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  • static111
    static111 Posts: 5,068
    (Chris Hedges continued)

    Iran’s purported nuclear weapons program is the evidence-free equivalent of Saddam Hussein’s mythical WMDs and alliance with Al-Qaeda.

    The invasion and occupation of Iraq, which led to the deaths of over 4,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, resulted in widespread destruction, regional instability and gave birth to a range of fanatical extremist groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The airy promises — that our invasion would implant democracy in Baghdad, which would emanate outwards across the Middle East, that we would be greeted as liberators and that the oil revenues would pay for the reconstruction — were a fantasy dreamed up by the George W. Bush administration and Washington think tanks. These shills for endless war do not grasp the mechanism or the consequences of war. They are culturally, historically, and linguistically illiterate about the countries they attack. Iraq. Afghanistan, Libya. Syria. Iran. I doubt they can tell the difference.

    These cheerleaders of war, once they are proven wrong, are adept as issuing mea culpas. They assure us of their good intentions. They did not mean to peddle disinformation. They only wanted to keep the world safe from “evildoers” and protect our national security. No one, even those within the Bush and now Trump administrations, are intentionally dishonest. It is not their fault if they act on flawed intelligence. The problem is one of judgment, not virtue. They are good people.

    But this, perhaps, is the biggest lie. The intelligence assessments used to justify the war against Iraq were cooked up by a cabal of lunatic neoconservatives and rabid Zionists because they did not like the assessments of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other intelligence agencies. Now another cabal, dominated by Israel-firsters, is concocting bogus intelligence assessments to justify a war with Iran. These wars are not prosecuted in good faith. They are not based on a careful and rational assessment of verifiable intelligence. They are utopian visions severed from reality where our own intelligence agencies are ignored along with international bodies such as the United Nations, WMD inspectors or the IAEA.

    The history of modern Iran is the history of a people battling tyrants propped up and funded by Western powers. The brutal crushing of legitimate democratic movements over the decades resulted in the 1979 revolution that brought the Iranian clerics to power. The new Islamic government of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini championed Islam and argued for standing up to “arrogant” world powers and their regional allies, who would oppress others – including Palestinians – to serve their own interests.

    “The central story of Iran over the last 200 years has been national humiliation at the hands of foreign powers who have subjugated and looted the country,” Stephen Kinzer, the author of “All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror,” told me. “For a long time the perpetrators were the British and Russians. Beginning in 1953, the United States began taking over that role. In that year, the American and British secret services overthrew an elected government, wiped away Iranian democracy, and set the country on the path to dictatorship.”

    “Then, in the 1980s, the U.S. sided with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war, providing him with military equipment and intelligence that helped make it possible for his army to kill hundreds of thousands of Iranians,” Kinzer said. “Given this history, the moral credibility of the U.S. to pose as a promoter of democracy in Iran is close to nil.”

    You can see an interview I did with Kinzer about Iran here.

    How would we react if Iran orchestrated a coup in the U.S. to replace an elected government with a brutal dictator, who for decades persecuted, assassinated and imprisoned democracy activists? How would we react if Iran armed and funded a neighboring state, as we did during the eight year war with Iraq, to wage war against us? How would we react if Iran shot down one of our passenger jets as did the USS Vincennes (CG49) — caustically nicknamed the “Robocruiser” by the crews of other American vessels — when in July 1988 it fired missiles at a commerical aircraft filled with Iranian civilians, killing all 290 passengers, including 66 children? How would we react if Iranian intelligence services sponsored terrorism within the U.S., as our and Israel’s intelligence services do in Iran? How would we react if these state-sponsored terrorist attacks included suicide bombings, kidnappings, beheadings, sabotage and “targeted assassinations,” of government officials, scientists and other Iranian leaders? How would we react if, like Israel, a country attacked us based on a hypothesis, an attack that is illegal under the U.N. charter, which forbids preemptive war?

    The pimps of war who orchestrate these military fiascos have risen once again from the crypt. They migrate like zombies from administration to administration. They are ensconced in think tanks — Project for the New American CenturyAmerican Enterprise Institute, Foreign Policy Research InitiativeThe Atlantic Council and The Brookings Institution — funded by corporations, the Israel lobby and the war industry. They are puppets jerked up and down by their masters, given megaphones by a bankrupt media, urging us forward from one quagmire to the next.

    The old faces and the old lies are back, exhorting us into another nightmare.

    Scio me nihil scire

    There are no kings inside the gates of eden
  • igotid88
    igotid88 Posts: 28,621
    Known liars? Is that a reference to those who told us Biden was healthy? 

    Keep on ignoring this, and watch the Rs rub the floor with Dems next GE.
    "Liar's". It autocorrected. And from what I can tell Biden is still alive
    I miss igotid88
  • Halifax2TheMax
    Halifax2TheMax Posts: 42,026
    So Gabbard was lying to Congress? Nothing but the best people, folks, nothing but the best.

    In her March testimony to lawmakers, Gabbard said the intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003."

    She also said the U.S. was closely monitoring Iran's nuclear program, noting that the country's "enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons."

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/americas-spies-say-iran-wasnt-building-a-nuclear-weapon-trump-dismisses-that-assessment

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  • static111
    static111 Posts: 5,068

    CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL. On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, “THE 12 DAY WAR.” This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!

    DONALD J. TRUMP,
    PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

    Scio me nihil scire

    There are no kings inside the gates of eden
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,659
    ^^^ Great article. Hedges nails it.

    And in his own inimitable style, here's our good buddy Jello Biafra chiming in on the insanity:

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • HughFreakingDillon
    HughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 39,449
    Known liars? Is that a reference to those who told us Biden was healthy? 

    Keep on ignoring this, and watch the Rs rub the floor with Dems next GE.
    “Butter emails”
    Hugh Freaking Dillon is currently out of the office, returning sometime in the fall




  • Poncier
    Poncier Posts: 17,872
    so were the targets obliterated or not?

    trump says they were. 

    iran says the uranium was moved ahead of time.

    trump's cabinet does not know.

    trump's generals do not know the extent of the damage.

    who is in charge here?
    Alexander Haig?
    This weekend we rock Portland
  • pjl44
    pjl44 Posts: 10,521
    Best practices to avoid looking like a raving lunatic on an internet forum:

    - Offer your own hook or brief synopsis of the piece
    - Clip and paste a screenshot of a key paragraph (optional)
    - Link to the full piece
  • mickeyrat
    mickeyrat Posts: 44,337
    or scroll on by.. 
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    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • Halifax2TheMax
    Halifax2TheMax Posts: 42,026
    static111 said:

    CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL. On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, “THE 12 DAY WAR.” This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!

    DONALD J. TRUMP,
    PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

    What is he? In sixth grade? Sorry, he ain’t no Winston Churchill, FDR or Obama. Good lord.
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  • Tim Simmons
    Tim Simmons Posts: 9,517
    Known liars? Is that a reference to those who told us Biden was healthy? 

    Keep on ignoring this, and watch the Rs rub the floor with Dems next GE.

  • tbergs
    tbergs Posts: 10,399
    pjl44 said:
    Best practices to avoid looking like a raving lunatic on an internet forum:

    - Offer your own hook or brief synopsis of the piece
    - Clip and paste a screenshot of a key paragraph (optional)
    - Link to the full piece
    Raving lunatic? Huh, don't interact with the general public then if that's your definition of a raving lunatic in the internet.
    It's a hopeless situation...
  • Halifax2TheMax
    Halifax2TheMax Posts: 42,026
    pjl44 said:
    Best practices to avoid looking like a raving lunatic on an internet forum:

    - Offer your own hook or brief synopsis of the piece
    - Clip and paste a screenshot of a key paragraph (optional)
    - Link to the full piece
    Perhaps you could quote a post or make one of your own. As an example of your “best practice?” Lead the way. Like:


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  • gimmesometruth27
    gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 24,026
    iraninan missile strikes killed 3 israelis tonight.

    does this mean there is no ceasefire like dumbfuck said?

    color me shocked.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • static111
    static111 Posts: 5,068
    iraninan missile strikes killed 3 israelis tonight.

    does this mean there is no ceasefire like dumbfuck said?

    color me shocked.
    iraninan missile strikes killed 3 israelis tonight.

    does this mean there is no ceasefire like dumbfuck said?

    color me shocked.
    If you read the truth I quoted he gave them12hours to,finish, you know like The Purge.  What a fucking joke lol.
    Scio me nihil scire

    There are no kings inside the gates of eden
  • tempo_n_groove
    tempo_n_groove Posts: 41,345
    mickeyrat said:
    mickeyrat said:
    mickeyrat said:
    mrussel1 said:
    mickeyrat said:
    think its important to revisit the jcpoa.

    Reading that deal it was crap.  After 10 years they could do whatever they wanted.  When we pulled out they ramped up everything and wouldn't let the watchdogs in anywhere.

    If we do a new deal it has to not have a time expiration.
    No, after 10 years you re-negotiate.  In what world do geopolitical deals have evergreen clauses?  
    Japan, Germany both off the top of my head.

    surrender agreements to end declared wars are a whole different animal, especially in light of germany being  the cause of borh world wars in the span of 20 years.

    not a worthy comparison.
    The question was when has it ever happened and this is when.

    ending a war is not a diplomatic endeavor. jcpoa was just that. 

    the comparison does not fit. 
    What? I can't think of what Japan and Germany agreed to anything other than diplomacy. Signing a treaty is diplomacy, no?

    when its conducted between the leading figures of the respective militaries , no it most certainly is not. 

    diplomacy occurs BEFORE armed conflict.
    Keep moving them goalposts... jeezus.
  • tempo_n_groove
    tempo_n_groove Posts: 41,345
    brianlux said:
    ^^^ Great article. Hedges nails it.

    And in his own inimitable style, here's our good buddy Jello Biafra chiming in on the insanity:

    He is so over the top, lol.
  • mickeyrat
    mickeyrat Posts: 44,337
    mickeyrat said:
    mickeyrat said:
    mickeyrat said:
    mrussel1 said:
    mickeyrat said:
    think its important to revisit the jcpoa.

    Reading that deal it was crap.  After 10 years they could do whatever they wanted.  When we pulled out they ramped up everything and wouldn't let the watchdogs in anywhere.

    If we do a new deal it has to not have a time expiration.
    No, after 10 years you re-negotiate.  In what world do geopolitical deals have evergreen clauses?  
    Japan, Germany both off the top of my head.

    surrender agreements to end declared wars are a whole different animal, especially in light of germany being  the cause of borh world wars in the span of 20 years.

    not a worthy comparison.
    The question was when has it ever happened and this is when.

    ending a war is not a diplomatic endeavor. jcpoa was just that. 

    the comparison does not fit. 
    What? I can't think of what Japan and Germany agreed to anything other than diplomacy. Signing a treaty is diplomacy, no?

    when its conducted between the leading figures of the respective militaries , no it most certainly is not. 

    diplomacy occurs BEFORE armed conflict.
    Keep moving them goalposts... jeezus.

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    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
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  • mickeyrat
    mickeyrat Posts: 44,337
    Surrendering to end a war , winner sets the terms....
    _____________________________________SIGNATURE________________________________________________

    Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
    you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
    another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
  • Gern Blansten
    Gern Blansten Mar-A-Lago Posts: 22,153
    Known liars? Is that a reference to those who told us Biden was healthy? 

    Keep on ignoring this, and watch the Rs rub the floor with Dems next GE.
    lol...at what point would you be satisfied that it isn't being ignored? Do we all have to go live on facebook and proclaim that Biden wasn't/isn't healthy, post it here, then you will stop saying this over and over again in posts that have nothing to do with Biden?
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