Israel Fears Regional War In 2006

[chlamor]

ISRAEL FEARS REGIONAL WAR IN 2006


WASHINGTON -- Israel has relayed its concern to the United States of the rising prospect of a Middle East war in 2006.

U.S. officials said Israel has determined that the expected U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in 2006 would raise tensions in the region that could lead to a Middle East war. The officials said the Israeli assessment asserted that Iran would either lead or play a major role in any future war against the Jewish state.

"It is the biggest nightmare of Ariel Sharon," a U.S. official said. "He has relayed repeated messages to the administration that Iran and its Arab allies were preparing for war."

Officials said Sharon has raised this issue with President George Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney and leaders of the U.S. intelligence community. They said Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz have assessed that an Iran emboldened with nuclear weapons and intermediate-range missiles was seeking to form a coalition against Israel for a war that could take place after a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

NOTE: The above is not the full item.

This service contains only a small portion of the information produced daily by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please contact Middle East Newsline at:
[e-mail] for further details.

http://menewsline.com/stories/2005/april/04_20_1.html

[Rainscents]

1. I wonder when he figured this out.

[hector459]

32. I thought they were already at war? What am I missing here?

Just asking.

[thebigidea]

2. expected US withdrawal in 2006? since fucking when?

""It is the biggest nightmare of Ariel Sharon," a U.S. official said. "He has relayed repeated messages to the administration that Iran and its Arab allies were preparing for war."

golly, then maybe you shouldn't be threatening air strikes and rattling sabers, Mr. Sharon? ya think?

[EVDebs]

17. CNN comments awhile back by McCain says we're in "10, 20 yrs"

Bob Herbert's excellent article "Heads In The Sand" http://www.tkipp.net/html/editorials/columns/herbert/herbert_040903.html shows this from Sen McCain:

"When asked this week on CNN how long the U.S. military is likely to remain in Iraq, Senator John McCain replied "probably" 10 or 20 years. "That's not so bad," he said, adding, "We've been in Korea for 50 years. We've been in West Germany for 50 years."

Reporters have come to expect candor from Senator McCain, and in this case he didn't disappoint. But there weren't any speakers mounting the podium at the Republican National Convention to hammer home the message that G.I.'s would be in Iraq for a decade or two.

That's not the understanding most Americans had when this wretched war was sold to them, and it's not the view most Americans hold now."

And maps published by Christian Science Monitor show military bases, ostensibly permanent bases, springing up all over the PersianGulf/CaspianSea region "Terror war and oil expand US sphere of influence--GIs build bases on Russia's energy-rich flank"
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0319/p01s04-wosc.html
(click onto 'see map').

And the article "14 `enduring bases' set in Iraq- Long-term military presence planned"
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2004/040323-enduring-bases.htm

'From the ashes of abandoned Iraqi army bases, U.S. military engineers are overseeing the building of an enhanced system of American bases designed to last for years...

Now U.S. engineers are focusing on constructing 14 "enduring bases," long-term encampments for the thousands of American troops expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years. The bases also would be key outposts for Bush administration policy advisers.'


When you consider Bush's recent comments
'Bush: Troops to return when Iraqi can defend itself' http://www.grandforks.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/11152583.htm

""Our troops will come home when Iraq is capable of defending herself," Bush said at a White House news conference.""

and that British troops could leave by 2007
'Troops out of Iraq within two years, Straw suggests'
http://www.dehavilland.co.uk/webhost.asp?wci=default&wcp=NationalNewsStoryPage&ItemID=13026919&ServiceID=8&filterid=10&searchid=8

It all looks like we are being LIED TO, AGAIN. They may begin to rotate troops out in 2006 is a more likely scenario. But region-wide they aren't building all those bases just to abandon them...

[mbperrin]

3. This mess we're in doesn't count as a regional war?

Damn, I guess it's just a scrimmage -- that would explain the fraternity hazing going on.........

[ElectroPrincess]

4. Please pass on to our buds in Israel our thanks

for conveying what is known by most thinking and thoughtful Americans (and Brits) as "the bloody obvious." :P

[justjones]

5. Sharon forgot to mention....

that the United States' invasion of Iraq played a huge part in raising tensions in the region. :sarcasm:

[Coastie for Truth]

46. NO - IT WAS THE DISCOVERY OF OIL

PLUS HENRY FORD'S DECISION TO DISREGARD THE ADVICE OF HIS FRIEND THOMAS ALVA EDISON (GO WITH ELECTRIC CARS) AND TO GO WITH GASOLINE POWERED CARS INSTEAD.

Do some reading:

1) Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy By: Matthew R. Simmons (Previously reviewed in DU)
2) Sowing the Wind: The Seeds of Conflict in the Middle East by John Keay
3) House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties by Craig Unger
4) Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed--and How to Stop It, Revised Edition By Rachel Ehrenfeld
5) PRIZE : THE EPIC QUEST FOR OIL, MONEY & POWER by Daniel Yergin
6) A Century Of War : Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order by William Engdahl

And, we are slowly running out of oil --- so it's going to get worse-->

1) The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of the Oil Age, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century
By: James Howard Kunstler (Previously reviewed in DU)
2) Beyond Oil : The View from Hubbert's Peak by Ken Deffeyes
3) Hubbert's Peak : The Impending World Oil Shortage by Ken Deffeyes
4) Out of Gas: The End of the Age Of Oil by David Goodstein
5) An Introduction to Economic Geology and Its Environmental Impact by A.M. Evans (A good general intro to geology)

You should also "Google"

1) Mark Sykes
2) Sykes-Picot Agreement

And check out the US Securities & Exchanges Commission web site (www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml) for Shell Oil's games with terrorists--> http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=shell&CIK=&filenum=&State=&SIC=&owner=include&action=getcompany

I read all of this stuff because I am in the (alternative, renewable, green) energy industry -- and generally have to at least have this background. You will not see this in the main stream media, or in the PR and corporate image ads of the energy industry. But, to understand what is happening in the ME - it's good to have.

[oneighty]

6. Just in time for our mid-term elections

Cool.

180

[applegrove]

7. Wedging the Dems in New York and Florida. The Rove campaign

for New York is on. That is for sure.

How exactly would there be a regional war if Israel has the BOMB!

Bush is an admirer of Sharon. Sharon would do this for Bush.

Now Bush has more reason to go into debt.

P.S. I thought peace was breaking out in the ME?

I take it that color coded thing's cover as a crazy-maker was blown. Now we have Sharon.

[Coastie for Truth]

13. What does having the bomb matter for a rational state actor?

You asked "How exactly would there be a regional war if Israel has the BOMB!"

I would commend to your attention Henry Kissinger's PhD dissertation, popularized, in Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy (ISBN ISBN: 0865317453, 1984 reprint) - available at most libraries, and on Half and Amazon for under $10.00.

One of Kissinger's points is that possession of the Bomb by a rational state actor does not deter non-nuclear conflicts.

[applegrove]

14. Oh sorry, I was listening to Sharon's rationalization for having the BOMB

he gave to Iran. My mistake.

He is a double liar.

Thanks for making my point.

[Coastie for Truth]

20. DR - a citation for your allegation that

Sharon gave the bomb to Iran. That's the way I diagram your sentence, Doc.

[applegrove]

25. I don't know how you misread.. but it could happen. Sorry if I was

not clear. I was being sarcastic since the reason why Israel gets to have a bomb and Iran does not is because Israel claims they would never use it unless attacked.

He gave the reason to Iran. Not the bomb. That is what I meant.

And now they fear an attack?

This is a wedgie. Perhaps Karl Rove has decided that announcing war in 2006 will help Sharon get the Palestinians 'behave' and the Iraqis - not be so much against an American permanent base.

And it wedges the Israeli hawks in the USA. It is a color coded warning (danger! danger! danger!) for them. And gives them a separate experience from the rest of democrats. You know..put the fear of god (war in Israel) into the hearts of the New York & Florida voters and watch them not be too keen on the Democratic pacifists.

It is all about New York.

That is how sociopaths do it. Terrify one part of a group and not another.. and boom the two separate.

[Coastie for Truth]

29. I worked the streets

and I think I am "plugged in" on a "micro" level.

The issues are "keep your hands off of MY social security" (the GOP fails here), and the local economy (the GOP fails here too). Among Jewish voters - Bush has already lost on "choice" and "stem cell research" and "gay rights."

Even for Jewish voters -- US military presence in the ME is not the issue that Rove thinks it is.

I work the streets and phone banks and polls - now that I am semi-retired and have the "leisure time." And my wife is an MSW social worker with Golden Agers.

[applegrove]

15. Do you think 'rational state actor' includes the Islamist Fundies in

the mid east? (ignore Iran for now).

[Coastie for Truth]

18. I was a boat driver, not a diplomat or intelligence type

My education was in engineering - not poli sci. I leave that to the intelligence types and the diplomats.

But as a news junkie - I don't think any fundies are "rational state actors." Mutually inconsistent. An oxymoron.

[applegrove]

21. Agreed. I still say this is a Sharon wedge to help Rove in NY. n/t

[Coastie for Truth]

22. Well, I worked the streets and shook hands,

and put up posters as a precinct level pol for many years -- and this will not help Rove in New York.

BTW - I held elected public office as a Democrat in a Republican county in upstate NY -- this will not help Rove "on the street."

[EVDebs]

24. And don't forget Dr K and Nixon's "Mad Man" theory during Veetnam

How we would use threats to drop the big one...

Only in the Middle East you've got no 'rational actors' and everybody wants to do as Yasser Arafat once said

"You're basically killing each other to see who's got the better imaginary friend." - Yasser Arafat (on going to war over religion)

Mutual Assured Destruction indeed.

[applegrove]

26. Mutual destruction, the death of millions of Israelis and a wedge issue

for New Yorker and Floridians.

[Coastie for Truth]

30. But the Rapture Right-Tim LaHaye "Left Behind" flavor of "Zionism"

--which is where Rove comes down - scares the hell out of Jewish voters.

[Colorado Blue]

34. Israel supposedly has had the bomb for over 30 years.

Using it is unthinkable. Reputedly, things were so bad in the Yom Kippur War, the Prime Minister (Meir) was advised to deploy but refused, dreading the loss of life.

They are ONLY for deterrent use, as the US and Russia and Nato use them.

As for the possibility of regional war, there have been so many wars over there since the end of WWII I have lost count. If you throw in North Africa, the Sudan and Central Asia, it's practically constant. The Russian war in Afghanistan lasted something like 10 years. Iran/Iraq cost something like 1,000,000 lives. Darfur is a genocide. India and Pakistan have been going at it, on the Kashmir plateau, for ages. They are both nuclear powers. Iran has recently shut down al-Jazeera, reputedly for stirring up trouble among the Arab tribes, who live in the southwest corner of Iran.

And so forth. With all the stresses of nationalism, Islamism, pro-and anti-Western forces, changes in the I/P situation, the Syria/Lebanon situation, the militias, the US in Iraq, etc., it wouldn't be hard to see how a war could spread.

I sure hope NOT.

[SweetLeftFoot]

37. Actually

didn't Meir have the bomb loaded and locked and ready to go when the US agreed to provide the aid that saved israel?

hence proving to israel that the only way to gurantee her securioty was through nuclear blackmail of the US - "the Samson Option" IE - you better save us or we'll nuke those oil fields that grease your economy?

[Colorado Blue]

39. I really don't know. I doubt if anybody does, who wasn't

THERE.

In any case, I think the US would have helped, if only for humanitarian reasons. Or perhaps you think we should have allowed a second Holocaust?

Israel is not an enemy and is not "blackmailing" the US.

On the other hand, several of the most bellicose Arab states, as well as the PLO, were armed and supported by the Soviet Union. The Soviet union also damn near destroyed Afghanistan, leaving the door wide open there for the Taliban and other extremist groups, like al Qaeda.

The politics of the Great Powers and the oil industry have been going on since the 19th century, and have caused great damage to the Jewish people in the region as well as to the Turks and Arabs and minority groups, like the Kurds. They call this "The Great Game" and people die due to this meddling. You can see it in Iraq, in spades.

Beyond that, Middle Eastern politics are very complex and can't be summed up in a few short sentences.

Here are some links to encyclopedia articles (and others) on the topic of Israel's history. They barely skim the surface but should provide a little insight.

I truly hope you will read these. All of the information contained here can be independently verified and if you have questions I hope you will not hesitate to do more research, or ask me and I will help you. It is a VERY complicated topic with roots that go back hundreds of years, and there are aspects to it that most folks just haven't studied - who has time, after all!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_War_of_Independence

Maps and Articles about USSR, 6-Day War, etc.

Below are links to several good articles about the USSR/Russia and its changing role in the Mideast, the 6-Day War, and one about the 6-Day War, the Yom Kippur War and the oil crisis. There are excellent maps appended to the articles about the war(s).

http://countrystudies.us/russia/88.htm
http://countrystudies.us/israel/109.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War

Below is a quote from an interview on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/transc ...

More about the wars:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/67_ ...
Excellent Maps

http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/MidEast/03/hern ...

http://library.thinkquest.org/20331/history/mideast.htm ...
6-Day War, Yom Kippur War and The Oil Crisis

Has Good Maps


Links to Lebanese Civil War + Information about Hizbollah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War

***

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/20...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizbollah

Black September in Jordan - how the PLO got to Lebanon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September_in_Jordan

[SweetLeftFoot]

50. Seyour Hersh

About as good a journalist as there is (and I write as a working journo) thinks they did ...

"Hersh reports that the decision was made by PM Golda Meir and her "kitchen cabinet" on the night of 8 October. This resulted in the Jericho missiles at Hirbat Zachariah and the nuclear strike F-4s at Tel Nof being armed and prepared for action against Syrian and Egyptian targets. US Sec. of State Henry Kissinger was apparently notified of this alert several hours later on the morning of 9 October, which helped motivate a US decision to promptly open a resupply pipeline to Israel (Israeli aircraft began picking up supplies that day, the first US flights arrived on 14 October)"

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Israel/Isrhist.html

I don't blame Israel for using The Samson Option. It's a tiny nation surrounded by enemies sworn to destroy it that knew genocide only 40 years beforehand.

But let's not be under any illusions about the lengths Israel will go to protect itself. Hey, I'm Aussie and I'd happily sacrifice the US to protect my own country. No offence, but that's the way it goes ...

[Coastie for Truth]

54. That's okay

"Hey, I'm Aussie and I'd happily sacrifice the US to protect my own country. No offence, but that's the way it goes ..."

I am an American, and a veteran - and I happily would sacrifice Australia to save the US. That's war - that's politics. That's diplomacy. That's the Brit way.

[Colorado Blue]

55. Ouch. And bravo. But - do you think we could maybe save

the oil wells? We have this old Chrysler and she doesn't run on air, you know:)

[eyl]

48. I doubt it

The airlifts (Operation Nickle Grass) started on October 14. AFAIR, by that time, Israel had pushed the Arab forces back (the US airlift was a response to the USSR sending the Arabs equipment because of that)

[SweetLeftFoot]

51. See post 50.

Seymour Hersh thinks it happened.

[eyl]

56. Notice the dates

I didn't say that Israel never considered the nuclear option; only that it was most likely off the table by the time the airlifts started

[Coastie for Truth]

49. A veteran of the Yom Kippur War

who was a tactical, "boots on the ground" platoon leader of the IDF (in Sinai), has stated that the perception of the "grunts on the ground exposed to fire" was that Israel was losing and suffering massive casualties. He further added this was clear from the tactical radio traffic.

Your information that "hence proving to israel that the only way to gurantee her securioty was through nuclear blackmail of the US - the Samson Option" IE - you better save us or we'll nuke those oil fields that grease your economy." may be based on after the fact, journalistic and academic studies and opinions of academicians and journalists.

I have also been in a tactical situation - I'm an old fart - served during Viet Nam and participated in the Cuban blockade.

I am also in the energy industry- alternative, renewable, and green.

[simcha_6]

52. Go with what works, I guess (n/t)

[lovuian]

8. WWIII is coming!!!

:nuke:

[LdyGuique]

9. tsk tsk -- I guess it sucks to be Sharon and Israel --

cus I don't give a ratsass and would vote to bring our troops home -- let the war criminals of Israel live with their own karma. They have done NOTHING to try and bring peace to the Middle East.

[Colorado Blue]

40. Here, you might get some insights if you take the time to

read the links I've attached. I have more information on this VERY complex and tragic situation, if you are interested.

I truly hope you will read these. All of the information contained here can be independently verified and if you have questions I hope you will not hesitate to do more research, or ask me and I will help you. It is a VERY complicated topic with roots that go back hundreds of years, and there are aspects to it that most folks just haven't studied - who has time, after all! But I've been studying it for more than 30 years, so maybe I know a little.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_War_of_Independence

Maps and Articles about USSR, 6-Day War, etc.

Below are links to several good articles about the USSR/Russia and its changing role in the Mideast, the 6-Day War, and one about the 6-Day War, the Yom Kippur War and the oil crisis. There are excellent maps appended to the articles about the war(s).

http://countrystudies.us/russia/88.htm
http://countrystudies.us/israel/109.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War

Below is a quote from an interview on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/transc ...

More about the wars:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/67_ ...
Excellent Maps

http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/MidEast/03/hern ...

http://library.thinkquest.org/20331/history/mideast.htm ...
6-Day War, Yom Kippur War and The Oil Crisis

Has Good Maps


Links to Lebanese Civil War + Information about Hizbollah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War

***

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/20 ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizbollah

Black September in Jordan - how the PLO got to Lebanon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September_in_Jordan

[simcha_6]

53. They offered Sinai, Gaza, and the West Bank back to Egypt and Jordan...

Does that not count? How about the multiple cease-fires they accepted in the late forties? In more recent years, they agreed to negotiate for a Palestinian state when the Palestinians had done nothing to deserve it (that led to the Oslo accords.) Israel's occasionally halted reprisals, even once in a while under Sharon. And Barak offered them a good deal to negotiate from in Camp David.

You should probably go to Israel and try to understand that its people like us living there, not just the aggressive colonialist Jews your post implies you to perceive.

I'm sick of demagogic ignoramuses making such insensitive asinine statements concerning the mid-East and its history. Please refrain from doing so in the future.

[Malva Zebrina]

10. US withdrawl from Iraq is a threat to Israel?

By all means then, we can never consider withdrawing from Iraq in order to protect Israel, no matter how many of our troops are killed and no matter how screwed up the occupation may be. Fight on and die all you younguns, because Israel considers if we do withdraw, they are vulnerable.

Is that a joke or what? It sounds like a con game to me.

Mr. Sharon--why don't you send your troops to Iraq ,then ,instead of advocating and cheerleading from the sidelines that our troops become dead, dismembered and rendered mentally incapacited.

Where were your troops when we invaded Iraq? Were they not there to protect your interests as you state today?

[bemildred]

11. Today's "No Shit Sherlock!" award.

Mis-states the case a bit here and there, but this was one of the
major objections to "Operation Iraqi Quagmire" in the first place.
Of all the countries in the Middle East, which has been the big
winner from Bush's firm grasp of the Iraqi tarbaby? Iran, that's
who. And who was firmly behind Bush's Iraqi adventure? Sharon, that's
who. Ohhh, the schadenfreude.

[Coastie for Truth]

16. I would say the UK, the US, and, yes, the Netherlands

through ExxonMobil, TexacoChevron, BP, and Shell. But don't worry, "Peak Oil" is coming -- and they will be hurting. ;)

This Iraqi War is the dying gasp of a dying Petroleum Based Economy, supporting a dying Petroleum-Political System.

You might Google "Peak Oil" - or try reading Professor Goodstein's "Out of Gas" or Professor Deffeyes' two books, "Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak" and "Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage"

The UK, the US, and the Netherlands were the cheer leaders. and we're still paying over $50/bbl.

[Colorado Blue]

35. Well, let's not forget the small detail called The Oil Industry

which is essentially the power behind the throne, along with several other multinational concerns.

People who think The Jews Run America are both ignorant and hopelessly naive. Big Business runs America, it always has done, since the days of slavery. It became exacerbated with the advent of the Industrial Revolution.

The slave trade fueled the textile industry and the agrarian south and the Civil War was fought because big business interests in the North feared the south would use slaves in the textile mills.

And so on. Now it is oil, in the future it will be something else.

[bemildred]

38. Oh, I don't mean to blame Iraq on Jabba, or Israel.

That credit goes to the Bushites etc. as you say. I'm not
one of the "Jews run the USA" types.

Just saying that Jabba viewed the matter of taking Saddam
out with an enthusiasm that I considered naive, at the time,
and still do.

They don't call him Bulldozer for nothing, and it's one of his
great weaknesses that he's not very subtle and tends to be on
the aggressive side. Clever, yes, wise and subtle, no.

[Colorado Blue]

41. I know YOU don't - of course not. But alas, some of the

posters to threads like this are not so well-educated:)

Thanks! See you later:)

[Coastie for Truth]

47. And, I'm not sure how one can blame it all on Sharon

with no knowledge of Sir Phillip Wall, OBE (former CEO of Shell), or Ray Lawrence (CEO of ExxonMobil) or Dave O'Reilly (CEO of TexacoChevron) or Ray Irani (CEO of OXY) -- or Jim Baker, Consigliere to the Bush Family, ExxonMobil, Carlyle, and the House of Saud. These guys were not conceived lacking original sin, nor by virgin birth. It is PETROLEUM POLITICS.

Wake up sheeple - you're paying almost $3.00/gallon for gasoline. Where is it going -- who is getting rich and who is getting ripped off. And, the average Arab proletariat in the ME street is getting ripped off as bad as the Appalachian coal miners in WV and KY. Where's the money going.

Wake up sheeple.

[uppityperson]

12. Iran and Arab allies preparing for war? You think?

What with Mr.bushandhisevilminions threatening the whole region and Iran in particular, you bet they're preparing for war.

[Mountainman]

19. The solution is obvious, we leave and Israel takes our place in Iraq.

Let our troops go back to living their lives and Isreal can do it's own fighting like it use to do.

Personally, I don't give a shit if Israel is threatened by Iran. The countries in the Middle East have been fighting since I don't know when. Maybe a little less religion a bit more tollerance would be better than holding a gun at each other's head.

[EVDebs]

27. My solution: we, the US, offer to build Iran pebble-bed nuclear plants

As was mentioned in the recent Nicholas Kristof column, that China is doing. Don't laugh yet, it could work. Who knows ? I remember when LBJ was trying to offer Ho Chi Minh dams on the Mekong...just to get out of the mess in Veetnam

[phusion]

23. More pre-Iran attack rhetoric...

Expect it to reach a crescendo by late May.

Then the direct threats come. Then the half-assed UN Resolution. Then the attack.

:nuke:

[EVDebs]

28. Scott Ritter said sometime in JUNE so you're right on the timeline phusion

www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8130.htm

"The ex-Marine turned UNSCOM weapons inspector said that George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005, and claimed the U.S. manipulated the results of the recent Jan. 30 elections in Iraq."

This petroleum madness MUST stop. Everyone is in 'pre-emption' mode right now and the game seems to be strike first, with nothing to prevent it.

I would like to hear US and Iranian people SIMULTANEOUSLY marching in the streets against any strikes. Diplomats sit down and sign treatys, even if the treaty isn't worth the paper it is written on.

[EVDebs]

43. This is also why Bush/Repubs want Bolton in the UN by May 12th !

Look at the timeline for this distraction to the Iran mess they plan on stovepiping.

The 'second front' will open up in June ?????

[Rainscents]

31. When we go into Iran... all hell going to break loose in Middle East.

:nuke:

[Coastie for Truth]

33. Looks like the ritualistic posturing that was such frightening fun

when the United Steel Workers - US Steel Contract or the United Autoworkers - General Motors contract was about three months away from renewal. You knew there would be a strike (and probably several local mom-and-pop retailers across the street from the factory would close their doors). You knew the Secretary of Labor would appoint a mediator. You knew there would be a new contract. You knew they would "split the difference" on most issues. It was a script and a ritual. But you knew there would be a new contract -- because they had to live together.

Once each side knows that the other side will not go away ...

[Behind the Aegis]

36. Sounds reasonable

The last time the US installed a government in Iraq, it came back later to bite Israel in the ass. Saddam was installed by the US. Saddam bombed Israel in the first Gulf War and then asked by the US to not respond...as if the US would have restrained itself to bombs being lobbied into our major cities. The instability in Iraq is NOT a good thing for Israel, nor for many of the neighboring states!

[Colorado Blue]

42. Ah! A reasonable explanation. Go figure. Unfortunately,

a lot of people seem to think that Israel craves war, when in fact all the people of Israel have wanted - for DECADES - is peace and a chance for a normal life.

You'd think, the neighbors would want the same.

Maybe they do, and are just victims of some VERY bad leaders.

There is no limit to what the people of the Middle East could accomplish, if they weren't constantly being dragged into this conflict or that.

Swords into plowshares, and money for water projects, trees, and some JOBS, say I, and peace will bloom like roses.

[Coastie for Truth]

44. War is not in Israel's interest

France, England, and Germany were economically destroyed by WW1.

Reagan "Won the Cold War" by making the USSR spend itself into oblivion.

Israel is destroying its economy by "military readiness" - even with massive US military aid. (Look at the numbers)

[pelsar]

45. war?...

no i cant think of anyone that i know that have been through our past wars that "is craving" for another one......and since that includes much of our population its probably fair to say that most of us here aren't craving for yet another war.

of course we arent willing to commit national suicide either