Cheney’s Iran-Arms-to-Taliban Gambit Rebuffed
WASHINGTON - A media campaign portraying Iran as supplying arms to the Taliban guerrillas fighting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, orchestrated by advocates of a more confrontational stance toward Iran in the George W. Bush administration, appears to have backfired last week when Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Dan McNeil, issued unusually strong denials.
The allegation that Iran has reversed a decade-long policy and is now supporting the Taliban, conveyed in a series of press articles quoting “senior officials” in recent weeks, is related to a broader effort by officials aligned with Vice President Dick Cheney to portray Iran as supporting Sunni insurgents, including al Qaeda, to defeat the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
An article in the Guardian published May 22 quoted an anonymous U.S. official as predicting an “Iranian-orchestrated summer offensive in Iraq, linking al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents to Tehran’s Shia militia allies” and as referring to the alleged “Iran-al Qaeda linkup” as “very sinister”.
That article and subsequent reports on CNN May 30, in the Washington Post Jun. 3 and on ABC news Jun. 6 all included an assertion by an unnamed U.S. official or a “senior coalition official” that Iran is following a deliberate policy of supplying the Taliban’s campaign against U.S., British and other NATO forces.
In the most dramatic version of the story, ABC reported “NATO officials” as saying they had “caught Iran red-handed, shipping heavy arms, C4 explosives and advanced roadside bombs to the Taliban for use against NATO forces.”
Far from showing that Iran had been “caught red-handed”, however, the report quoted from an analysis which cited only the interception in Afghanistan of a total of four vehicles coming from Iran with arms and munitions of Iranian origin. The report failed to refer to any evidence of Iranian government involvement.
Both Gates and McNeill denied flatly last week that there is any evidence linking Iranian authorities to those arms. Gates told a press conference on Jun. 4, “We do not have any information about whether the government of Iran is supporting this, is behind it, or whether it’s smuggling, or exactly what is behind it.” Gates said that “some” of the arms in question might be going to Afghan drug smugglers.
The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. McNeill, implied that the arms trafficking from Iran is being carried out by private interests. “[W]hen you say weapons being provided by Iran, that would suggest there is some more formal entity involved in getting these weapons here,” he told Jim Loney of Reuters June 5. “That’s not my view at all.”
Gates and McNeill are obviously aware of the link between arms entering Afghanistan from Iran and the flow of heroin from Afghanistan into Iran. It is well known that Afghan drug lords who command huge amounts of money have been able to penetrate the long and porous border with ease. They have undoubtedly been involved in buying arms in Iran with their drug proceeds for both themselves and the Taliban, which protects their drug routes. Smuggling is relatively easy because of the money available for bribery of border guards.
Another factor helping to explain the influx of arms from Iran, as noted by former Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan Rustam Shah Momand in an interview on Pakistan’s GEO television Apr. 19, is that the Taliban now controls areas on the Iranian border for the first time. Momand said the Taliban, which is awash in money from the heroin exports to Iran, buys small quantities of weapons in Iran and smuggles them back into Afghanistan.
But the Iranian government itself is not involved in the trade in arms, Momand insisted.
The combination of anonymous statements by administration officials and the dismissal of the charge by the commander in the field contrasts sharply with the Bush administration’s claims that Iran was sending armour-piercing IEDs to Shiite militias in Iraq last January and February. Those accusations, which were never backed up with specific evidence, were made publicly by Bush himself, the State Department and the U.S. military command in Baghdad.
The fact that the officials making the accusation about Iran and Afghanistan are unwilling to go on the record and the refusal of Gates and McNeill to go along with it suggests an effort by Cheney and his allies in the administration to do an “end run” around the official policy by conjuring up a region-wide Iranian offensive against U.S. forces.
Steve Clemons reported on his blog The Washington Note May 24 that an aide to Cheney has told gatherings at right-wing think tanks that Cheney is afraid Bush will not make the “right decision” on Iran and believes he must constrain the president’s choices.
Iran has long regarded the Taliban regime as its primary enemy and was the first external power to support Afghan forces in an effort to overthrow it. It is not merely a sectarian Sunni-Shiite divide but the Pakistani government patronage of the Taliban that has made it an irreconcilable enemy of Iran.
The line being pushed by the Cheney group in the administration that Iran is supplying the Taliban with arms appears to be based on a highly imaginative reading of some recent intelligence reporting on Iranian contacts with the Taliban. A source with access to that reporting, who insists on anonymity because he is not authorised to comment on the matter, told IPS that it indicates Iranian intelligence has had contacts with the top commanders of the Taliban’s inner Shura — the leadership council located in Kandahar.
However, the source also says these intelligence reports do not provide any specific evidence of an Iranian intention to give weapons to the Taliban.
The Cheney group is evidently arguing within the administration that the mere existence of contacts between Iranian intelligence and Taliban commanders, combined with the presence of arms or Iranian origin, is sufficient reason to conclude that Iran has changed its policy toward the Taliban.
That argument parallels a key assertion made by Cheney and other neoconservative officials in constructing the case for war against Iraq in 2002. They insisted that any contact between an official of the Iraqi government at any level and anyone in al Qaeda was sufficient proof of its support for al Qaeda terrorism.
Afghanistan specialist Seth Jones of the Rand Corporation, who visited Afghanistan most recently in early 2007, says some elements of the Iranian government may be involved in arms trafficking but that it is “very small-scale support” and that Iran does not want to strengthen the Taliban.
NATO commanders in Pakistan have long been aware that the Taliban has been dependent on Pakistan for its arms and ammunition. The Telegraph reported Sunday that a NATO report on a recent battle shows the Taliban fired an estimated 400,000 rounds of ammunition, 2,000 rocket-propelled grenades and 1,000 mortar shells and had stocked over one million rounds of ammunition, all of which came from Quetta, Pakistan during the spring months.
Gareth Porter is an historian and national security policy analyst. His latest book, “Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam“, was published in June 2005.
Copyright © 2007 IPS-Inter Press Service
are there cracks in the imperial facade? people in the military saying this iran hysteria is nonsense.
so why does the MSM keep parroting this darth cheney BS?
Iran was stronly anti-Taliban and still is. Pakistan is the one supporting the Taliban and did so all along. The Iranians actually helped the US on intelligence gathering about the Taliban back in 2001 and they also supported Ahmed Shah Masood the man who fought against the Taliban and the leader of the free Afghanistan in the North until Al Qaeda and the Taliban murdered him on September 9th 2001. Pakistan is continuing to support the Taliban to this day. Just ask any Afghan-American they’ll tell you. I am married to an Afghan American and he’ll give you an earful about Pakistan’s corrupt ISI.
Oh yeah for more background on all this I highly recommend Ahmed Rashid’s book “The Taliban”. He is actually a Pakistani journalist.
it’s a neat trick—first they plant a horror story in the press attributed to a “high government official speaking on conditions of anonymity”; then on the sunday morning talk shows they quote the story as justification for taking the action they’d already decided on.
this tactic, made easy by such eager accomplices as thomas friedman, robert novak and the now-disgraced judith miller, worked its mojo on the american public in the runup to shock & awe; why wouldn’t it work again for the planned invasion and occupation of iran?
what’s truly terrifying is that we have to rely on the likes of robert gates, thoroughly compromised by his behavior while head of central intelligence, to “speak truth to power”.
It’s interesting to see the numbers of ammo and weapons the Taliban has at it’s disposal provided to them by Pakistan which gets their military aid from us, the USA.
But that’s good for our economy, those are “good jobs” for people in the US defense industry. It’s very important to our nation’s leaders to keep the weapons flowing, regardless of where the weapons end up.
Why not build positive things instead of death machines? Why are so many of our leaders so stupid?
hazmat: ‘it’s a neat trick—first they plant a horror story in the press attributed to a “high government official speaking on conditions of anonymity”; then on the sunday morning talk shows they quote the story as justification for taking the action they’d already decided on.’
Haven’t I already seen this movie? Cheney is not gonna rest until he sets the entire desert aflame. This rebuff on the part of NATO commanders is encouraging; it suggests that the allies are determined not to get sucked in. This is the best news I’ve heard since I observed the sea of unconvinced faces at the Security Council in response to Colin Powell’s notorious performance.
I’ve been catching up on my summer reading: if anyone hasn’t yet read Andrew Bacevic’s, Zbigniew Brzezinski’s, or Chalmers Johnson’s latest books, I would strongly recommend them. They should be required reading for anyone with even the slightest interest in where this war is headed.
Has anyone bothered to see if there are arms smuggled in from any other countries? Say the largest arms dealing country in the world- the United States. In the smuggling and drug business, arms come from where ever the can be obtained. The presense of U.S., Great Brittain, German or any countries’ weapons would not be seen as an agument of these countries support of the Taliban- even though they were allies before 9/11. I wish the news media, some decent reporter will do their job this time around. Cheney and the neocons have always been wrong, incompetent, greedy and stupid. Yet, their lies, suspicions and idiotic logic continue to dominate our so-called news media and dum meets dumber Congress.
Chaney is a madman. He has been up to his hips in nefarious BS since he worked in the Nixon Whitehouse. When he leaves DC in disgrace maybe his oil buddies will get him a gas station franchise back home in Casper and he can run the cash register, clean the toilets, stock chips, twinkies, cold beer and vienna sausages while Lynne mops up. Hopefully they will be living in a nice double wide like so many of the other residents of the Cowboy State!
Wasnt’t there just last week or the week before a report in the news about the US selling arms to ‘opposition forces’ in Iran? No I’m not talking about 1988 Iran-Contra arms sales, but sales/arms transfers that occured this year. Of course the Taliban has great weapons.. they get them from Uncle Sam.
“Islamic Terrorists” supported by Uncle Sam: Bush Administration “Black Ops” directed against Iran, Lebanon and Syria
by Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, May 31, 2007
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=5837
The Bush administration has admitted that covert actions of an aggressive nature were applied against Iran and Syria. The stated objective was to wreck the countries’ economies and currency systems. The infamous Iran-Syria Policy and Operations Group (ISOG) created in early 2006, integrated by officials from the White House, the State Department, the CIA and the Treasury Department, had a mandate to destabilize Syria and Iran, and bring about “Regime Change” :
“The committee, the Iran-Syria Policy and Operations Group [ISOG], met weekly throughout much of 2006 to coordinate actions such as curtailing Iran’s access to credit and banking institutions, organizing the sale of military equipment to Iran’s neighbors and supporting forces that oppose the two regimes.” (Boston Globe, 25 May 2007)
The thing to remember above all is that we have infuriated Iran, refuse to talk to them and threaten them almost daily. How would you like a guy like Cheney, his eyes glazed and his hand in his pocket playing with the dead and promising war, death and pestilence, while his bile overloads his mouth and runs down to the sneering lips where he can catch it and return it to his smoking brain, all the time knowing that the $658 million-dollar embassy going up in Iraq is also meant to control Iran and Syria?
Bush and Cheney are both insane and our citizens will suffer for it.
Our job is to either impeach (Cheney first, of course) or sit back and wait for hell like we haven’t seen since Vietnam.
Which shall it be?
Cheney also told me that the KKK is teaming up with the NAACP to fight the gay mexican illegals…doh!!
” I wish the news media, some decent reporter will do their job this time around.”
Qiut wishing ; wishing is for kids gazing at stars and hiding baby teeth under pillows.
If you haven’t cancelled ALL of your MSM subscriptions and are still watching non-PBS television then you are in good company with millions of Americans, progressive and regressive who ,like kids ,not adults are wishing.
Cheney wants to nuke Iran, regardless of the reason. He and Lieberman will concoct a reason based upon what Israel wants. We should have Iran as an ally rather than nasty Pakistan who is undermining us at every turn.
Here’s the truh of the Taliban:
From Human Rights Watch:
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan2/Afghan0701-02.htm
and here from Salon
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2002/06/05/memo/index.html
I’d also like to add that any money this administration uses to go to war with Iran they’ll take from the Afghan reconstruction budget just like they did with the Iraq war.
Until everyone in the current administration is removed from office, this kind of BS will remain daily output. I don’t doubt that all governments engage in this kind of rumour-becoming-conventional-wisdom rumour-mongering; this administration operates only this way - it is as snakey and secretive as it is possible to be. Until George, Dick & Co. are removed from office, this is how things will remain.
Regarding planting/leaking falshoods a day before and referring to them later the next day please read Amy Goodman’s interview with Peter Eisner the investigative journalist and Carlo Bonini the former Italian Secret Service agent.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/10/1321236&mode=thread&tid=25
It is the technique used by the same individuals when they were preparing for attack on Iraq. They are at it gain;
Fooled me once, shame on you. Fooled me twice; shame on us.
Personally, I wouldn’t believe Cheney, if he swore he was lyin’.
Surprized there’s 9% who would. As vulnerable to justice as he is, the Dems won’t prosecute this scuzz. Maybe that’s where his fan base is.
dcbeltway, thanks for the links. I found the salon one very interesting.
I lived in th Middle East for three years and my feeling is “no one knows what the hell is going on over there”. The Arabs and probably the Iranians think so differently from us it was like living in a time warp or another planet. They know plenty about us though. Many of them educated in the States and of course our media that infiltrates everywhere. The war in Iraq first named “operation crusade” demonstrates how much the administration knew about the Middle East.
The Cheney lot designed 9/11, let’s not forget how menacing power can be. The press play is unfolding and it’s an amusing read: Miss Unocal said just last week something similiar to: don’t worry, we aren’t going to bomb yet. Then Stooge Lieberman comes out and sabre rattles. No doubt the Chinese Tyrants are collectively licking their lips in consideration of even more favorable Oil deals brokered by the violence of US Gangsters.
Now they’ve armed the militias!
What better way to keep the war going. Maybe if enough Sunni attack enough Shia, they’ll finally provoke Iran
into doing something and get the war they want…
Not to mention alienating Turkey and the Kurds.
Looks like we’ll all have to pay the price for the mad men in office.
There is a fox and there is a porcupine. The fox is a generalist with a dozen ways to get something accomplished while the porcupine has only one trick up his sleeve, but it’s a good one. Trickster Dickster is a porcupine and he is using his one trick to the limits and beyond. Since placing false information in the news worked to build support for the Iraqi invasion, why should he change and do something else to get us to invade Iran? What you want to bet that somewhere there will be another “intelligence analysis” office set up again that will distort and cherrypick the intelligence information to get us into Iran? It may not be in the Pentagon this time (Those guys aren’t totally stupid.), but it will be somewhere.
dcbeltway notes “…any money this administration uses to go to war with Iran they’ll take from the Afghan reconstruction budget just like they did with the Iraq war.”
A direct violation of congressional intent and thus a simple and provable cause for impeachment.
Cheney has never to my knowledge told the truth about anything; I doubt if he even knows how to tell the truth. He must be removed immediately.
How many more times does this administration have to spread these vicious lies before we actually kick them out of office? If they were working anywhere else, they would have been fired years ago.
The truth of course is always swept aside to make room for these lies. Never mind that Iran helped us during the U.S invasion of Afghanistan. Never mind that Iran and the Taliban came very close to war and were traditional enemies.
I hate the Iranian regime but still believe the best approach would have been to lay off the strong rhetoric and let the Iranian people remove these religious nuts from power. A very large number of Iranians are under age 30 and are fed up with their leaders. All this talk about how big a threat Iran is is about appealing to the “patriotic” hicks who need to find new enemies to hate, and to the Israel lobby.
It is interesting that the U.S military is doing a better job of representing us than our elected(or rather unelected), civilian officials. They continue to refute these lies even more fervently than before.
Maybe I am reading too much into this, but is it possible that Iran is helping us, yet the media and government are blocking these facts from spreading? Is our military working together on some level with Iranian forces, Iranian intelligence or officials which is why they throw a fit every time the Bush administration starts its sabre rattling? Who knows. Just thinking out loud.
Cheney is arguably the most venomous ‘official’ that ever existed. How does this guy get away with screwing us in the ~!@ almost everyday and then we turn the other ‘cheek’.
Pakistan has decided to once again support the Taliban (they never did give it up ) as it suits their strategic goals in containing an independant Afghanistan. The Pakistani secret service (ISI) is the most insiduous organization thats virtually a state within a state operating with impunity in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. They are funded heavily, armed to the teeth and are hand in glove with the fundamentalists that seem to be creeping out of every nook and corner.
Iran on the other hand is primarily opposed to the radical Taliban and Al-Qaeda. They did support Hekmatyar but he was an old clansmen and not Taliban. Its inconceivable that American intelligence does not know this when just about every average government agency can tell you this.
The only hope is to wait for Cheney to kick the bucket. He is gonna keep kicking up shit till then.
we see again, ITS ALL ABOUT THE OIL. with the Bushies buddy buddy with the Saudies, Iraq stolen by greedy corporations, the next target would logically be Iran, the remaining Persian Gulf country not under sway of the military-industrial complex and oil corporations.
Its like Iraq part II
That idiot Robin just reported on Robin and Company (CNN) that there is “irrefutable evidence” of a link between Iran and the Taliban. They showed a Bush official saying there was “irrefutable evidence”.
Thats the end for me for watching that program.
If you want to send an e-mail complaining about the biased reporting on Robin and Co use this
http://edition.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5c.html
CNN’s American Morning gave the same impression in a report by Judith Starr and follow-up comments by John Roberts. Sounded like a ’slam dunk’ to me. Looks like CNN is just another media outlet for the Administration. Move over Fox News.
U.S. China and Africas oil….. Get a tub of popcorn for this one!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=5714
BTW great pic of McNeil! LMAO
peaceistruth, jedediah,
Re are there cracks in the imperial facade? people in the military saying this iran hysteria is nonsense.
That can be fixed. I’m guessing that McNeill will be “retiring” very soon now. Gates has probably already heard that he can kkep his own views to himself. The party line is that Iran is the bad guy, and if he likes his job, he’s going to understand that completely.
It’s called a purge. Get on board, or get off the train.
I will repeat. We are seeing the unfolding of a plan that has been the single-minded focus of the men nopw in control of the White House since the day Kennedy was shot. These people are absolutely not going to stop.
Get ready for anothother “terrorist attack”, and then a draft…
It’s “Spaceballs” and “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” all in one.
Cheney is a fat, lying, draft-dodging bucket of puke.
Cheney’s lies are well known yet the media still peddle his lies.
Who owns the media; who more than anyone else wants this war, who does Liberman represent, why are you guys and gals afraid to mention AIPAC-Israel.
Answer- You are afraid of their two magic bullets: Holocaust-Antisemitism.
This is nothing new. Bush and his underboss, Dick Cheney, along with his administrative thugs will lie, cheat and steal to get their way. I predict, whether the military and Gates are against these outlandish lies Cheney and the Bush administration spew out have done this from the beginning when Bush was selected by his father’s friends on the Supreme court. they will bomb Iran even if every country in the United Nations are against them. i believe they are fighting for the jewish neocons, which i believe are also members of the Israeli intelligence department or Massad. i believe Wolfowitz, Feith, Pearl, Rumsfeld, Cheney(half Jewish)and the other jewish members of the US intelligence service are all members of the Massad. Make no doubt about it. If the Democratic congress would investigate these particular people i just named, they would find that they are members of the Israeli intelligence service. Once the war is started in Iraq, they will then target Syria for backing terrorists and bomb the hell out of that country, all for the Israeli government. I would like congress to ask these particular thugs the question about their membership and close relationship with the Israeli Massad. Once they deny that they are, the evidence, including e-mails, memos and top secret intelligence records, including videos made without their knowledge will come out and then they can be charged with perjury and crimes against humanity. The evidence is there and more to come, in the hands of two of the top journalists in the US. But they are afraid to present it because of the repercussions that could proceed after they come forward, including their assinations from the insiders, either from Israel or the US. But they are just waiting for the right moment and all hell will break loose. Mark my words. It’s only a matter of time and these thugs that Bush listen to, are no different than the mafia, except Bush and his thugs kill in the hundreds of thousands, 99% are innocent women and children and steal billions of dollars. the mafia kills there own, very rarely do they kill innocent people. and they only steal in the millions. the Bush administration and his thugs will come out billionaires when they leave office, however the nazi jews that run the country behind closed doors will unfortunately still be working for our government. our country has gone to hell in a handbasket. and Bush is stupid enough to start a nuclear war and use their propaganda ministry to make up the reasons why it’s needed and to hell with the consequences. well that’s one way to get rid of our deficit.
Yes these Guys took over when they covered up-JFK.
That is why I am working to pull them up by the roots.
I am not objective, I am a witness and you can see the
latest and You can join in at the Education forum below too.
Soon it shoud be easier to acsess the site but I am getting help at http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=10081&st=0&p=103775&#entry103775
and http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=10194&st=0&p=105055&#entry105055
Finding new evidence every day now and if you have trouble registering and want to see photos let me know. jimglover@verizon.net
Thanks Jim
Here’s some snippets on Richard Bruce Cheney, Vice PUS (President of the United States):
(Nb): *PUS*: a noun. Definition: ” a yellow-white sticky substance produced by suppuration / formation of morbific matter found in abscesses and sores.”
Vice PUS Navel gazing: his home is at the Naval Observatory in ‘Dirty Washing-ton’ DC.
From http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/a_cheney.htm :::
“Small-vessel cerebral atherosclerosis could produce insidious, difficult-to-recognize degradation of mental faculties”
and,
“Atherosclerosis is a difficult-to-reverse process that narrows the arteries through which blood flows. It is more than hardening of the arteries. It involves the build-up of material inside blood vessels. This reduces blood flow downstream from the build-up.”
(Nb): Cheney is an Aquarian (born Jan 30th 1941) –and this condition often afflicts that star sign. One natural remedy for atherosclerosis is garlic, but of course, as garlic is fatal for ‘creatures of the night’ and bloodthirsty vampires, Vice PUS Cheney can’t stand being anywhere near garlic!
“Whether Vice PUS Cheney has atherosclerosis in his brain is publicly unknown. A betting man would, however, say he does” and “Cheney was advised to use any cell phones on the side of his head _opposite_ the head implant…”
Meds the Vice PUS is on ’cause subtle cognitive, mood, and behavioural changes in some people, including severe irritability’…
________________
As a youth Cheney had two arrests for drunken driving, one in November 1962 and one in July 1963, both in Wyoming, but he still drinks, -he had certainly consumed alcohol before blasting a quail-killing colleague with his shotgun. Rumsfeld might have reported this as ‘ co-literal damage’ -but either way, many bird brains got hurt that day!
++++++++++++++++++++++
In 2000, Dr. Gary Malakoff (director of internal medicine at George Washington University Hospital and Cheney’s personal doctor since 1995) said Cheney is in “excellent health” but then… in 2004 Dr. Malakoff was dropped from Cheney’s medical team, -because he was a drug addict!
Please DO send the Vice PUS lots of pomegranates to eat! – they bring on ‘ASS’ = Anaphylactic Shock Syndrome in him, because he is allergic to pomegranates _as well_ as garlic!
_____________
It’s interesting that the Vice PUS chose JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs) as one of his midnight haunts.
Alongside him in that disreputable neocon cabal were Michael Ledeen, Richard Perle, and R. James Woolsey, former U.S. Representative to the United Nations John Bolton, and former Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Douglas Feith. Also associated are Paul Wolfowitz, Joe Lieberman, and Senator John McCain…
But then, as these are all highly honourable men [read: ‘complete and utter Bar-stewards’!] -we can be sure that they are not in the least ever inclined towards total Israeli bias and handsome payola where that zion-bedevilled country is concerned!
Btw: JINSA’s dated aims are:
· Enhanced WMD counter-proliferation programs.
· National ballistic missile defense systems.
· Curbing of regional ballistic missile development and production worldwide.
· Increased counter-terrorism training and funding, prior to September 11, 2001 attacks.
· Increased ‘defense’ cooperation with Israel.
· Substantially improved quality-of-life for U.S. service personnel and their families.
· Support for joint U.S.-Israeli training and weapons development programs.
· A rejection of any peace process with the Palestinians that is not prefaced by a full and unconditional renunciation of terrorism and a full and effective Palestinian effort to combat terrorism in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, and
· Regime change in “rogue” nation-states known to provide support or knowingly harbor terrorist groups, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Libya, and supports a re-evaluation of the U.S. defense relationships with Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
This nasty little abscess of a group believes: ” ‘regime change’ by any means necessary in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority is an urgent imperative. Anyone who dissents — be it Colin Powell’s State Department, the CIA, or career military officers — is committing heresy against articles of faith that effectively hold there is no difference between US and Israeli national security interests… ”
-well, that bodes well for world peace, does it not!
See more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Institute_for_National_Security_Affairs
____________
Okay, I godda go and find some more pomegranates and get them in the post to the Vice PUS now, …I just hope he eats ‘em all this time!
Anyone who was around in the early 60’s (I was in High School) knows how absolutely shit-faced you’d have to be to get a DUI in those days. One of my teamates was stopped and was on the verge of passing out and the cop offered to “follow him home”…The VP had to have been completely out of his mind drunk to get those DUIs especially in Wyoming. In those days little things like driving drunk were considered a manly thing to do in the Cowboy state.
This is going to sound awfully trite — but I just need to comment on the brilliant choice of a photo for McNeil. If there was ever anyone who wanted to underscore, to capture, the insanity of our times he got it dead-on with the photo accompanying this article. Wild-eyed, desperate, a sort of programmed-zombie look about him, perhaps the hunted look, a bit of insanity, etc. Absolutely brilliant photography.
This article is NOT true!!!!
Gates and the US have been quoted extensively since last week and up to today saying the opposite. In fact the propaganda (if that is what it is) has escalated in tone and tenor!!!
You all need to pay attention.
curmudgeon99
This is a developing story and it is changing over time.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070614-0238-iran-taliban.html
some quotes
Afghanistan’s defense minister on Thursday dismissed claims by a top U.S. State Department official that there was “irrefutable evidence” that the Iranian government was providing arms to Taliban rebels.
“Actually, throughout, we have had good relations with Iran and we believe that the security and stability of Afghanistan are also in the interests of Iran,” Abdul Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press.
“There has been evidence of weapons, but it is difficult to link it to Iran,” Wardak said. “It is possible that (they) might be from al-Qaeda, from the drug mafia or from other sources.”
Gates speculated that Tehran may be “trying to play both sides of the street, hedge their bets, or what their motives are other than causing trouble for us.”
A bogus UBL, Taliban, Iranian connection has long been propagated by the US -long before the 2003 illegal invasion of Iraq.
Gates: “playing both sides”….
A perfect example would be the US funding and training FATAH. Think of what’s happening in Gaza right now….
Perhaps the alleged speculation by Gates reveals more about the US than Iran. Remember the US offered the Taliban many lucrative deals before 911. The best quote being from July, 2001: “either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs,’”
http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/CK20Ag01.html
In the article, John O’Neill is said to have left the FBI in July, 2001 “in protest over the obstruction.” More on John O’Neill.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/
Going back at least to 2005, writers/journalists have noted evidence suggesting that the US has plans to attack Iran. In the August 21, 2006 issue of The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh writes:
“The Pentagon consultant told me that intelligence about Hezbollah and Iran is being mishandled by the White House the same way intelligence had been when, in 2002 and early 2003, the Administration was making the case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. ‘The big complaint now in the intelligence community is that all of the important stuff is being sent directly to the top - at the insistence of the White House - and not being analyzed at all, or scarcely,’ he said. ‘It’s an awful policy and violates all of the N.S.A.’s strictures, and if you complain about it, you’re out,’ he said. ‘Cheney had a strong hand in this.’ ”
An apparent replay of the Cheney “intelligence” gathering and interpretation we saw before the invasion of Iraq.
Within 24 hours of Gareth Porter’s article, Undersecretary of State Burns said we “now have irrefutable proof” that Iran is supplying arms to the Taliban. Secretary Gates, more judicious in his wording, said that the quantities of arms found in trucks made it hard to believe that the Iranian government did not know their arms were being transported to the bad guys. Gates strikes me as honest. I hope he will not hesitate to contradict Bush/Cheney if and/or when that is necessary to prevent another stupid disaster in the Middle East.
what the fuck is wrong with the people in iran. do they not know that nucleur weopons is dangerous. i think we should call war on iran and take away their nucleur weopons just in case they decide to use the weopon on us.