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U.S. is studying military strike options on Iran
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cyrus
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Joined: 24 Jun 2003
Posts: 4993

PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:13 am    Post subject: Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran Reply with quote

Cheney pushes Bush to act on Iran
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2127343,00.html

· Military solution back in favour as Rice loses out
· President 'not prepared to leave conflict unresolved'

Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Julian Borger



The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned.

The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the state department over the last month. Although the Bush administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran. A well-placed source in Washington said: "Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo."

The White House claims that Iran, whose influence in the Middle East has increased significantly over the last six years, is intent on building a nuclear weapon and is arming insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The vice-president, Dick Cheney, has long favoured upping the threat of military action against Iran. He is being resisted by the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates.

Last year Mr Bush came down in favour of Ms Rice, who along with Britain, France and Germany has been putting a diplomatic squeeze on Iran. But at a meeting of the White House, Pentagon and state department last month, Mr Cheney expressed frustration at the lack of progress and Mr Bush sided with him. "The balance has tilted. There is cause for concern," the source said this week.

Nick Burns, the undersecretary of state responsible for Iran and a career diplomat who is one of the main advocates of negotiation, told the meeting it was likely that diplomatic manoeuvring would still be continuing in January 2009. That assessment went down badly with Mr Cheney and Mr Bush.

"Cheney has limited capital left, but if he wanted to use all his capital on this one issue, he could still have an impact," said Patrick Cronin, the director of studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Washington source said Mr Bush and Mr Cheney did not trust any potential successors in the White House, Republican or Democratic, to deal with Iran decisively. They are also reluctant for Israel to carry out any strikes because the US would get the blame in the region anyway.

"The red line is not in Iran. The red line is in Israel. If Israel is adamant it will attack, the US will have to take decisive action," Mr Cronin said. "The choices are: tell Israel no, let Israel do the job, or do the job yourself."

Almost half of the US's 277 warships are stationed close to Iran, including two aircraft carrier groups. The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise left Virginia last week for the Gulf. A Pentagon spokesman said it was to replace the USS Nimitz and there would be no overlap that would mean three carriers in Gulf at the same time.

No decision on military action is expected until next year. In the meantime, the state department will continue to pursue the diplomatic route.

Sporadic talks are under way between the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, on the possibility of a freeze in Iran's uranium enrichment programme. Tehran has so far refused to contemplate a freeze, but has provisionally agreed to another round of talks at the end of the month.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, has said that there are signs of Iran slowing down work on the enrichment plant it is building in Natanz. Negotiations took place in Tehran last week between Iranian officials and the IAEA, which is seeking a full accounting of Iran's nuclear activities before Tehran disclosed its enrichment programme in 2003. The agency's deputy director general, Olli Heinonen, said two days of talks had produced "good results" and would continue.

At the UN, the US, Britain and France are trying to secure agreement from other security council members for a new round of sanctions against Iran. The US is pushing for economic sanctions that would include a freeze on the international dealings of another Iranian bank and a mega-engineering firm owned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Russia and China are resisting tougher measures.
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Oppenheimer



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PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/07/patton-on-the-m.html


One good video deserves another, and folks may find some truth along with some humor in the above linked U-TUBE video, .... an American perspective on winning the War on Terror.

Enjoy....


EJ
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cyrus
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:29 am    Post subject: U.S. May Play Weapons Card In the Mideast Reply with quote

Selling Advanced Weapons to countries that have not been able to establish Free Society, Secular Democracy, Human Rights ... is very bad policy for United States long term national interest .... Washington leadership is making another very bad mistakes to please Arms Sales lobbyist .... Washington officials are forgetting the facts about the origin of 9-11 Terrorists and over 90% of Arabs are against USA .... This is called Milking Strategy without helping Iranian people to change the Islamist regime ....

Due to the facts that President Bush Admin has no commitments to Secularism and very low level of commitments to apply the 5 basic elements in every day decision making process, therefore we should expect more failures. The 5 basic elements: Have a secular democracy, Human Rights, Free Society, Stop Global Warming elements and Support to remove all Religious and ideological based Governments as a main source of creating fear society and Terror in past 28 years (for example no Iran Islamist regime change policy).


The connection Sakharov saw between the violation of human rights and international violence has become increasingly recognized. Scholars find that nations with broad and solid political rights (that is, democracies) have rarely if ever warred on one another. But repression at home often leads to conflict abroad. See this essay (S. Weart) and this Democratic Peace site (R.J. Rummel).


Source: http://www.aip.org/history/sakharov/

Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989) was a Soviet physicist who became, in the words of the Nobel Peace Committee, a spokesman for the conscience of mankind. He was fascinated by fundamental physics and cosmology, but he had to spent two decades designing nuclear weapons. The acknowledged father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, he contributed perhaps more than anyone else to the military might of the USSR. But it was his top secret experience as a leading nuclear expert that was instrumental in making Sakharov one of the most courageous critics of the Soviet regime, a human rights activist and the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He helped bring down one of history’s most powerful dictatorships. This exhibit tells about Sakharov’s extraordinary life.

Rejecting Rice's New Cold War Model Plan and Arms Race Based on Simple Rules For Evaluating Policy and Strategy

Our future expectations from policy makers and leadership are defined with new set of test cases for foreign policy evaluation criteria to be able to measure success and failure results more easily. Our recommended test cases and criteria are based on Cyrus The Great Spirit, the American founding fathers vision, spirit of freedom, US constitution and defined as follows:

1- Have a secular democracy purpose
2- Have a Human Rights purpose
3- Have a Free Society purpose
4- Have a primary effect to increase freedom at global level.
5- Have the element of War Of Ideas to expand public awareness, education and expansion of truth.
6- Have an element of Freedom of Choice
7- Applying the U.S.A. Supreme Court accepted "Lemon test," to foreign policy decisions, strategy and conduct. According to the "Lemon test," in order to be constitutional, a law or public act must: a) Have a secular purpose. b) Have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion. c) Not result in excessive governmental entanglement with religion.
8- Move towards better unified global fair Justice System.
9- Separation Of Oil and State, Separation Of Blood Oil and Human Rights, Separation Of Blood Oil and Free Society, Separation Of Blood Oil and Secular Democracy and Stop Global Warming.


The Wall Street Journal wrote:

U.S. May Play Weapons Card In the Mideast

July 30, 2007
The Wall Street Journal
Jay Solomon
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118575345734681647.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


The Bush administration is intensifying efforts to increase military and diplomatic cooperation with Sunni Arab states as part of its strategy to contain Iran and strengthen the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

To support this policy, the White House is presenting to Congress plans for high-tech weapons sales of as much as $20 billion to Saudi Arabia, while also seeking to enhance the defense capabilities of allies such as Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, say senior U.S. officials. Foreign weapons sales require congressional approval.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will travel to the Middle East today in an effort to forge consensus among the Sunni Arab and Persian Gulf states to support Washington's broader strategic initiative.

"Regional leaders [in the Middle East] are concerned about Iran. We can work together to contain and deter" the country, said a senior U.S. defense official involved in the program.

The administration's wider initiative won't be an easy sell at a time when many Arab leaders view the U.S.'s stated goals of both supporting Mr. Maliki and deterring Tehran as being at odds with one another.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan and many Gulf nations have expressed concern in recent months about Iran's regional activities and pursuit of nuclear technologies. But they also view Mr. Maliki and his predominantly Shiite government as acting as proxies for Tehran and actively suppressing Iraq's Sunni minority.

Middle East analysts say the Arab states may accept Washington's offer of additional American weaponry but withhold meaningful support for Iraq's Shiite-dominated government. Such a result risks fueling instability in the region, they say, and fanning the historical animosities held between Iran and its Sunni Arab neighbors. Already, some U.S. lawmakers and officials voice concerns about the weapons, finances and personnel flowing into Iraq from many Arab states in support of the Sunni insurgents.

"This dynamic illustrates the contradictions in U.S. attempts to both deal with Iran on the one hand and support Iraq on the other," said Emile El-Hokayem, a research scholar at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a Washington think tank.

The White House is fine-tuning a weapons package for Saudi Arabia that will likely include new air-to-air missiles, high-speed naval vessels and precision-guided bombs, according to U.S. officials. The White House has already begun briefing congressional committees on the proposed sales and is waiting for a formal request from Saudi Arabia's government defining the types of arms it requires. A more formal presentation to Congress is expected in the next few months.

Among the companies likely to bid for Saudi contracts would be Boeing Co., Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., which manufacture the kinds of weapons in the Saudi package.

The U.S. is also continuing discussions with other Arab and Gulf states to enhance their capabilities in missile defense and maritime security and is reshaping decades-old military-assistance programs with Israel and Egypt. Under new agreements being discussed, said U.S. officials, Israel could receive $30 billion in military assistance over the next decade and Egypt between $12 billion and $15 billion.

In structuring its arms sales to the Arab states, the White House is seeking to ensure that Israel maintains a "qualitative military edge" over its historically hostile neighbors, a defense official says. U.S. efforts to sell fighter jets to Saudi Arabia have stoked protracted battles in Congress in the past as many legislators have argued the weapons could be turned on the Jewish state. U.S. officials acknowledged they could face a similar battle in Congress over the deal.

Yesterday, however, Israel indicated it would support the Saudi arms deal. "We understand the need of the United States to support the Arab moderate states and there is need for a united front between the U.S. and us regarding Iran," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet.

In Egypt and Saudi Arabia this week, Ms. Rice and Mr. Gates are also expected to focus on building support for Mr. Maliki.

--Yochi J. Dreazen contributed to this article.

Quote:

US arms pacts to counter Iran, Syria: Rice by P. Parameswaran
37 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070730/pl_afp/usmideastmilitary_070730180630


WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States Monday announced new military pacts worth 13 billion dollars for Egypt, 30 billion for Israel and billions more for Saudi Arabia and Gulf states, in a bid to counter Iran.

ADVERTISEMENT

Details of the new Middle East military aid bonanza came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were poised for a rare joint trip to the region, seeking assurances of help in stabilizing Iraq.

"To support our continued diplomatic engagement in the region, we are forging new assistance agreements with the Gulf States, Israel, and Egypt," Rice said in a statement.

The move will "help bolster forces of moderation and support a broader strategy to counter the negative influences of Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran," she said.

Rice said before leaving Washington that the United States had agreed a new 10-year, 13-billion pact to bolster Egypt's capacity to address shared strategic goals.

A new 30 billion dollar pact with Israel over 10 years, will soon be concluded, which hikes the value of US military assistance to the Jewish state by 600 million dollars a year on average.

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states will also benefit, to help "support their ability to secure peace and stability in the Gulf region," Rice said.

Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns later told reporters in a conference call, the Saudi and Gulf states' component would be "in the billions" of dollars, but said a total figure had not yet been calculated.

Reports have cited potential arms deals with the Saudis and five other Gulf states -- the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman -- worth least 20 billion dollars.

Quote:


America Refurbishes its Gulf-Red Sea Defenses against Iran Menace


July 28, 2007
DEBKAfile
DEBKA-Net-Weekly

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1295

Abdullah differs with Bush on Iraq, Palestinians and oil prices

The US Secretaries of State and Defense are traveling together – unusually - next week for a mission weighty enough for the Bush administration to deploy a double-barreled top team.

Built around a massive $20 bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia, it involves a broad boost for US defenses against Iran by means of a three-line deployment strategy across the Persian Gulf and Middle East devised by Secretary Gates.

The system, according to DEBKAfile’s sources, has three powerful components or levels:

The Iraq Level: US forces remaining in Iraq after the withdrawal would redeploy to giant extraterritorial land and air bases located mainly in the central and northern regions.

The Gulf Level: The US would double in size the armies and air forces of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman, and augment its military facilities in the Gulf region by expansion and new bases.

The Red Sea Level: Jordan and Israel military strength would form the backbone of this line supplemented by new American bases.

On April 27, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 298 divulged the plan when it was still on the drawing board:

American military planners are in the throes of an unprecedented modernization and expansion project for the Gulf emirates’ air, missiles and air defense forces, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military and intelligence sources report.

Its linchpins are the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and sultanate of Oman. At the end of the project, the Saudi air force will be the biggest in the Middle East, nearly the size of Israel’s, and equipped with the last word in avionics, electronic warfare systems and missiles.

The function assigned Saudi air fighters in the integrated US defense program is to take on the Iranian air force in an emergency, and prevent its antiquated, low-performance air force from providing support for Iranian naval forces and Iranian marines and saboteurs, should they attempt to seize territory in the Arab emirates.

Iran is known to command 600 bomber-fighters in operating condition.

They include outdated F-4E Phantom II, F5-E and F-14A Tomcats, French Mirage F-1EQ/BQ, Russian MIG-29, Mig-27, MIG-31 and Sukhoi Su-20, 22 and 25. Iran has produced two homemade models: Saeqeh-80 Owj and Azarakhsh. Iran’s most advanced fighting craft will be the Sukhoi Su-27 when it enters service in late 2008.

The Saudi air force, with 350 warplanes organized in 17 squadrons, is much smaller than Iran’s and not much more advanced. Its backbone of 134 Tornado aircraft includes 48 Tornado IDS. Seventy-two F-15S were added in the second half of the 1990s, joining 41 F-15C/D aircraft which served the Saudi Air Fore from the early 1990s.

Washington plans to double the Saudi combat air fleet, by selling the kingdom front-line fighters, including F-16 C and D and F-15 E - or even possibly the F-22 Raptor stealth plane, to which Israel is strongly opposed, although most Saudi Arabian operational aircraft are piloted by Western aviators, some American.

Another key element in Gates’ Level 2 for the Persian Gulf is the conversion of Camp Justice, the US air facility on the Omani island of Masirah, into the biggest American air base in the Persian Gulf and Middle East. An Arabian Sea island, 65 km long by 18 km wide, Masirah lies close to the Strait of Hormuz and the western coast of Iran.

A western military source in the Gulf also reports that a large increment of Marine forces is to be deployed permanently in Kuwait, which lies 130 km west of the nuclear reactor town of Bushehr on the southern Iranian coast.

End of quote from DEBKA-Net-Weekly.

DEBKAfile adds: Since April 18, when deputy secretary of state David Satterfield met King Abdullah in Riyadh and they went through the list of hardware on sale - marking down the king’s comments against each item - things have changed in US-Arabian relations; so too has the nature of the Iranian military menace hanging over Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and the Middle East.

These changes are marked in four aspects:

1. Washington and Riyadh are at odds on Iraq. In the beginning, the Americans approved of Saudi financial assistance to Iraqi insurgent groups to give them an incentive to pull away from al Qaeda. In recent weeks, however, the Saudis are equally active in undermining the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, calling him an Iran’s agent. This has brought the oil kingdom in direct conflict with the Bush policy.

2. A similar conflict has developed on the Palestinian question. King Abdullah strongly disapproves of US-Israeli backing for the Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad and imposition of an economic boycott against Hamas to overturn its rule in Gaza. The Saudis strongly advocate Palestinian reconciliation, unification of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and acceptance of Hamas as a dominant factor in shaping Palestinian destiny.

3. As oil prices roar towards $80 - and the price of $100 not too far over the horizon - the Bush administration is increasingly critical of Abdullah’s refusal to raise sustained capacity production past its permanent 2.1 million barrels per day. If only Riyadh would relent, they say, world markets would be reassured and demand would cool.

4. Responding to the Bush administration’s Gulf plans for the Saudi air force and Bush’s plan to maintain a post-withdrawal military presence in Iraq, Russian president Vladimir Putin has stepped in with a move of his own: the sale of 250 long-range SU-30MKM fighter-bombers to Iran, as DEBKAfile revealed Friday, July 27.

As acrimony heats up between Washington and Riyadh over key issues, Rice and Gates will have their work cut out next week to talk Saudi leaders round to buying the US Gulf strategy.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly 298 Updated by DEBKAfile Analysts


Last edited by cyrus on Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:58 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:33 pm    Post subject: The wrong way to contain Iran Reply with quote

Karim Sadjadpour wrote:
The wrong way to contain Iran
By Karim Sadjadpour Published: August 3, 2007

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/03/opinion/edsadja.php

The announcement this week that the United States plans to sell over $20 billion worth of weaponry to Arab allies in order to counter Iran's ascendance in the Middle East appears to take a page out of Ronald Reagan's Cold War playbook: Simultaneously attempt to contain Iran and force it to spend money on an arms race instead of developing its moribund economy, intimidating it into bankruptcy.

One major flaw in this approach, however, is that it doesn't recognize that Iran's growing influence is due not to its impressive military force or expenditures (Saudi Arabia already spends four times as much as Iran), but rather its use of soft power and militias throughout the region in order to undercut the vastly superior hard power of the United States and Israel. Further arming Iran's Arab neighbors with billions of dollars of high-tech equipment (much of which they won't know how to use) does nothing to remedy this conundrum.

In the Cold War paradigm invoked by some Bush administration officials, Iran is the new Soviet Union and Iranian-backed extremists are the new Communists. While such an approach overstates Iran's global power and influence, on a regional level there are indeed Cold War parallels. Tehran and Washington both openly aspire to change the Middle East with competing ideologies, and both view conflicts in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and the Gulf as fronts in a larger war for the soul of the region.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:59 pm    Post subject: Condi and George are looking out for your security and mine Reply with quote

Quote:
Condi and George are looking out for your security and mine

http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070809/DCP02/708090357/1058/DCP

Just what are we buying with that multi-billion dollar arms deal to select countries in the Middle East?

Peace? Security?

Almost snarling at Bob Schieffer Sunday on "Face the Nation," Condoleezza Rice, looked to my eyes like a very frazzled, very unhappy woman, as she struggled to come up with a coherent explanation for this move.

Rice is a cool, practiced public debater, so it seemed odd for her to have such a belligerent demeanor.

Maybe it was because Schieffer noted that more than 100 members of Congress have signed a letter asking her not to do the deal.

"They 're warning it could set off some sort of arms race in the Middle East," Schieffer said. He pushed her further to explain why Saudi Arabia's included, given that "...as we hear it, most of the foreign fighters who are coming into Iraq are coming across the Saudi border."

In her view, the recipients are "friends and allies" who need to feel secure against Iran.

Rice, who seemed quite put off by this question, insisted the bad guys are coming from Syria. Her defensive stance continued as she insisted that Saudi Arabia wasn't the only recipient.

I checked several online sources to find out who is getting what and most agreed on the figures I'm citing.

Anything to do with money and government has a way of shifting like sand, so it could change before these amounts get in print.

Saudi Arabia is the recipient of $20 billion worth of stuff like satellite-guided bombs-- and yes, they have to share it with Gulf neighbors, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Egypt gets $13 billion in weaponry (I could not find out what weapons, exactly).

Israel, the other major player in the region, and the frequent target of so many Middle Eastern nations, is supposed to get $30 billion of goodies all by itself.

Oh, yes, I feel so safe since the Bush administration decided to send these huge bundles of military hardware to nations in a region that can only be described as a powder keg.

Does Rice really think we can buy peace because all sides have enough sophisticated weaponry to point at one another?

And what is Congress doing at home to make me feel safer?

Let's see now...ah...yes, last weekend, the bully Republican side gleefully pushed through a bill that expands the government's right to listen in on our international phone calls and look at our emails without warrants.

George W. Bush wanted this one so much he signed the bill into law Sunday.

The wimpy Democratic side of Congress caved in, even though they knew that this bill, in its final version, went far beyond changing possible shortcomings in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as they had discussed.

Everything I read indicated the wimpy ones sold out because they were afraid of being accused of being soft on terrorism.

I understand this law is good for only six months.

Congress could undo the damage -- if enough of them find a spine with which to stand up.

If you believe dissent is an American value, find out what this bill does.

If you trust some anonymous security wonk with your rights, don't bother.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:47 pm    Post subject: U.S. to Designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard as Terrorists Reply with quote

Washington Post wrote:
U.S. to Designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard as Terrorists

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 14, 2007; 9:14 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/14/AR2007081401662.html

The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.

The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials describe as the group's growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against Tehran as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of U.N. resolutions against Iran's nuclear program, officials said.


FoxNews wrote:
Report: U.S. to Call Iran Revolutionary Guard ‘Terrorists’
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293285,00.html
E-MAIL STORY RESPOND TO EDITOR PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
The United States will soon be referring to an Iranian military division as a “specially designated global terrorist,” the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Under Executive Order 13224, which President George W. Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps would be targeted in probes of terrorism financing, the Post reported.



The Bush administration has been debating whether to target the Revolutionary Guard Corps in full, or only its Quds Force wing, which U.S. officials have linked to the growing flow of explosives, roadside bombs, rockets and other arms to Shiite militias in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Post reported.

The Revolutionary Guard boasts such veterans as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and many Iranian business leaders.


The New York Times wrote:
U.S. Weighing Terrorist Label for Iran Guards

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/world/middleeast/15diplo.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 — The Bush administration is preparing to declare that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

The New York Times wrote:

U.S. Set to Declare Iran Guards Terrorists
By HELENE COOPER and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: August 15, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/world/middleeast/15cnd-diplo.html

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 — The Bush administration is preparing to declare that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

Today, a White House spokeswoman deflected questions about the designation, saying that the Treasury and State Departments would be the lead agencies in the decision and that President Bush himself “doesn’t actually have to take any action” to make it official.

Referring to the international group of nations negotiating with Iran over its uranium enrichment program the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, (the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council), and Germany the spokeswoman said, “We have been working with the P-5-plus-1 to make sure that Iran is held to account.


International Herald Tribune wrote:
In giving terror designation to Iran guards, U.S. would toughen stance

By Helene Cooper and Nazila Fathi
Published: August 16, 2007
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/16/news/iran.php

International Herald Tribune - In moving toward designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, the Bush administration is adopting a tougher approach with Tehran, officials say - but former Iranian politicians also say it could make matters worse in the region.



It is really depends how this new policy idea can be implemented, we know for the fact that the entire regime is based on Terror and fear society and already declared by State Dept. as Terror State. The devil is in details ... Due to many limitations at this time it is very hard to predict what is the result? Hope push for human rights, secular democracy and Free Society in Iran by G8 and Free world are not forgotten in any new policy ...
If this new policy is in the context of "have a change in regime behavior." not "regime change" then it might not work as we have experienced it in past 7 years ..... The better choice for President Bush Admin is to consider implementing faster most of logical demands in 48 different ActivistChat supported petitions by different Free Iran Activists and groups and don't rely on implementing one item at the time to force the regime change by Iranian people in short period of time .....
We have come to the conclusion that the only way to deal with this unelected and undemocratic Islamist Mafia Occupiers of Iran is to deal with it strongly and with a comprehensive set of measures simultaneously in a fastest way to break this dead buble regime which has been survived in past 28 years because of stolen Iranian people Oil Money and dirty contracts with .....

_________________________________________________________
Ramin Etebar, M.D wrote:
Petition to FREE IRAN
Please sign and pass it on

http://www.petitiononline.com/loveiran/petition.html



Petition 7: Free Iran and Regime Change
Sign the Petition -
View Current Signatures

To: Honorable President Of United States George W. Bush, General Secretary of the United Nations Mr. Kofi Annan, U.S. Congress, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mr. John Bolton, Senator Brownback, EU Heads of States, Heads of the world’s democratic states, The United Nation Commission for Human Rights Special Rapporteur, US Secretary of State, the European Parliament, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders , Human Rights Watch, and International Criminal Court (ICC)

The undersigned are individually or as a group unequivocally and unconditionally are in favor of regime change in Iran by peaceful means. We believe this could effectively be done through support of the Iranian Opposition Groups within Iran and outside along with world wide economic sanctions, targeting government hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We support and respect the aspiration of the people of Iran for freedom and democracy.

We further declare that:

1- Mahmood Ahmadinejad does not represent Iranian people as his election involved fraudulent activities.

2- In the 2nd article of IRI constitution it is stated that the foundation of governing, and legislation only comes from God. Foundation and basis of legislation comes from Quran and living tradition of Prophet Mohammad and his family. “Imam” supreme leader or (Velayate Faghih) is the interpreter of the legislations.
Velayat e Faghih is an unelected body and does not represent Iranians. The position of “Imam” supreme leader or (Velayate Faghih) is contrary to any fundamentals of democracy.

3- Based on the constitution of the IRI, the “Imam” supreme leader or (Velayate Faghih) is the interpreter of the legislations in addition to the fuqaha' of the Guardian Council who are judges in this matter. The guardian council members are selected by the Imam.
Therefore, religious discrimination, killing of the non-Moslems, individual or group execution of the dissidents, amputation of limbs, eye gouging, flogging, torture, raping the virgin dissident females the night before the execution, stoning, property confiscation of the Moslems and non-Moslems, killing of persons who change their religion, killing of homosexuals, valuing women half of a man, killing of children by their fathers or grandfathers, selling daughters at any age for marriage, execution of children , state sponsorship of terrorism and support of religious terrorism worldwide to export the divine rule is considered legal
and in accordance to the religious order.

4- Human Rights violations by the Islamic "Republic" of Iran have reached an unprecedented colossal level of cruelty and barbarism.

5- We further recognize bombing Iran and its infrastructure will drive a wedge between the Iranian people who are the most pro-American nation in the Middle East if not in the world and the west.

6- We have come to the conclusion that the only way to deal with this unelected and undemocratic regime is to deal with it strongly and with a comprehensive set of measures. The measures that we recommend and strongly advocate are as follows:

* Stop, with immediate effect, all international trades with the undemocratic Islamic “Republic” of Iran.
*Stop the purchase of oil from Iran and refrain from signing any new contracts and renewal of any existing ones.
* Blockade Iran’s ports in the Persian Gulf and possibly the Caspian Sea allowing passage of food and medicine.
*Stop all IRI satellite TV and Radio programming to the outside world.
* Cease all Mullahs personal assets outside Iran including its support organization such as Alavi Foundation in New York City.
* Freeze IRI assets outside of Iran and impose prohibition on investment, a travel ban, and asset freezes for government leaders and nuclear scientists.
* Worldwide announcement to all nations that any deals and contracts made with IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) by any entity is null and void. The IRI does not represent Iranians.
* Publicly identify known IRI agents, arrest and prosecute their agents abroad as promoters of international terrorism and abusers of human rights. Shut down all illegal unregistered agent organizations representing IRI interests, their lobbyist and apologists.
* Close or limit Islamic Republic’s embassies and its activities including travel limits on Iranian diplomats.
* Release the frozen assets of Iran to the IRI opposition to be spent on strike funds and promotion of democracy.
* Expel IRI representatives from UN since the IRI constitution is contrary to the UDHR (Universal Declarations of Human Rights).

Please remember; the key to salvation of Iraq is also in freedom of Iran. The freedom-loving countries of the world must unite and assist Iranian people to end this embarrassment to humanity and civility called Islamic Republic and allow Iran to come back to the arms of the civilized nations.

In helping us, you have stopped the violence in Iraq and have made Iran reach democracy with minimum bloodshed and have preserved the peace and freedom worldwide.

God Bless all of peace and freedom-loving people.


Sincerely,

The Undersigned


__________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Free Iran Petition to Honorable President Of United States George W. Bush, General Secretary of the United Nations Mr. Kofi Annan, U.S. Congress, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mr. John Bolton, Senator Brownback, EU Heads of States, Heads of the world’s democratic states, The United Nation Commission for Human Rights Special Rapporteur, U.S. Secretay of State, the European Parliament, Amnesty International, , Reporters Without Borders , Human Rights Watch, and International Criminal Court (ICC) was created by Free Iran Committee and written by Ramin Etebar, M.D. (retebar@cox.net). This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

____________________________________________________________


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:11 pm    Post subject: General David Petraeus Is Impressive top U.S. commander in Reply with quote

General David Petraeus Is Impressive top U.S. commander in Iraq


General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, presents a commemorative token to members of the Amariyah Volunteers, former insurgents who have joined forces with the U.S. and Iraqi troops to fight al-Qaida, in west Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007. The top American commander in Iraq says he will have made recommendations on troop cuts before he returns to Washington next month for a report to Congress and says the U.S. footprint in Iraq will have to be 'a good bit smaller' by next summer. (AP Photo/Steven R. Hurst)
http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070815/481/cffea0cc3a1f42f787b52d3b5efb0b69;_ylt=AmVPHx2mAOJB_wye.M9rTugUewgF

CNN wrote:
Iraqi officials: Truck bombings killed at least 500 Story Highlights
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/15/iraq.main/index.html#cnnSTCOther2
NEW: High number of deaths reported by local officials in northern Iraq

Suicide truck bombs targeted mainly Kurdish religious minority Yazidi sect

The attacks, targeting Kurdish villages of the Yazidi religious minority, were attempts to "break the will" of the American people and show that the U.S. troop escalation -- the "surge" -- is failing, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said.

"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will -- almost genocide when you consider the fact the target they attacked and the fact that these Yazidis, out in a very remote part of Nineveh province, where there is very little security and really no security required to this point," Mixon said. Watch general explain why al Qaeda targets Yazidis »

Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said there were three suicide trucks carrying two tons of explosives. At least 30 houses and other buildings were destroyed.

Khalaf said the carnage looks like the aftermath of a "mini-nuclear explosion." More bodies are expected to be found.


Very Sad.... This is another criminal act by Mad al Qaeda .... US should find a solution to al Qaeda madness, they have no respect for humanity ... If al Qaeda thinks that they can force US out of Iraq by these coward criminal act, they are very wrong .... we might not support the officials in Washington with many conflicting agenda and their flip flop policy but we should listen and support General David Petraeus plan and future recomendations ....


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As long as Iran is a sanctuary for Al-Qaida, providing them with money, arms, and explosives, this unfortunately will continue on.
U.S. must realize where the head of the snake is and crush it. Nothing else will work, until Iran's terrorist regime is destroyed.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:29 pm    Post subject: In giving terror designation to Iran guards, U.S. would toug Reply with quote

International Herald Tribune wrote:
In giving terror designation to Iran guards, U.S. would toughen stance

By Helene Cooper and Nazila Fathi
Published: August 16, 2007
Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/16/news/iran.php

International Herald Tribune - In moving toward designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, the Bush administration is adopting a tougher approach with Tehran, officials say - but former Iranian politicians also say it could make matters worse in the region.

WASHINGTON: In moving toward designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, the administration of George W. Bush is adopting a more confrontational approach with Tehran, reflecting frustration at the United Nations Security Council with a stalled sanctions package, officials say.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 5:39 pm    Post subject: Analyst: Iranian force gaining power Reply with quote


US Lieutenant-General Henry Obering, head of the US Missile Defence Agency, seen here in April 2007, said a Russian radar site in Azerbaijan is too close to Iran to serve as a replacement for a planned US missile defense site in eastern Europe.(AFP/File/Michal Cizek)
______________________________________________

AP Diplomatic Writer wrote:
Analyst: Iranian force gaining power
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
Thu Aug 16, 2:14 PM ET

For Better Format & Complete Detail Visit:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070816/ap_on_go_ot/us_iran

An elite Iranian force likely to be designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Bush administration has close links to Iran's nuclear program and operates most of its surface-to-surface missiles, a leading analyst says.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, established during the 1979 Iranian revolution, has evolved into a powerful and influential organization that is believed to have custody over most or all of Iran's chemical, biological and radiological weapons, Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in a study to be published in late September.

The force has some 125,000 men, and has exported thousands of rockets to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and shipped arms to various Palestinian movements, including the Palestinian Authority, Cordesman writes in "Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities."

Some 5,000 of the group are assigned to unconventional warfare missions as well as special Quds, or Jerusalem, forces for operations overseas. They support the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and on the West Bank and Shiites in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Cordesman, a former director of intelligence assessments at the Pentagon.


Links to al-Qaida and other Sunni extremist groups have not been "convincingly confirmed," he said.

The Bush administration appears to be moving toward designating the guard corps as a foreign terrorist organization. That would enhance a tougher line toward Iran.

"We are confronting Iranian behavior across a variety of different fronts, on a number of different, quote-unquote, 'battlefields,' if you will," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said this week.

His reference to "battlefields" attracted notice.

Political directors of key U.N. Security Council nations have been discussing what to do in light of Iran's continued refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Two resolutions imposing sanctions have failed to stop Tehran's reprocessing activities.

The United States is seeking tougher punishment at the United Nations, while some other nations want to wait for a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

If the revolutionary guards are designated as a terrorist group the United States could freeze U.S.-based assets of companies connected to the guards. Also, the listing would give the United States a club to pressure foreign companies into suspending business with firms linked to the guards — or risk being seen as supporting terror.

While some guard units are trained for covert missions, most of the forces are lightly equipped infantry trained for internal security missions, Cordesman said.

The guards are the center of Iran's effort to develop warfare tactics in case of a U.S. invasion and could be contemplating sending units into countries like Iraq and Afghanistan to attack U.S. forces, he said.

There are other paramilitary, internal security and intelligence forces in Iran, and leadership is fragmented, the analyst said. But, he said, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps holds control of several of them.
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 6:26 pm    Post subject: White House Raps Iran Over Iraq Unrest Reply with quote

AFP wrote:

Friday, August 24, 2007

White House Raps Iran Over Iraq Unrest

August 24, 2007
AFP
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070824/pl_afp/usiraniraqunrest

CRAWFORD, United States -- The White House warned Friday that alleged Iranian weapons flows into Iraq were at odds with Tehran's public statements that it wants to help stabilize its war-torn neighbor.

"We've made it very clear that Iranian activity inside Iraq has not been helpful," national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters as US President George W. Bush spent time on his Texas ranch.

Johndroe accused Iran of being two-faced in its dealings with the United States, pointing to recent talks between top officials from Tehran and the US Ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker.

"The Iranians state publicly every time they meet with Ambassador Crocker that they want to play a constructive role inside Iraq. Yet, according to our commanders on the ground, we see an increased flow of very deadly explosively formed projectiles. That is not playing a constructive role in Iraq," he said.

"Those weapons supplied by Iranians to militias are responsible for the deaths of American soldiers. The support of those militias is responsible for the deaths of innocent Iraqis. It is an understatement to say that that kind of activity is not useful, nor helpful," said the spokesman.

Johndroe, who had been asked whether such activities would justify military action against Iran, declined to answer directly.

"Americans are being killed inside Iraq and US forces are taking appropriate force protection measures to deal with it," he said.

His comments came after a top US commander in Iraq charged that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps operatives were trying to sabotage US security gains in Iraq by stepping up the flow of arms and training to Shiite extremist groups.

Quote:

Iran tied more tightly to weapons in Iraq

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/08/24/iran_tied_more_tightly_to_weapons_in_iraq/4664/
Published: Aug. 24, 2007 at 1:30 PM
BAGHDAD, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A U.S. general in Iraq Friday strongly and specifically linked weapons showing up in the hands of Iraqi insurgents to neighboring Iran and its elite forces.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Multinational Division-Center and the 3rd Infantry Division, talked with reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference. Lynch's Task Force Marne has been charged with "securing the areas south and east of Baghdad and stopping the flow of weapons and violence through those areas."

Lynch said the operation has been helped greatly by Sunni and Shiite civilians setting up checkpoints and providing intelligence.

"We see Iranian activity through our area in three levels," Lynch said. "First, U.S. soldiers are coming under attack from deadly weapons originating from Iran … Iranian rockets and Iranian-manufactured components for explosively formed projectiles."
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 1:20 pm    Post subject: Sarkozy tells Iran it faces attack over atomic program Reply with quote

Quote:
Sarkozy tells Iran it faces attack over atomic program
By Elaine Sciolino Published: August 27, 2007


http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/27/europe/france.php

PARIS: In his first major foreign policy speech since taking office, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that Iran could be attacked militarily if it did not live up to its international obligations to curb its nuclear program.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:33 pm    Post subject: US warns Iran over Iraq, nuclear program Reply with quote

Quote:
US warns Iran over Iraq, nuclear program
by Olivier Knox
22 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070828/wl_mideast_afp/usiraqpoliticsiran_070828185933
RENO, United States (AFP) - The United States demanded Tuesday that Iran end any support for extremists in Iraq "at once" and raised the specter of a "nuclear holocaust" in the Middle East if Tehran gets atomic weapons.

US President George W. Bush branded the Islamic Republic "the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism," citing its backing of Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Shiite fighters killing US troops in Iraq.

"And Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust," he told the American Legion veterans group.

"Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies to isolate Iran's regime, to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late," he said.

Bush, whose speech was billed a defense of US efforts in Iraq, said Tehran must starve Shiite fighters in Iraq of weapons, equipment and training whether or not Iran's leaders know about such operations and have given their blessing.

"Either way, they cannot escape responsibility for aiding attacks against coalition forces and the murder of innocent Iraqis," he said, as the White House warned in a statement that Iran must act "at once."


President Bush wrote:
President Bush Addresses the 89th Annual National Convention of the American Legion

Reno-Sparks Convention Center
Source:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070828-2.html



The other strain of radicalism in the Middle East is Shia extremism, supported and embodied by the regime that sits in Tehran. Iran has long been a source of trouble in the region. It is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Iran backs Hezbollah who are trying to undermine the democratic government of Lebanon. Iran funds terrorist groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which murder the innocent, and target Israel, and destabilize the Palestinian territories. Iran is sending arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan, which could be used to attack American and NATO troops. Iran has arrested visiting American scholars who have committed no crimes and pose no threat to their regime. And Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.

Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. And that is why the United States is rallying friends and allies around the world to isolate the regime, to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late. (Applause.)

I want our fellow citizens to consider what would happen if these forces of radicalism and extremism are allowed to drive us out of the Middle East. The region would be dramatically transformed in a way that could imperil the civilized world. Extremists of all strains would be emboldened by the knowledge that they forced America to retreat. Terrorists could have more safe havens to conduct attacks on Americans and our friends and allies. Iran could conclude that we were weak -- and could not stop them from gaining nuclear weapons. And once Iran had nuclear weapons, it would set off a nuclear arms race in the region.

Extremists would control a key part of the world's energy supply, could blackmail and sabotage the global economy. They could use billions of dollars of oil revenues to buy weapons and pursue their deadly ambitions. Our allies in the region would be under greater siege by the enemies of freedom. Early movements toward democracy in the region would be violently reversed. This scenario would be a disaster for the people of the Middle East, a danger to our friends and allies, and a direct threat to American peace and security. This is what the extremists plan. For the sake of our own security, we'll pursue our enemies, we'll persevere and we will prevail. (Applause.)

In the short-term, we're using all elements of American power to protect the American people by taking the fight to the enemy. Our troops are carrying out operations day by day to bring the terrorists to justice. We're keeping the pressure on them. We're forcing them to move. Our law enforcement and intelligence professionals are working to cut off terrorist financing and disrupt their networks. Our diplomats are rallying our friends and allies throughout the region to share intelligence and to tighten security and to rout out the extremists hiding in their midst. Every day we work to protect the American people. Our strategy is this: We will fight them over there so we do not have to face them in the United States of America. (Applause.)

In the long-term, we are advancing freedom and liberty as the alternative to the ideologies of hatred and repression. We seek a Middle East of secure democratic states that are at peace with one another, that are participating in the global markets, and that are partners in this fight against the extremists and radicals. We seek to dry up the stream of recruits for al Qaeda and other extremists by helping nations offer their people a path to a more hopeful future. We seek an Iran whose government is accountable to its people -- instead of to leaders who promote terror and pursue the technology that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. We seek to advance a two-state solution for the Israelis and Palestinians so they can live side by side in peace and security. We seek justice and dignity and human rights for all the people of the Middle East.

Achieving this future requires hard work and strategic patience over many years. Yet our security depends on it. We have done this kind of work before in Europe. We have done this kind of work before in Japan. We have done this kind of work before -- and it can be done again. (Applause.)

The future course of the Middle East will turn heavily on the outcome of the fight in Iraq. Iraq is at the heart of the Middle East. And the two dangerous strains of extremism vying for control of the Middle East have now closed in on this country in an effort to bring down the young democracy.

In Iraq, Sunni extremists, led by al Qaeda, are staging sensational attacks on innocent men, women, and children in an attempt to stoke sectarian violence. Their operatives have assassinated those seeking to build a new future for the Iraqi people. Their targets include everyone they consider infidels -- including Christians and Jews and Yezidis and Shia, and even fellow Sunnis who do not share their radical distortion of Islam. Their ranks include foreign fighters who travel to Iraq through Syria. Their operations seek to create images of chaos and carnage to break the will of the American people. These killers don't understand our country. America does not give in to thugs and assassins -- and America will not abandon Iraq in its hour of need. (Applause.)

Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people. Members of the Qods Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are supplying extremist groups with funding and weapons, including sophisticated IEDs. And with the assistance of Hezbollah, they've provided training for these violent forces inside of Iraq. Recently, coalition forces seized 240-millimeter rockets that had been manufactured in Iran this year and that had been provided to Iraqi extremist groups by Iranian agents. The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased in the last few months -- despite pledges by Iran to help stabilize the security situation in Iraq.

Some say Iran's leaders are not aware of what members of their own regime are doing. Others say Iran's leaders are actively seeking to provoke the West. Either way, they cannot escape responsibility for aiding attacks against coalition forces and the murder of innocent Iraqis. The Iranian regime must halt these actions. And until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops. I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities. (Applause.)



Investor's Business Daily wrote:

The Shoah Of Iran
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ibd/20070828/bs_ibd_ibd/2007828issues

Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo! News - 1 hour, 44 minutes agoWar On Terror: Iran's Islamofascist president has once again confirmed that his country is really in a state of war with the U.S. As President Bush warns, refusing to stop Tehran risks nuclear holocaust.
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Message to Antar:

Life is hard, but it's harder when you're stupid. Don't make things worse by being an A-hole with an A-bomb, ethical infants get bent over Uncle Sam's knee and spanked.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:43 pm    Post subject: A Scientist, a Father and the B-2 Bomber Reply with quote

Professor Meshkati Nightmare wrote:
Iranian American Professor Najmedin Meshkati Nightmare,
- A Scientist, a Father and the B-2 Bomber









washingtonpost wrote:

A Scientist, a Father and the B-2 Bomber







http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2007/09/scientist_fears_iranus_war.html

For decades Najmedin Meshkati proudly designed advanced technologies for America, including support for the B-2 stealth bomber. Now he has nightmares of this aircraft attacking his homeland, Iran. Worse still, he fears his young American son won't know or care when the aerial strike begins.

If you were casting an epic tragedy in Hollywood, you probably wouldn't pick Meshkati, a bald, soft-spoken Iranian American engineer to play the lead. But this is Irvine, not Hollywood. And Meshkati insists that if war erupts between the two nations, his life would become a "tragedy of Homeric proportions…one fit for all the ages.”

In 1976, Meshkati left Tehran for Los Angeles to pursue advanced studies. He quickly climbed departmental ranks, detailing the human capacities required to operate advanced machinery. His work contributed to civilian and military technologies -- from nuclear power plants to flight control towers to war crafts, the most notable of which was the stealth bomber.

Meshkati's office at the University of Southern California is flooded with B-2 bomber memorabilia. A model aircraft sits on his desk. One wall is plastered with a large blueprint of the cockpit and photos of its sleek facade. On the other wall hang framed signatures of the plane’s original test pilots from Edward's Air Force Base, many of whom he taught. Off the arm of his chair dangles a B-2 bomber baseball cap.

This plane was once a source of immense pride, but it has become his Frankenstein. With words of war between Presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad reaching a feverish pitch, “worse even than during the hostage crisis,” the professor says, dread is replacing pride.

For Meshkati, the cover of The Economist magazine "was the straw that broke the camel's back." On it, a menacing B-2 bomber shoots across a blood-orange sky under the bold headline, “Next Stop Iran?”


Signatures from the test pilots.Meshkati's 12-year-old son Armaan saw it first with the mail on the kitchen table. He was transfixed, his love of big machines momentarily weakening his little limbs. Then he rushed off to find his father and asked, panting, "Can I have this, dad?!"
Glancing at the headline, the elder Meshkati "felt a shot of agony" race through his body and replied blankly, "'I'll get you a photo like that from my office tomorrow if you want…but don't take this one.'" Dejected, his son left the room. Meshkati wept.

If war were to break out with Iran, would the child care? What would war make of his father’s career, of his father’s life work? Meshkati asks me this with his eyes welling up. Meshkati can’t answer these questions; he just hopes he never has to.


Professor Najmedin Meshkati Nightmare wrote:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2007/09/scientist_fears_iranus_war.html
Najmedin Meshkati:
I came to the US, as I tell my students, as a young, innocent graduate student, with lots of hair in 1976 and I have lost all! (The youth, the innocence that comes with being a grad student, as well as the hair!)...I came to go to grad school and return to Iran and then of course in the middle of my doctoral studies the revolution happened and the rest is history...but I have been going to Iran in the last 30 years at least once or sometimes twice to visit my mother (who passed away 3 years ago) and family and friends.

Of course I love both countries, Iran and the U.S. Iran is where I come from and the U.S. is where my children (son and daughter) come from...how could I not love and not have a sense of patriotism toward these two great countries? I have lots of former students who are U.S. air force and naval pilots...as such, to me those guys and girls who design and fly these planes are like my "own" kids, I have a sense of paternal and professorial instinct for them and those gals and guys who are in Iran are also my blood relatives and my "own" flesh.

I am thrown when I see the U.S. and Iran going to the brink of war and whenever I hear the fiery war rhetoric from Washington and Tehran, I get reminded of the following statement by Bonar Law, which I came across in one my most faviote books of all times, Profiles in Courage, by President John F. Kennedy, who said:

“There is no such thing as inevitable war. If was comes it will be from failure of human wisdom.” (p xviii)

I truly believe in this statement and am depressed, sad, and puzzled by sitting on the sideline and witnessing sliding to war and madness unfolding before my eyes -- because of "failure of human wisdom" among the leaders of both countries.

As for being Iranian American, I knew my technologies had many uses, but we’re living in this country, we’ve contributed to this culture. We have contributed to the betterment of this country, its technology and its health care system. Then we are seeing our country being attacked by the very products we created. This is bound to cause us agony.


Professor Najmedin Meshkati wrote:

Najmedin Meshkati:
I am very impressed by the number and quality of comments re my interview. However, I am dismayed by the misinterpretation, misrepresentation, and mis-translation of my comments and the true nature of my work (esp in some websites which have translated my comments into Persian/Farsi or reported it). This is intended to set the record straight.

The text of the interview which is posted on the:http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/


CORRECTLY says "For decades Najmedin Meshkati proudly designed advanced technologies for America, including support for the B-2 stealth bomber." It does NOT say that I have been an aircraft designer. I am NOT an aerospace engineer and I DO NOT have any expertise in aircraft design, I am NOT a weapon or a bomber designer. Period. My scholarly and teaching efforts have been on human-machine systems integration (such as mental workload measurement) have been drawn upon, and my graduate students have worked on the design of the cockpit of the B2. Period.

My area of expertise deals with the interdisciplinary field of "Human Factors", which is a rather new field (almost 50 years old) and my scholarly work and practice for the last 25 years deals with human-machine systems integration in complex technological systems. In other terms, my interdisciplinary research, for the last 25 years, has been concerned primarily with the risk reduction and reliability enhancement of complex and large-scale technological systems, which include such systems as nuclear power and chemical processing plants and aviation systems.

A characteristic common to these high-risk systems is that the effects of human error in these systems are often neither observable nor reversible; therefore, error recovery is either too late or impossible. Potential catastrophic breakdowns of these systems, which often are characterized as 'low probability, high consequence', pose serious threats for workers in the plant, the local public, and possibly the neighboring region and parts of the whole country [e.g., in the case of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (which I visited in 1997) accident in 1986, radiation fallout and thousands of radiation sickness in Ukraine and Belarus]. For the foreseeable future, despite increasing levels of computerization and automation, human operators will remain in charge of the day-to-day controlling and monitoring of these systems. Thus, the safe and efficient operation of these technological systems is a function of the interactions among their human (i.e., personnel and organizational) and engineered/technological subsystems.

This is the area of my research and I am pleased to report that this field - human factors and ergonomics -- is now being used in many industries to reduce human error and the resulting accidents. One (and again ONE) area of application of human factors engineering is in the deign of cockpit of all types of aircrafts, passenger as well as militray aircrafts, and of course, in the control rooms of nuclear plants and refineries.

As we discuss in my courses, YOUR lives and well-being, literally from the cradle, and sorry to say, to "grave", are at the mercy of this field - human factors and ergonomics. For instance, according to a study by the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Heath System (November, 1999), preventable medical errors in the United States each year result in "up to 98,000 deaths and $29 Billion added cost." An accident often is called 'an error with sad consequences' and human error has been identified as one of primary causes of (technological) systems' accidents, such as "crew failure" that has been identified by Boeing Commercial Aircraft Company, as the root-cause of 65.4% of all world-wide jet transport accidents since the dawn of commercial jet operations in 1959.

In fact, I am proud that I received this year's (2007) Human Factors and Ergonomic Society's (HFES) (www.hfes.org) prestigious Oliver Keith Hansen Outreach Award, for my "scholarly efforts on human factors of complex, large-scale technological systems...(and) efforts to enhance public awareness of critical human factors issues..." and being recognized for "significant activities that broaden awareness of the existence of the human factors/ergonomics profession and the benefits it brings to humankind."

I hope that the above explanation set the record straight, help all who think of me as an "aircraft designer" and a bomber maker, to change their perception and understand the true nature of my work and, more importantly, the VITAL contribution of the filed of human factors and ergonomic. This could be the only "silver lining" of this cloud of confusion, misunderstanding and misrepresentation.

Thank you for your attention.

Najmedin Meshkati
September 5, 2007
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