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US Military Chief Admits to Iran Attack Plan
WASHINGTON - The top US military officer says he has a plan to attack Iran if needed to prevent it from getting nuclear weapons, but is "extremely concerned" about the possible repercussions of such a strike.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said military action against Iran could have "unintended consequences that are difficult to predict in what is an incredibly unstable part of the world."
But, speaking on Sunday's "Meet the Press" program on NBC, Mullen said allowing Iran to develop a nuclear weapon was also unacceptable.
"Quite frankly, I am extremely concerned about both of those outcomes," he said.
Mullen held out hope that a combination of international diplomatic efforts and sanctions against Iran would lead Tehran to suspend a nuclear enrichment program that many believe is a clandestine bid to develop nuclear arms.
"I am hopeful (it) works," he said.
At the same time, though, he said "the military options have been on the table, and remain on the table".
"I hope we don't get to that, but it's an important option and it's one that's well understood," he added.
Asked if the military has a plan to strike Iran, Mullen replied, "We do".
He did not elaborate.
Iran insists its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes only.
171 Comments so far
Show AllWhat will they name this attack on Iran? Armageddon?
No!! Operation Nobel Peace Prize!
Peace prize...from mass murderer obomber !!!!????
Here's a name for that attack: Operation Suicide Bombing.
The National Intelligence Estimate reported in 2007 that Iran stopped it's nuclear weapon program several years ago. But since the USA bends over and let's Israel dictate its policy, an attack on Iran is very likely. It will be the last nail in the coffin for the Empire.
They're just going to nuke and bomb with unmanned drones, but won't use any ground forces since the military is completely stretched. Savages.
RICH M: As you probably know, I consider you to be one of the fairest-minded, well-spoken, and equally well-informed posters in this forum. As to why a few keep harping on about Israel being the dog that wags the U.S. tail... it's possibly related to a powerful subliminal factor: that the Catholic church blamed Jews for killing Jesus. Even atheists may carry some of the stigmata of that remnant belief. While I expect to see Jew-hating on the right, it amazes me when those who self-identify as being progressive, radical, or on the left-side of the political spectrum take up the same arguments. Perhaps both extremes really do meet... as a great number of things come full circle. Then, too, the use of a scapegoat always manages to obfuscate the agenda of the real powers.
Thank you for your tireless efforts in holding up the light of Truth.
You're quite right, I think, but there might also be an aspect of 'my country can never be so wrong'. I'm not sure I can express the thought clearly...
It's a form of thinking that if it weren't for the other countries/peoples of the world their nation would be a paradise of some sort. Does Israel have an influence, yah, but the nutters who run the religious televangelist movement have far more impact on what the gov't does than a small foreign nation that doesn't do anything without first getting permission from the us state department.
I'm also sure that some of the posters are either trolls looking for a response, or agents provocateurs who are looking for confirmation of their own prejudices, or looking for 'evidence' if they can establish a more restrictive police state.
My, my - the Zionists are out in force!
So Israel is "...a small foreign nation that doesn't do anything without first getting permission from the us state department."
So the US State Department gave them permission to try to sink the USS Liberty.
You Zionists never found a lie or distortion you didn't like. There isn't an ounce of shame among the lot of you.
De-Countrify Israel Now - for the good of our country, for the good of the world.
[My, my - the Zionists are out in force!]
You're calling ME a zionist??? Bwa ha ha ha! Oh, where oh where did Letto and the others go? I'm quite sure they'd get a heck of a kick out of that comment of yours.
LOL LOL LOL
Rich M, 1:29 pm, perfectly stated. I don't claim the wisdom to detect if Tiredoftrolls is mindlessly antisemitic or an actual troll who calculates to create division and doubt on this site. It is a customary practice of rightwingers to obscure the real class warfare that dominates our politics by trying to divide the 98% "lower income" along racial, ethnic, religious, sex, and sexual orientation lines. Tiredof might be a plant or just sincerely stupid.
That said, I oppose the horrific policies of the Israeli government just as I oppose the horrific policies of the US government. That is neither anti-semitic nor anti-American. But, you are so right in correctly distinguishing (despite AIPAC's real influence) between the tail and the dog. It is sad but clear that Israel, like Colombia, is a US client state. Any minute, the US could plug the spigot of military aid to both countries and use the savings to meet the needs of US citizens.
You've got to be kidding.
Is this why Netanyahu boasted about Israel's ability to call the shots to the US?
You guys keep pushing this lie which is obviously false even with the most cursory examination. But keep pushing the Zionist line.
De-Countrify Israel Now.
Netanyahu is a well-known immature jerk.
Joe
And the Prime Minister of Israel. Coincidence?
Oh, look! A pre-emptive strike, with all its silliness.
So because I "clamor" for De-Countrifying the genocidal, dangerous Israel
BUT I don't call for De-Countrifying the US
somehow that proves... WHAT? Not a thing.
You Zionists like to clothe your moral depravity with the anti-Semitism bullshot
but everyone has already seen that. The king is naked, and very ugly at that.
Zionism is a moral monstrosity. Always has been, always will be. By definition and nature.
For the sake of a better world
De-Countrify Israel Now.
You are completely a victim of tunnel vision: Only Israel is the culprit on the world stage. Anyone departing from that dogma is a "Zionist". RichM and Sioux Rose have already blown your argument to shreds but you're too blind to notice. Is this the slogan that will change the world: "De-Countrify Israel Now"? Are you even capable of following RichM's rebuttal of your drivel?
Yes, Zionism as currently practiced is a horror, but it's funded and buttressed by the US, and has been for 60 years. Without American backing it would have gone nowhere. The whole thing is about national self-interest--ours and Israel's against the Islamic Middle East. There's a strong undercurrent of competing monotheisms: Christianity and Judaism against Islam. Zionism would have gone nearly nowhere without constant financial sponsorship from Christian institutions. Both of these are deeply embedded in the US government, but the whole shebang is hardly a Zionist conspiracy. Christianity and Judaism have collaborated for many decades to destroy Islam. Ultimately it's about who controls the economic levers of Western/Middle Eastern civilization, such as they still exist.
There has been NO rebuttal to my arguments because they are true.
There HAS been a lot of bullying, name-calling and insults. Along with a lot of distortion and bullshot, including your post. Zionists will push any lie, any distortion, any hate-mongering no matter how obvious or disgusting. Welcome.
There is nothing in the Middle East today that helps the US in any way, nor have any of the herd of you shown otherwise. Zionism is a detriment to the US, and a cancer on the world in general. The sooner we get rid of it, the sooner the world can start to heal.
De-Countrify Israel Now.
Thank you, Ephraim. What this forum frequently displays is an ideological divide. There are those who remain mentally trapped by good-guy/bad-guy team plays and their elaborate illusions, and those who seek to understand the larger causative factors. The latter group takes the big picture into account and studies the ways that history, economics, psychology, and sociology figure into the calculus of present day events.
For persons determined to identify "the bad guy," bits of evidence can be found to substantiate their narrow-minded case. In any law class, budding counselors learn that data can be used for all sorts of purposes. There is often a glimmer of truth behind the arguments of the most ill-informed. What they lack is a viable comprehensive sense of context and/or proportion!
The bottom line is, if someone wants to argue for a limited worldview, the blinding light of truth may prove of no consequence. After all, they've essentially already accepted the symbolic state of blindness.
Interesting SR that somehow, in any arguement, you seem to "see yourself" on the enlightened side (the life-affirming side of light, as you would say).
Are you really that infallable - or is it that your are just as delusional as the rest??
Step down from your "stellar high horse" from time to time... the Earth is still under-foot, you pompous windbag.
Yes, and the US buttresses Zionism at great expense to itself.
The tail wags the dog - and in this case, is killing it.
And the Palestinians, of course.
Ladybug's assertion that Israel is calling the shots is, perhaps, hyperbole, but it is not unlikely that the US and Iran have collaborated over a planned attack on Iran with the US providing surveillance, anti-missile technology, and covert special operations in many areas. The US has demonstrated its willingness to support Israeli aggression on numerous occasions, Lebanon through Gaza incursions. Israel will inform the United States if and when it will attack Iran; the United States will put up scant resistance. It will sign on to help the effort in any way it can. Is Israel calling the shots? Yes and no. The US could refuse to collaborate, but it will not. That is my take on things.
As for SR's comment implying opposition to Israeli bellicosity derives from anti-Semitism--that is the argument Israelis are always making. There has been no talk of Jews on this thread up to her bringing it up. The problem is, and always has been, the brutality of the current Israeli regime. Anti-semitism has nothing to do with it.
DROSERA: As you know, your scientific bent argues for rather exacting measures, whereas I look more diffusively at the way things interconnect. My current response is based on what has been repeatedly posted on C.D., as opposed to what has shown up only on this thread.
RICH M explained it better than I could. I would like to make it perfectly clear that I am ANTI-MILITARISM whether it's wearing a US uniform or an Israeli one, or any other for that matter! What I find stunning is the degree of blindness seen in this forum in that ordinary acts of belligerence (as practiced by US forces on a DAILY basis) receive scant response; yet when Israel follows suit... lots of otherwise sound thinkers jump on that nation like vultures prepared to tear it apart with their teeth.
There are a few who believe that American citizens don't belong in America. The entire tale of history is largely a fabric featuring one dominant strand: that of groups taking over the land and property of other groups. Israel is new on the map, but the thinking that led to its inception is not. Since it does exist, I am more interested in finding a way to advance peace in that region than to see Israel burn for "all our sins." That scapegoating DOES bring to mind the old Nazi canard.
Whenever we divide into groups that passionately insist that one side is right and another side wrong, we FEED the WARRIOR mindset. More energy must be directed at solutions people can live with, and these involve major compromise on all sides.
Also, there are some in these threads who ENTIRELY conflate Israel with "the Jews." Even if none of them has yet posted in response to this particular article, a review of the archives will find their comments seen in abundance.
P.S. RICH M: Many thanks.
P.S.S. Drosera, you made a mistake in your post where you wrote Iran, and probably meant Israel. (It was the line regarding who was planning an attack on Iran.)
Gosh. I wonder why people conflate "Jews" with what Jews call "Homeland of the Jews"?
You Zionists throw any shit against the wall to see if it sticks.
De-Countrify Israel Now.
Yes, Rich, the key word is SELECTIVE. Ms. Delia heard your (and my) arguments, but extrapolated from them only a reflection of what she could allow herself to hear. Somehow the universal call to facing and rejecting military aggression anywhere is not of importance to those who must aim their vitriol at one specific source alone. It reminds me of one of those magnetic games kids play with... in which they draw a wand across the surface to collect all the stray particles and then form a design of their own. Some minds work that way. Trying to show them OTHER (as in another design composed of the same particles) becomes a lesson in futility.
Very funny indeed, Siouxrose, there's nothing SELECTIVE about blaming Israel and the US BOTH for crimes against humanity, which is what I have constantly done. But apparently you and RichM have been trying (very delicately, and sometimes not so delicately) to give Israel a pass, why may I ask?
By the way, calling people on the left anti-Semite just because they oppose genocide, illegal land theft and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel is ridiculous, childish and disgusting.
Are opponents of Bush's illegal wars anti-Christian? Don't be pathetic.
Israel, which serves no purpose to the US,
is calling the shots, much to the detriment of the US.
De-Countrify Israel Now.
In the USS LIberty inceident President Johnson called back a number of Air Strikes sent up from Carriers in the area that were intended to halt the attack.
The history that is doucmented of this incident would have those that read such believe it out of a desire not to embarass the Israelis and not to get into a shooting war with them.
My own conclusions is it goes far deeper then that. The unmarked Israeli planes and the callback of those aircraft suggests something far more sinister just as sending that vessel into the war zone (not the captains decision) suggests so.
It suggests to me that members of the US Government were in on the attack from the get go.
Thus while to many it might "appear" the tail is wagging the dog I am going to suggest the dog is asking to be wagged in very many instances. The recent Israeli bombing of a suspect site in Syria was witht he full knowledge of teh USA who gave their blessing.
I think of it as two people who committed a dark crime in their youth. They both know of the "others" complicity in that crime and use it as a hold over one another with the result being both participate in each others crimes for the rest of their lives.
Actually, it's somewhat silly.
This is errant nonsense.
Netanyahu boasts about Israel's ability to control the US, and we're supposed to believe it's the other way around.
Israel attacks the USS Liberty, and we're supposed to believe that we wanted that to happen.
AIPAC pushes a devastating war in Iraq, followed by an equally damaging war in
Afghanistan, and pushes for a third war in Iran...
And we're supposed to believe this nonsense??? Israel is controlling US foreign policy in the Middle East
TO OUR DETRIMENT.
De-Countrify Israel Now.
Errant nonsense?
How did Israel manipulate the US into a war in Vietnam? Were they behind the Korean War..the War on Japan? Was it israel that sponsored the Coup in Venezuala and the Honduras? Was it Israel that prompted the US to topple the democraticaly elected leader of Iran?
Was Israel behind the coups in Chile, the Honduras, the invasion of Panama and of Grenada? Was Israel running "Operation Gladio" in Italy and did Israel arm the Indonesians so that they could slaugher the peoples of Timor?
Was Israel behind the coup that brought the Baathists to power in the 1960s in Iraq? Were they the ones supporting the Saudi Royal family? The deal that made the US dollar a psuedo "petro-currency" was one made between Kissinger and the Saudi's. Israel did not give them permission.
This DEAL was made when Nixon reneged on Bretton Woods due to the costly war in Vietnam and was a means of allowing the US to print dollars at will.
All of this is part and parcel of US history and US Imperialism. Were there no Israel the USA would still have bases all over the world.Do you really think that without Israel the USA would NOT have Military bases in the Middle East or try to control those sources of Oil? Would they have bases in Europe, Japan, South America, Africa the Philipines and simply ignore the Middle East?
Look at the military bases in Colombia..next door to Chavez. Look at the attempted coups against Chavez.Is that because of Israel? How can anyone in their right minds imagine for a MOMENT that were Israel gone, the USA would allow the peoples of the Middle east to live in peace with THEIR oil?
When Eisenhower indicated that the Middle East was the SINGLE MOST important region in the world for the USA to control, it was not because Israel said so. It was because of the oil.
With no Israel.
They would still be trying to topple Chavez. They would still try and overthrow leaders like Allende and Arbenz. They would still be seeking to put military bases in Japan, in Poland, and in the Countries of Africa.
The USA does NOT GET A PASS with this "Israel tells them what to do".
And now nonsense dumped on nonsense.
OK - let's state the obvious.
ZIONISM DICTATES OUR POLICIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST, not Southeast Asia, not South American etc.
AND ISRAEL DICTATES THIS POLICY TO OUR DETRIMENT.
So all that Chavez stuff is such obvious bullshot - you Zionists will push any distortions or lie no matter how naked the distortion is.
Remember the USS Liberty.
De-Countrify Israel Now.
You are absolutely FULL Of it.
Your policies in the Middle East are dictated by EMPIRE and by Imperialism. Your labeling of anyone who does not agree with you as a Zionist amply proves how full of it you are.
Your failure to see how your policies in South East Asia and Europe and Africa and South America relate to the Middle East shows how utterly idiotic your position is.
Were Israel gone tomorrow the USA would hardly allow the Middle East to dicate their own course. The example of ALL THOSE OTHER PLACES amply PROVES that.
The USA has those military bases in those other countries to dominate markets and to control resources. How the heck anyone can believe that without Israel, the USA would no longer be interested in dominating the middle east is BEYOND me.
Mossagedeh was overthrown and the SHAH put in place on behalf of the British and the eagerness to control Irans resources.
Saddam Hussein was put in power in Iraq because the USA felt the communists were getting too powerful.
The Saudi Royal family is kept in power because the Saudis helped ensure that OIL is sold in US dollars.
Look at a map. Those countries are in the Middle East.
GwNorth is (to quote GwNorth), "...absolutely FULL Of it."
Nobody is denying that there is a US Empire. Nobody.
The reason GwNorth is "...absolutely FULL Of it." is that he is claiming because there is a US Empire, therefore the US is calling the shots in the Middle East. Not only is this a stupendous non-sequitor, it is contradicted by events and situations we can see in front of us. In front of our very eyes.
I'm Tiredof listing these, but Zionists are pushing this lie so often one wonders how coordinated it is:
Netanyahu boasts openly about directing the US, and we're supposed to believe that we're in charge of policy?
The US impales itself militarily, economically, and politically in Iraq, Afghanistan... with Iran being pushed by AIPAC, and we're supposed to believe that the US is in charge of Middle East policy and Israel isn't?
Israel attempts to sink the USS Liberty with no consequences, and we're suppose to believe that Israel isn't calling the shots.
You Zionists will push any meme, no matter how nonsensical, no matter how egregious, no matter how debased or disgusting. Zionists are in charge of our Middle East policy and no hand-waving or distraction about Chavez changes that.
De-Countrify Israel Now, and cast off the yoke of Zionism.
It is THIS simple.
Were Israel gone tomorrow and were The Saudi's to elect a Socialist Government..
And were that Socialist Government to announce that all oil would be sold in Rubles and the Dollar dropped as the Currency oil was sold in..
The USA would invade.
I suggest you read up on the Eisenhower Doctrine. This committed the USA to interference in the Middle East and was a response to Nasser having invited the Soviets in to to Egypt. Eisenhower openly stated the USA would not allow Middle East Oil supplies to be under the control of States that might threaten to cut off the supply to the USA and Europe. This is a fact of history.
This doctrine was implemented to protect US Strategic Interests in the region. Eisenhower is the President who ordered the Israelis out of the Suez.
Again I will note you failed to mention how Israel was involved in the deal Kissinger made with the Saudi's regarding Oil and the dollar or how Israel manipulated the CIA to bringing the Baathists to power in Iraq, or for that matter how they imposed the Shah on Iran in place of a democratically elected "Socialist" Government.
Your non-sequitor response borders on intellectual schizophrenia. It really doesn't make much sense. Maybe you're forced to try to appear as if you're making an argument in hopes that nobody notices.
My points still stand. We still need to De-Countrify Israel Now.
GW NORTH: Great post! Thank you for enunciating THE pertinent info.
Last night I watched (bracing myself in advance) the film, "Taxi To The Dark Side." It shows how torture became part of official U.S. foreign policy. The images of the naked thin bodies of frail prisoners reminded me much of those of the Jews kept in the Nazi camps. This is a SICKNESS that does not belong to any specific nation, but it does simulate an archetype, the LOWEST, of human nature... and when this aspect, which I term "Mars rules" takes command of any society, then law is its first casualty followed by truth, decency, any remote semblance of humanity, itself.
Israel IS guilty of this sin, that of the warrior mind-set. And no nation is immune to the LAW of karma. Still, those in the forum who are evidently far more prepared to throw stones at Israel than take a deep moral inventory of their own nation's considerable trespasses, in my view, lose the moral highground (and argument).
Once again, what should be our ideal--and common objective (and PEACEMAN pointed this out), is to expunge the concept of war and any romanticizing of its "ancillary products" from the collective consciousness and experience of human beings ONCE and for all! Sometimes overweight people go on a splurge before they commit to a serious diet. By analogy, the unregulated use of all sorts of weapons under the banner of war may be that bonfire to the martial vanities that will soon be followed by a diet that involves NO weapon use. Mankind is standing by in wait of this most necessary cessation of the "calories of combat."
Good posts: MCOYOTE, CLOVIS, EARTHIAN, PEACEMAN, & PHILO.
I agree - the law of karma dictates
De-Countrify Israel Now.
For an analysis of your nonsense, see below and above.
De-Countrify Israel Now.
The "Jew-hating" you mention coming from the left has nothing to do with hating Jews but with hating Israel's genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the fact that the country itself is not legitimate. It occupies land that never belonged to them. I refer to 1948 of course, not 1967.
Israel might not dictate US policy but don't forget that many Jews and Zionists born in the US are either in position of power in the US Government or have great influence on those with power. Rahm Emanuel currently serving as White House Chief of Staff to the president is a prime example.
Rahm Emanuel holds dual US and Israel citizenship. He has served in the Israel Defense Force.
Who on Earth is ignoring the crucial role played by the US govt.? It seems to me that you're subtly excusing Israel's crimes just because the US is behind them financially.
That makes Israel even more disgusting, they can't even pay for their own insatiable desire for stolen land and the butchering of Palestinians and DEMAND that someone else, the US tax payers, pay for it!
Don't apologize for Israel just because other countries commit crimes too.
The US has been consistent in its policies of empire. Remember Latin America? What did Israel have to do with that?
Israel is a handy tool of the US - not the other way around - and Israel is happy to be of service.
If Israel were located, say, in N. Europe, do you think the US would be arming it to the teeth, defending its brutal treatment of indigenous people? I don't think so.
It's location, location, location.
Here we go again - no matter how many times this bullshot of "Israel is a handy tool of the US - not the other way around..." gets refuted, like Whack-A-Mole, it comes back.
It is so obvious you Zionists push this lie because you agree with Goebbels that if you say a lie often enough, people will believe.
Israel is to the DETRIMENT of the US.
Because of Zionism, we have bankrupted the country in the Middle East, weakened ourselves militarily and on and on. We are less secure and our access to oil is more problematic.
The best thing for the US and the entire world
is to De-Countrify Israel Now.
It seems to me that a militarily weakened U.S. is a good thing, not a bad thing.
That said, I do think that the Zionist lobby's overweening influence on U.S. policy is detrimental not only to the U.S., but to the whole world, Israel included. And there is no question but that most hysterical calls for attacking Iran are coming from the Zionist camp, both within and without the U.S. Every time certain elements of the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus come up with well-documented reasons NOT to attack Iran, up crops yet another flurry of specious studies and speeches and articles screaming of the imminence of a nuclear Iran frothing at the mouth to "wipe Israel off the map," despite the fact that Iran has threatened nobody and hasn't attacked another country for, oh, some two hundred years. To deny this is to deny probably the most obvious reality of US political life of the last couple of years.
I am not defending those who focus on the US-Israel relationship as the sole evil of our very sick polity, I am only defending the truth on this particular issue.
You've got a couple of good points.
I, too, am happy about a weakened military, but I'm not happy that it is being done in this manner. There are other ways to weaken a military than to pour trillions of dollars and waste thousands of lives doing Israel's bidding. If that's the case, I'd rather have a strong but dormant military.
But you must admit that Zionism has had a corroding effect on our polity; how could anyone who has enough integrity to admit to the humanity of Palestinians and their suffering ever get elected to a significant office? They won't. That leaves the graven ones to get elected.
We need to throw the yoke of Zionism off our backs, and unfortunately it will always be there
until Israel is de-countrified.
The United States has written plans to invade every country on earth. It's what the planners do with their time. It doesn't mean anyone is actually getting invaded.
Say England elected a new Hitler. We might need to go to war with them. Say England got conquered by someone else's new Hitler, and they had to be liberated. Things would go smoother if various elements of what those kinds of operations would entail were thought of ahead of time.
Those plans get updated on a schedule. It could be over something as simple as England opening some new North Sea oil platforms that weren't contemplated in the last draft of the plan. It could because a new, belligerent French government is building missile silos in Normandy and has closed the tunnel, and the President thinks a heightened degree of alert is called for, which would kick in the need for a review of the plans to see if they're up to date.
There is no doubt that we've been making and updating plans to invade Iran since 1954. That Mullen has no reason not to openly admit that doesn't mean we're about to invade Iran.
Hey slick, you throw around the "we" word like you're an integral part of Murder Incorporated... these statements by these cowardly war mongers is state sponsored terrorism. Period.
Go back to playing with your toy soldiers in the dirt, conjuring up delusional wet-dream glory days storming the beach at Normandy.
Pathetic.
He's pointing out that the army makes plans, guess what? He's right, and it's not just the us army that does that sort of thing. Every army on earth has plans for war with its neighbours, heck, even Canada has plans for a possible war with the usa...
The best generals know that the plans aren't worth a pile of beans in the end because no enemy ever does exactly what you want them to do.
It's the job of the general staff to play wargames and to try to come up with ways of defeating their enemy. Whoever that enemy may be in the future. That doesn't mean that they want to put those plans into action.
I believe the criticism to the orginal post was concerned with the line: "There is no doubt that we've been making and updating plans to invade Iran since 1954." This indefinite and confusing use of "we" which is so common on these pages is unfortunate. Who is this "we" that the original poster is referring to. I find it particularly unfortunate when this "we" is used in such statements as: "we are to blame for this situation". It should be made clear to whom this "we" refers
Yeah, so I use the word "we." It's justified. Sorry if it hurts everyone's feelings, but it's really not that confusing.
I am part of the war machine. So are you. So is everyone reading this, in one way or another, since you need a contemporary piece of corporate consumer electronics to do so, and we're sending these messages to each other via the Internet, which was invented for military communications by our Pentagon with our tax dollars. We buy corporate products, we pay taxes, we drive on interstate highways that were built during the Cold War to facilitate military transportation, we create no obstructions to the economy, our army, our politics, or the infrastructures that support them. Same for the people who wrote the story, and same for Common Dreams itself.
Maybe the what makes it confusing is that it's honest about "ourselves," which is pretty rare, even on these boards. But from a logical point of view it's not confusing at all. I hope that clears it up.
I understand your point that you feel that you are part of the war machine and that you think I am part of the war machine. Nevertheless the operative line that you wrote is: "There is no doubt that we've been making and updating plans to invade Iran since 1954." I can assure you that I am not making and updating plans to invade Iran". I do not feel guilt or responsibility for the war machine. I do not think you want to get into a discussion of "we are the world, all of humanity." I suppose I am leaving myself open to criticism but I really am not responsible for the war machine or guilty for it's activities even though you feel otherwise.