More Pearl Harbors ...
...in other words, they may be back.
I made my usual Saturday morning foray over to Watching America and was struck by their featured article. It comes from The Canadian, which describes itself as "a socially progressive and not-for-profit national newspaper, with an international readership. We provide an alternative to the for-profit commercial focused media, which often censors vital information and perspective of potential interest to the diverse Canadian public, and other peoples internationally."
The article is by written by Michael E. Salla, someone with whom I am not familiar, so I can't vouch for his credentials or his hypothesis. I can say, however, that he writes incisively and with a scholar's tone. If he is correct and is accurate, we are in for more trouble. The subject is war with Iran. Apparently the Neocons are still active in Washington, DC, and this is, according to Mr. Salla, their next project.
The Bush administration has covered up and ignored dissenting Pentagon war games analysis that suggests an attack on Iran's nuclear or military facilities will lead directly to the annihilation of the Navy's Fifth Fleet now stationed in the Persian Gulf. Lt. General Paul Van Riper led a hypothetical Persian Gulf state in the 2002 Millennium Challenge war games that resulted in the destruction of the Fifth Fleet. His experience and conclusions regarding the vulnerability of the Fifth Fleet to an asymmetrical military conflict and the implications for a war against Iran have been ignored. Neoconservatives within the Bush administration are currently aggressively promoting a range of military actions against Iran that will culminate in it attacking the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet with sophisticated cruise anti-ship missiles. They are ignoring Van Riper's experiences in the Millennium Challenge and how it applies to the current nuclear conflict with Iran. ...
...By deliberately provoking an Iranian retaliation to U.S. military actions, the neoconservatives will knowingly sacrifice much or all of the Fifth Fleet. This will culminate in a new Pearl Harbor that will create the right political environment for total war against Iran, and expanded military actions in the Persian Gulf region. ...
Neoconservatives share a political philosophy that U.S. dominance of the international system as the world's sole superpower needs to be extended indefinitely into the 21st century. In early 2006 neoconservatives within the Bush administration began vigorously promoting a new war against Iran due to the alleged threat posed by its nuclear development program. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear development is lawful and in compliance with the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Since 2004, The Bush administration has been citing intelligence data that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons and must under no circumstances be allowed to do this.
The first strategy is to drive up public perceptions of an international security crisis by warning of a Third World War if Iran's nuclear program is not stopped. In a Press Conference speech on October 17, President Bush declared: "if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them [Iranians] from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." LINK. Bush's startling rhetoric was followed soon after by Vice President Cheney on October 23 who warned in a speech that the U.S. and its allies were "prepared to impose serious consequences" on Iran.
The second strategy has been shift emphasis from removing Iran's nuclear facilities, to emphasizing its support for terrorism. Given widespread military and political opposition to attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, the Bush administration is now depicting Iran as a supporter of terrorism in Iraq."
The change in strategy was given a powerful boost by the passage of the Kyle-Lieberman Amendment by the U.S. Senate on September 26 which designated "the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization" This would enable the Bush administration to authorize strikes against Iranian Revolutionary Guard facilities inside Iran on the basis that they are supporting Iraqi terrorist groups targeting U.S. military forces.
The third and most dangerous strategy used by the Bush administration is to sanction an alleged covert mission that would create the necessary political environment for a war against Iran. This is arguably best evidenced in the infamous B-52 'Bent Spear' incident on August 30, 2007 where five (later changed to six) nuclear armed cruise missiles were found en route to the Middle East for a covert mission.
Ten years ago I would have suggested that Mr. Salla's tin foil chapeau was just a little too tight: not enough blood was getting to his brain. Now, however, after seven years of this administration, I found Mr. Salla's thesis only too plausible. It helps that I recall the brouhaha over Lt. General Van Riper's success at the 2002 Millenium Games by using "asymmetrical warfare" to sink the Fifth Fleet. It also helps that the passage of the Kyle-Lieberman Amendment was so well reported and was so obvious an attempt to amplify the drums of war. And, of course, that the Neocons are still working their agenda comes as no surprise: they've gotten what they've wanted all along with this administration.
Unless this Congress finally digs its heels in and refuses to extend the original misbegotten AUMF to include Iran, we are really in for it.
I made my usual Saturday morning foray over to Watching America and was struck by their featured article. It comes from The Canadian, which describes itself as "a socially progressive and not-for-profit national newspaper, with an international readership. We provide an alternative to the for-profit commercial focused media, which often censors vital information and perspective of potential interest to the diverse Canadian public, and other peoples internationally."
The article is by written by Michael E. Salla, someone with whom I am not familiar, so I can't vouch for his credentials or his hypothesis. I can say, however, that he writes incisively and with a scholar's tone. If he is correct and is accurate, we are in for more trouble. The subject is war with Iran. Apparently the Neocons are still active in Washington, DC, and this is, according to Mr. Salla, their next project.
The Bush administration has covered up and ignored dissenting Pentagon war games analysis that suggests an attack on Iran's nuclear or military facilities will lead directly to the annihilation of the Navy's Fifth Fleet now stationed in the Persian Gulf. Lt. General Paul Van Riper led a hypothetical Persian Gulf state in the 2002 Millennium Challenge war games that resulted in the destruction of the Fifth Fleet. His experience and conclusions regarding the vulnerability of the Fifth Fleet to an asymmetrical military conflict and the implications for a war against Iran have been ignored. Neoconservatives within the Bush administration are currently aggressively promoting a range of military actions against Iran that will culminate in it attacking the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet with sophisticated cruise anti-ship missiles. They are ignoring Van Riper's experiences in the Millennium Challenge and how it applies to the current nuclear conflict with Iran. ...
...By deliberately provoking an Iranian retaliation to U.S. military actions, the neoconservatives will knowingly sacrifice much or all of the Fifth Fleet. This will culminate in a new Pearl Harbor that will create the right political environment for total war against Iran, and expanded military actions in the Persian Gulf region. ...
Neoconservatives share a political philosophy that U.S. dominance of the international system as the world's sole superpower needs to be extended indefinitely into the 21st century. In early 2006 neoconservatives within the Bush administration began vigorously promoting a new war against Iran due to the alleged threat posed by its nuclear development program. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear development is lawful and in compliance with the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Since 2004, The Bush administration has been citing intelligence data that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons and must under no circumstances be allowed to do this.
The first strategy is to drive up public perceptions of an international security crisis by warning of a Third World War if Iran's nuclear program is not stopped. In a Press Conference speech on October 17, President Bush declared: "if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them [Iranians] from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." LINK. Bush's startling rhetoric was followed soon after by Vice President Cheney on October 23 who warned in a speech that the U.S. and its allies were "prepared to impose serious consequences" on Iran.
The second strategy has been shift emphasis from removing Iran's nuclear facilities, to emphasizing its support for terrorism. Given widespread military and political opposition to attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, the Bush administration is now depicting Iran as a supporter of terrorism in Iraq."
The change in strategy was given a powerful boost by the passage of the Kyle-Lieberman Amendment by the U.S. Senate on September 26 which designated "the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization" This would enable the Bush administration to authorize strikes against Iranian Revolutionary Guard facilities inside Iran on the basis that they are supporting Iraqi terrorist groups targeting U.S. military forces.
The third and most dangerous strategy used by the Bush administration is to sanction an alleged covert mission that would create the necessary political environment for a war against Iran. This is arguably best evidenced in the infamous B-52 'Bent Spear' incident on August 30, 2007 where five (later changed to six) nuclear armed cruise missiles were found en route to the Middle East for a covert mission.
Ten years ago I would have suggested that Mr. Salla's tin foil chapeau was just a little too tight: not enough blood was getting to his brain. Now, however, after seven years of this administration, I found Mr. Salla's thesis only too plausible. It helps that I recall the brouhaha over Lt. General Van Riper's success at the 2002 Millenium Games by using "asymmetrical warfare" to sink the Fifth Fleet. It also helps that the passage of the Kyle-Lieberman Amendment was so well reported and was so obvious an attempt to amplify the drums of war. And, of course, that the Neocons are still working their agenda comes as no surprise: they've gotten what they've wanted all along with this administration.
Unless this Congress finally digs its heels in and refuses to extend the original misbegotten AUMF to include Iran, we are really in for it.
Labels: 110th Congress, Iran, Neocons
posted by Diane at 9:51 AM
1 Comments:
Like, duh! Other peoples' death and destruction is nothing to these creeps. When this is all over, there will be two super-powers: Russia and China. I pray that my wife is successful in getting dual-citizenship for our kids before the lid blows off,
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