Annexing Khuzestan; battle-plans for Iran

[Pharaoh]

Those who doubt that the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld team will attack Iran, while so conspicuously overextended in Iraq, are ignoring the subtleties of the administration’s Middle East strategy.

Bush has no intention of occupying Iran. Rather, the goal is to destroy major weapons-sites, destabilize the regime, and occupy a sliver of land on the Iraqi border that contains 90% of Iran’s oil wealth. Ultimately, Washington will aim to replace the Mullahs with American-friendly clients who can police their own people and fabricate the appearance of representative government. But, that will have to wait. For now, the administration must prevent the incipient Iran bourse (oil-exchange) from opening in March and precipitating a global sell-off of the debt-ridden dollar. There have many fine articles written about the proposed “euro-based” bourse and the devastating effects it will have on the greenback. The best of these are “Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar” by William R. Clark, and “The Proposed Oil Bourse” by Krassimir Petrov, Ph.D.

The bottom line on the bourse is this; the dollar is underwritten by a national debt that now exceeds $8 trillion dollars and trade deficits that surpass $600 billion per year. That means that the greenback is the greatest swindle in the history of mankind. It’s utterly worthless. The only thing that keeps the dollar afloat is that oil is traded exclusively in greenbacks rather than some other currency. If Iran is able to smash that monopoly by trading in petro-euros then the world’s central banks will dump the greenback overnight, sending markets crashing and the US economy into a downward spiral.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11743.htm



:dem: :dem: :dem:

[Leopolds Ghost]

1. K & R n/t

[freefall]

2. Please, please, please people recommend this thread. I just tried to and

I don't have enough posts to recommend. I believe the possibility of an attack on Iran is imminent and it is the most frightening possibility on the immediate horizon.

Yesterday I posted in another discussion with links to some of the same information (article by William Clark) that Pharaoh is recommending. This is an emergency folks. The MSM is ignoring it. The politicians are ignoring it. Even Dean fell into the administration's Iran trap. (See the thread I posted in yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=287932&mesg_id=292999)

The Iranians plan to open their oil bourse NEXT MONTH!!! None of our politicians are talking about the forays the military is already making into Iran. None of our politicians are talking about the fact that the administration is considering a PREEMPTIVE NUCLEAR ATTACK on Iran and has already had the Pentagon draw up plans for such an attack. I don't believe the rest of the world will sit on the sidelines and let us get away with it again.

I have children and grandchildren. I want them to live long peaceful lives. Please call or write your Congresspeople and ask them what they are doing to prevent the administration from engaging in another preemptive war. And please recommend this post.

Thanks,

freefall

[Pharaoh]

6. go out and post on many threads.....

and you will be able to recommend before ya know it.....................

[freefall]

19. Thanks, Pharaoh. I'm working on it.

[bananas]

28. Welcome to DU!

One way to increase your thread count it to say "Welcome to DU" whenever you see a post by someone with a low post count.
Also, it makes newcomers feel welcome.

[Wilms]

3. k&r n/t

[Pharaoh]

4. Yes there is not much time now

by june I expect them to be well into the Iran war.............

[Pharaoh]

5. this needs to be kicked

cause i'm about to enter lala land...............

love you people................

[MadisonProgressive]

7. Kicked and recommended

Indeed these guys are about to really fuck up the world.........

[fushuugi]

8. kick

[newyawker99]

36. Hi fushuugi!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[cantstandbush]

9. Kicking for you. thanks for the post. n/t

[doublethink]

10. Some responses in these two threads you might want to see too.

Another article here ..... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x187965

And more responses to your article here .... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x188370

Keep people informed on this, pretty important. But never give up never surrender. Peace. :kick: K&R. :)

[Tigress DEM]

11. Lest we forget, Haliburton is aiding and abetting Iran in weapons upgrades

I knew there was a good reason to save this article. It's war time, let's seize all of Haliburton's profits and other assets and pay off the war, repair social security, etc..

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEO20050805&articleId=806

Halliburton Secretly Doing Business with Key Member of Iran’s Nuclear Team


by Jason Leopold

August 5, 200

Scandal-plagued Halliburton, the oil services company once headed by Vice President Dick was secretly working with one of Iran’s top nuclear scientists on natural gas related projects and, allegedly, selling the scientists’ oil company key components for a nuclear reactor, according to Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge of both companies’ business dealings.

Just last week a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, which just reported a 284 percent increase in its fourth quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the financial means to build a nuclear weapon.



-------- Iran was being targeted for invasion in June or July, but the anti-war protests and the NSC report made people breathe easier for a moment. So then, Haliburton sneaks in and tries to up the timetable on their readiness for WMD so that *ush has another terror threat to distract US with.

I would call that TREASON.

[Tigress DEM]

13. Laws being broken. 17 investigations at 1 point. What's happened w/them?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEO20050805&articleId=806

In attempt to curtail other U.S. companies from engaging in business dealings with rogue nations, the Senate approved legislation July 26 that would penalize companies that continue to skirt U.S. law by setting up offshore subsidiaries as a way to legally conduct business in Libya, Iran and Syria, and avoid U.S. sanctions under International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is part of the Senate Defense Authorization bill.

"It prevents U.S. corporations from creating a shell company somewhere else in order to do business with rogue, terror-sponsoring nations such as Syria and Iran," Collins said in a statement.

"The bottom line is that if a U.S. company is evading sanctions to do business with one of these countries, they are helping to prop up countries that support terrorism - most often aimed against America," she said.

[Tigress DEM]

14. MORE Dirt....

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEO20050805&articleId=806

<snip>

Now comes word that Halliburton, which has a long history of flouting U.S. law by conducting business with countries the Bush administration said has ties to terrorism, was working with Cyrus Nasseri, the vice chairman of Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies, on oil development projects in Tehran. Nasseri is also a key member of Iran’s nuclear development team.

“Nasseri, a senior Iranian diplomat negotiating with Europe over Iran's controversial nuclear program is at the heart of deals with US energy companies to develop the country's oil industry”, the Financial Times reported.


Nasseri was interrogated by Iranian authorities in late July for allegedly providing Halliburton with Iran’s nuclear secrets and accepting as much as $1 million in bribes from Halliburton, according to Iranian government officials

[Beam Me Up]

12. Yes, and THEN who will OWN this nation? The people??

[Tigress DEM]

15. I think China has first dibs.

[TheModernTerrorist]

16. wonderful...

So Washington is forcing Iran's hand by referring them to the UN Security Council (while trying to get "international support" for doing so), so then Iran will kick the UN out for violating their sovereign rights as a nation, so then the US will have no other choice BUT to bomb them... at least that's what "I" see happening here...

[Tigress DEM]

31. If John Bolton weren't our shining star at the UN, I bet Iran would prefer

to be dealing with them. It's just that if the purpose of the UN resolution is to allow Iran to show compliance, that's one thing, but *ush only wants justification to go to war. He isn't above making up intel or sending Haliburton to beef up their weapons program to make them a credible threat so he can have his war.

IMPEACHING every one of them who has betrayed their oath to the Constitution is our strongest battle plan. Then we can move in intelligent and reasonable leaders with a desire to solve the real problems and not just conform all problems to their desired agends.

[leveymg]

17. Dissenting view: this is a bluff, a military attack won't work

The Pentagon wargamed this many times, and by the summer of 2004 came to the conclusion that any scenario following a preemptive US and/or Israeli strike on Iran resulted in quick escalation into a generalized regional war involving chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Such a war would have a devastating economic and political impact on the US and its relationship with allies.

In the end, after millions of casualties on all sides, the Iranians would go back and redouble their efforts to develop the bomb, and likely use it on us.

Lose-lose. Ain't going to happen. This is largely a domestic political ploy by BushCo and another effort to destabilize Iran for a while we disengage from Iraq.

[Pharaoh]

18. but you forget

both dubya and the Iranian pres are religious fanatics and want to bring on armaggedon,

and when did Bush start listening to his generals?

[leveymg]

20. Not after Iraq. Bush could get away with it once, but not

again. There has to be some reasonable basis to expect that military objectives can be met, or the JCS won't sign off on it. They won't allow themselves to be bulled and bullied again by this Administration.

If Dubya woke up tomorrow night and demanded the launch codes for a nuclear strike on Iran, the Generals would have the President's physician administer a strong sedative and place a call to initiate process of invoking the 25th Amendment.

After all, Admiral Moorer and Richard Helms had Nixon fired. They can do the same with Bush, if they're forced to.

[Tigress DEM]

23. I hope you are right, but I am not convinced.

The military has "retired" people who objected to *ush and he has MORE control in many ways now than he did before.

*ush has no "reality based illusions" he is not swayed by reason. Anyone who gets in his way has problems. Scientists who had those silly facts that disagreed with *ush's policies were being murdered and disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the first part of *ush's reign. Many were moved out of sensitive areas or discredited for blowing whistles whenever they would not be "tamped down" in order to keep their jobs.

*ush may be insane and his handlers evil, but they only seem stupid because the things they do are wreaking havoc and one would think they are destroying the country because they don't realize how their greed and corruption affect others. I think they do know. I think it is part of their intended affect because only when others are brought low before them can they parade about with the illusion of their superiority.

Still. They DO know how to watch their own asses. Sort of a preoccupation if you ask me, but I doubt the pRes physician is of the ilk to do the right thing only the right wing thing. Otherwise he wouldn't have his job.

[Strelnikov_]

22. Excellent Summary

A year ago I thought they would do it. I now have my doubts.

- I have seen no credible reports of a US buildup/redeployment.

- Our ground forces are treading water fighting an insurgency among the 5 Mil. Sunni's. An attack on Iran would throw the detente with the Shiite into question (I heard on Hartman the other day that the new Iraq Govt. has signed a mutual defense pact with Iran).

- Our air and naval forces are not really being used. But due to the reasons stated above, they cannot be used, without placing the ground forces in grave danger.

- All the reasons you stated. They thought Iraq was going to be a pushover. They know Iran would take a WW II level effort.

OTOH, what is it with the integrated propaganda effort on the usual outlets (Faux, CNN, Wash Times, OxyRush, etc.)? Prole feed, or advance work for a modern day 'Gulf of Tonkin'? Based on your conclusion, it is Prole feed intended to whip up an adequate amount of war fever for the upcoming midterms.

What I can see going on now is an ongoing cold war with EastAsia, oops, Iran, to keep the Proles occupied. Maybe the occasional bombing of some brown people to keep faux news viewers happy.

Since you presented a reasoned view, I will pass along something that has been bothering me. That is, what if Iran already has the bomb (either bought outright or built with fissionable material bought elsewhere)? Why is there this illusion that by knocking out their nuclear facilities, we prevent them from getting the bomb?

My approach - Engage them through back channels; explain MAD; explain that if a bomb goes off somewhere using material traced back to their facilities (yes, it can be traced), they will be held responsible. It seems to me that forcing them into the black market simply makes MAD untenable.

[leveymg]

24. I believe you are right about backchannels and blackmarket bombs

That detente was arrived at during the Clinton years. The Iranians have grown nervous (for good reason) and would now like to make some more, and the rational part of this strategy of tension is an effort to slow them down.

In the end, of course, they'll be a full-fledged nuclear power, like Pakistan and the rest. We'll have to learn to teach our friends in Tel Aviv to live with that eventuality. They worry me, because there are some among them who shared with Mr. Sharon illusions that they can't live with a nuclear Iran. But, this too shall pass.

I can only trust that Bush has truly been contained, and that what we are seeing is just Kabuki theater.

[Tigress DEM]

27. *ush will not be contained until he is IMPEACHED and sent to the Hague.

We can't "trust" this administration at all, so the only thing to do is pursue IMPEACHMENT of all persons who have violated their oath to uphold the Constitution by lying to the American people to get US into war with Iraq and any other corruption we can successfully prove and pin on them.

Like Molly Ivins said, "Only 1 way to cure a chicken killing hound, tie a dead chicken around his neck so he can smell it's stink as it decomposes."

It's that kind of stink that needs to be pinned on this administration. EVERY time they shake off the truth about their wrong doings, we got to tackle them and shackle their misdeeds onto their slippery hides again and again until decades after we are done that stink will waft up in their noses and remind them to NEVER NEVER Fuck with WE THE PEOPLE again.

We CAN NOT Trust that *ush (and his potential to damage US) is contained until....

He has been IMPEACHED for breaching FISA rulings and tried for his war crimes..
All his cronies are brought to justice for their treason...
American citizens have their privacy back...
Government activities are no longer hiden behind "war time" standards...
The press BECOMES a reliable fourth estate again...
EVERY vote counts and EVERY vote is counted...
There is a balance of representation in the House and Senate that accurately reflects the will of the people...
White collar criminals are behind bars for their crimes...
Black men can walk the streets without being randomly accused of crimes they did not committ

[Tigress DEM]

25. Only the full out Waging of Peace is keeping W out of Iran.

He had it on his time table and the propoganda was in place. Then there was that stupid report that said Iran was 10 years away from a nuke. They promptly sent Haliburton in to fix that problem. With the advanced assistance they received, estimates went from 10 years to 5-7years.

What the average person of reasonable intelligence doesn't get is that if *ush wants war he won't stop until he gets it or is stopped by US.

He is not above sending aid to the enemy so that they can be a credible threat that he can go in and "handle" it.

It makes no sense at all unless you realize their agenda is NOT to make America successful, but only to put all our assets in the hands of a select few. If they suck the life out of America, they will leave us with the bill and dip to the Bahamas or something. Right now 57% of US wealth is in the hands of 1% of the population.

They don't care about US. They are the spoiled rich who think they can do whatever outrageous thing they want and as long as they can manipulate the system that would put limits on them they view their behavior as legitimate. If they aren't caught AND punished, then it wasn't wrong in their own estimation because they got away with it.

The only reason they play politics at all is because they don't want to have to go to Martial Law yet. Even Martial Law only works if the millions of people subjugated accept the need for it and don't march directly en masse onto DC or Crawford and evict his butt forecefully.

The subterfuge and confusion is to keep US from coming together with an affective response. However, the peace movement has been successful at organizing resistance and getting some facts out there to expose the flow of propoganda.

The DEMS have not been all that we would like to see, but enough to keep the administration tied up on one political front or another so the bushies haven't been able pull up stakes and ram the war through yet.

The web is keeping the DEMs connected. They have already tried a sone take overs of the web too and there will probably be some sort of purge attempt like the felon's list in FL to keep DEMs away from this resource. Google wouldn't play ball, but Lycos did and so now anyone who has ever had a porn screen pop up on their computer will probably get on some restricted access list or be investigated to see what crimes they can find.

All I'm saying is we can't relax about the Iran thing. We can't assume they won't do any ourtrageous thing, because it's as soon as our guard is down in any area that they swoop in and destroy whatever they can.

[leveymg]

40. Found a recent source of speculation about Iran having a bomb

There's an article in the 1/31/06 JPost by Uri Dan in which he discusses a conversation with 80-year-old retired Mossad chief, Rafi Eitan, who speculates that the Iranians might have enriched enough uranium to make a bomb which they might have mounted onto an ex-Ukranian cruise missile. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1138622510390&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A bit speculative for me, and much too convenient, coming when it does.

[Trevelyan]

21. Thank you for letting us know -- Iran has been talked about so much that I

think people may have turned off, so this thread is especially important.

:kick: :dem: :dem:

Press Releases 13 December 2005

CASMII Resolution against Attacks on Iran and Syria Unanimously Adopted by London International Peace Conference (stopwar.org.uk)

A resolution calling on “the anti-war movement in all countries to oppose any attack on Iran or Syria” was unanimously adopted by the International Peace Conference held in London on Saturday 10 December 2005. This resolution, which for the first time raises threats against Iran as
a core focus of the anti-war movement, was the result of lobbying by the newly founded Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII). Seven delegates from CASMII took part in the conference. They joined well over twelve hundred delegates from around the world including Iraq and the US, mainland Europe, Canada and Philippines. Speakers included Tony Benn, Bruce Kent (CND) and Jeremy Corbyn (MP), all of whom specifically addressed the growing threat of attack against Iran....

[Tom Rinaldo]

26. "We should join now — right now - in opening new talks with Iran"

This is serious folks. Clark thinks we are drifting toward war but that there still is time to stop it.

"We should join now — right now - in opening new talks with Iran, in which we ourselves participate, before pressing for UN action or moving toward the military option. No one should be mistaken: there is a military option.

We can strike hard enough to set back Iran's nuclear quest by many years, and take out much of their military capacity in the process. And we can at the same time protect most of the oil flow from Iran and deny their capacity to block transit through the Straits of Hormuz. But we also must recognize the possible consequences of this action: an embittered, vengeful Iran, seeking further destabilization of the region. Far better to pursue dialogue now, whatever the precedents, and save the military option for truly last resort. Understand: unlike others you may hear, I know when and how to determine our course with Iran."

Wes Clark
The Real State of the Union Address
January 30, 2006
http://securingamerica.com/node/560

[Tigress DEM]

30. Getting *ush or the rethugs to agree to talks is probably not possible.

It's still a noble cause, so go for it, but most of our energy needs to go into removing our own diseased leadership. They MUST be IMPEACHED and replaced with people who will be able to deal sensibly with the issue of Iran.

If Iran didn't have *ush et al looming over them threatening war, it would make talks easier anyway. Plus, if America can show we can deal with our problems through due process, the world might begin to trust US again.

If America wants to call ourselves a Democracy, we need to confront our own leadership problems that are bleeding out of our national boundries onto other nations. We have a ruthless dictator in all but name and he must be removed - as well as all who support him.

We need a fully coordinated call for IMPEACHMENT of all elected officials that have violated their oath to the Constitution by lying us into this war. We may wind up with only a handful of Senators and Reps left and be down at least 2 justices on the Supreme Court again, but starting over nearly from scratch isn't as bad as trying to second guess who is for or against US in our own midsts. Search out the truth and oust those who have purposefully betrayed US.

[Leopolds Ghost]

32. Wes Clark is sabre-rattling, I see. Why?

"Make no mistake, there is a military option....

We can strike hard enough to set back Iran's nuclear quest by many years....

And we can at the same time protect most of the oil flow from Iran....

But we must also recognize the consequences... An embittered, vengeful Iran (would seek) further destabilization of the region."

(what could be further? Oh, violence in the ME is only destabilization if it hurts US interests. I see. Vengeful? Unlike Bush?)

"Understand: unlike others you may hear, I know when and how to determine our course with Iran."

Pure Clinton-era sabre rattling watered down for his anti-war constituents.

[Tom Rinaldo]

34. No, not sabre rattling

What world do you live in? It is simply a fact, there is "a military option", and if matters proceed beyond a certain point then someone will use it, if not the United States than Israel. Do you doubt that both nations already have detailed plans for militarily dealing with Iran's developing nuclear program? If you do not start out by dealing with probable reality it is difficult to change the course of that unfolding reality.

Vengeful is an accurate term, not an emotionally laden one the way you used it. Clark did not praise Bush, you injected that. Bush probably was in part motivated by vengeful feelings. That doesn't make the comment regarding Iran less true. One of the reasons, in fact, why Iraq is likely to spiral into a civil war is because many inside Iraq acknowledge and act on their vengeful feelings. One of the many reasons why it was wrong to go into Iraq was because doing so created more anti American "terrorists" than ever would have existed otherwise. Clark is dead on right about the consequence and few American national leaders are acknowledging it. He is, he deserves credit for that, not scorn.

[stop the bleeding]

29. Bingo - and that is why Iran will fight to death over that land, I

wouldn't be surprised to find that area as being heavily fortified by the Iranian military.

[bigtree]

33. oil

[EVDebs]

35. War Plans mired in 1973 group think

Sun Tzu 101

Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.(Sun Tzu) Our military Vulcans continually pick fights. Supremely non-excellent.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2432151&mesg_id=2432151

War is delightful to those who have no experience of it (Erasmus)

[IronLionZion]

37. so when America tanks, then what?

yeah, that's a big scary what. :scared:

I bet many of you have your life savings and retirement funds in America Incorporated...

War is terrible enough and I don't advocate it. But why aren't more people worried about the economic catastrophe which is more powerful than any terrorist weapon?

[Wilms]

38. kick

[Pharaoh]

39. Thanks for the great discussion

and all the votes!