(this somehow didn’t post – promoted by Turkana)
It’s not often that serial liar Condoleezza Rice says something that merits approval and publicity, but miracles do happen.
According to the Associated Press:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday she does not believe a Senate resolution authorizes President Bush to take military action against Iran.
“There is nothing in this particular resolution that would suggest that from our point of view. And, clearly, the president has also made very clear that he’s on a diplomatic path where Iran comes into focus,” Rice said.
The latter part is, of course, what we expect from Rice. The administration’s attempts to drum up support for a war have been blatant and blatantly dishonest; but this statement needs to be publicized and emphasized:
There is nothing in this particular resolution that would suggest that from our point of view.
Meanwhile, the Guardian, yesterday, had yet more evidence of the insane efforts to find some rationale- any rationale- for attacking Iran:
US military officials are putting huge pressure on interrogators who question Iraqi insurgents to find incriminating evidence pointing to Iran, it was claimed last night.
Micah Brose, a privately contracted interrogator working for American forces in Iraq, near the Iranian border, told The Observer that information on Iran is ‘gold’. The claim comes after Washington imposed sanctions on Iran last month, citing both its nuclear ambitions and its Revolutionary Guards’ alleged support of Shia insurgents in Iraq. Last week the US military freed nine Iranians held in Iraq, including two it had accused of links to the Revolutionary Guards’ Qods Force.
Brose, 30, who extracts information from detainees in Iraq, said: ‘They push a lot for us to establish a link with Iran. They have pre-categories for us to go through, and by the sheer volume of categories there’s clearly a lot more for Iran than there is for other stuff. Of all the recent requests I’ve had, I’d say 60 to 70 per cent are about Iran.
Needless to say, if the evidence was there, the efforts to find it wouldn’t be quite so obsessive. Clearly, the administration wants war. Just as clearly, there’s an understanding that they’re getting neither the evidence to justify one nor the public support that would make it politically safe to launch one. In fact, a CNN/Opinion Research polll, last week, showed, in addition to record high opposition to the Iraq War:
The public also opposes U.S. military action against Iran. Sixty-three percent oppose air strikes on Iran, while 73 percent oppose using ground troops as well as air strikes in that country.
Does any of this mean the administration won’t launch a war? Of course not. But it does suggest that they do understand that this effort at warmongering is not working. And now, Condoleezza Rice has made clear that Congress did not, in fact, give the administration a green light to attack. Lieberman-Kyl was terrible and asinine, but it was not a war resolution. Condoleezza Rice even says so. We need to keep emphasizing that fact.
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There’s a piece of shit even flies won’t go near. Words cannot describe how much I detest that woman.
is a bastion of Democracy and stability! Nothing to worry about there! And that’s why we’re not rattling our sabers at them!
I sure sleep well at night with this bunch of weasels driving the bus ’cause we can always count on them to do the right thing!
(My Snark dispenser just exploded, fortunately)
what could be wrong with that info? They don’t hate us for our freedoms, they hate us for the liberties we take. No way could they give these captives a fair trial. I can’t post the rest of what I’m thinking. Dang.
all this insane parsing (to use the jargon of the media) makes me increasingly insane. Reality seems so far away, when we accept and pin our hopes on a snake like Condi. Why does what we are told hold such sway? Why can’t we reject the whole of this play. The plot stinks and the outcome is dark. I give the story a big fat 0. No threats from outside haunt me, just this our so called reality delivered by both sides right and left. these dangers do not exist.
The real dangers we face are not acknowledged. Iran and our problems are like Iraq, we made them when we put in the Shah and embraced Sadamm. I cannot address these insane definitions anymore, the terms of engagement are absurd. Chest thumping of any kind towards Iran is just a ploy used to promote both sides adherence to empire. The real tragedy here is our inability to even effect the course of debate either side except the loonies who are UFO believers and remain outside the fake reality.
surprise. attack.
The Brits are actually doing some on-the-ground investigative reporting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, unlike the Green Zone spoonfed pablum that we see in our media. The Daily Telegraph and the The Independent
also occasionally have some good pieces.
Keep asking for intelligence cherries, and you’ll eventually get a basketful of rotten ones from the leavings in the field.