Game On: Whitehouse considers action on Iran…

This is just flat out insane. Even after getting their asses handed to them in the mid-term elections, Bush & Co. are trying to act like they are unaccountable to anyone. They’re under the impression that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want without congressional approval. That might have been the case when the Repubs were ruling the house, but now that the opposition party is in charge, they’ll have to either get in line or pay the consequences…

Right now the Democrats have been tossing over the first shots, passing bills that will prevent higher deficits and also protect the Alaska Coast from drilling. For a President that hardly vetoed anything (included bills filled with pork) by his fellow repubs… we’re about to see Bush make up for that with one veto after another sent by the Democrats. But now the real fight might be coming around the corner. Turns out there is word coming form the Whitehouse that military action against Iran might be coming. Not only that, but the oval office is trying to push the idea that they can do that without any approval from congress. Sure, whatever!

Congress has the right to approve or revoke the war measures act, something the President has zero control over. If the whitehouse were to continue trying to start a second war in the Middle East without Congressional approval, I guess the next logical step would be a long, overdue impeachment. Even if that isn’t considered, Congress could pull the plug on Iran by cutting funding to Iraq and the military. Oversight can be a bitch, eh?

I posted an entry two years ago about the dangers of invading Iran, titled ‘Definitely a bridge too far…’. In that entry, I detailed many good reasons why the US should not attempt any military action against Iran. If you thought Iraq was a horrific money pit, Iran would make that war look like a cheap discount. If you thought Vietnam had a high body count, Iran would pass 20,000 dead troop mark in less than a year on the ground. If you thought Iraq right now is a handful, Iran has an organized military, an air force and ballistic missiles. I think Iran is more than capable of defending themselves as they’ve been arming and rearming for over two decades since hostilities ended with Iraq in 1987.

And don’t you think for a minute that this action into Iran can be a quick air strike and it’s over kind of war. Any air strike against any of Iran’s nuke plants would result in a full retaliation strike against US forces in Iraq and Isreal. Then the war would be on whether you want it or not.

And what about Bush, do you think he’ll listen to anyone who tries to warn him about the dangers of attacking a nation like Iran. Hell, no! He’s not accountable to anyone, not even the voters. With no re-election to worry about in 2008… Bush is free to do what he wants without any worry about backlash from the voters. This is like giving the town drunk the keys to the bar at 8pm. Anything is possible when you have this kind of power in one man’s hands. If he’s crazy enough to consider military action on Iran when Iraq is still a horrible bloody mess… you know the man is capable of anything.

Think about it this way:

– If King George is willing to ignore the constitution and give out wire taps without any legal warrants, what makes you think he’ll honor the two term rule?

– If a President and administration has so little regard for the military as to cut their benefits and prevent them from trying to legally finish their combat duties during a time of war… what makes you think he won’t hesitate to put in a draft?

– President Dumbass never listened to the critics that said Iraq was a mistake and the price we would have to pay post-war… so what makes you think he’ll listen now?

– Can you really expect someone who has no respect for international law or the geneva conventions to have respect or regard for any of your rights?

Think about those for a while… because a review of this corrupt administrations actions over the last seven years should be enough to tell you that they are not to be trusted. They’re capable of anything, especially since they have no future elections to worry about and are literally backed into a corner.

Scary… but very, very true.

Peter

White House: Can’t rule out attack on Iran

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House said Sunday it is not planning military action against Iran, but refused to rule out the possibility, bucking pressure from several senators who said the administration is not authorized to do so.

Asked whether the United States is preparing for a potential military conflict with Iran, President Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “No, the president has said very clearly that the issues we have with Iran should be solved diplomatically.”

But, on ABC’s “This Week,” Hadley would not rule out the possibility of such an attack and would not say whether he agrees with those senators who say that the Bush administration would need congressional backing for such a move.

The sharp questioning about U.S. plans for Iran followed Bush’s address to the nation Wednesday night announcing his strategy for Iraq, in which he vowed the United States “will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.” (Full story)

The Bush administration accuses Iran of sending fighters into Iraq and attacking U.S. troops. Tehran denies the charges.

“The priority is what’s going on in Iraq,” Hadley told ABC. “That’s the place where the activity’s occurring. That’s the best place… for us to take this on.”

Asked repeatedly whether the United States has the authority to enter Iran if it believes doing so would help prevent attacks, Hadley did not answer. Then came this exchange:

Host George Stephanopoulos: “So, you don’t believe you have the authority to go into Iran?”

Hadley: “I didn’t say that. This is another issue. Any time you have questions about crossing international borders, there are legal issues.”

Several senators have voiced opposition to the idea of the United States entering Iran.

Last week, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Delaware, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a hearing on Iraq, “I believe the present authorization granted the president to use force in Iraq does not cover that, and he does need congressional authority to do that.”

Rice did not rule out entering Iran or give a position on whether the Bush administration would need congressional approval.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, told Rice, “No one in our government can sit here today and tell Americans that we won’t engage the Iranians and the Syrians cross-border.”

Comparisons to Vietnam war
“When our government lied to the American people and said, ‘We didn’t cross the border going into Cambodia,’ in fact, we did,” Hagel said, referring to the Vietnam war. “So, Madam Secretary, when you set in motion the kind of policy that the president is talking about here, it’s very, very dangerous.”

During the Vietnam war, the Nixon administration denied U.S. troops were conducting raids into neighboring Cambodia to stop the flow of weapons to South Vietnam’s communist insurgency.

The Bush administration says dramatic action must be taken in Iraq to halt alleged Iranian meddling.

Vice President Dick Cheney took that message to “Fox News Sunday,” saying, “It’s been pretty well-known that Iran is fishing in troubled waters, if you will, inside Iraq. And the president has responded to that. … I think it’s exactly the right thing to do.”

Tehran: U.S. violates ‘diplomatic norms’
Iranian officials portray the U.S. assertions as trumped-up lies aimed at fomenting tension and backing “illegitimate” actions against Iranians in Iraq.

Tehran’s complaints follow several steps by the U.S. military against Iranian officials in Iraq, including the detention last week of five people who the United States said are linked to the Iranian military. (Full story)

Seyed Mohammad-Ali Hosseini, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, called the U.S. actions “illegal.”

He accused the United States of violating “international conventions and diplomatic norms,” and called on the United States “to immediately release the Iranian consular employees and pay for damages” that the military action caused to the building, Iran’s government-run media outlet IRNA reported.

But the U.S. military, in a news release, said preliminary information revealed the five detained Iranians “are connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard – Qods Force, an organization known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilize the government of Iraq and attack coalition forces.”

Iraqi FM cites ‘brotherly relations’
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he phoned his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, on Friday to assure him that steps were being taken to free the five.

In a written statement, Zebari said he told Mottaki that he hoped the incident “would not affect the brotherly relations between the two peoples and the two neighbor countries.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he does not believe Bush is looking to open a front in Iran.

“But I think it’s very, very important that if Iranians are in Iraq paying people to be suicide bombers, to help the training and equipping them … it’s vital that we go after them too. Everybody knows the Iranians are playing in Iraq and they are trying to drive us out of Iraq so they can assert their age-old ambitions for influence in the Middle East. Everybody knows that. If there’s Iranians in Iraq who are doing bad things, go after them, and let’s get them.”

Reprinted from CNN.com