Iran’s strongman loses grip as ayatollah offers nuclear deal
Marie Colvin and Leila Asgharzadeh, Tehran


IRAN’S supreme leader is considering a change of policy on the country’s nuclear programme in an effort to defuse growing tension with the West, according to senior sources in Tehran.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...557946,00.html

well, let's see, there's Bush, Cheney, a handful of neocons, Sinner, and maybe a couple of others who are interested in a confrontation with Iran....but since it's gonna be about 10 years before Iran is even able to make all the ingredients, they have a long wait before the confrontation is gonna be nuclear.

perhaps we'll be able to put some grown-ups in the White House in the interim.

after that ,who knows..
maybe it will just happen all over again at the start of next Republican term of office :)

it tends to be approximately 10 year cycles

nah.. that would be too pat

Why the sudden change in the rhetoric and propaganda?

The nuclear fearmongering wasn't working. That's why.

Now we have "Iranians killing Americans" as the new and improved mantra for more war with absolutely 0 evidence or proof; just the Bush admin saying it is so and trying like hell to make it so.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16710690/from/RS.4/

The Bush admin: Lie Lie Lie Deny Deny Deny; then when enough time has passed say that's old news....

It's all about accountability.

We voted for a new Congress that WILL do it's job.
They had better start yesterday.

My previous replies stand. You're misinterpreting a change in style as a change in rhetoric. Honest mistake.

U.S.-Iran tensions could trigger accidental war, military and analysts say

DOHA, Qatar: Tensions between the United States and Iran have risen to the point where a war could be kicked off by mistake, an outcome that neither Tehran nor Washington wants, U.S. military officials and private analysts say.

A U.S. military official here likened the current U.S.-Iran standoff to the buildup in hostility in Europe before World War I, when a duke's assassination triggered a tragic war that engulfed a continent.

"A mistake could be made and you could end up in something that neither side ever really wanted, and suddenly it's August 1914 all over again," the U.S. officer said on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the issue. "I really believe neither side wants a fight."

Iraq is already a proxy battleground between Washington and Tehran, and the U.S. military escalation in the region — including the recent deployment of a second carrier battle group to the Gulf region and plans to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq — makes a full-blown war with Iran more likely, said Vali Nasr, an Iran expert at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

"The U.S. escalation could trigger greater conflict, especially since Iraq provides an unstable context in which it can happen," Nasr said Monday.

In Tehran, political analyst Hermidas Bavand said U.S. force increases were leading many Iranians to believe Washington is looking to pick a fight, perhaps one that would overshadow America's disastrous intervention in Iraq.

"It's an extremely dangerous situation. I don't think Tehran wants war under any circumstances. But there might be an accidental event that could escalate into a large confrontation," Bavand said. "It could be difficult to contain."

The United States and Iran are locked in an escalating series of provocations. Washington accuses Iran of arming and training Shiite Muslim extremists in Iraq. U.S. troops have responded with arresting of Iranian diplomats in Iraq, and the White House has said U.S. President George W. Bush signed an order allowing U.S. troops to kill or capture Iranians inside Iraq.

"If you're in Iraq and trying to kill our troops, then you should consider yourself a target," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said last week.

The two countries also are in dispute over Tehran's controversial nuclear program. The United States accuses Iran of secretly developing atomic weapons — an allegation Tehran denies. Iran's defiant refusal to suspend uranium enrichment lead the U.N. Security Council to impose limited economic sanctions.

The U.S.-Iran standoff complicates the Qatar-based U.S. Central Command's work overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Centcom commander Gen. John Abizaid, set to retire in March, is required to calibrate Tehran's reactions to the extra U.S. warships and troops making their way to the region. Centcom also must keeps close tabs on Iranian military maneuvers and internal political developments.

Iranian coast guard vessels recently veered into territorial waters on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf, an event that could have been viewed as either a mistake or a provocation, the U.S. officer said. Both sides are on tenterhooks.

"You see little things. A boat crosses a line. Like their coast guard. But what does it mean? You've got to be very careful about overreacting," the officer said in an interview on a U.S. base in Qatar. "It's a problem. It certainly makes Gen. Abizaid's job a lot more complicated."

Iran's military has more than 500,000 troops and an antiquated collection of ships, aircraft, ballistic missiles and other weapons. U.S. military analysts describe the Iranian military as large but ineffective.

Surrounding Iran are more than 200,000 U.S. troops in bases scattered across Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. Navy has a carrier battle group in the region and another on the way, and dozens of U.S. bombers and strike aircraft are arrayed on bases surrounding Iran.

Those U.S. bases — and not Iran's archenemy Israel — provide the likeliest targets for an Iranian strike, the U.S. officer said. Gates said this month that the Pentagon was dispatching an additional Patriot missile defense battery to the Gulf region, ostensibly to protect U.S. bases.

"We're a little closer than the Israelis. We're a better target for him," the officer said, speaking of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Any war "would be a very short and very violent fight," he said.

Nasr, the Iran expert at the U.S. Naval school, and the U.S. officer cautioned that Washington's ongoing focus on Ahmadinejad's anti-Western rhetoric may strengthen the hard-line's president's position even among his critics back home.

Continued..

Since when do the Iranians use English or is this proof that the Bush admin is secretly arming Iran?

The ineptitude of the Bush admin continues to boggle the minds of sane people everywhere.

http://cernigsnewshog.blogspot.com/2...ieve-this.html

I'd take your word that there's english on that mortar round but unfortunately you're just to stupid to trust. So where's the english?

No doubt this seems like a well informed source to you. But that's just because you're so incredibly clueless.

albed: adjective:
a: slow of mind: obtuse b: given to unintelligent decisions or acts: acting in an unintelligent or careless manner: c: lacking intelligence or reason.

You shall henceforth be known as torpid.

The perfect Bush follower.

English is the international language of business, and the metric system is ubiquitous. Believe it or not, Iranians are capable of learning English. 'HE' is the international symbol for high explosive, and people everywhere know how to use common era notation for the date. If these shells were meant to be used by people who don't speak Persian then it's only natural that they'd be labeled this way.

Since when do Iranians use English? Since long before the 1979 revolution.

Maybe if I file the point a bit...
Make it sharper...

Does that look like a shell produced in Russia?
China?

Bush admin says it came from Iran.

If you believe that then...

Here, take this shell and this hammer...

I don’t know but give me some paint and I can make it look like it is. I can make it say anything you want quite easily

Oh well then it has to be false, and it will not matter what evidence comes out because you will take the word of a American Hating dictator over your own government. Your hated is blinding you. I don’t know where it came from but if this is your proof it is from the USA, (Pretty Weak)-- I have to ask aswell – is the USA the only English speaking country in the world? I swore there where others, Yeah, wait a minuite I live in one and I am from another. Maybe they are Irish bombs? Na, that wouldn’t fit into the conspiracy so for this argument we will say the USA is the only English speaking country in the world, makes it more believable in this situation.

The Iranians do not hate America.
They don't much care for the government here though and I can't really fault them for that considering what my government has done to them over the past 60 years.

Sinner, if you are so gung ho for war why don't you come down here and apply for citizenship?
Hell the military here right now would induct you even without you being a citizen.
They would be more than happy to facilitate your desires to fight "evil dictators"; or are you like so many others; just a keyboard warrior?

I don't have much respect for a man who talks the talk but refuses to walk the walk.
That's why I have 0 respect for Bush and the rest of his "war for fun and profit" pals.

You're on a roll today, Dix. :dis:

You are right, most Iranians don’t hate anyone, including America. The Religious Leaders do and they control the country including the government and the army. The whole Great Satan thing.

I tried RD, I tried to get a green card but could not get one. I worked in the USA for a year and a half. I was in sales with a Canadian company selling to American companies, according to the Fee Trade agreement it was legal as long as the products were shipped into the country and not brought in by myself. I tried to join the Armed Forces but because of a respiratory problem I failed the medical. I wanted to fly helicopters in combat situations. I have said before I am an Irish Republican, born in Armagh but moved to Canada when I was 2. I was raised in a military family brought up knowing everything is a fight and nothing is given to you, but things are easily taken away if you allow it to happen. So maybe I am a keyboard warrior, because I cannot go to the battlefield. I am perfectly safe in my home with my son and girlfriend.

I do believe Iran is a threat and cannot be allowed to continue down the path they are on. I believe America must stay in Iraq until there is some stability and then hand over the keys, I am know occupation does not work, I was taught that through 800 years of Irish history.

I don’t have respect for your current government because of the lies and deceit that want on in Texas with the conviction of those to border guards, but that is neither here nor there.

OK. I can respect that.
Maybe I was a bit too harsh.
I didn't get much sleep last night.

No worries RD, I don’t take this type of stuff personally and what a boring world it would be if everyone got along all the time. We are not going to agree on this and we will fire back and forth at each other. You weren’t harsh at all. You are wrong though….but I will help you see the light… : )

Look at the "evidence" for yourself and decide for yourself.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/doc...?resultpage=1&

Is it Iraq redux or just more BS from the greatest BSing admin in the history of the USA?

The reason american troops are dying in Iraq is simple and it has absolutely nothing at all to do with Iran.
Look towards DC for the answer.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-u...v_b_41022.html

Lol, always squawking that same phrase. You peabrained liberals are the ones who are unhappy - to put it mildly - with the way things are so you should be the ones willing and eager to fight for the changes you want instead of throwing online hissy fits every fucking day.




That ain't gonna happen is it?

Silence property!