Is Bush Gearing Up For An Attack On Iran?

  I have always though that the Republicans would pull off some sort of October surprise because this currant administration cannot afford to leave office. they might have to eventually face trials and world courts for their war crimes and many other criminal activities.

  Now we have this from author Conn Hallinan at Portside concerning the Bush rhetoric about Iran.

June 3, 2008   ( edited )  Complete Article

The May 8 letter from U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to George W. Bush, received virtually no media coverage, in spite of the fact that it warned the President that an attack on Iran without Congressional approval would be grounds for impeachment. Rumor has it several senators have been briefed about the possibility of war with Iran.

Something is afoot.

According to Newsweek, during his Middle East tour in January, President Bush "all but disowned the document" to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. A "senior administration official" told the magazine, "He [Bush] told the Israelis that he can't control what the intelligence community says but that [the NIE's] conclusions don't reflect his own views."

Neither do they reflect the views of Vice-President Dick Cheney or Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

In an interview with ABC during his recent 10-day visit to the region, Cheney downplayed the NIE: "We don't know whether or not they've [the Iranians have] restarted." Cheney also said Iran was seeking to build missiles capable of reaching the U.S. sometime in the next decade.

According to the Israeli website, DEBKAfile, Cheney's trip to the Middle East in March was seen in the region as a possible harbinger of war. "The vice-president's choice of capitals for his tour is a pointer to the fact that the military option, off since December, may be on again," DEBKA concluded. "America will need the cooperation of all four [countries he visited] - Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Turkey."

There has also been a steady build-up of naval and air power in the region. A new aircraft carrier battle group has been assigned to the area, Patriot anti-missile missiles have been deployed, and U.S. naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean have been beefed up.

   I'll have more on the subject later in the evening. Time for work now.

    Good day everyone!

Technorati Tags: Iran,war,middle east,George Bush,Israel,DEBKA,NIE,Dick Cheney

The Future of U.S.-Iraqi Relations

  A couple of comments from a few Iraqi Representatives while speaking to The Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight today.

From The Gavel

June 4th, 2008 by Jesse Lee

The Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight has just concluded a hearing, “The Future of U.S.-Iraqi Relations: The Perspective of the Iraqi Parliament.” Witnesses included The Honorable Nadeem Al-Jaberi and The Honorable Khalaf Al-Ulayyan of the Council of Representatives of Iraq.

Full transcript:

“As you know in the history of international relations any signing or any bilateral agreements, if they are not between two equal parties cannot be successful. On the contrary, they may lead to more instability. And these are problems that unequal signatories of treaties can lead to. Therefore what we strive for is establishing a balanced relationship between the two countries. But nothing of this could be made possible until the troops withdraw from Iraq. And then negotiate in an objective manner. In such a way that the interests of both countries are taken into consideration. So that we may reach friendly and solid relations between the peoples of the two countries and our governments.

“However, if we were to make an expedient treaty that may cause problems for the government and the people. And of course we do not need to burden them with more problems. Because it has other a security and economic tasks ahead of it.

“We also were very concerned when we heard that this agreement was not to be proposed in front of the Iraqi parliament. And this goes against the Iraqi Constitution. You cannot put any agreement into application in Iraq, according to the Constitution, unless you have a majority two thirds approval of the parliament. Therefore not presenting it to the parliament may be a factor in this agreement failing. And thank you.”

  UPDATE:  Here  is even more on this story.

Technorati Tags: Iraq,George Bush,Khalaf Al-Ulayyan,Congress,Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations,Human Rights,and Oversight