Friday, August 25, 2006

Constantly Scanning for NEXT War


Like too many of us these days I wake up every morning and turn on the news, look in the paper and/or run to ANTIWAR.COM to find out how much closer we are to another attack on Lebanon, an attack on Iran and Syria, and to nuclear armed missiles and airplanes approaching Iran -- and the Russian border -- and freaking the Russians out so much they launch and attack that lands at least 20 - 30 two to ten megaton hydrogen bombs in my immediate neighborhood.
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So many days I go off to a protest, like the July one above at the Israeli Embassy.
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I guess reporting on the latest theories inevitably becomes part of this blog's duties. Geeze, why should I break down and get a regular job and pay off my credit cards, if they are going to nuke me any week now? (Hint - check out my
RadicalButtons.Com and CafePress.Com sites) Of course, I'd rather get a Secession Network going anyway and let it pay me a barely liveable wage.

Many of us have been expecting an "October surprise" attack that would give Bush an excuse to declare martial law, lock up the activists, suspend the congressional elections and forestall any chance of impeachment by a newly elected majority Democratic House. Yesterday I read a couple of stories putting the date of the war further off.

Bill Kristol on Fox News August 20th predicted war against Iran in 2007: I think we could be in a military confrontation with Iran much sooner than people expect. I don’t think this is an issue that’s going to wait two and a half years until "the Decider" George Bush leaves the presidency. I think he will decide at some point next year — in 2007 — he’ll have to make some very tough decisions about what the U.S. and the world can tolerate in terms of this regime – this apocalyptic, messianic regime — which has made clear that it would use — would feel free to use weapons if it had them, that has very deep ties with terrorist groups, what we could accept in terms of their nuclear program.

And then there was the delightful Jerusalem Post article warning "Israel may 'go it alone' against Iran." One senior Israeli source told a reporter "when push comes to shove," Israel would have to be prepared to "slow down" the Iranian nuclear threat by itself. Having said this, he did not rule out the possibility of US military action, but said that if this were to take place, it would probably not occur until the spring or summer of 2008, a few months before President George W. Bush leaves the international stage....Government officials said Israel's role at this time is to warn the world of the dangers of an Iranian nuclear potential.

A similar article appeared in today's Jerusalem Post, " Israel feels US will not attack Iran." (How can a state feel, I wonder?) It reads in part: Another official warned of the consequences of a nuclear Iran even if Israel was not bombed. "We would have our hands tied," the official said. "They would constantly be threatening us with their nuclear weapons and we would not be able to initiate military operations against Hamas in Gaza or Hizbullah in Lebanon." They might even have to give the Palestinians a fair deal and have to return some of the land they've stolen since 1948, not to mention in 1967.

Of course what Israel is really doing is making it clear to the world that it WILL attack Iran whenever it pleases, using whatever weapons it pleases (like maybe 100 of its 400 plus nuclear weapns?) and that of course the United States will be dragged in since Bush has committed America to supporting Israel's "defense." So if the world wants to stop such an Israeli nuclear attack it better cave in to Israel's demands pronto.

Please see my article on Israel's "Samson Option," also the title of a book by Seymour Hersh on Israel's repeated threats to nuke not only the Arab world but even Europe and Russia if it is every seriously damaged in war. And if Israel nukes Russia, Russia nukes us.

Oh, well, at least I get a good laugh now and then. Like from this quote at the end of a Harper's interview with Michael Scheuer who worked for the CIA for 22 years, including as the chief of the bin Laden unit at the Counterterrorist Center from 1996 to 1999. He is the author of the book "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror." The other area is Israel and Palestine. We're not going to abandon the Israelis but we need to reestablish the relationship so it looks like we're the great power and they're our ally, and not the other way around. We need to create a situation where moderate Muslims can express support for the United States without being laughed off the block.

Next week I'm going to see Harvard and University of Chicago Profs. Walt and Mearsheimer of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy fame speak at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) press conference. Unless of course the State Department declares CAIR a terrorist group and cancells the press conference. But what's to worry? The media probably will ignore it anyway. Walt and Mearsheimer only have managed to get on NPR and C-SPAN so far. Everyone else is terrified to touch them. I will report.

See photos of recent DC protests vs. Israeli Aggression in Lebanon and US/Israeli attacks on Syria and Iran

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