Cheney, Israel and Iran: Frustrated with Bush, the Veep Urges Israel to Attack Iran

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/7728

Cheney, Israel and Iran: Frustrated with Bush, the Veep Urges Israel to Attack Iran
by Gary Leupp | May 27 2007 - 9:02am



snip//

"The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran's nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles This strategy could be expected to trigger a sufficient Iranian counter-strike against US forces in the Gulf as to compel Bush to forgo the diplomatic track that the administration realists are advocating and engage in another war."

This is the most frightening piece I've read in some time, along with Justin Raimondo's latest column on antiwar.com that draws upon it. Raimondo, citing a recent CNN interview with Seymour Hersh, links Cheney and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams (the most powerful neocon presently in the administration) to U.S. support for the Sunni Fatah al Islam militia in Lebanon as a means to weaken Hizbollah. "George W. Bush," he declares, "is totally out of the loop" in what Raimondo calls "the Cheney administration."

These reports have the ring of truth, it seems to me. Bob Woodward citing Colin Powell has documented how Cheney and his neocon gang formed "a separate little government" back in 2002 in order to arrange the assault on Iraq, preceded by a campaign of disinformation which the fool in the Oval Office might well have swallowed eagerly and uncritically. Cheney stated on Don Imus' MSNBC show in January 2005 that "Given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards." He implied that if the U.S. didn't take action against Iran, the Israelis might have to and be justified in doing so. AIPAC and neocon thinktank advocates of an Iran attack have the sympathetic ear of legislators in both parties. Despite setbacks and what thinking people might see as the thorough discrediting of the neocon faction resulting from the exposure of administration lies, the proponents of the broad neocon plan (the imposition of pro-U.S., Israel-friendly regimes throughout Southwest Asia) remains on track.

snip//

It's been clear for five years at least that Cheney, the key figure in this administration formally headed by a hopelessly confused little boy still learning to talk, wants to get the boy to issue the orders necessary to bring down the Iranian and Syrian governments and crush their allies in Lebanon and Palestine. He and his chief of staff "Scooter" Libby, along with Perle and the whole cabal, seemed so in charge until the Iraqi people through their resistence to occupation caused the American people to realize the costs of imperialist aggression and created some space for critical journalism in an incipiently fascist atmosphere. Now there is indeed a "race underway" not just between two factions of the administration but between the antiwar movement and the Apocalypse Now movement spearheaded by Cheney.

Immediately after 9-11 Cheney spoke of a war to last generations, comparable to the Cold War, a war that wouldn't be limited to a response to al-Qaeda but have multiple and changing targets. Here's a man well aware of his mortality, at 66 having suffered four heart attacks, comfortable generating that artificial unprovoked war necessarily building upon ignorance and Islamophobia. He probably feels that if he unleashes total hell on Southwest Asia he will still die comfortably surrounded by his grandchildren. He's smugly assured he won't ever face the fate of a Tojo Hideki or a Heinrich Himmler. He's probably right about that, but he's surely impeachable, even on the grounds of what Clemens suggests may be "criminal insubordination" against his dumbass boss.

Last month Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to impeach Cheney, in part because he has "openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran, absent any real threat to the United States, and has done so with the United States' proven capability to carry out such threats." Don't these latest reports augment the case against, and underscore the urgency to impeach, this monster?
_______

[TwilightGardener]

1. Come on now, let's keep our powder dry, impeachment is off the table,

etc. etc. Just because we're dealing with a delusional madman is NO reason to take any sort of meaningful action.

[rodeodance]

2. until the press does there duty very little will be done.

[Frustratedlady]

3. How is he allowed to continue giving HIS opinion on anything?

I thought a VP was to promote the wishes of the prez, not his own ideas. I say this now as the present prez seems to be the lesser of two evils, compared to this new, globe-trotting VP. Two questions come to mind:

1) Have we allowed the office of VP to grow beyond what it was intended to be? I agree it is a training field in the event they need to take over the helm, but Cheney appears to be flying solo.

2) Are we providing too much "intensive care" to the VP? It would seem to me that these flying ambulances and medical teams that tag along are a bit more expense than we need to provide. After all, if it were you or me, we would be declared unfit to continue our term and TOLD to retire.

[dave_p]

4. Israel doesn't need nudging

It's Washington that's dragging its feet. This is the tail wagging the dog. I guess that makes Cheney the asshole.

[barb162]

15. World Powers Weigh Options Against Iran

( I think the UN is acting pretty unified against Iran these days, with or without Cheney leading anyone by the nose)
World Powers Weigh Options Against Iran

By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 24, 2007; 6:59 AM

UNITED NATIONS -- Experts from the United States and five other powers leading efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program plan to meet within the week following a U.N. report that Tehran has expanded its uranium enrichment program.

China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Liu Zhenmin, said the talks will focus on how to bring Iran back to negotiations and what the Security Council could do if Tehran doesn't budge. Paris was a possible location for the meeting.


The council imposed sanctions on Iran in December for refusing to suspend enrichment, and modestly increased them in March after Tehran stepped up the program, which can produce nuclear weapons. Iran responded by giving the U.N. nuclear watchdog less access to its nuclear facilities.

snip
Those findings could lead to fresh sanctions, but Security Council members said the six nations _ the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany _ would first weigh their options.
snip
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/24/AR2007052400350.html

[donsu]

5. kick

nt

[Demeter]

6. Even the Crazy Israelis Know Better Than to Listen to Cheney!

Now there's a man without a mandate!

[bemildred]

7. Ya'alon: Bring down Iran regime, send ground troops into Gaza

At least this loon is out of power. Notice he uses the word "clean" to describe his plans for Gaza.

Attempts to prevent the nuclearization of Iran will fail, according to former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon, who asserted Saturday that the military option should be examined and the Iranian regime should be brought down.

Speaking on Channel 2's "Meet the Press," Ya'alon also proposed going into Gaza with massive ground forces to "clean" the area without taking it over for a long period. He said he feared that within a year terrorists would be firing Katyushas at Kiryat Gat and Ashdod. "No one will solve the problem in Gaza for us," he said.

"We will have to get at the terrorists and their workshops, which are the infrastructure of terror, and to strike them. We did this in Operation Defensive Shield. Before Defensive Shield we also debated, but in the end we carried it out wisely. You have to be blind not to see the necessity to go into the Strip. There is no choice," Ya'alon added.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/863586.html

[Az_lefty]

8. Cheney is an evil monster

as for Impeachment? Our wonderful Congress can't even stand their ground on a War funding bill much less go the distance to remove Cheney.

[IndyOp]

9. He wants to celebrate his new grandson's birth...

By killing a few hundred thousand brown people who are sitting on his oil?

:shrug:

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Um, our V.P. has gone rogue and nobody thinks this is extraordinary?

Guys, in any other world this would be insubordination at a minimum, treason at the most.

[hootinholler]

11. Kucinich is pretty pissed about it.

But other than that, seems so. If * is truly out of the loop being led down the garden path, which is believable, it is indeed Treason. I can think of no higher crime.

-Hoot

[barb162]

13. When has he gone rogue?

I thought he marches in lockstep with Bush on everything...two peas on a pod.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. He use to have his hand up Bush's ass, but now Bush seems to realize

that he'll be ultimately to blame for everything, so he's not being a good puppet anymore.

[barb162]

12. Should we take a site called smirking monkey as a good source?

We can all agree Cheney is an a-----e, but when I googled this writer, his field seems to be Japanese History. I think we should take whatever he writes on the Mideast with more than a few grains of salt, shouldn't we?

[Morgana LaFey]

17. Are you for real?

Gary Leupp is a Professor of History, and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Religion, at Tufts University and author of numerous works on Japanese history. He can be reached at: _____

So he's not also able to be competent and informed in other matters, such as current events? He's probably better educated than half the people (or more) who you DO find automatically credible (for no particularly good reason, if you're basing your judgment purely on what the banner and domain name say).

[barb162]

18. Are you for real?

Expertise in Japanese History has what to do with the article? BTW, I am not criticizing his credentials except for the point he has no expertise in the subject at hand.

[Morgana LaFey]

19. Well, see, that's just it.

How elitist (not to mention wrong from a purely logical point of view) for you to claim he has no "expertise" in the subject because that's not his primary field or the field in which he has his degree.

A person can gain plenty of knowledge and expertise without having a degree in a subject, and can also be quite competent in a number of fields, not JUST the one he's got a degree in.

[Prophet 451]

16. If it's true

Then impeachment is not just desireable but morally obligatory but the Dems are so gutless right now that I'm on the verge of suggesting a different method of getting rid of this monster.

[yurbud]

20. kick