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Dec 6th, 2017
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 8,110 Likes: 136
veteran
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 8,110 Likes: 136 |
Anti-Iran drumbeat continues from US diplomat. They said Iran would "fill the vacuum" in Iraq if the US withdraws its troops I keep seeing this but does anyone know what it means? Does it mean Iran will invade Iraq and occupy it? Anyone??? When asked of Petraeus if the stepped up rhetoric was laying the groundwork for an invasion, he responded The question should have been, can one interpret the stepped up rhetoric as laying the groundwork for an invasion, and the answer would have to be, yes it can.
ignorance is the enemy
without equality there is no liberty
America can survive bad policy, but not destruction of our Democratic institutions
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,428 Likes: 1
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,428 Likes: 1 |
Life is Good!
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 21,134
Administrator Bionic Scribe
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 21,134 |
The target of the Iranian shelling, which began in mid-August, is a little-known Iranian-Kurdish rebel group known as the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK). About 2,000 PJAK guerillas, which Iran accuses of infiltrating across the border into the Islamic Republic, are camped out in the lime-green hills dotted with walnut trees along the Iraq-Iran border. In Rezga “there are a lot of peshmergas” armed with RPGs and Kalashnikovs, the farmer told me, using the colloquial term for Kurdish guerillas. “There are so many that I can’t count.”
At first glance, the battle in the hills of an obscure corner of Iraq seems like little more than a longstanding local dispute. Iran has been shelling the Kurdish region of northern Iraq “since forever,” says Joost Hiltermann, a Middle East expert at the International Crisis Group. As the Kurdish population of Iraq has secured a significant measure of independence from Baghdad’s central government, Tehran has worried that Iran’s own Kurdish population might take inspiration from its Iraqi counterpart. The conflict has traditionally been “totally local, with little chance of spreading,” Hiltermann says, before adding one caveat: “unless the U.S. starts to support PJAK, and you get a proxy war inside Iran.” In that case, he insists, “Iran will retaliate. [And] not necessarily in the Qandil Mountains.”
Life is a banquet -- and most poor suckers are starving to death -- Auntie Mame
You are born naked and everything else is drag - RuPaul
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,489
member
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,489 |
I wonder if the next extension (in September 2008) will include the suspension of general elections? After all, you can guarantee that "the terrorist threat continues," one way or another.
Larry
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"To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious. But the stupid have an answer for every question." - Edward Abbey
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,740 Likes: 1
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,740 Likes: 1 |
one propagandist down, and entire industry to go i hope they winkle more of em out before they bomb iran
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
(Philip K.Dick)
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,444
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,444 |
Sending regulars into Iran would be counter-productive from a propaganda viewpoint especially if they were caught i.e. remember the British sailors Iran detained. Not necessarilly. If the Iranians were holding any American soldiers, regardless of where in Iran they were siezed, the Bush Administration could just launch a "rescue" operation of a few brigades or so, along with the air strikes the Pentagon is planning. Maybe Bush could even don another flight suit for a photo-op carrier landing somewhere. In fact, having some Americans held by the Iranians would likely be the dream-come-true for the NeoConservatives now in control of our government. And, if some of them were killed, well that would be even more White House prayers answered as the US could "avenge" the atrocity. Bush is going to get his third war, no matter what.
Last edited by Philadelphia Steve; 09/13/07 08:55 PM.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,031
member
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member
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,031 |
Bergner is, of course, full of potatoes.
This is the same rocket known as the Katyusha, that was widely fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon during the summer 2006 conflict against the Israelis... I believe that Katyusha rockets, like the AK-47, are pretty much ubiquitous; can you name an irregular force of any consequence that does not have both of them?
Life should be led like a cavalry charge - Theodore Roosevelt
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 8,707
veteran
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OP
veteran
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 8,707 |
Hersh: War with Iran will be about protecting the troops in Iraq.
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 15,646
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 15,646 |
Hersh has turned out another very well-researched and important article for the New Yorker. It's a fairly long read, but worth your time, friends. The crux of my hope that a war can be averted is well expressed: - American intelligence is not widely trusted
- The memory of US duplicity in the run-up to the Iraq invasion is still very fresh
- There is a recognition that the US is not doing everything it can diplomatically
- Even the US military understands that a strike against Iran will hurt our troops in Iraq
- Iran also has the capability of striking US interests elsewhere and spreading the war
Hersh ends his essay with an anecdote about British intelligence finding an Iranian weapon in Afghanistan. The story describes how low the Bush Administration has stumbled in the world's esteem. If the US attacks Iran, IMHO, we will be seen as a pariah by more that just the Muslim world. Hersh offers much evidence to support that contention.
Steve Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love,
to respect and be kind to one another,
so that we may grow with peace in mind.
(Native American prayer)
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 8,707
veteran
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OP
veteran
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 8,707 |
Who wants to bomb Iran? Morality and legality aside, how does bombing Iran benefit US national interests? Joe
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