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Petraeus Testimony Next Week Will Signal Iran Attack - by Paul Craig Roberts

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99th_Monkey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 02:56 PM
Original message
Petraeus Testimony Next Week Will Signal Iran Attack - by Paul Craig Roberts
This does not look good, especially now with Admiral Fallon out of the way, and Saudis preparing for nuclear fallout.

I can only hope some Democratic Congressperson has enough balls to ask Gen. Betrayus , why he studiously ignored the
findings of Col. Ted Westhusing about rampant corruption w/ contractors in Iraq, to the point where Westhusing was
"suicided" (found dead in his trailer with a single shot to the head).
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3101062&mesg_id=3101062


**************************
April 5, 2008 at 13:52:15

Petraeus Testimony Next Week Will Signal Iran Attack
by Paul Craig Roberts

April 5, 2008. Today the London Telegraph reported that “British officials gave warning yesterday that America’s commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government. A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran’s intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian militiary facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment.”

The neocon lacky Petraeus has had his script written for him by Cheney, and Petraeus together with neocon warmonger Ryan Crocker, the US governor of the Green Zone in Baghdad, will present Congress next Tuesday and Wednesday with the lies, for which the road has been well paved by neocon propagandists such as Kimberly Kagan, that “the US must recognize that Iran is engaged in a full-up proxy war against it in Iraq.”

Don’t expect Congress to do anything except to egg on the attack. On April 3 the International Herald Tribune reported that senators and representatives have made millions of dollars from their investments in defense companies totaling $196 million. Rep. Ike Skelton, the Democrat chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is already on board with the attack on Iran. The London Telegraph quotes Skelton: “Iran is the bull in the china shop. In all of this, they seem to have links to all of the Shi’ite groups, whether they be political or military.”

All Skelton knows is what the war criminal Bush regime tells him. If Iran really does have all these connections, then it behooves Washington to cease threatening Iran and to make nice with Iran in order to stabilize Iraq and extract the US from the nightmare.

Reporting from Tehran on April 4, Reuters quotes Mohsen Hakim, whose father, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leads the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, an ally of the Maliki US puppet government in Iraq: “Tehran, by using its positive influence on the Iraqi nation, paved the way for the return of peace to Iraq and the new situation is the result of Iran’s efforts.”

Instead of thanking Iran and working with Iran diplomatically to restore stability to Iraq, the Bush regime intends to expand the nightmare with a military attack on Iran. Ryan Crocker was quick to dispute Hakim’s report that Iran had used its influence to end the fighting in Basra. Crocker alleged that Iran had started the fighting. The absurdity of Crocker’s claim is obvious as even the neocon US media reported that the fighting in Basra was started by the US and Maliki in an effort to clear out the Shi’ite al-Sadr militia. Most experts saw the attack on al-Sadr for what it was: an effort to remove a potential threat to the US supply line from Kuwait in the event of a US attack on Iran.

Crocker alleges that the rockets dropping on the Green Zone during the Basra fighting were made in 2007 in Iran. As should be obvious even to disengaged Americans, if Iran were to arm the Iraqi insurgency, the insurgents would have modern weapons to counter US helicopter gunships and heavy tanks. The insurgents have no such weapons. The neocon lie that Iran is the cause of the Iraqi insurgency is just another Bush regime lie like the lie that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and connections to al Qaeda and the lie that the Taliban in Afghanistan attacked the US.

The Bush regime will tell any lie and orchestrate any event in order to “finish the job” in the Middle East.

“Finishing the job” means to destroy the ability of Iraq, Iran, and Syria to provide support for the Palestinians and for Hezbollah in southern Lebanon against Israeli aggression. With Iraq and Iran in turmoil, Syria might simply give up and become another American client state. With Iraq and Iran in turmoil, Israel can steal the rest of the West Bank along with the water resources in southern Lebanon. That is what “the war on terror” is really about.

The entire world knows this. Consequently, the US and Israel are essentially isolated. The US can only count on the support that it can bribe and pay for.

At the NATO-Russian summit in Bucharest, Romania, on April 4, Russian President Putin said: “No one can seriously think that Iran would dare attack the U.S. Instead of pushing Iran into a corner, it would be far more sensible to think together how to help Iran become more predictable and transparent.”

Of course it would, but that is not what the warmonger Bush regime wants.

Perhaps the British government has derailed the plot to attack Iran by leaking in advance to the London Telegraph the disinformation Cheney has prepared for Petraeus and Crocker to deliver to the complicit US Congress next Tuesday and Wednesday. On the other hand, the US puppet media is likely to bury the real story and to trumpet Petraeus claims that Iran has, in effect, already declared war on the US by sending weapons to kill US troops in Iraq.

By next Thursday we will know from how the Petraeus-Crocker dog and pony show plays in the US Congress and media whether the Bush Regime will commit yet another war crime by attacking Iran.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_paul_cra_080405_petraeus_testimony_n.htm
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applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 02:59 PM
Response to Original message
1. Oh my god. I pray no. Don't do it.
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Cooley Hurd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:01 PM
Response to Original message
2. Attack Iran, and the impeachment dam will bust!
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:03 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. I wish I could believe that but I don'
you will hear huffing and puffing, but will go nowhere when all is said and done
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Cooley Hurd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:04 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Conyers has already said as much...
...he will have no option but to follow through.
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bbgrunt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:14 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. Conyers also promised impeachment hearings before the
elections of 2006.

I say there is plenty of evidence for impeachment NOW. Why must they wait for the next atrocity? Why are they willing to bet millions of lives in order to delay the impeachment process?

This threat of impeachment is a travesty and an outrage. It's like saying "if you punch me in the face and I find out about it, you better watch out...ouch!!....well, if you do it again, you better watch out"
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Cooley Hurd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:17 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. If I were in a position to do so...
...the federal prisons would be FULL of Bush's and associates.
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:19 PM
Response to Reply #5
10. He's been promising the sky since before the 2006
elections

How does the saying go?

Oh yes, fool me once....

And once the bullets start flying GOOD LUCK on even bringing the subject up... especially if any of the worst case scenarios come to pass, such as the sinking of a US Carrier
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bbgrunt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:45 PM
Response to Reply #10
14. yes--can anyone really imagine impeachment
once a full scale war has started? It would simply be out of the question to even contemplate. Anyone even suggesting it would be considered a traitor and terrorist. If the media drumbeat was deafening before, it will be even worse since they have by now tweaked all the levers and gotten any kinks out of the system. It will be really easy to shut up the few remaining media outlets that have been allowed to continue to provide the patina of a "free society".

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jaybeat Donating Member (729 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 05:17 PM
Response to Reply #2
16. Attack Iran, and impeachment will be impossible
Martial law, false-flag attacks, FEMA camps, "postponed" elections, and Blackwater keeping the Homeland secure. Any Congress critters who dare to speak out can get to the back of the line for camp rations, where we can thank them for their support for freedom and democracy, too little and too late.
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
3. I am betting on war
only way to also stop this pony show called elections

Nobody builds that much power to surrender it
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Faygo Kid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:09 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. I share the same fear. War with Iran now likely; coup here possible.
Edited on Sat Apr-05-08 03:18 PM by faygokid
That's the way I see it. I think we will attack Iran. Have thought so for a long time, and the signs are building (see also the Telegraph article elsewhere about the Brit general predicting it). I think Cheney's Middle East visit was to set the stage, and that started the clock ticking. Petraeus will blame the trouble in Iraq on Iran, then an "incident" will happen to which we will respond.

My guess is that they dress up kidnapped Polish soldiers in Nazi uniforms, then kill them and leave their bodies to be found inside Iraq, blaming it on the Iranians.

Admittedly, part of that ruse has been used before. But you get the picture.

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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:21 PM
Response to Reply #6
11. Well the other usable ruse
is the ever so popular they attacked our ships and killed our sailors...

yesterday when CNN went, B-1 down I went SHIT

When they updated it caught fire on the ground I went, I can breath for a little longer


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cherokeeprogressive Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 05:30 PM
Response to Reply #3
18. I'll take the bet. Say, $50?
Loser donates said amount to DU?

I just don't see it. I know lots of peeps in the Navy and Air Force who would laugh at the very notion.

Whaddya say?
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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #3
19. Day of Wrath.
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SammyWinstonJack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 06:54 PM
Response to Reply #3
20. "No body build that much power to surrend it." BINGO!
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WHEN CRABS ROAR Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:17 PM
Response to Original message
8. Americans have been conditioned from cradle to grave to fall in
lockstep behind their leaders to see war as their "duty to their country", the media will buy into this as well. this time instead of marching in the streets, pick up the phone and call them, ten times a day, ten million of us, make their office staff work. START NOW !
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smoogatz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:35 PM
Response to Original message
12. This op-ed would be more credible if it was better written, IMO.
As is, it smacks a bit of hysteria. I think Bush, Cheney and Petraeus are engaged in a sustained and desperate bout of saber-rattling, to try to convince Iran to back off both its nuclear program and its overt manipulation of events inside Iraq. I think (I hope) they know any frontal attack on Iran would be a disaster; picture the Mahdi army backed up by 200,000 Iranian troops swooping down on the Green Zone from the east while cutting off supply routes from Kuwait to the south. The entire U.S. presence in Iraq is predicated on the acquiescence of the Shi'a population; without it, we're completely cut off and helpless. Picture also carrier groups in the Persian Gulf being attacked by swarms of Iranian "bomb-boats" of the sort that nearly sunk the USS Cole, with catastrophic results for the U.S. Picture Bush's approval ratings at home in the low single digits, and serious rumblings of discontent within the military. Bush and Cheney are dumb motherfuckers, and probably crazy, too, but I don't think they're crazy and dumb enough to risk the destruction of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, or the loss of a carrier or two in the Persian Gulf, not to mention the global economic chaos that would be unleashed as the Iranians took revenge by shutting down tanker traffic in the Gulf. I hope they're not that fucking crazy and/or stupid, anyway.
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99th_Monkey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:40 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. I hope Roberts is wrong, and you are right.. ~nt~
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smoogatz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 03:50 PM
Response to Reply #13
15. I hope so, too.
Still, I've got the impulse to stock up on canned goods and buy a generator. How about you?
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roamer65 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 05:21 PM
Response to Original message
17. Russia and China (SCO members) will side with Iran in the event of an attack.
Gulf oil shipments will stop, Venezuela will cutoff oil to the US and World War III will begin.
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Strelnikov_ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 08:14 PM
Response to Original message
21. When Vlad is the voice of reason . . .
Strange days.

At the NATO-Russian summit in Bucharest, Romania, on April 4, Russian President Putin said: “No one can seriously think that Iran would dare attack the U.S. Instead of pushing Iran into a corner, it would be far more sensible to think together how to help Iran become more predictable and transparent.”
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go west young man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-05-08 09:13 PM
Response to Original message
22. Link to Telegraph article:
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OneBlueSky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-06-08 05:20 AM
Response to Original message
23. even if Congress impeaches because of an attack on Iran, it will be too little too late . . .
like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube . . . what Congress needs to do is pre-emptively tell BushCo that they can NOT attack Iran without specific Congressional approval . . . if they wait until after the fact to act, it will be too late -- for the Iranians, and for what's left of U.S. prestige around the world . . .

c'mon, Congress . . . grow some balls and tell BushCo they can't do this . . . and tell them NOW! . . .
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Echo In Light Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-06-08 05:36 AM
Response to Original message
24. Bad omens
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