road to war with Iran.

And I think that vote today, which Senator Biden and Senator Dodd
voted against, and they were correct to vote against it, is a clear
indication of the approach that all of us would take with the
situation in Iran because what I learned in my vote on Iraq was you
cannot give this president the authority and you can't even give him
the first step in that authority because he cannot be trusted. And
that resolution that was voted on today was a very clear indication...

Hagee, Lieberman & The Princes of War

Pastor Pigboy Hagee will not rest until America bombs Iran, igniting Armegeddon, and providing the catalyst for the removal from this world of the "true Christians" (and converted Jews). And now he has enlisted the convertible Joe Loserman to his satanic and bloody cause.

Watch as the Nation's Max Blumenthal take on these killer "Christians".

(Thanks to Huffington Post and the Nation for airing this, the Supreme Cogitatrix for bringing it to my attention, and Max Blumenthal for his ground-breaking journalism.)

Why is George hiding? II

Well I guess my intuition was not on high alert for nought. Mr Fear hath raised his ugly head again, but remember...there is nothing to fear but Mr. Fear himself. And he can't be everywhere at once. As you will recall, fear causes people to do irrational and stupid, even evil, things. Screw fear.

UPDATE
After 9/11, a lot of people said there was a "failure of imagination". Okay then...let's use our imagination...

Yesterday, Tony Snow says: "A Vote For Lamont Is A Vote For Another 9/11"...and then what happens today? Oh shit! Big terror plot foiled. Red Alert! Red Alert! "We are at war"...
In other words...don't go anti-war on us!

But the timing? Right after the right-winger gets the boot? Of course. This is BushWorld. It is how terrorist governments operate. Oops! Did I apply too much imagination? Well, the administration told us, in so many words, that we need to use it more.

I know that Tony Snow realizes that he is lying. You can hear it in his voice. Maybe he wishes he could have worked for Clinton, who didn't try to scare Americans, but rather tried to lift us up...and did. Peace. Great economy. Internet. As opposed to what? War. Stagflation. Self-terrorism.

But back to the timing...
England knew about these operations (they say) for months. Why act now? Was it in order for Tony Snow to recall 9/11? It has happened before.

Juan Cole says that Bush has to do his war on Syria and Iran before this November, since the Democrats are not likely to fund such nonsense when the power changes hands.

I guess the point is...don't get fooled again.

UPDATE 2

U.K. Terror Plot Foiled Just a Day after Lieberman's
Defeat. Coincidence?
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

The pattern continues. A terrorist plot is uncovered just as the masses start to question national security strategy. The day after Senate Democrats brought a vote to pull out of Iraq, we catch a few idiots in Miami who were supposedly trying to blow up the Sears Tower, despite the fact that they lacked the means and ability to do so. Then there were the guys busted for supposedly plotting to blow up a New York subway exactly a year after the London bus bombings. And don't forget the release of new Osama bin Laden tapes just before the 2004 election as well as the very day after the Supreme Court decision striking down the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals. And now today, a few men in England were arrested for a plan to blow up planes flying to America, just a day after Connecticut voters flatly rejected Joe Lieberman and the war in Iraq.

We certainly can't deny that there may have indeed been plans
to commit these acts. But the timings of the arrest announcements are awfully
suspicious. All three were still in the works and had been monitored for several
months by very capable intelligence agencies. While the exact nature of today's
arrests is still unclear, none of the plans seemed to have been immediate or
imminent threats. The decision of when to intervene has been arbitrary, making
the coincidental timings pretty convenient. (And the question of whether some of
them are "real threats," such as the Liberty City "Insane Clown Posse" remain to
be seen.)

Imagine a conversation late Tuesday night between Bush and his
British Prime Minister lapdog, just as Ned Lamont declares victory. "Yo, Blair,"
Bush says while scarfing down a dinner role. "I gotta to do something about this
sh*t. Can you finally arrest those suspected terrorists you told me about? This
election business is ruining my vacation! I know you're chillin' in the
Caribbean yourself right now, but it sure would be great if you could make a few
calls for me ASAP."

Don't buy it? Consider this quote from a Reuters article on the story: "President George W. Bush had known about the investigation for several days, was briefed about it regularly and knew the arrests were coming, a senior administration official said." Both countries are surely monitoring several terrorist leads that could lead to arrests at any time. The British group would have been stopped
eventually, but there has been absolutely no indication why it had to be
today.

READ MORE, AND COMMENT

Why is George hiding in Texas? (Think 9/11) : The week the world ended

Prior to the 2004 election, I posted this warning:

Democrats Win! World Erupts in Celebration!
Celebration, relief and good cheer spread across the globe, as war-happy madman is replaced by sane and beautiful leaders who respect all peoples.

OR...

Republicans win. America goes to war with Iran.
Foolwells get their Armageddon. Millions die needlessly. A handful of suits reap windfall profits.

http://anonymoses.blogspot.com/2004/07/democrats-win-world-erupts-in.html

Well, Republicans are having a tough go at it, and it IS, after all, an election year, and Pigboy Hagee keeps screaming about Armageddon, and George keeps talking about root causes (insinuating Syria and Iran, you know those evil people, as opposed to us good people)...so you know what? I have felt like I have been hallucinating lately -- probably the cold medicine -- but things feel all eerie like. Sorta like that fateful September, only earlier in the month.

My intuition was spot on back then. A week before the incident, I wrote a post called, "The week the world ended". And no, I had no inside knowledge. Only a fairly keen intuition.

I certainly hope that hiding out in Texas, George isn't going to allow more bad things to happen to our country. Things are bad enough already, thank you very much. But today I hear that Syria is looking forward to a larger war, and that President Logan, I mean Olmert, has basically said they were going to war with Iran and Syria.

I am ashamed of our country and the leadership. Surely God is not on our side, no matter what Pigboy might yell to the contrary. Pigboy is just our Taliban. God is Love, remember. Not hate. Prince of Peace, not War. Where are our own hearts and minds?

What ever happened to "Thou shalt not kill"? Was that a joke? Well, I, for one, still believe it, even though George and his oil raiders have long abandoned it.

Everyone will die, but only the sad and evil few die having murdered. If there must be Amerigeddon, may the truly evil people be swept up, and the innocent children of God left out of it.

UPDATE?
EGYPTIAN STUDENTS VANISH IN BIG APPLE

UPDATE 2
A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.

New Law requires that ALL war supporters go to Iraq

WASHINGTON -- In order to better understand America's real attitudes toward the war, Congress passed a law which requires all supporters of war in Iraq or Iran to have at least one tour of duty in Iraq. Sensing that there may have been an erosion of what has been termed "respect for life", the ever-enlightened Congress is hoping that people will think long and hard before casting their yea vote on outcomes that require a diminution of said "respect for life".

"We think that we will get a truer idea of how people are thinking in the heartland, and feeling in the headland. ", Senator Hyperlincoln informs us.

In related news, 95% of Newsmax polltakers think we should bomb Iran.

Line up! March!

Bush Simply Can't Keep Pace!

Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show", one of the two or three places, including the Colbert Report and Boston Legal, where the truth actually leaks out, runs headlong into George W. Bush, and his attempts to hoodwink Americans about Iran in the same way that he hoodwinked us about Iraq.

Check out this segment capturing vintage Bush at his lying best:

Bush: Some of the most powerful IED's that we are seeing in Iraq today-includes components that came from Iran.
Reporter: Do you have proof that they are indeed behind this, the Gov't of Iran?
Pace: I do not sir.

Video-WMP Video-QT

Notice Bush's famous Right Wing Right Wink. When he winks that right eye, you know he is signalling to the wingers that more good ol' Texas-style killin' is about to ensue. Just another reason Jesus hates George W. Bush.

(Hat tip: CrooksandLiars, Atrios)

Cleaning my plate

I've simply GOT to reduce the number of items gathering at the bottom of my browser...

LARGEST IRAQ AIR ASSAULT SINCE '03
Doctrine of Preemptive War Reaffirmed...
... Cites Iran Peril
Bush to reaffirm preemption as security strategy
The Six Degrees of Newspaper Blogging and Why the Guardian is Ahead
President Bush Must be Censured for Breaking the Law
A Peculiar Politician
Stuck in the no-idea zone
John Burns, Back from Baghdad: U.S. Effort In Iraq Will Likely Fail
Katrina with a Wrecking Ball?
The Coming Resource Wars

Bush Numbers Plummet. Expect War on Iran.

"When the chips are down...kill people." - Bush
Now that Bush has seen his numbers fall into a range that he can count up to, even without using his fingers, you can expect that he will shake things up by causing more death and destruction. He's that cool.But since he is strapped for cash, he will probably just let Israel do his dirty work.
It's at times like this that I am glad I am a poor schmuch who couldn't causing anyone to kill shit. Maybe I won't be on the Bush administration's fast track to Hell...

Cheney Declares War on Iran

Bloodthirsty Animal Killer once again sets sights on humans

Dickless Cheney, the Emperor of the Media/Military-Industrial Complex, has recovered from his detention, and is now hungry to shed more blood. Not his own, of course.

Mothers and fathers, gather ye children for the blood-letting.
Soon they will be shipped to Iran, to satisfy the sporting Bush Misadministration, for whom Life is frankly a piece of turd to be stamped on.

Anyone else ashamed of these killers?

God is Love. Cheney ain't either. Au contraire.

And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?

[stock tip: Invest in bodybags.]

How Bush Raped freedom And democracy

The Height of Roodness

Using Altrustic Concepts for Selfish Ends

Look out Iran! Bush is coming and he's toting Freedom® and Democracy®. And while the American People cherish these concepts, we also cherish them in their highest sense, and not as a convenient lie in order to perform a bait-and-switch slight-of-hand whereby freedom and democracy become merely Freedom and Democracy, which are products designed to separate you, our enemy, from your life.

So now we see Condoleeza Rice asking for a 75 million dollar down-payment for spreading Democracy® over the humanity-strewn sands of Iran -- now that we've done such a killer job of it in Iraq and Palestine. Makes me think of an advertisement idea.

WAR: It's a killer job

or maybe

WAR: The Killer Job

But alas, it is probably already taken. At least I am consoled by Woody Allen, who once almost said: "I used to be an Ahmadinijad addict, now I'm a Bush addict."

As long as we can find new customers for our addicting products -- and slough off those pesky pensions -- the Economy® will do just fine.

Seals Removed From Iran Nukes. Walruses get to stay.

Seals evicted from their nucular home.

We at Anonymoses hope that the Persians did not resort to the use of seal bats when removing the seals, as this would be most impolite.

Republicans win. America goes to war with Iran.

From the ANONYMOSES Archives (July 4, 2004) , we see that my prediction may well come true...sadly.

My headline read:

Democrats Win! World Erupts in Celebration!
Celebration, relief and good cheer spread across the globe, as war-happy madman is replaced by sane and beautiful leaders who respect all peoples.
OR...
Republicans win. America goes to war with Iran.
Foolwells get their Armageddon. Millions die needlessly. A handful of suits reap windfall profits.


Today the Jerusalem Post reports this:
'US planning strike against Iran'

Bush's philosophy?
When stretched thin...snap!

Q. What starts with R, ends in S, and has 10 letters?

Yahoo! News - Bush Says Talk of Attacking Iran 'Ridiculous'

A.
RIDICULOUS
and
READMYLIPS

Juan Nukes Jonah, who blindly blathers on...

Juan Cole: Informed Comment

Opening excerpt:

Goldberg seems to like embarrassing himself, so he won't let go.

Let us see what has been established. First, I alleged that Goldberg has never read a book about Iraq, about which he keeps fulminating. I expected him at least to lie in response, the way W. did when similarly challenged on his book-reading. I expected Goldberg to say, "That is not true! I have read Phebe Marr's book on modern Iraq from cover to cover and know all about the 1963 failed Baathist coup!" But Goldberg did not respond in this way. I conclude that I was correct, and he has never read a book on this subject.

I am saying I do not understand why CNN or NPR would hire someone to talk about Iraq policy who has not read a book on the subject under discussion. Actually, of course, it would be desirable that he had read more than one book. Books are nice. They are rectangular and soft and have information in them. They can even be consumed on airplanes. Goldberg should try one.

MORE FUN WITH JUAN...

An argument that judgment matters but knowledge does not is profoundly anti-intellectual. It implies that we do not need ever to learn anything in order make mature decisions. We can just proceed off some simple ideological template and apply it to everything. This sort of thinking is part of what is wrong with this country. We wouldn't call a man in to fix our plumbing who knew nothing about plumbing, but we call pundits to address millions of people on subjects about which they know nothing of substance.
...
Poor Jonah can't get anything right when it comes to me. He tries to imply that I don't speak Arabic, citing a comment by As'ad Abukhalil on my recent al-Jazeerah appearance. As`ad praises me for apologizing to al-Jazeerah readers for not speaking Arabic in the bulk of the interview. What he didn't say was that I began by speaking in Arabic and I apologized in Arabic. I said I preferred to speak English because the subject required exactitude.
...
When we were bantering before the show in Arabic, and I explained how I felt to Fuad Ajami and the others, Fuad quipped that my Arabic was better than some (highly westernized) Arab rulers. I know three kinds of Arabic-- Modern Standard, Lebanese dialect and Egyptian dialect. My Arabic is not free of solecisms because I didn't start it until I was an adult, and sometimes something from one of the three slips into the other. But I did live in the Arab world nearly 6 years altogether, and do speak the language. Sorry, Jonah, the problem with not knowing what you are talking about is that you get things wrong.
...
I challenged Goldberg to a public debate on the Middle East, since that was the subject on which he attacked me. His response was not, quite frankly, the response of a man to a challenge. He wanted to put on all kinds of pissant conditions on the subject of the debate. It is sort of as though Wyatt Earp challenged a bad guy to a shootout after the outlaw burped rotgut whiskey in his face and called him a wimp. And when Earp challenges the black hat, the guy turns to jelly and says, "O.K., but you can't use that Colt, it has to be little bitty derringers like the one I use to shoot people in the back at night."
...
If he thinks he knows what he is talking about in print, why wouldn't he risk talking about the same things verbally and in person? I'll tell you why. It is because when writing an op-ed, he can get away with only seeming to grasp the facts, whereas in person he can be busted and shown to be only a poseur.
...
Goldberg also makes an elementary error in arguing that the fact that people in Iran are disillusioned with Khatami now, in 2005, has any bearing on their attitudes in 1997 when they first elected him. As a historian, Jonah, let me explain to you about this mistake. It is called "anachronism." It occurs when people argue that present conditions explain past ones. It doesn't work that way. Mostly because time's arrow goes forward, not backwards. I should explain that one too. It is called "the second law of thermodynamics." Apparently this law does not exist in Punditland, where the grand pooh-bahs are all permitted 3 anachronisms before breakfast.
...
In the end, I am saying that Goldberg's punditry is empty. All he has to offer us is a party line and a strongly held opinion. Not all pundits are in this category. Goldberg is particularly unsubstantive.
...
But Goldberg is just a dime a dozen pundit. Cranky rich people hire sharp-tongued and relatively uninformed young people all the time and put them on the mass media to badmouth the poor, spread bigotry, exalt mindless militarism, promote anti-intellectualism, and ensure generally that rightwing views come to predominate even among people who are harmed by such policies. One of their jobs is to marginalize progressives by smearing them as unreliable.

The thing that really annoyed me about Goldberg's sniping was it reminded me of how our country got into this mess in Iraq. It was because a lot of ignorant but very powerful and visible people told the American people things that were not true. In some instances I believe that they lied. In other instances, they were simply too ignorant of the facts to know when an argument put forward about, say, Iraq, was ridiculous.
...
The corporate media failed the United States in 2002-2003. The US government failed the American people in 2002-2003. That empty, and often empty-headed punditry, which Jon Stewart destroyed so skilfully, played a big role in dragooning the American people into a wasteful and destructive elective war that threatens to warp American society and very possibly to end the free Republic we have managed to maintain for over 200 years. Already severe challenges to our sacred Constitution have been launched by the Right. Goldberg is a big proponent of "profiling," which is to say, spying on people because of their ethnicity rather than because of anything they as individuals have done wrong. That is only the beginning, if such persons maintain their influence on public discourse.

Iraq Election: The Day After

Now that the Iraqis have had the opportunity to stain their finger, the world can rest assured that all is well, everyone can go home now. Freedom and Democracy has arrived. Mission accomplished. Lapis is the new vermillion. But was it lapis? Maybe my colors have been adjusted. My horizontal. My verticle. (O how I do love to misspell that word!)

So see ya later, Iraq! We'll be leaving now! Thanks for all the good times!

Ingrate bastards! And after all we have done to, I mean, for, them. Sheesh!

And so the saga continues. Will George be able to move the soldiers from Iraq and into Iran and Syria without people getting all huffy and squishy?

Wait and see!

FREEDOM
Coming to a theater near you!

Bush & Sharon are preparing for war with Iran

WAR MONKEY


Bush will need a draft after we go to war with Iran and Syria.

With their tanks, and their bombs
And their bombs, and their guns
In your head, in your head they are cryin'
In your head, in your head, Zombie, Zombie
-Cranberries

FROM SALON'S TABLE TALK. ORIGINAL LINK NOT INCLUDED.

A senior intelligence officer in Tel Aviv revealed that President Bush "is now firmly convinced that Iran poses a greater threat to Israel than Iraq did". And a senior Pentagon official has further confirmed that a number of Department of Defence planners have recently travelled to Tel Aviv to discuss plans to attack Iran.
Meanwhile the Iran regime continues to threaten its own pre-emptive strike against Israel.
A military parade through Tehran has displayed a range of military missiles. On a Shabab-2 missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv or Jerusalem a banner proclaimed: "Israel must be wiped off the map." Another missile carried a banner warning: "We will crush Israel under our might". A third missile boasted: "With this weapon we can hit the American fleet in the Mediterranean and the Gulf".
But any pre-emptive attack by Israel is unlikely to come until the IAEA deadline for Tehran to stop all work on Uranium enrichment. This expires a few days after the US November election. So far Tehran has refused to agree to meat the deadline.

BUSH: "You're Gonna Get Drafted"

Dave Johnson at Seeing the Forest wrote a piece for us to share with our younger citizens. (via Matt Gross)
Distribute widely...

The Draft – A Reason to Vote if You’re Under 30

You already blew it: You didn't vote last time, or voted for Nader or Bush, and now you're gonna get drafted. There's no way around it now, the draft is almost a certainty.

You're hearing about Reserve and National Guard units being called up, and about people not allowed to leave the military even though their term is up. Have you thought about what this means to you? You KNOW this means they're having trouble finding enough soldiers to go to Iraq, right? Of course Bush doesn’t want to start the draft BEFORE the election. Duh! But what do you think happens the day AFTER the election?

I repeat, they are having trouble finding enough soldiers to go to Iraq. Think about it. Right, you're gonna get drafted.

Or, maybe you think they can't do that? Maybe you think the draft doesn't happen in America. Maybe you think they can't just grab your ass up off the street, stick a rifle in your hands and send you off to war? Of course not, that NEVER happens. Right.

WAR. Yes, that word. The word you have been hearing from Bush’s lips for months now. "I'm a WAR president", he says. Well, what did you think war MEANS? Somebody ELSE’S war? Did you think it means you get to watch a TV show with planes and stuff?

No, WAR means young people getting grabbed up off the street and sent off to fight. That. Is. What. War. Is.

And, by the way, women and students are NOT going to be exempt this time. Maybe not even rich kids. ONLY the children of politicians will be exempt. THIS TIME.

So, are you finally ready to do something about it THIS TIME? Which candidate do you think is more likely to grab your ass off the street and send it to Iraq? Which candidate do you think is more likely to start a war with Iran, or Syria, or maybe even North Korea? Like Bush says, we're at war, and that's the issue in this election. Well, THAT’S what you should be thinking about THIS TIME.

So vote. THIS TIME.

Gulf of Tonkin, Iran Style

Those goofy right wingers! The only way they're gonna save their ass is to create the conditions for a war with Iran. World Domination...here we come!

Too bad that we're already stretched too thin. Maybe it is time for the fellows in suits to armor up, and hit the battlefield...

Roll out The New Product! Just in time for autumn...and the elections.

Is this not Satanic? Is this not insanity?

Vote these assholes out before they destroy the world.

Manufacturing Consent: Bombing Iran

Desperate Bush prays for new war...

NEWS & OPINION

Rockers are urging young people to go out and vote against George W. Bush
Rickie Lee Jones, on her latest album, Evening of My Best Day, sings a song called “Ugly Man.” She told the New York Post that “it’s definitely about the Bushes…. They have no redeeming qualities. They’re despicable…. This is the closest we’ve come to Nazi Germany…. They see Iraq and Iran as a way to make money.”

The Assassination of Iraqi Intellectuals
Overlooked by the U.S. Press is the escalating assassination of Iraqi academics, intellectuals, and lecturers. More than 250 college professors since April 30, 2003, according to the Iraqi Union of University Lecturers, have been the targets of assassination.
...
According to Union of Iraqi Lecturers, if “the stream of assassinations” continue, Iraqi Colleges and Universities will be left without a qualified teaching staff.
 
Neoconservatives - never apologize, never explain
It's a bad time to be a neocon. All of their assumptions were wrong. Postwar Iraq turned out to be a dog's breakfast. The high-tech, high-speed military is so desperate for troops it's planning to offer bonuses of up to $10,000 to sailors and airmen who would otherwise muster out of the Navy and Air Force. The weapons of mass destruction haven't been found and democracy isn't flowering.

Big Three Networks Dim Their Lights on Kerry
A new study of network TV election coverage over the first half of 2004 reveals a dimming spotlight for Democratic candidate John Kerry. Meanwhile, the Bush campaign has made impressive strides in placing their own candidate before the cameras.