NeoCon's At it Again! USA Today Editorial/ "Time to Act on Iran is Now."

[KoKo]

Time to act on Iran is now

By Dr. Richard SacconeTue Feb 6, 7:01 AM ET

An objective look at the ominous threat from Iran provides a clear solution to the policy the United States must pursue. Iran is easily the most significant source of terror worldwide, providing financing, training, advice, support and supplies to its proxy Hezbollah as well as other groups as far away as Asia. That makes it a major opponent in the war on terror.

In addition, Iran has increased efforts to undermine the U.S. mission in Iraq through operations in the south as well as in Baghdad. It has dared to confront the United States, stirring Shiite sectarian violence and providing Shiite militias with advanced weapons and knowledge of constructing sophisticated explosive devices for use against U.S forces. Iran has consistently followed its goal of becoming a regional power while secretly hoping to gain control of combined oil reserves (in Iran and southern Iraq) that reportedly would stand second only to Saudi Arabia's.

Iranian officials have showed almost no inclination of pausing in their efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, even openly cooperating with the North Koreans to expedite the process. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad routinely threatens to wipe out our closest ally in the region, Israel, and drive the United States from the Middle East.

And what have our multilateral efforts of diplomacy accomplished so far? Almost nothing. Iran has defied United Nations deadlines, played Europe and China against U.S. interests and deceived U.N. inspection teams with false reports on storage, processing and importing of nuclear materials. "

more.....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070206/cm_usatoday/timetoactoniranisnow&printer=1;_ylt=Alswb4Bchi0r6toeOvSBGk78B2YD

[treestar]

1. Right from the PNAC playbook

The second sentence just has me going, "oh, puleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze." What happened to Al Qaeda? The Taliban? Sheesh, they clearly believe we have no attention span whatsoever.

[Richard Steele]

2. They really ARE just recycling their old IRAQ lies, aren't they?

And they are LIES, to be certain.

[Olney Blue]

18. Delete q, insert n.

[ixion]

3. yeah, before the smoking gun is a mushroom cloud, right?

been there, done that. :eyes:

[wtmusic]

4. Q. What current world leader is responsible for the most death

and destruction?

Bah. And they claim "Iran is easily the most significant source of terror worldwide". :eyes:

[indepat]

19. Surely almost all half-way intelligent and informed persons in the world know the most significant

source of terror worldwide.

[CountAllVotes]

5. if you listen to Ray Taliaferro

He's been saying the past week or so that bombs will start dropping on Iran per PNAC any day now. :(

I hope Ray is wrong. However, it seems he rarely is.

:kick:

[CarolNYC]

6. These freakin' nuts are so scary...

and I don't mean the Iranians.

It's with good reason that Wes Clark has been pleading with people for years now to try to stop this mess before it's too late....

[lyonn]

16. Meanwhile.... back on the Senate floor the debate goes on

and bush is busy, busy, making more war plans while this distraction is going on in Congress. He will claim "after" the bomb attacks that he had to act quickly 'cause Iran was about to acquire his first nuke, per His intelligence.

Has bush lined up all the ships he can squeeze into the gulf yet? We drop one bomb on Iran and I fear mightly for even one of our ships just sitting there. Sure we can bomb the hell out of Iran, off the map actually, but Iran will retaliate mightly too.

Diplomacy has failed, so the article states! Unbelievable. What diplomacy, bush diplomacy? My way or the highway? Bush is putting more troops into Iraq where we have been going down hill since Mission Accomplished and he now wants to escalate our downhill trend in that country. To cover his sorry rear he must figure attacking Iran will get the ol' U.S. patriotic juices going again. Do Psychos have mental breakdowns? Or are they incapable? Bush has been looking a little haggard lately.

[gratuitous]

7. Go ahead, "Dr." Saccone

We'll accord you the honor of invading Iran first. Don't worry if nobody else comes with you, feel free to start without us.

[Marie26]

8. Well, at least it's an op-ed.

US Today's editorial advocates containment instead of war.

[ThomCat]

9. Summarized:

"Anyone intelligent knows that Iran is EEEvil, and we must go to war against them."

So of course you agree, don't you? I mean, you think you're intelligent, don't you? And you don't support evil, right?
:eyes:

[90-percent]

10. Sorry Doc.

You and your PNAC ilk shot your entire credibility wad all over Iraq. Clean that cluster fuck up and get the hell out of there and maybe we'll talk.

You know, use ENGAGEMENT AND DIPLOMACY and use WAR as a last resort when all other options ARE COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED?

PS - pre-emptive war by another name is simply TERRORISM. I don't advocate my country degrading itself down to the mentality of the typical Al Quaida hate monger!

-85% jimmy

[meegbear]

11. Richard Saccone - The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), founded shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is an organization purportedly devoted to supporting the war against terror and promoting democracy across the globe. It has become a prominent member of the web of neoconservative-aligned think tanks, a group that includes the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Hudson Institute, and Freedom House. Like many of its neoconservative brethren, the FDD links cultural issues in the United States to the broader issue of confronting enemies abroad. It has even lambasted comic books for their supposedly corrosive impact on American youth. In an April 2003 FDD white paper titled "The Betrayal of Captain America," Michael Medved and Michael Lackner claimed: "Marvel Comics and other publishers are disseminating comic books that actively promote a destructive cynicism and distrust of the United States government" (Boston Globe, August 28, 2005).

<snip>

FDD describes itself as the “only nonpartisan policy institute dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that drive terrorism.” Its online “about” page declares that the organization “uniquely combines policy research, democracy training, strategic communications, and investigative journalism. We focus our efforts where opinions are formed and, ultimately, where the war of ideas will be won or lost: in the media, on college campuses, and in the policy community, at home and abroad.”

Although the FDD does not define its own ideology, the positions and philosophy it promotes mirror those of neoconservative ideologues and institutes, including its fervent promotion of Israel, America's mission to direct international affairs, and the struggle against all manifestations of totalitarianism.

<snip>

The FDD has numerous "democracy programs," including an education program that has the "goal of advancing democratic values of liberty, tolerance, pluralism, and individual rights in the Greater Middle East." The foundation sponsors the Iraq Democracy Information Center, which it calls "an Arabic-language web-based resource guide to educational materials on democracy for civil society organizations and educators in Iraq who are focused on democracy-building." The FDD also runs a program that promotes "democracy activists" in the region. In addition, its Focus on South Asia program was created because "FDD believes that special attention should be devoted to South Asia, as a bastion of democracy, and as a frontline against global terrorism." Increasingly, the FDD's democracy programs are closely associated with or financed by the U.S. government's own democratization programs.

<snip>

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1475

[FVZA_Colonel]

12. Hmm, I thought the recent NIE showed that Iran

had a minimum of influence on the fighting in Iraq, including the production of IED?'s

[EVDebs]

13. Iraq, 'greatest strategic blunder in US history' -- NSA Gen Odom nt

[magellan]

14. About Richard Saccone!

He was awarded an academic fellowship for terrorism prevention studies in Israel by he Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD):

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a non-partisan policy institute headquartered in Washington, D.C., has named Dr. Richard Saccone, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Saint Vincent College, as an Academic Fellow for 2006.

The Fellowship enabled Dr. Saccone to travel to Israel for an intensive course in terrorism studies and to study how democracies can defeat the worldwide terrorist threat.

“Terrorism is the greatest threat today to the world’s democracies, including the United States and our allies around the globe,” said Clifford May, President of FDD. “To win the war against terrorism, we must win the war of ideas by promoting democracy and defeating the totalitarian ideologies that drive and justify terrorism.”

more.... http://www.stvincent.edu/news_stories/news_stories/dr.-richard-saccone-awarded-academic-fellowship-for-terrorism-prevention-studies-in-israel">St. Vincent College

The FDD is a neoconservative think-tank:

Right Web | Profile | Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

snip...

"FDD describes itself as the “only nonpartisan policy institute dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that drive terrorism.” Its online “about” page declares that the organization “uniquely combines policy research, democracy training, strategic communications, and investigative journalism. We focus our efforts where opinions are formed and, ultimately, where the war of ideas will be won or lost: in the media, on college campuses, and in the policy community, at home and abroad.”

Although the FDD does not define its own ideology, the positions and philosophy it promotes mirror those of neoconservative ideologues and institutes, including its fervent promotion of Israel, America's mission to direct international affairs, and the struggle against all manifestations of totalitarianism.

Republican Party insiders dominate the FDD's board, and its president, Clifford May, is the former director of communications for the Republican National Committee (1997 to 2001). May was also the editor of Rising Tide, the party's official magazine. May is also vice chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition and chairman of the policy committee of the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), which is described by the FDD as a “venerable Cold War group” that was revived by the FDD in 2004. May writes a weekly column that is nationally distributed, and he has contributed to various media outlets, including the National Review Online, CNN's American Morning, and National Public Radio's Morning Edition.

The FDD's three board members are Steve Forbes, Jack Kemp, and Jeane Kirkpatrick. Its four “distinguished advisers” are Newt Gingrich, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Louis J. Freeh (former FBI director), and James Woolsey (former CIA director). FDD also has a Board of Advisers, whose members are: Gary Bauer, Donna Brazile, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Frank Gaffney, Amb. Marc Ginsberg, Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), Charles Jacobs, William Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, former Gov. Richard D. Lamm, Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), former Sen. Zell Miller, Richard Perle, and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)."

more... http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1475

He also spent a year in Iraq in 2004 as an intelligence consultant:

School board member to leave for Iraq - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

snip...

"Retired Air Force Capt. Richard Saccone has accepted an assignment as an intelligence support consultant and will spend the next year in Iraq.

"I feel this is something I have to do," Saccone said. "I'm sitting on years of valuable experience that might allow me to contribute to the success of the mission in Iraq."

more: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_282468.html">Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The only info I can find of a biographical nature on Saccone is that he's a retired Air Force Capt. ('02) and is an expert on Korea.

[originalpckelly]

15. Hey, Dr. Dick, what about Pakistan?

Let's look at the Pakistan facts, shall we?

1. Has nuclear weapons, and has already tested them.
2. Osama Bin Laden, if still alive, is thought to be hiding in Pakistan.
3. President Musharraf has had mulitple attempts on his life, his regime came to power in a military coup.
4. He has worked with pro-Taliban parties in his own country.
5. Pakistan is home to a large number of Islamic radicals.

All of those things make it more likely terrorists will gain nuclear weapons from Pakistan, than Iran.

[bdamomma]

17. the author from House of Bush/House of Saud was just on

Sam Seder, he said the NeoCons are very well connected to the Israeli right, and the stage is being set, for someone to throw the match, on something this despicable regime we have has done.

The US is provoking Iran. :scared:

[Desert Liberal]

20. This shit makes me sick to my stomach n/m

[texasclarkie]

21. What a load of BS

In addition, Iran has increased efforts to undermine the U.S. mission in Iraq through operations in the south as well as in Baghdad.

That's an interesting statement to make, considering the Brits have found no evidence that Iran has brought in weapons to the south part of Iraq. Since they control that area, I'd think they would know.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi texasclarkie!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Beelzebud]

22. ATTACK NOW!! NUKE NUKE NUKE NUKE NUKE NUKE!!!! /me cums

That was my impersonation of a neo-con.

Time to go take a very hot shower.

[HuffleClaw]

23. a stinking pack of lies

but funny in its hysterical 'the sky is falling!' tones.