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US Weighing Terrorist Label for Iran Guards
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 - The Bush administration is preparing to declare that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization, senior administration officials said Tuesday.
If imposed, the declaration would signal a more confrontational turn in the administration's approach to Iran and would be the first time that the United States has added the armed forces of any sovereign government to its list of terrorist organizations.
The Revolutionary Guard is thought to be the largest branch of Iran's military. While the United States has long labeled Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, a decision to single out the guard would amount to an aggressive new challenge from an American administration that has recently seemed conflicted over whether to take a harder line against Tehran over its nuclear program and what American officials have called its destabilizing role in Iraq.
According to European diplomats, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned of the move in recent conversations with European counterparts, saying that a delay in efforts to win approval from the United Nations Security Council for further economic sanctions on Iran was leaving the administration with little choice but unilateral action.
A move toward putting the Revolutionary Guard on the foreign terrorist list would serve at least two purposes for Ms. Rice: to pacify, for a while, administration hawks who are pushing for possible military action, and to further press America's allies to ratchet up sanctions against Iran in the Security Council.
The State Department and Treasury officials are pushing for a stronger set of United Nations Security Council sanctions against members of Iran's government, including an extensive travel ban and further moves to restrict the ability of Iran's financial institutions to do business abroad. American officials have also been trying to get European and Asian banks to take additional steps against Iran.
Senior administration officials said current plans called for the declaration to be made this month, but cautioned that it could be put off, and that the effort could still be set aside if the Security Council moved more quickly to impose broad sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
The officials said the declaration was being pushed by Ms. Rice, and would not say if it had been endorsed by the National Security Council or the Pentagon.
President Bush seemed to signal a tougher approach to Iran last week when he called attention to what American officials have said was an active role by the Revolutionary Guard in providing munitions, training and other support to Shiite militants who have been attacking American troops in Iraq. "When we catch you playing a nonconstructive role, there will be a price to pay," Mr. Bush said of Iran during a news conference on Thursday.
Listing would set in motion a series of automatic sanctions that would make it easier for the United States to block financial accounts and other assets controlled by the guard. In particular, the action would freeze any assets the guard has in the United States, although it is unlikely that the guard maintains much in the way of assets in American banks or other institutions.
In the internal debate over American policy toward Iran, Ms. Rice has succeeded over the last year in holding the Bush administration to a diplomatic course in which America and five other world powers have used the Security Council to impose sanctions to try to get Tehran to suspend its enrichment of uranium.
But in recent months, there has been resurgent debate within the administration about whether the diplomatic path is working, with aides to Vice President Dick Cheney said to be among those pushing for greater consideration of military options. The debate has been kindled by reports from international inspectors detailing Iran's progress in its nuclear program, including the installation of more than 1,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium, as well as the assertions from American intelligence officials about an Iranian role in providing arms and other support to Shiite militias in Iraq and to Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
Iran has repeatedly denied that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons, that it is helping in any way to facilitate attacks on American troops in Iraq or that it is shipping any weapons to the Taliban, a group Iran opposed in the 1990s.
On Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again dismissed American complaints that Iran is providing weapons to the Taliban. Speaking in Kabul, Afghanistan, after talks with President Hamid Karzai, he said Iran was "fully supporting" its new government.
Mr. Karzai played down the dispute over the weapons shipments, as he did during a visit to the White House this month. He said that Afghanistan and Iran were "brothers" and that both the United States and Iran were helping reconstruct his country.
In June, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the volume of weapons reaching the Taliban from Iran made it "difficult to believe" that the shipments were "taking place without the knowledge of the Iranian government." In a television interview the same day, Assistant Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns said there was "irrefutable evidence" that the weapons were coming from the Revolutionary Guard.
There are currently 42 organizations on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
In taking aim at the guard, the administration is also trying to divide Iran's population. During his news conference on Thursday, President Bush addressed the Iranian people directly. "My message to the Iranian people is, 'You can do better than this current government,' " Mr. Bush said. " 'You don't have to be isolated. You don't have to be in a position where you can't realize your full economic potential.' "
The United States government has not made a public estimate about the size of the Revolutionary Guard, an organization that dates to the Islamic revolution of 1979 and whose branches are believed to extend widely throughout the Iranian military. An estimate by GlobalSecurity.org, a research group based in Alexandria, Va., puts the total guard forces at 125,000.
The guard and its military wing are identified as a power base for Mr. Ahmadinejad. Under his administration, American officials said, the guard has moved increasingly into commercial operations, earning profits and extending its influence in Iran in areas involving big government contracts, including building airports and other infrastructure, oil production and providing cellphones.
The immediate legal consequence of the guard's designation as a terrorist organization would be to make it unlawful for anyone subject to United States jurisdiction to knowingly provide material support or resources to the guard, according to the State Department. Any United States financial institution that becomes aware that it possesses, or has control over, funds of a foreign terrorist organization would have to turn them over to the Treasury Department.
Because Iran has done little business with the United States in more than two decades, the larger point of the designation would be to heighten the political and psychological pressure on Iran, administration officials said, by using the designation to persuade foreign governments and financial institutions to cut ties with Iranian businesses and individuals.
The decision would have little impact on American military activities in Iraq, where coalition forces already pursue fighters, advisers and financiers who support antigovernment forces, according to a senior Defense Department official. "We are going to go after any forces that are engaged in activities that are disruptive to the stability and security of Iraq," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the subject was pending administration policy.
Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington, and David Rohde from Kabul, Afghanistan.
© 2007 The New York Times
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43 Comments so far
Show AllAre we sure George is not from Dumas, Texas?
...Meanwhile, back at CIA HQ, one of their foolish operatives (-as funded by you the tax payer!) has been fiddling with Wikipedia, here's part of a new report:
"An online tool that claims to reveal the identity of organizations that edit Wikipedia pages has revealed that the CIA was involved in editing entries.
"Wikipedia Scanner allegedly shows that workers on the agency's computers made edits to the page of Iran's president."
Then again, so has that bastion of (er...) 'truth?' the Catholic Church, -as in:
"It also purportedly shows that the Vatican has edited entries about Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams."
"The tool, developed by US researchers, trawls a list of 5.3m edits and matches them to the net address of the editor.
Most of the edits detected by the scanner correct spelling mistakes or factual inaccuracies in profiles. However, others have been used to remove potentially damaging material or to deface sites.
See this link for more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6947532.stm
--wherein, you can also enjoy reading how *Diebold* (the crumb-bum outfit that makes your voting machines) has likewise been fiddling with the truth [- hey! that really inspires confidence in them doesn't it!] they tried to edit out the bit that tells of their CEO sending cash to get GW Turdbush elected:
"...in particular is Diebold, the company that supplied electronic voting machines for the controversial US election in 2000.
In October 2005, a person using a Diebold computer removed paragraphs about Walden O'Dell, chief executive of the company, which revealed that he had been 'a top fund-raiser' for George Bush.
A month later, other paragraphs and links to stories about the alleged rigging of the 2000 election were also removed.
The paragraphs and links have since been reinstated."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An old saying: "Without vision the people perish"
A newer saying: "Without television the people flourish!"
Let us VERY STRONGLY vision powerful alternatives to the dismal, tedious, uninspiring drivel the mEss media serve up. Let's speak often of OUR vision, -- one wherein the current government and all who sail in that ship of fools is flushed firmly down the pan, and henceforth we only allow those with the highest standards of morality into office, not the lowest form of creeps, pimps, liars and psychotics...
~ now a leadership like THAT might be worth voting for, - but best not trust Diebad's rigged voting machines!
"Fool me once, shame on...uh...Fool me twice...."
I love our constitution, but I believe our political and economic system is completely broken. I think the only thing we CAN do is relocalize; that is, take our power back from big government and big business, which are the same thing, and invest locally. This is a last ditch effort to save what's left of the country. Here's how: STOP paying income taxes to the IRS (but keep paying Social Security and Medicare, which comes back to us as individuals). Keep your taxes in-state and require state government to take over the functions of the federal government (I realize not every state has it together, but we have to start somehwere). If we limited military spending to the bases in our own states, we would stop funding the 170 bases in the 130 countries abroad, as well as private military contractors. Think about it: we can take back our country by refusing to send our money to Washington. I never thought I'd be agreeing with wingnuts on this, but for opposite reasons of course.
I couldn't believe that I got through the whole article without another reason being cited. The Bush Administration will have a much better chance of selling the American people on the idea of using military action against Iran if it can be sold as part of the War on Terrorism.
Since 67% of Americans mistakenly thought Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks (when the War in Iraq started), the Bush Administration might be preparing to mislead the nation into war again by using their favorite Pavlovian bell.
The Revolutionary Guard are a tool of domestic oppression in Iran but they are hardly a terrorist group. The US uses that label in ways that defy reality. The US considers Cuba a terrorist state though there is no evidence of Cuba ever supporting anything that might even remotely be considered "terrorism." The US on the other hand has supported, exported and directly used terrorism as a tool of it's foreign (and domestic) policy for decades.
I think I can hear the war drums beating off in the distance already...
Here we go again. Any excuse, any way to blame Iran and bomb the country. How disgusting!
That's a good one. Declare the largest branch of Iran's military a "terrorist" organization and pave the way for unilateral and illegal attacks against yet another sovereign nation.
If the truth be told, the US military has been one of the most heinous terrorist organizations since at least the early 1900s (see Major General Smedley Butler's "War Is a Racket"--Butler, at the time of his death, was the most decorated Marine in the organization's history). The hypocrisy inherent in the US government is astounding and repulsive.
War Is Terrorism and the US military has been instigating armed conflicts across the globe for the past 100-plus years for the sake of Wall Street and its masters. I am soooo sick of the patriotically blind crap about how we are the greatest nation in the world and do things for the good of everyone and have the moral high ground and...give me a fucking break. The US is a big bully run by a bunch of pusillanimous chicken hawks who come from wealth and privilege.
Where is the UN on this? How can we get the world community to sanction the U.S.? Iran HAS to be protected from a war of aggression BEFORE it happens! This administration of crazy monsters HAS to be stopped? But how?
"The guard and its military wing are identified as a power base for Mr. Ahmadinejad. Under his administration, American officials said, the guard has moved increasingly into commercial operations, earning profits and extending its influence in Iran in areas involving big government contracts, including building airports and other infrastructure, oil production and providing cellphones."
Maybe Hans Blix and el Baredei should go to Iran and check out those sinister cellphones.
Iranians are not arming the Taliban its the Pakistanis who are arming the Taliban as the Taliban are Pakistan's proxies. Just ask any Afghan and they will tell you. Karzai even said it. God I am sick of this meme being repeated in the MSM. Its not helping Afghanistan's security. Pakistan is also attacking Iran covertly with the group Jundullah with the US's blessing.
Bush and his neocon bodies are chomping at the bit to attack Iran and we all may get dragged into another war before his term is out. Why can't this man be a lame duck President in his last year and 1/2?
This just in: "Bush to declare the progressive wing of the Democratic Party a terrorist organization." Cheney was then seen wispering in the President's ear and then Bush let out a belly laugh. "I stand corrected," then he smirked, "there is no progressive wing of the Democratic Party."
Lushy: Better get that passport. I think it now takes about 6 months to process. I wonder if air travel will be affected by an invasion of Iran. Should I plan on Canada or Mexico as the only options?
"In particular, the action would freeze any assets the guard has in the United States..."
Well, there goes their string of Waffle House franchises.
Lushy I am seriously contemplating the same thing. I love this country and I am so sickened by these people who have sought to destroy it.
This is hypocracy at its worst. How can a terrorist sponsoring country lable a branch of Iran's military as "terrorist organisation"? What about CIA? Isn't it a terrorist organisation????? Hasn't it been involved in not only funding and arming terrorist organisations around the world, but also in assassination/assassination attempts of leaders of sovereign countries????? "The next door neighbor", Fidel Castro, is an example of what CIA has been doing to eliminate world leaders.
A 2005 report by the World Policy Institute found that of the largest U.S. arms recipients in the developing world, over 70 percent were undemocratic regimes, major human rights abusers or both.
US armed/is arming its allied terrorist groups like the Nicaraguan contras, the Afghan mujahadin, Jonas Savimbi's UNITA movement in Angola, warlords in Somalia, and terrorist groups scuh as Jundullah, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, opposed to the current government in Iran.
Let me quote from the Bible: "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but DO NOT NOTICE THE LOG IN YOUR OWN EYE? Or how can you say to your neighbor, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," WHILE THE LOG IS IN YOUR OWN EYE? YOU HYPOCRITE, FIRST TAKE THE LOG OUT OF YOUR OWN EYE, AND THEN YOU WILL SEE CLEARLY TO TAKE THE SPECK OUT OF YOUR NEIGHBOR'S EYE" (Matthew. 7:3-5).
Speaking strictly as a Native American:
This is typical of the duplicity of the American people, as expressed by their President.
The Iranians are accused of arming and training the insurgents in Iraq with no proof, either physical evidence, or an admittance by the Iranian Government.
The US Government, and it's people, supported and supplied the "Freedom Fighters" of Afghanistan during the Soviet Invasion. In fact news reports on TV showed the "Freedom Fighters", (mostly old men with Henna dyed beards) while on a visit to the White House.
These "Freedom Fighters" evolved into the Taliban.
The US Government and it's people supported, and supplied Saddam Hussein in his war with Iran.
Most of the explosives being used by the "insurgents" are in fact what remains of the munitions the USA gave to their friend and ally, whom they later hanged under very unlawful terms.
Their is still time to bring to trial Gge. H.W. Bush for War Crimes----he is old, but guilty. There is still time to bring to trial Gge. W. Bush for War Crimes, along with a majority of his staff and cabinet. But probably not much time.
The world cannot possibly tolerate the USA much longer without a major overhaul of it's entire system, political and social. Otherwise they will see that there is no other choice since the USA tuns on it's allies so easily, and cannot, it seems, refrain from meddling in the affairs of other nations.
The world may be forced to step in and partition the USA, force them to pay reparations to all they have harmed and be assured that that stipulation alone will keep them a poor, "third world" nation, for several generations and therefore incapable of their past crimes.
Yellow Horse
Latest news about Pakistan, US's closest ally in "war on terror". This reinforces the fact that the US is a terrorist sponsoring state.
"US data shows how Pak aided Taliban"
By Ramesh Ramachandran
New Delhi, Aug. 15: A collection of newly-declassified documents of the US government has revealed that the Taliban was directly funded, armed and advised by Pakistan. The documents also link Harkat ul-Ansar, a terrorist group funded directly by the Pakistan government, to terrorist training camps shared by Osama bin Laden in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The documents conclude that there has been an extensive and consistent history of both military and financial assistance to the Taliban by Islamabad before and after the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 1996.
A relevant paragraph from the documents confirms the sentiments of the Indian security establishment. It reads: "Consistent reporting indicates Pakistan provides both military and financial assistance to the Taliban. Pakistan's primary goals are to achieve strategic depth with regard to India, and securing access to Central Asian trade routes. Cultural ties also exist between the Taliban leadership and Pakistan, where several Taliban leaders lived for many years."
The declassified US documents were published on Tuesday by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. The publication of the documents comes just days after Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf admitted that the Taliban were being sheltered in the lawless frontier border regions. US assistant secretary of state for South Asia and Central Asia Richard Boucher is currently on a two-day visit to Islamabad. On Wednesday he met Pakistan foreign minister Khurshed Mehmood Kasuri.
The documents dwell at some length on the unsettling triangle between Harkat ul-Ansar,Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. The Harkat ul-Ansar's threat of hijacking an airliner, based on information generated in August 1996, finds particular mention. "HUA contacts of Embassy New Delhi have hinted that they might undertake terrorist actions against civilian airliners," the documents suggest. The CIA describes the Harkat ul-Ansar as "an Islamic extremist organisation that Pakistan supports in its proxy war against Indian forces in Kashmir." The declassified US state department cables and US intelligence reports go on to describe the use of Taliban terrorist training areas in Afghanistan by Pakistani-supported militants in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the use of Pakistani troops to train and fight alongside the Taliban inside Afghanistan.
According to the documents, the US learnt about the Pakistan intelligence agency's hand in reaching food supplies to the Taliban in October 1996. Munitions convoys, in turn, departed Pakistan late in the evening hours and were concealed to reveal their true contents. In November that year, Pakistan's Pashtun-based Frontier Corps elements were used alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. The reports cite a November 7, 1996 intelligence information report about how Pakistan's ISI was heavily involved in Afghanistan and details the different roles various ISI officers played in Afghanistan.
In March 1998, it became known that Al Qaeda and the "Pakistan government-funded" Harkat ul-Ansar had been sharing terrorist training camps in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. By September 2000, Pakistan's aid to the Taliban had reached "unprecedented" levels. Islamabad had possibly allowed the Taliban to use territory in Pakistan for military operations and was providing the Taliban with material, fuel, funding, technical assistance and military advisers.
The documents support the findings of a recently-released CIA intelligence estimate that Pakistan's tribal areas were a safe haven for Al Qaeda terrorists. They detail US concern over Pakistan's relationship with the Taliban during the seven-year-period leading up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and also provide new details about the close relationship between Islamabad and the Taliban in the years prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan.
www.asianage.com
Speaking strictly as a Native American:
This is typical of the duplicity of the American people, as expressed by their President.
The Iranians are accused of arming and training the insurgents in Iraq with no proof, either physical evidence, or an admittance by the Iranian Government.
However the Historic Record speaks volumes.
The US Government, and it's people, supported and supplied the "Freedom Fighters" of Afghanistan during the Soviet Invasion. In fact news reports on TV showed the "Freedom Fighters", (mostly old men with Henna dyed beards) while on a visit to the White House, and Ronald Reagan.
These "Freedom Fighters" evolved into the Taliban.
The US Government and it's people supported, and supplied Saddam Hussein in his war with Iran.
Most of the explosives being used by the "insurgents" are in fact what remains of the munitions the USA gave to their friend and ally, whom they later hanged under unlawful terms. These involvements are a fraction of the volume the USA has generated over the years.
Their is still time to bring to trial Gg. H.W. Bush for War Crimes----he is old, but none the less guilty, hand cuffs would be a fashioin statement for him. There is still time to bring to trial Gg. W. Bush for War Crimes, along with a majority of his staff and cabinet. You could use the same "cuffs ma dad wore" on GW.
There is still time to show the world that the USA is capable of stopping the forces that take control of their power base and create death and destruction anywhere in the world they wish.
But probably not much time.
The world cannot possibly tolerate the USA much longer without a major overhaul of it's entire system, political and social. Otherwise they will see that there is no other choice since the USA tuns on it's allies so easily, and cannot, it seems, refrain from meddling in the affairs of other nations: nor can they be trusted to keep their word. They are very wealthy as a result of the theft of so much of their territories and the natural wealth it has supplied. They cause great harm where ever they go, and have little or no thoughts of accepting guilt or responsibility of their crimes. They truly are a "rogue nation" and extremely dangerous since they possess Nuclear Weapons and have intentionally used them against civilian populations.
The world may soon be forced to step in and partition the USA, force them to pay reparations to all they have harmed and be assured that that stipulation alone will keep the USA a poor, "third world" nation, for many generations and therefore incapable of their past crimes. No other nation presently deserves that more than the USA.
I am sure that their are throngs of readers who guffaw at the thought of the USA being partitioned. If I had written the above passages in 1936 Germany, they would have laughed at me all the way to the phone--- to call the Gestapo. But the Germans never thought that the USA would join the war, and the British would be speaking German these days had the USA not joined the war.
Consider that for the first time since the Roman era, Europe is united via the EU. Could the USA stand, mostly alone, against such a force?
Before you bet any money on that proposition I would suggest you exchange those dollars for
Eu Ros.
Yellow Horse
There may be no stopping "the genocider". But the U.N. should sanction the domestic terrorists in the U.S. who have stockpiled 27,000 atomic bombs.
It's been obvious for years that the Bush administration was nothing more than a criminal gang with the reins of power. Now it is becoming impossible to refute that the corporate media, which repeatedly fails in its duty to debunk the Bush disinformation, is part of the criminal gang. Anyone who watches the network news is treated to propaganda created by criminals for their criminal associates. Corporate media is run by criminals for criminals.
I'm thinking some big city police departments might fit the definition of "terrorist organization." Hmmm.
"terrorist organization."
Bush and the Republicans for sure but the Democrats aren't organized...
Again we see the duplicity of the US of De Mock Racism...."Do what we tell you not what we do"...maybe I'm a blind old man with a blind seeing eye dog...but really in my mind Blackwater is a terrorist organization with no controls in place....it would not supprise me at all to finally hear Blackwater has been doing black ops in Iraq to further the desires of this current Resident in the White House and his neo con friends Oh yes the good old USA where we have the best politicians money can buy from both sides of the slate...Just wonderful when for the last 60 plus years the USA has financed trained and armed some of the most corrupt regimes in the world as long as they toed the US line of bullshit...lets keep rattling the terrorist agenda that will baffle like 60% of the country.... anyone who disagrees will again be labeled ."soft on terror".....or unpatriotic...oh yes is nice to see De Mock Racism in action
Let's label the Iran Republican Guard "militant librarians." Then they'll really be screwed.
Iran supports terrorism, there is no doubt about it. 60 minutes did a story years ago about how there was a line item in Iran's budget of $100 million specifically for worldwide terror. Iran is the country where "students" took our embassy personnel hostage for more than a year. I would just as soon nuke the people responsible for that right off the planet ASAP.
There is not much time left for the US. Ironically, the richest counry in the world is financially broke. Leave now that you can still find a job in europe or elsewhere and stop financing with your tax money this criminal state. Besides, China and Rusia won't just sit there and look how the states take the rest of the oil left in the world. WW3 for sure.
Cheers up though. We are living pretty interesting times!!
I believe the Iranians took our embassy personnel hostage for more than a year because we had overthrown their government in the 1950's and installed a ruthless dictator who ruled with a brutal and US supported secret police (SAVAK I think they were called) for decades. Most of the oil wealth flowed out of the country as the Iranian people saw few benefits.
I'm not saying it is ok to take people hostage, but I also don't think it is OK for countries to take other countries hostage.
The United States takes military and secret op craps that are larger than $100 million. The United States has supported terrorism (I especially cite the support for Osama bin Laden and his cohorts in the 1980's) in many places around the world.
Again, not saying one justifies the other, but we can't use it as a reason to attack Iran when we could make a similar case for attacking ourselves.
To Cristina 49:
No, the war drums are closer than you think, and our whore media have joined the clamor.
It looks as though most of us here are in the same choir. Too bad we can't get through to Congress, but AIPAC has them locked up.
I can't take it anymore. I'm really not that emotional, but I was actually weeping when I read the deathtoll of 500 plus many more brutally wounded from today's attacks.
And think, if an attack of this magnitude happened anywhere in the US there would be a hysterical and belligerent outcry. You think 9-11 is bad? 9-11 type attacks are daily life for the citizens in Iraq. Heck, ZERO people died from the messed up British Doctor airport bomb plot a few months ago- and that made HEADLINE NEWS for DAYS!!!
What is going on, seriously. How and why is everyone (mostly neo-conservatives) turning a blind eye to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died as a result of this war, million more wounded, 4 million refugees displaced, and the rest of them to left to suffer.
These are war crimes.
Unreal that people are still brainwashed by this administration, and it's corperate media. One would think after all the lies, propoganda and deception of the 7 years, this administration would have no credibility- and it doesn't. for 60% of the country, this administration has zero credibility yet, there are still people gullible and easily manipulated out there.
after the admin has been wrong over and over and over again, nearly everytime, people are still duped into believing them and their lies. Oh wait, they make mistakes, that's right. "Mistakes have been made", notice how the admin uses the passive voice. You see THEY didn't really makes mistakes, and THEY have never been wrong. They've certainly never appologized for anything.
Typical propoganda technique, use the Passive voice to remove the responsbility, compared with the Active voice which links the Subject(being Bush) to the Predicate. "I made several mistakes" or "Mistakes have been made..." see the difference?
They're playing us (especially conservatives) like a flute, and conservs are right there to eat it all up... or Have we been played like a flute? Probably a combination of both. When it finally dawns on some of these braindead conservatives that they're brainwashed and manipulated, they need look no further than a mirror to point the finger at who's to blame. Conservatives are always the one's saying it's the democrats' fault that Bush lied to them... actually check that, the words they phrase they actually use is " it's the Democrats fault that they were lied to." You see, passive voice, not active? Bush never actually lied to them. lol
Will a day come when these conservatives will finally be aware of what's clearly going on around them? I'm not holding my breath; there's a grim outlook for these sad and deranged animals. They will continue to be oblivious.
Quote "The great American dream that reached out to the stars has been lost to the stripes. We have forgotten where we came from, we don't know where we are, and we fear where we may be going. Afraid, we turn from the glorious adventure of the pursuit of happiness to a pursuit of an illusionary security in an ordered, stratified, striped society. Our way of life is symbolized to the world by the stripes of military force. At home we have made a mockery of being our brother's keeper by being his jail keeper. When Americans can no longer see the stars, the times are tragic. We must believe that it is the darkness before the dawn of a beautiful new world; we will see it when we believe it."
Saul Alinsky, 1971
THis country was lost to facism many years ago. The best way to move up in this world is to keep your mouth shut, and enjoy the ride. There's nothing you can do.
mastershake,
I had a similar reaction when I read the death toll reached 500 and rising. My heart fell in my stomach. We call it genocide, Bush calls it progress towards democracy. I definitely understand how one can become cynical. While I read about the carnage, for some reason, Peter, Paul, and Mary's song "Blowin in the Wind" kept playing in my mind.
mastershake, I empathize with your sense of futility and rage. I think the best we can do is to continue to cultivate our sense of compassion and personal integrity. We need to stay strong in our resolve and be motivated by our outrage to do whatever we can to correct the injustices we witness everyday.
It's a very slow process and we my not see the fruits of our efforts in our lifetime, but maybe our grandchildren will.
An old friend of mine who is now in his 90's wants just one thing on is gravestone, no name, no dates, just this "He Tried".
Apologies for what seems like a preachy tone of my message.
I couldn't agree more mastershake. It is like some psychotic disease and there is no cure for it. I know this is going to sound outrageous but a great deal of them that I know personally "ALL" served in the military.
When I am in some forums I actually ask if people served in the military and I am telling you with all dire honesty, they have, including George W. Bush!
The 'proof' cited ...
'what American officials have called its destabilizing role in Iraq'
'what American officials have said was an active role by the Revolutionary Guard in providing munitions, training and other support to Shiite militants who have been attacking American troops in Iraq.'
'the assertions from American intelligence officials about an Iranian role in providing arms and other support to Shiite militias in Iraq and to Taliban militants in Afghanistan.'
'Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the volume of weapons reaching the Taliban from Iran made it "difficult to believe" that the shipments were "taking place without the knowledge of the Iranian government."'
'American officials said, the guard has moved increasingly into commercial operations, earning profits and extending its influence in Iran in areas involving big government contracts, including building airports and other infrastructure, oil production and providing cellphones.'
Note: if the last item is the new justification for bombing people, there's a lot of Americans building bomb shelters tonight. Making money by building airports and providing cellphones gets you bombed as a terrorist?
Note: The key point is how everything goes back to some sort of American official said. Not a fact in side. All just what the liars are saying now.
Hey, this is what you get when they pass laws giving the President the power to just declare these things. PLEASE STOP ... especially the Democrats that keep voting for these things.
OK, the equivalent would be another nation declaring the largest branch of the US military a terrorist organization ... that would be the US Army.
And I love it, no facts whatsoever given other than references to the vague BS they've been pumping out for months. Only an American news organization could even write this with a straight face as we declare the largest branch of another nation's military a terrorist organization without providing any PROOF at all. ESPECIALLY given the track record of this administration and their lying their way into war. We are just supposed to accept this just on their say so? From these guys?
And the American people say .... Baaaaaaah!
http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/carryon/web/COVVHSlinks.html
Interesting reading....
Combat service not related to prevalence of recent
mental health problems
In terms of mental health histories, there was little
difference between combat veterans and noncombat veterans in
State prison. Just over half of both combat and noncombat
veterans reported any history of mental health problems.
A third of both groups had a recent history of mental health
services, of which therapy was the most common (20% of combat
veterans, 22% of other veterans). Reports of recent symptoms
of mental health disorders were also similar for both groups
(40% of combat veterans, 45% of other veterans). Mania
disorder was the most commonly reported disorder among both
combat (33%) and noncombat (40%) veterans.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/vsfp04.txt
Here's an honest label:
U.S military - The BIGGEST terrorist organisation in the world.
Peace.
So many people have forgotten that word. I hear people even say that we should 'nuke' Iran. They refer to all Iranians as terrorists. Who are the terrorists?
If the Iranian Revolutionary Guard pointed their finger at the US Army and called them terrorists, what evidence can we provide to prove them wrong?
We have to stop all this killing. We're slowly losing ourselves in all this death. Peace is the only solution. Peace will start to restore our honor as well. (Something we have lost long ago)
TheLorax,
The Bush Administration wants to confuse people because that is how it can control them. Confusion and fear are two key ingredients.