Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran
The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.
"I can't confirm or deny whether such a program exists or whether the president signed it, but it would be consistent with an overall American approach trying to find ways to put pressure on the regime," said Bruce Riedel, a recently retired CIA senior official who dealt with Iran and other countries in the region.
A National Security Council spokesperson, Gordon Johndroe, said, "The White House does not comment on intelligence matters." A CIA spokesperson said, "As a matter of course, we do not comment on allegations of covert activity."
The sources say the CIA developed the covert plan over the last year and received approval from White House officials and other officials in the intelligence community.
Officials say the covert plan is designed to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment program and end aid to insurgents in Iraq.
"There are some channels where the United States government may want to do things without its hand showing, and legally, therefore, the administration would, if it's doing that, need an intelligence finding and would need to tell the Congress," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism official.
Current and former intelligence officials say the approval of the covert action means the Bush administration, for the time being, has decided not to pursue a military option against Iran.
"Vice President Cheney helped to lead the side favoring a military strike," said former CIA official Riedel, "but I think they have come to the conclusion that a military strike has more downsides than upsides."
The covert action plan comes as U.S. officials have confirmed Iran had dramatically increased its ability to produce nuclear weapons material, at a pace that experts said would give them the ability to build a nuclear bomb in two years.
Riedel says economic pressure on Iran may be the most effective tool available to the CIA, particularly in going after secret accounts used to fund the nuclear program.
"The kind of dealings that the Iranian Revolution Guards are going to do, in terms of purchasing nuclear and missile components, are likely to be extremely secret, and you're going to have to work very, very hard to find them, and that's exactly the kind of thing the CIA's nonproliferation center and others would be expert at trying to look into," Riedel said.
Under the law, the CIA needs an official presidential finding to carry out such covert actions. The CIA is permitted to mount covert "collection" operations without a presidential finding.
"Presidential findings" are kept secret but reported to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other key congressional leaders.
The "nonlethal" aspect of the presidential finding means CIA officers may not use deadly force in carrying out the secret operations against Iran.
Still, some fear that even a nonlethal covert CIA program carries great risks.
"I think everybody in the region knows that there is a proxy war already afoot with the United States supporting anti-Iranian elements in the region as well as opposition groups within Iran," said Vali Nasr, adjunct senior fellow for Mideast studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"And this covert action is now being escalated by the new U.S. directive, and that can very quickly lead to Iranian retaliation and a cycle of escalation can follow," Nasr said.
Other "lethal" findings have authorized CIA covert actions against al Qaeda, terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
Also briefed on the CIA proposal, according to intelligence sources, were National Security Advisor Steve Hadley and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams.
"The entire plan has been blessed by Abrams, in particular," said one intelligence source familiar with the plan. "And Hadley had to put his chop on it."
Abrams' last involvement with attempting to destabilize a foreign government led to criminal charges.
He pleaded guilty in October 1991 to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress about the Reagan administration's ill-fated efforts to destabilize the Nicaraguan Sandinista government in Central America, known as the Iran-Contra affair. Abrams was later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush in December 1992.
In June 2001, Abrams was named by then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to head the National Security Council's office for democracy, human rights and international operations. On Feb. 2, 2005, National Security Advisor Hadley appointed Abrams deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for global democracy strategy, one of the nation's most senior national security positions.
As earlier reported on the Blotter on ABCNews.com, the United States has supported and encouraged an Iranian militant group, Jundullah, that has conducted deadly raids inside Iran from bases on the rugged Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan "tri-border region."
U.S. officials deny any "direct funding" of Jundullah groups but say the leader of Jundullah was in regular contact with U.S. officials.
American intelligence sources say Jundullah has received money and weapons through the Afghanistan and Pakistan military and Pakistan's intelligence service. Pakistan has officially denied any connection.
A report broadcast on Iranian TV last Sunday said Iranian authorities had captured 10 men crossing the border with $500,000 in cash along with "maps of sensitive areas" and "modern spy equipment."
A senior Pakistani official told ABCNews.com the 10 men were members of Jundullah.
The leader of the Jundullah group, according to the Pakistani official, has been recruiting and training "hundreds of men" for "unspecified missions" across the border in Iran.
Copyright © 2007 ABCNews Internet Ventures
78 Comments so far
Show AllHow much aggression can the world tolerate? As a renegade nation, the US should be sanctioned by the United Nations. I think an international boycott and severe sanctions including divestment campaigns may be needed to bring the US back into the community of civilized nations.
Wasn't too long after Johnson started covert programs against North Vietnam (Operation 34A) that the "Tonkin Gulf Incident" took place escalating the war in Vietnam.
If Americans think were mired now in a war with no end in Iraq, just wait until they see what happens when Bush gets his war with Iran. The Iranians have a real army of millions of men, tanks, artillery, an Air Force and a Navy--including submarines. In addition, they have some of the most sophisticated missile systems in the world.
A war with Iran would make Iraq look like a sunny day in the park.
There's a madman at the helm and nobody can do anything to stop him. The American Republic is dead.
I believe this so called surge in Iraq was just positioning troops to take on Iran. Does Bush think were all fools to believe anything he says!! Lies and deceit constantly come forth from his lips. So self righteous he can't see the forest from the trees. He has so weakened our armed forces and caused untold misery for so many yet he and Blair puff around in the Rose garden and say they wouldn't change a thing!! We must find a way to Impeach the Bastard!!
Bush has admitted that he doesn't read except for headlines. And those who do not read history tend to repeat their mistakes. In 1953 as a result of the CIA coup in Iran, the democratic Prime Minister Mossadegh was ousted, and the venal Shah resumed power. When the Shah finally fled again as a result of the Islamic revolution, a group of university students overran the U.S Embassy because they feared, and rightly so, that the CIA might engage in another coup and bring the Shah back. The net result of the 1953 CIA coup was the coming into power of Mullahs. I hate to imagine what sort of devil would come into power this time, were CIA operations successful.
It will surprise me if this winds up working in the United States' favor. This "covert operation" in Iran is reminiscent of when the United States supported the Taliban in Afghanistan to overthrow what was then the Northern Alliance in the 1980s. Look how that turned out...
I am sure the Iranian Government is familiar with how two-faced the United States is and will do the best they can to make sure that Jundullah does not take over their country. I wonder what the United States knows about them and why the United States trusts this rebel group? Will they wind up being a "terrorist" group in United States' opinion someday? I don't know - but clearly Jundullah would indeed be a terrorist group to the Iranian Government.
The United States Government once again fails to learn from past events.
Obviously the readers of this web site are generally anti-Bush on a number of issues, and lean to the left on the political spectrum. However, the American people elected this wing-nut president ... twice! (OK, technically only once given the shady events in Florida).
I love the United States and the democratic freedoms it provides, but why the American people would elect Bush and his war-hawk cronies is simply baffling to me. And now it seems all anyone can do is complain about how damaging he is to the country and the rest of the world.
Bush showed his true colors immediately after he was elected by filling his cabinet with hordes of Bible-thumping war mongers. So why did the American people elect him again??
And if the public thinks Bush's moves in Iraq, Iran et al. are a mistake, why are people not taking to the streets in massive protest?
The American people ARE the government as written in the Constitution, and this whack-job administration answers directly to them. Believe me, if everyone took to the streets and reminded the politicians who they work for, major change would happen quickly.
However, it seems that the majority of people must agree with Bush's tactics since he continues to freely do whatever he wants.
Apathy will be the death of all great democracies.
I have a different take. For me, it was good news in that it indicated that Cheney has been contained for now. That means there are powerful forces at work behind the scenes that are directed toward preventing total catastrophe. And as more and more revelations come out regarding all the crimes and machinations of the Bush criminal gang over the past few years, especially those involving Cheney, Darth's position is likely to weaken further.
Or maybe I have just been conditioned by all the bad news during the time of the Bush administration that I focus too much on the few silver linings I can find.
if that bothers you, take a look at Bush Anoints Himself as the Ensurer of Constitutional Government in Emergency
By Matthew Rothschild
The Progressive
the puzzle pieces are coming together.
I'll tell you why.
The war machine is telling them how to analyze what they hear and it runs every media source they turn to; they don't think for themselves. They think that they are hearing both sides, that's where the problem lies.
We are taking to the streets-the only problem is only a few are taking to the streets!!! I agree with Dr. Spock lots of complaining. So someone tell me how do we get the protests that we saw back in the dog days of Vietnam! They were the start and we need to find a way to get this country to wake up and do something at this point ANYTHING WOULD HELP!! IT'S A FOREGONE CONCLUSION PELOSI AND REID ARE NOT THE ANSWER!!!
The US has engaged in state-sponsored terrorism for many years (Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Columbia, etc), and even has training camps for terrorists (School of the Americas in FL). When other countries do the same, the MSM draws them over the coals as sponsors of terrorists. When the US does it, it is to fight for "Freedom and Democracy".
The native American Indian had it right: "White man speak with forked tongue".
The congress - no matter the party - is not the answer. Congress is irrelevant in a dictatorship, and the current party in charge is spineless. Besides, everyone knows no one is going to take to the streets. The citizenry is busily glued to the tube waiting to see who wrapped their SUV around a pole, what new outrages have been perpetrated by entertainment and sports figures, and who wins on the Wheel of Fortune while they add to their fat.
Gsemel:
Just curious...what specifically do you think can be done at this point? Given that the obese and intellectually incurious in America are too lazy to stand up. What do the rest of us do?
The morons are still in charge.
Take to the Streets!?!
That's so 1960's.
This is a great tactic that worked well for civil rights, for the Vietnam war, for voters rights etc. etc. all or mostly 1960's issues. Times have changed. And the governments of the world led by the U.S. have made it more and more difficult for "taking to the streets" to matter.
People think, oh if only we had a thousand more protesters or a hundred thousand more then we could change the mind of the government. Not so. It's like arguing a baseball call and saying if only more players and maybe the fans in the stands would argue with us we could change the mind of the umpires. If you know sports, it doesn't work that way. And besides most umpires are obstinate. We had protesters against the World Bank in S.F. we had protesters in Miami against the free trade convention. We had in some estimates millions of protesters in various U.S. cities against the start of the Iraq war and many more around the world. We had hundreds of thousands of protesters in New York when the RNC had the nerve to set their flags(convention) right in the middle of our camp.
I have much more but I'll cut this post short. First of all the media is trained not to report protests any longer as it did in the 1960's. And if it receives any coverage it's gets just a blip at the end of programming and always show the protesters in a negative light. Second, they have FEMA and national guard troops with new training, not for rescuing Katrina victims, or bring food and shelter to the needy, but for qwelling public violence and disturbances. They have "freedom" cages already setup and waiting hoping and wishing we got just a little violent so that they could unleash their fury of so called non-lethal weapons on us peace loving citizens. If we don't get violent they can send some paid shills to do violence and destruction and use this as a pretense for their excessive force. I can go on but let's leave it there.
Jakesnake's point is well put.
The way I see things..the only way to stop this nonsense is to stop the media.. and start our own educational lessons.
Just imagine.. a peaceful group of citizens standing outside CNN, FOXNEWS, ABC... and handing out "informative" booklets WITH FACTS on how these media misled people. We take the battle (of information) right on their doorstep. Now imagine this group of people growing.. more of them in bus/train stations, fairs, intersections, so on .. handing out more information.. The possibility is endless but the action is needed.
Knowledge is power and right now its in the Govt's hands... Pass it on my friends.
Dubya has about a year and a half to make his next move - two or ist three carrier fleets in the Tonkin - oops - Persian Gulf, a long narrow body with one narrow exit. Bush and his neo-con sidekicks hang on in Iraq despite any demonstrations or letters to congressmen. During that 18 or so months what they need is an incident - preferably big so that bush becomes another Guliani writ large - minus popular ratings suddenly a hero after a terrible incident - my money is on the carrier fleet. First we Lebenon-ize Iraq with air strikes and Bush becomes a hero helping the Repblicans in 1980 elections. Unlike Iraq, Iran can retaliate economically and military. Their economic weapon is stopping all crude oil shipments folowed by sympathetic Venezuela finding necessity to shut down their well and refineries for repairs and the international oil markets go bonkers. Gasoline prices go to $10 dollars a gallon, Venezuela actually makes money and even after our "friends" the hooded monsters in Saudi Arabia turn on the oil spigots full force it take months before the international oil markets come back to normal. Price of gasoline is an issue that effects practically all U.S. citizens - right, left and center. If they all knew that there gasoline price is going to go to $10 a gallon when that first bomb hits Iran Bush and his Neo-con sidekicks would drop all thoughts of an Iran air war!
As I've written before on here several times, the effective form of protest of the future will involve technically capable protestors who can affect commerce-related traffic on the web the way the old protestors were able to affect traffic on the streets.
Lobby your reps to start a draft before its too late. This time make sure their kids go first with no school deferments.
Good!
Nothing really changes.
They will not attack Iran! Why you ask? Iran can fight back.As you can see they are already backing off some and reverting to their old stand-by the CIA and their bag of dirty tricks.
As it was said the post before mine.."Nothing really changes".
Maybe they'll play it like Iraq (or Tonkin). Rhetorical provocations, let them miscalculate (i.e. Iraq invading Kuwait), build-ups in the region, UN embargos, aerial bombing to knock out media, propaganda swap-in's, false flag, years of crippling embargos to weaken resolve under a feel-good Democratic administration with basically a neocon foreign policy, then the real invasion & permanent occupation? And another series of gross miscalculations.
It'll be really interesting to see how they get the average American on board with this one. A horrible event attributed to Iran (or some other random country) to justify the whole "action"?
Our neocons don't seem to read much in the way of history: whether Spain, Italy, Germany, Soviet Union, etc. essentially all European empires of the previous century required too much blood and ended far earlier than their classical counterparts. The Neocon World Order is an anachronism with no place in the modern age.
The USA is an unbelieveably/horribly screwed up country.
A major collapse of our corrupt economic system would help a lot. Hmm maybe only our creator could send a couple of huge meteors to annihilate both Washington DC & Arlington (home of the Pentagon) at some time when most of the dirty rats are there and all the good folks are away.
Wishful thinking doesn't help. It looks like we have have to keep on struggling, remaining aware that truly amazing progress has been made in the last 50 years, and that each success has taken lots of effort.
The people with vision and insight have always been the ones who have pushed for and made progress possible.
Don't be dismayed, fight the good fight! To hell with all movements that use deception, violence, & greed to achieve their goals. They will eventually find their way into history books right next to the Nazis, KKK, and other enemies of the people.
The truth (about what's going on)will set us free
(from supporting disgusting tyrants of both parties who are in power).
At least we can see what's going on. Please support the only
level headed, genuine "PeaceMonger" who's running for president.
It appears that he's the only hope that we have:
http://kucinich.us/
Democrats and Clinton fans, please watch this 8 min talk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zbu1o6W4sI
I disagree with you guys who say marching isn't relevant tell that to MLK!! Yeah there were fire hoses and police dogs and white supremacists and getting arrested but that's the price you pay sometimes. I know I sound so 60's!!! Good!! Those people had balls!!! I'm not saying marching is everything but if enough people start and it grows to the ranks it did in the Vietnam era they'll have to take notice. Anyway as Forrest Gump said,"I guess that's all I got to say bout that"
So does this mean, according to Bush's doctrine, that Iran is now free to attack the United States in any manner it chooses that is compatible with its resources and national security?
I mean if we can premptively attack Iraq on made up suspicions, then it follows that Iran can attack the U.S. with impunity from world opinion since the U.S. is clearly taking aggressive and provocative action against the Iranian Nation.
Does any one in the United States government have a brain to reason such logic? Are we all nationcentric idiots with a media, politicians and business leaders of the same calibre?
They want WWIII and they are hell bent on getting it! Welcome to the Bush Crime Family stage show! They need another attach here on the home front, bet they are up to a real surprise for all of us. This will blow up in our faces and anything that does happen we have asked for.
DrSpock
Dr Spock, wanted to make soem comments about why it seems we Americans allowed the Bush fiasco to ahppen- but this crappy comments function once again screwed up my post- back atchya' later...
Dr Spock, I agree; it is baffling. However, I'm pretty sure the powers that be made sure that the most critical voting machines were all
rigged to vote republican no matter what the people voted. Still, it is mysterious that many obviously do continue to support the
man now that he has revealed himself to be an insane, evil psychopath... (I suspected it all along, but people thought I was paranoid!)
Hi again DrSpock,
What I wanted to say to you was that I have experienced your question before, while traveling outside the US- the world is pissed, and they want answers, so the unwary, traveling US citizens suddenly becomes the target for these questions.
It's crazy, for an activist who has been against the Bush regime lies from day one, to have to answer to others over and over again, like some unpaid ambassador, about how our country got into such a mess- how "we" actually voted for Bush- AGAIN.
How did it happen? First of all, we don't have a free media- how can voters make an informed decision when they are spoonfed lies through the media?
Secondly, we need major campaign reform, because it's the fat cats with the money who get the exposure, and we all know their priorities are aligned with the money source.
And then of course it's important that everyone know, in his first term, Bush authorized a program giving religious organizations lots and lots of $$$$, which must have meant a lot of votes, which is another classic example of why there should be complete seperation of Church and State.
Yes, our election system is totally fucked, so corrupt- and people don't feel they have a voice in government, that the gov. is owned, etc.
Sadly, mainstream USA is like one vast pasture of unthinking sheep, many of whom blindly follow along with the status quo, because they think that in so doing they'll be perceived as one of the "good people", which then somehow actually will translate into their achieving the ever so elusive, carrot-before-the-horse, the "American Dream", which we may as well re-label, "The American Myth".
It has been through the brave activism of those peace activists who were willing to take a stand against a very corrupt (and scary, with their "terrorist" witch hunts and use of torture) administrative regime that any truth about their misdeeds was even discussed.
It wasn't through the media that the Bush approval rating completely reversed- it was word-of-mouth activism, in the living and dining rooms, and outside of the homes, discourse between citizens that has provoked the real change happening now.
When we want to place blame for world problems, let's not immediately place blame on the people of those countries- remember, it's the leaders in charge who are screwing everything up, and with whom the blame lies for deceiving their country. And when you see the people wake up, and try to organize for positive change, how about supporting their efforts, instead of placing blame, which doesn't help at all.
"Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran"
Did Bush authorize previous covert action against Iran?
Did the US Treasury pay for the previous covert action against Iran?
How many Americans are on the ground in Iran taking military action?
We know that for quite awhile the target marking of buildings and infrastructure has been going on from previous reports. What additional actions are now taking place in Iran?
How about this?
Since our "representatives" are not doing much, and are commonly perceived to be the lowest of sleaze who will never, ever listen to the American public...
Why don't we get ballot measures across in every State, and every county, to this effect:
On every voter's ballot there should be a choice for, "None of these candidates represent my interests."
Start a movement, call it VoteChange, and say this:
We will no longer vote for the lesser of two evils.
We will no longer stand for voting only for millionaires.
We will no longer stand for a two party system of entrenched old white men.
Elections with dismal turnouts are unacceptable.
Etc.
We've got to get around to the root of the problem at some point. No matter how many letters we write, no matter that 70 per cent of the country is freaked out, nothing's going to change until we get the little weasels out.
Dr Spock, the American people never technically elected Bush even once. Google Ohio 2004 Fitrakis and read what's happening there. The new Secretary of State has sequestered the 2004 ballots instead of allowing the scheduled destruction of them. Bush is in office because he stole 2 elections. The Republicans would still be in power if they hadn't underestimated the level of voter anger. And if we had fair elections, the Democrats would have their 2/3 majority.
mujibur, the citizens of the USSR knew they had a lying press, so they developed a system of dispensing information underground, called "samizdat". They typed their own manuscripts of forbidden written work and news information and distributed it by hand. In their society, people could only trust their friends, but in so doing, they formed a nationwide network. And they, unlike Americans, knew that whatever they were being told by their news reporters was a pack of lies.
Sadly, Americans have taken our hard earned freedom for granted and aren't even noticing that it's disappearing.
"The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly, terribly deceived." Oscar Wilde
The majority of the US budget is used for covert actions.. everywhere, not just Iran. Please research for yourselves about a US gov't program called "Rex84" aka Readiness Exercise 84 aka US concentration camps. They're oh so fashionable these days.. and they're just waiting to make a big comeback. They're already built and staffed.. just not yet filled with people. Don T. Hutto detainee jail for 'illegal aliens' is one example, and it's a privatized affair.. that's just one facility that was funded by all those no-bid contracts that Cheney worked out for himself...
There's so much more to get into.. but not enough time to get into it.
How covert can it be if we know about it? Something doesn't quite add up here. And what could be worse than the Mullahs? The over-zealous counter-critics keeps rational thinking at bay. And by the way DrSpock, Bush and company stole the second election. But for Ohio and Florida, oh and the Supreme Court, they would not be in power today. But what exactly would John Kerry have done? About anything? While I agree that Bush needs to go asap, and the US involvement in Iraq come to a fast and quick end, let's not lose our heads. Not all Americans are nationcentric idiots, (of course, you weren't including yourself, were you Dillon?). And patriotism and Democrats are not mutually exclusive. So what do we do? How can we get rid of the blight in the Whitehouse? Hmmm...there were a couple of good suggestions, rally those who are fed up and do some serious marching (college students are great at that), get Congress to impeach (let your politicians know exactly how you feel whether they have supported your views or not), boycott things that aid and abet the war, stop using so much gas and make your trips as succinct as possible, there are a lot of things we can do, not the least of which is fix the voting problems in every state in the union. The power is in the people, at least in America, but usually they don't know it because they are duped by shady, slick politicians. Oh, and you can go to Canada if you want, if they will take you. This is our country and it is still the best one on earth.
Taking to the streets, will ultimately, come to pass given the current indications of future actions by this administration and the followers of it's creed. But, the action taken in the streets will be required to be a unique phenomena; actions required to turn this facist movement around will be both bloody and deadly. We have sealed our own fate when we didn't push Gore to cause, in his words, a consitutional crisis, by challenging the supreme court. The citizens of this country have abdicated their responsibilities and the apathy will be paid for in blood if there is to be restoration of freedom in America. The democracy, the supreme experiment has failed, it has given way to the same murderous facist, imperialist, corportatist, military industrial complex leaning neo-political elitist thinking that has managed to over take most every westernalized government. There is but one answer as there was in 1798 France. Be armed and be well. To hell with the republic for, it does not stand.
There are several other ways this can play out. Perhaps it'll implode from within, one among their coalition (Big Oil, Big Pharm, Big Ag, Big Box, Big Guns, Big God, etc.) doesn't get what it wants. The other way is that the military can't recruit enough people, the IRS cannot raise enough taxes because people are getting stretched thin already, etc. So they may need to resort to a draft, but they'll need to work very quickly since opposition will galvanize.
The other failed aggressors in the 17th-20th centuries met their Waterloos from the outside. When aggressors go unchallenged from within, they inevitably meet their limits from without. The problem is that they take an awful lot of innocents along for the journey.
Shenonymous,
Your points are well taken and intelligently thought out, one problem though, they are completely naive. This line of thought is exactly what has delivered this country into the hands of zealots. We no longer have the ear of government, for government is absurdly and criminally corrupt. We are not talking about a simple dissatifaction with a specific premise that this administration and it's supporters covet, we are talking about a mass movement by a group of powerful people designed on a "new world order", one that has no place for dissent, where the rule of law has no bearing that corrupt politicians, ego-menical men of wealth feel that the world ought to evolve and revolve around the tenents of their beliefs and that any use of inhumane treatment of world citizens is justified in their undertaking. The Third Riecht is a joke in comparison to these individuals. They are not constrained to borders, ideals or the wills of any peoples. Wake up people before there is nothing left to fight for. The puzzle pieces are there all you have to do is be intelligent enough to put them together to see that this country has been sacrificed for a larger cause on part of these individuals. There is no doubt that events, much worse than we're seeing in Irag and Afghanistan will come to pass soon and 9-11 will be a farce as they fucked that paln up too. Undoubtedly, more fear tactics will be implemented in the US to help bolster the robbery of democracy. Make no mistake, your ideals are valued but misplaced, we have past the point of depending upon civil engagement to solve this problem.
The U.S. government must be considered a fully corporatist fascist state. The federal government has been completely Privatixed for sole purpose of maximazation of profit of a few multi-national corporations (oil), the military-industrial complex, etc.
Domestically the iron heel is now destroying "immigrants" complete with concentration camps (detention centers) holding families and children in Texas.
The LA May 1st police attack is another sample of what is to come.
The Democratic Party, liberals, "progressives", populists, are complict. "Ignorance is bliss". They are complicit because they insist on remaining ignorant of the fact that REFORM IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE. The Democratic Party cannot be reformed. The politically conservative labor movement (business partner to capital), cannot be reformed.
The mass madia cannot be reformed. Critical analysis is forbidden.
WHAT TO DO NOW? First, find out WHY THESE THINGS ARE HAPPENING? For critical analysis read the World Socialist Web Site
http://www.wsws.org
Iran has always been on Bush and Cheney's list, along with the plan to make a dictatorship of the USA.
I agree with the writer above who says we should institute the draft. That ought to bring out some action. You can't count on the Democrats. We found that out yesterday.
We are on our last hurrah if a Daniel doesn't come to judgment pretty durned soon -- like next week.
Is it just me? Or is the majority of the American Public used to eating the Bull!*&@ we are being fed by this administration? Too many of us are too comfortable to get off our ass and do what is right. This country is spiraling downward out of control, and too many of us are willing to spill the blood of innocent people around the globe just to maintain the unimportant comforts we have been given. Why is the public more concerned with who wins on American Idol, or what's going to happen to Jack Bauer than the fact we are travelling down a road to the next world war? The people who live in the Middle East are just like you and me, they have families, friends and rights as human beings. I for one am tired of watching this country support terrorist groups (Hussein 80's,Al Quida 80's and Jundollah present) and Horde WMD's just so we can kill others for those exact reasons. I believe in peaceful change but I am also a realist. We all need to remember that the people have the power in this country, not the government! We have let this administration convince us otherwise for too long. Do what is right. Power to the people!
Been there! Done that! Mossadegh in Iran in 1953. Not to mention thirteen other governmental overthrows, including Iraq, since Hawaii in 1890(?).
Read Stephen Kinzer's "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq" and "All the Shah's Men".
These overthrows for business interests and exaggerated fear of our enemies were immoral and, in the long run, made us less safe. Our arrogant and hypocritical actions have been carried out by both Republican and Democratic administrations.
"Failure to learn this history dooms us to repeat it." When will we ever learn?
Check out Romney's condemnation of ABC's disclosure of this alleged plan. Another cluless politician.
Although Eisenhower's actions belied the words in his farewell address, we should all heed his admonitions.
Only in The U S you say,,eh.
Something smells like counter intelligence. This story came from ABC, Murdock's lapdog. They are very neocon.
Why would Murdock authorize his news station to leak a secret story with anonomous sources about his dear Bush adminstration?
I think it is to distract from something else. What is the big story about to break?
"I have also decided to pardon five other individuals for their conduct related to the Iran-Contra affair: Elliott Abrams, Duane Clarridge, Alan Fiers, Clair George, and Robert McFarlane. First, the common denominator of their motivation--whether their actions were right or wrong--was patriotism. Second, they did not profit or seek to profit from their conduct. Third, each has a record of long and distinguished service to this country. And finally, all five have already paid a price--in depleted savings, lost careers, anguished families--grossly disproportionate to any misdeeds or errors of judgment they may have committed."--Proclamation 6518, Grant of Executive Clemency, December 24, 1992 (George H.W. Bush).
That's some "lost career" Abrams has. I wonder what his savings account looks like today?
Bill Baggins, what do you think the big story about to break is? It wouldn't have anything to do with Monica Goodling's testimony or Alberto Gonzales' breakin of Ashcroft's sickbed would it? Or the fact that the call to Ashcroft's hospital room from the White House drew a No Response from the President (not daring to get caught in a baldfaced lie with the whole world closely watching this time). Things are heating up in Never-Never land.
I don't mean to nitpick but if he's announced it and I'm reading about it here, exactly how "covert" can it be?
Don't place blame on Bush. The responsible parties are those who helped him steal two elections by voting for thes unqualified and manipulated president who has a secret agenda.