"Don't get too comfortable with this new NIE report."

Better, don't get too comfortable with your NI...

"We didn't learn that the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq was completely wrong until after we had invaded the country in the worst foreign policy debacle in American history."

DO YOU SEE HOW THE LIES SPREAD?!

This was the main point of yesterdays news conference and follow up with Rockefeller and Bond on PBS repeating the mantra of "faulty information" as the root cause of the Iraq invasion and not lies. The impeachment movement must be picking up steam.

The NIE on Iraq was not wrong! It was manipulated and changed by Cheney et al - in other words lies, betrayal, and , with Halliburton locating in Dubai, TREASON!

They outed a covert CIA operative in an attempt to cover their lies - this is a "high crime"!

IMPEACH!

Figure out the details of your legal rights in not paying taxes that enables war:

War Resisters League's website

www.warresisters.org/wtr.htm

Hands Off Iran
by Chris Hedges
in The Nation

I will not pay my income tax if we go to war with Iran. I realize this is a desperate and perhaps futile gesture. But an attack on Iran--which appears increasingly likely before the coming presidential election--will unleash a regional conflict of catastrophic proportions.
This war, and especially Iranian retaliatory strikes on American targets, will be used to silence domestic dissent and abolish what is left of our civil liberties. It will solidify the slow-motion coup d'état that has been under way since the 9/11 attacks. It could mean the death of the Republic.

Let us hope sanity prevails. But sanity is a rare commodity in a White House that has twisted Trotsky's concept of permanent revolution into a policy of permanent war with nefarious aims--to intimidate and destroy all those classified as foreign opponents, to create permanent instability and fear and to strip citizens of their constitutional rights.

A war with Iran is doomed. It will be no more successful than the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon in 2006, which failed to break Hezbollah and united most Lebanese behind that militant group. The Israeli bombing did not pacify 4 million Lebanese. What will happen when we begin to pound a country of 65 million people whose land mass is three times the size of France?

Once you begin an air campaign it is only a matter of time before you have to put troops on the ground or accept defeat, as the Israelis had to do in Lebanon. And if we begin dropping bunker busters and cruise missiles on Iran, this is the choice that must be faced: either send US forces into Iran to fight a protracted and futile guerrilla war, or walk away in humiliation.

But more ominous, an attack on Iran will ignite the Middle East.
The loss of Iranian oil, coupled with possible Silkworm missile attacks by Iran against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, could send the price of oil soaring to somewhere around $200 a barrel. The effect on the domestic and world economy will be devastating, very possibly triggering a global depression. The Middle East has two-thirds of the world's proven petroleum reserves and nearly half its natural gas. A disruption in the supply will be felt immediately.

This attack will be interpreted by many Shiites in the Middle East as a religious war. The 2 million Shiites in Saudi Arabia (heavily concentrated in the oil-rich Eastern Province), the Shiite majority in Iraq and the Shiite communities in Bahrain, Pakistan and Turkey could turn in rage on us and our dwindling allies. We could see a combination of increased terrorist attacks, including on American soil, and widespread sabotage of oil production in the Persian Gulf. Iraq, as bad as it looks now, will become a death pit for US troops. The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which has so far not joined the insurgency, has strong ties to Iran. It could begin full-scale guerrilla resistance, possibly uniting for the first time with Sunnis against the occupation.
Iran, in retaliation, will fire its missiles, some with a range of 1,100 miles, at US installations, including Baghdad's Green Zone. Expect substantial casualties, especially with Iranian agents and their Iraqi allies calling in precise coordinates. Iranian missiles could be launched at Israel. The Strait of Hormuz, which is the corridor for 20 percent of the world's oil supply, will become treacherous, perhaps unnavigable. Chinese-supplied antiship missiles, mines and coastal artillery, along with speedboats packed with explosives and suicide bombers, will target US shipping, along with Saudi oil production and oil export centers.

Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon, closely allied with Iran, may in solidarity fire rockets into northern Israel. Israel, already struck by missiles from Tehran, could then carry out retaliatory raids against both Lebanon and Iran. Pakistan, with its huge Shiite minority, will become even more unstable. Unrest could result in the overthrow of the already weakened Pervez Musharraf and usher Islamic radicals into power. Pakistan, rather than Iran, would then become the first radical Islamic state to possess a nuclear weapon. The neat little war with Iran, which many Democrats do not oppose, has the potential to ignite an inferno.

George W. Bush has shredded, violated or absented America from its obligations under international law. He has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, backed out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, tried to kill the International Criminal Court, walked out on negotiations on chemical and biological weapons and defied the Geneva Conventions and human rights law in the treatment of detainees. Most egregious, he launched an illegal war in Iraq based on fabricated evidence we now know had been discredited even before it was made public. He seeks to do the same in Iran.

This President is guilty, in short, of what in legal circles is known as the "crime of aggression." And if we as citizens do not hold him accountable for this crime, if we do not actively defy this government, we will be complicit in the codification of a new world order, one that will have terrifying consequences. For a world without treaties, statutes and laws is a world where any nation, from a rogue nuclear state to a great imperial power, will be able to invoke its domestic laws to annul its obligations to others. This new order will undo five decades of international cooperation--largely put in place by the United States--and thrust us into a Hobbesian nightmare. We must as citizens make sacrifices to defend a world where diplomacy, broad cooperation and the law are respected. If we allow these international legal systems to unravel, we will destroy the possibility of cooperation between nation-states, including our closest allies.

The strongest institutional barrier standing between us and a war with Iran is being mounted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Adm.
William Fallon, head of the Central Command; and Gen. George Casey, the Army's new chief of staff. These three men have informed Bush and Congress that the military is too depleted to take on another conflict and may not be able to contain or cope effectively with a regional conflagration resulting from strikes on Iran. This line of defense, however, is tenuous. Not only can Gates, Fallon and Casey easily be replaced but a provocation by Iran could be used by war propagandists here to stoke a public clamor for revenge.

A country that exists in a state of permanent war cannot exist as a democracy. Our long row of candles is being snuffed out. We may soon be in darkness. Any resistance, however symbolic, is essential. There are ways to resist without being jailed. If you owe money on your federal tax return, refuse to pay some or all of it, should Bush attack Iran. If you have a telephone, do not pay the 3 percent excise tax. If you do not owe federal taxes, reduce what is withheld by claiming at least one additional allowance on your W-4 form--and write to the IRS to explain the reasons for your protest. Many of the details and their legal ramifications are available on the War Resisters League's website (www.warresisters.org/wtr.htm).

I will put the taxes I owe in an escrow account. I will go to court to challenge the legality of the war. Maybe a courageous judge will rule that the Constitution has been usurped and the government is guilty of what the postwar Nuremberg tribunal defined as a criminal war of aggression. Maybe not. I do not know. But I do know this: I have friends in Tehran, Gaza, Beirut, Baghdad, Jerusalem and Cairo. They will endure far greater suffering and deprivation. I want to be able, once the slaughter is over, to at least earn the right to ask for their forgiveness.

Hoa binh said

Bush isn't going to let a little truth get in the way of his empire building. And remember, our politicians need war. It's the fastest way to payback their corporate enablers.

Then the enablers must be disabled.

Stop buying stuff.

It all seems like a bad dream that doesn't end. Or is it the world saying don't attack and couple of assholes blood thirsty monsters with bombs say we just might.

Don't do it.

My next door neighbor is from Iran, I'm watching him real close. I see a strange blue glow coming from his house at night. Sure, it might be the TV, but I don't know that, do I?
I'm thinking of a preemptive strike.

The story was covered on the TV news all day. Lets see if that continues. It mght, unless Paris Hilton farts in public or gets a parkng ticket.

NIE, no NIE, it doesn't make any difference in the decision-making of Bush/Cheney. If anyone thinks that the release of this information will have any impact on whether or not we attack Iran, then you haven't been paying attention these last 7 years. It has always been full speed ahead, the facts be damned.

"...Collin (sic) Powell's former chief-of-staff at the State Department, Col Lawrence Wilkerson and Lt. General Robert Gard, former President of the National Defense University, will be featured."

So these are the people that W w/o W is using to analyze the latest great discovery that W is a liar.

With friends like these...

From War=Peace
"Manufactured crisis"
That is a scary thought, but its something to keep our eyes open for.

I was browsing the archives at Thom Hartmann's site, and came across an interview he did back in July with Paul Craig Roberts, former undersecretary of the Treasury during the Reagan administration.

It was absolutely incredible to hear this man, who has spent all of his working life in public service as a conservative Republican, vowing now never to vote for another Republican again under any circumstances. And he says the only way to save the country is to impeach.

But more to the point of this discussion, he is convinced that Bush and Co. has no intention of letting themselves or the neocons in the Repubs go down in flames in the 2008 election. Because, he says, he knows the complete cast of characters in the administration and how they think.

Roberts says the reason the Dems don't want to move on impeachment is that they visualize a huge Democratic electoral victory next year on all levels of government. Their plan is to resist impeachment calls until they win the election, thereby letting an enraged electorate "take them out." This way, they don't have to go through the messiness of an impeachment proceeding that they think could possibly backfire on them. And they will still get into office.

Roberts says this is a foolish plan, primarily because Bush, Cheney, and all their neocon friends have made enormous progress in pushing the PNAC agenda thus far, and they are not going to simply and quietly "go away," just because the voting public may want to boot them out.

His contention...and this is coming from a life-long conservative...is that there WILL be a fear-producing event that will turn the elections back to the Republicans or give the administration the impetus to declare martial law, and, as he said, this event will be either real or "orchestrated." (Most likely the latter)

He even gave Hartmann the text of a speech he predicts Bush would give right after the event, blaming the entire attack (or whatever it is) on the Democrats, the liberals, the progressives, the anti-war crowd, etc. Even Hartmann seemed stunned.

I recommend you all listen. It's only a 10-minute interview, but it's chilling.
Use the link below and then scroll down to the calendar for July. It's the July 19 program.
http://www.thomhartmann.com/archive.htm

If our 16 "intelligence" agencies were fully aware Iran had stopped their nuclear program in 2003, why wasn't that information available to Bush in 2003? ___ I'm certain it was. I don't believe Bush was trying to have the CIA bury this story for 18 months. I believe he was attempting to have if buried since 2003, __ or 48 months. And he succeeded until yesterday.

Freedom's Watch? Ari Fleisher, the former press secretary is with this bunch of chickhawks.

He recently said that Rove saying that Congress pushed for this war/occupation was getting his facts wrong. No it's called lying like the scum they are.

NPR was all over this story yesterday afternoon, groveling at the feet of anyone who wished to increase the spin, Stephen Hadley, for one.

This morning they, NPR, were still at it, althought the spin was a bit more refined. Guess they want to be the new FOX.

If you are sucker enough to be sending $$$ to NPR, stop.

JUST SAY NO!

YOU can do something about this.
1st, sign MoveOn.org's petition "Stop a Bush War with Iran" at http://pol.moveon.org/pac/noiranwar/
These petitions (we expect hundreds of thousands of signatures) will be delivered to Congresspersons around the country on Dec. 13th. Find a Petition Delivery to attend at http://www.operationdemocracy.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=109, or sign up to host one if there's none at your Congressperson's office at http://www.operationdemocracy.org/event/events/create.html?action_id=109
Blogging is good, now TAKE ACTION!

Within two hours of the latest NIE report being published by The New York Times, the White House Spinners were on the air, explaining that the NIE report PROVES that President Bush has been correct about Iran's nuclear program all along.

Then early this morning, Bush had a press conference and said that because Iran stopped their nuclear program in 2003, it proves they once had a nuclear program, and he was correct to threaten them with an attack and is correct to continue the threats.

When he was questioned by a reporter if he knew about the new NIE intelligence last year, Bush answered that he was aware 18 months ago there was new, top secret intelligence concerning Iran's nuclear program, but he didn't know what that intelligence was until a few days ago. __ Of course that bull is absolutely unbelievable, __ another lie.

Bush and company are going to continue the spin and his press secretary will fend off all questions with the reply, that the NIE report that Iran stopped their nuclear program in 2003 to have clean energy, is proof that they intend to have atomic weapons at some time in the near future, and we must stay the course and the threat of a strike on Iran is still on the table. Will the press and media hammer Bush and Cheney on this very important issue. I doubt it, ___ but We'll see.

The only thing this did was to remove a fig leaf the Democrats might have used to support the Iran war. The Democrats will still support a war with Iran. It will just now be very hard for them to come up with thier typical BS line of 'we were fooled by the intel.' But the Dems will still find new reasons why they can't do anything to stop Bush.

You don't really think that one little ol report is going to slow down Hillary's drive to war backed by big money from the Defense industries and AIPAC?

Watch how this is spun in the US. Within a week it will be nearly forgotten that the report stated that Iran stopped its nuclear program. Instead I've already seen the war party types using the part that confirms that Iran did have a nuclear program in 2003 as a part of them saying 'see we were right'.

Of course, there's nothing that keeps the US inteligence agencies from being wrong about Iran having a nuke weapons program in 2003. The only thing they are admitting now is that they were definitely wrong when they said its continued since 2003.

Given the track record, I personally don't see why anyone would believe anyone in this government when they say anything about another nation's weapons programs. They have a long and proven track record of being very wrong and that such bogus intel statements are really just there to back a policy that is desired. This record includes not only the start of the Iraq war, but also the history of massively over-estimating Soviet military spending to justify the arms race.

"Manufactured crisis"
That is a scary thought, but its something to keep our eyes open for.

It seems like we are having a hard time tearing ourselves from the deeply ingrained assumption that what the U.S.A is doing has anything to do with freedom, democracy, aid, or any of the noble and benevolent notions we had our heads filled with growing up..

It's like we still can't get over that initial betrayal.

The war IS going well…for those with a business interest in war. It's the easiest money there is.

The military's job is to create enough stability to insure the oil profits flow. And that's what they are doing. Everything else that happens over there is left to the spin machine to tie us up in debate that looks like a real debate.

But it goes to show how easily we can pacify our conscience, say the right thing, look smart, and go back to your particular niche of news-style, entertainment, consumption.

We the people are the enemy. And to the extent that we disagree with the "officials" we are terrorists. The U.S does not mean us.

For this truth to not be the position from which we operate is to resign your self to operating from the grey fog of ambiguity. And who can you help from there?

Cool! Now the spineless Dumbokratz have a Golden Opportunity - they have been given an "out", like manna from heaven, a holy grail: the are now in the perfect position to claim that they were deceived by the previous, and flawed, NIE report, that now that they finally know the truth, they will, as a result of the scales having fallen from their eyes, be turning this rusty tub of state around on the issue of Total War Forever in the Middle East...and at Home.
But will they?

tj is right. There are no D.C. insiders who will fight to get our troops home, or to restore our Constitution, or to impeach. The ding-dongs who are allowed to go mainstream will only fight for more status quo. Our political system is so corrupt that change will have to come from without.
All I want for Christmas is a STATESMAN.
Hoa binh

We all watched as Darth Vicious the Cheney proweled the sub-basements of the CIA et al to assure that they produced the 'proper' NIE to justify the premeditated plunder of Iraq for his Energy Cartel. Will Iran be any different? These wars have only cost millions of lives and every citizen's life savings, so far. To war without win(ing) seems to be the goal for plunder. How I wish these Men of Faith would believe they have 'won' and completely destroyed the planet Earth. Then perhaps the world can get on with living.
Appealing to Congress for help is like appealing to a Corporate Sock Puppet. Move your savings out of dollars and let this Fascist Dictatorship fall of it's own hubris.

Bush isn't going to let a little truth get in the way of his empire building. And remember, our politicians need war. It's the fastest way to payback their corporate enablers.
Hoa binh

I wonder what manufactured 'crisis' will erupt soon to be used as justification for another war?

I shudder to think since obviously the truth doesn't slow anyone down in their pursuit of ritualized state murder.

Maybe they will accuse Austria of "Relentless Truth-mongering" since Vienna is home to the IAEA - and El Baradei. And we know how disruptive to international hegemony that can be.

It would only take a small nuke to shut them up.

Facts would never stop Bush et al from doing something he wanted to do.

kane51: thanks for the link to Thom Hartmann. Though Roberts certainly was a Reagan apologist, it doesn't mean that he should be disregarded. He's dead on about the current administration. Some event WILL be orchestrated - no question. I have said before that I think it will involve a nu-ca-ler plant, either here or in Europe - some sabatoge or other. The neo-cons will find a muslim fall guy who will say that he was trying to get information for Iran and BOOM (literally and figuratively), the neo-cons have their war and the us has martial law and a dictatorship.

The manufactured event HAS to involved something nu-ca-ler. When it does, then bush's already-prepared guilt trip speech to the sheeple (you should have TRUSTED me about Iran's nu-ca-lar ambitions! You'll trust me from now on, won't you?) will be oh-so-special.

The idea is to keep the price of oil under control. It has to be controlled to maximize profits. If it gets too high, alternatives appear. If it gets too low, there are no profits. Controlling markets, governments and people is the name of the game. Protect your right to be a capitalist kingpin by supporting the current kingpins. And stop complaining. You can be the exploiter instead of the exploitee if you just WORK HARD.

"Win Without War led the national campaign opposing the US invasion of Iraq and is now leading opposition to the Bush administration's policy there."

Win Without War is a good organization that does good work. However, to describe itself as the leading organization in the US anti-war, anti-occupation movement is patently false.

Hundreds of organizations such as the International Action Center, Untied for Peace and Justice, Code Pink, Iraq Veterans Against the War, US Labor Against the War, Jewish Voice for Peace, numerous Palestinian and Irqi Solidarity organizations, etc, etc, etc, have all been fighting the wars and occupations for decades.

When a single organization -- even a coaliton -- falsley claims leadership from its position inside the Beltway, you have to wonder how in touch with relaity it is.