Iran Nuclear Standoff

[Janie2006]

and then there's this...

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/200 ... rizes.html

Presidents have done this before, particularly in 1953 when the CIA played a large role in overthrowing the government of Iran and installing the Shah. The events of 1979 can be traced back to this action. Furthermore, the refusal of the US to turn over the Shah (who was in the US beng treated for a terminal illness) for trial by his own people sure didn't help matters. He might have been friendly to US/UK interests, but he was a brutal tyrant towards his own people.

[cycloneye]

I don't think we need another war.

In the short term certainly not, but in the medium to long term (ideally 10-15 years+, but now if necessary, and if the Iranians are funding/helping the Iraqi insurgents, then it's an act of war, imho.), society needs something to bring it together, I'd much rather see a revival of the '70's punk movement, but another world war seems more likely, at least at the moment.

Also, the war would have to be directly between the US and Iran because international help is not going to be easy to get after the Iraq War.

I agree with you on this, the Russian's would tell us (US/UK) to go screw ourselves, the Chinese would stay neutral, as they always do in stuff like this, and sh- would hit the fan everywhere else.

Cryomaniac,read this report from Iraq about what the U.S. got in a raid in Sadr City.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

This is more evidence that Iran is financing,training and sending into Iraq terrorists to do harm to the U.S. forces there.

[Cryomaniac]

Cryomaniac,read this report from Iraq about what the U.S. got in a raid in Sadr City.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

This is more evidence that Iran is financing,training and sending into Iraq terrorists to do harm to the U.S. forces there.

If that's not a smoking gun, what the hell is?

[azsnowman]

There's not going to be another war....it'll be 2-3 BMF'n nukes and that's all she wrote, end of story, end of mankind in the Middle East!

[cycloneye]

Iran detains another American inside Iran

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275059,00.html

Aparently the Iranian goverment is smelling some type of overthrowing of their goverment or they are detaining Americans in response to the growing tensions over their nuclear program.Already 4 Americans haved been detained.

[AllenJackson]

What ever happened to North Korea. Now it's Iran, tomorrow it'll be some other country. I'm sick of hearing about it now.

[cycloneye]

http://us.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/2 ... index.html

According to this information,Iran is around three years away from having a Nuclear Weapon.

[Bellarose]

Maybe I'm just being overly optimistic, maybe I've just been hearing about this for too long....but, I really don't see us actually doing anything about this. And I don't quite know how I feel about it, either way. On the one hand, I believe this situation needs to be dealt with. Strongly and swiftly and without thought as to what is PC. On the other hand, our resources are tapped and it scares the daylights out of me as to what any action on our part could trigger. I do have some thoughts, but I don't know if they cross into what is considered to be political here, so I'll keep them to myself. Do any of you truly think this will be a war we wage?

[cycloneye]

My answer to Bellarose question is:The only three ways that the U.S. may take miitary action against Iran are,if Iran steps up provocations,such as closing the Straits of Hormuz to shipping traffic,an attack to warships in the Persian Gulf and if Iran keeps attacking the U.S. Forces in Iraq by sending terrorists that are loyal to them.Those are the three things that I see as causing the U.S. to start Military Action.Apart from those things I dont see U.S. attacking Iran.The wildcard about this is Israel,that can take unilateral Military Action by bombing the plants.Of course,if Israel takes that step,then all bets are off in that part of the world.

[gtalum]

So why would we start yet another war that we can't win? We've already lost in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[Bellarose]

My answer to Bellarose question is:The only three ways that the U.S. may take miitary action against Iran are,if Iran steps up provocations,such as closing the Straits of Hormuz to shipping traffic,an attack to warships in the Persian Gulf and if Iran keeps attacking the U.S. Forces in Iraq by sending terrorists that are loyal to them.Those are the three things that I see as causing the U.S. to start Military Action.Apart from those things I dont see U.S. attacking Iran.The wildcard about this is Israel,that can take unilateral Military Action by bombing the plants.Of course,if Israel takes that step,then all bets are off in that part of the world.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm not sure if I have seen enough proof that Iran is attacking our forces in Iraq, but I admit that I haven't done much research on it yet. I agree about Israel, as well. And I can't say that I would blame them for taking matters into their own hands. Hasn't Iran promised, repeatedly, to wipe them off the map?

[cycloneye]

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's hard-line president warned Israel on Thursday that other nations in the region would "uproot" the Jewish state if it attacked Lebanon in the summer.
"If you think that by bombing and assassinating Palestinian leaders you are preparing ground for new attacks on Lebanon in the summer, I am telling you that you are seriously wrong," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a rally in the city of Isfahan.

"If this year you repeat the same mistake of the last year, the ocean of nations of the region will get angry and will uproot the Zionist regime."


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

And look what Ahmadinejad said again as another warning to Israel.

[Janie2006]

I don't know that the U.S. has lost Afghanistan...NATO troops are willing to lend a hand in that theatre. Afganistan is a difficult country to "pacify", given its mountainous terrain and the existence of the large opium trade which tends to corrupt or undermine legitimate governments in the region. The British and the Soviets discovered the same thing we're figuring out now. I wouldn't classify either of those as minor military powers. We must determine why the Taliban has been resurgent and deal with the root of the problem. What's going on that makes a Taliban government look like a viable option to people?

Iraq....is a mess. I didn't think it was a good geo-political move to go in to begin with, but that's a case of crying over spilt milk. THe question is....where to go from here? If something doesn't change we will certainly end up with a bigger nightmare than we have right now. OTOH, I fully recognize that a complete withdrawal immediately will have grave political consequences. You could end up with 3 federated states in the region: Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish. A Kurdish state of any kind will deeply antagonize both Turkey (a NATO ally) and Iran. It is a real mess. I don't know the answer. Is it lost? Not in a classical military sense, but then again, the Tet Offensive was a military debacle for North Vietnam, but a "moral" victory for them. There is no easy way out of Iraq, and every direction poses danger.

Luis, I'm sorry to say this, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to determine what is good US intelligence work and what isn't....simply because of what has happened over the last few years. Is it intelligence or propaganda? How do you tell? More importantly, is there a difference anymore?

[cycloneye]

It looks like things are heating up again in this standoff as the talk of military action against Iran is increasing as the weeks go by.So lets see what happens with this standoff in the next few days and weeks.Below is the latest tough talk from the .U.S. to Iran.The question is if the .U.S. will strike the Iranian nuke plants sooner rather than later.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071021/D8SDS4RG1.html

[Derek Ortt]

action against Iran does no good. I fail to understand (actually, I do, the all mighty dollar and relations with China are trumping here) why we do not take out the supplier, NK. Israel already caught NK supplying Syria (and had tot ake out the Syrian/NK instillation). If Iran is taken out, NK can just supply another state

[cycloneye]

Speaking of Israel,will they go and strike the Iranian Nuke plants first than the .U.S.? If that happens,Ahmadinejad for sure will close the Straits of Hormuz to shipping,and from that point,all bets are off about what would happen.

[Derek Ortt]

Iran took on our navy in 1988 and were embarrassed. Lost 1/2 their surface fleet in a single afternoon

[cycloneye]

And also Iraq crushed Iran in the 8 years of war between them.

[HURAKAN]

I really don't see how the US can get out of the Middle East in the near future as victorious. Every day the mess becomes even bigger and with an incompetent government "ruling" Iraq, the light at the end of the tunnel is very, very dim. What a waste of lives and money.

[cycloneye]

The biggest fear that I have IMO if military action is taken against Iran,is that Ahmadinejads friend in the Western Hemisphere Hugo Chavez may take retaliation against the .U.S. by cutting all the oil.But lets see if somehow,a diplomatic solution can be reached to avoid another potential war.