Joined: Oct 15, 2004 Posts: 2196 Location: Arkansas
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 8:00 am Post subject: Re: Iran- Latest News
I'm including this article in this forum on Iran, since it involves a "perceived" threat from Iran during US November elections:
seahorse wrote:
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has been talking a lot about Iran lately. Its a bit unnerving to link it all to the upcoming Nov elections.
Quote:
Mullen Cites U.S. 'Vulnerability'
Transition to New President in Wartime Concerns the Military
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 1, 2008; A04
The nation's top military officer warned yesterday that the transition to a new American president will mark a "time of vulnerability" as the United States fights two wars, and he said military leaders are already actively preparing for the changing of the guard.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, said the U.S. political transition will be "extraordinarily challenging," particularly as the military is engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and faces interference in both countries from Iran.
"Iran is not going away," Mullen said. "We need to be strong and really in the deterrent mode, to not be very predictable" regarding Iran, he said in a meeting with editors and reporters at The Washington Post.
Mullen spoke on a day when Pentagon officials announced that a second U.S. aircraft carrier group, the USS Lincoln, had arrived in the Persian Gulf for a brief overlap with another carrier. Having two carriers in the Gulf will provide additional air power for strikes and reconnaissance in the combat zone, giving commanders added flexibility, said Lt. Gen. Carter F. Ham, the Joint Staff operations chief. "It allows us, also, to demonstrate to our friends and allies in the region a commitment to security in the region," he said.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that the carrier could serve as a "reminder" to Iran. But its presence is part of a regular fluctuation of U.S. Navy ships in the region and does not mark an "escalation" of force, he told reporters traveling with him in Mexico.
In a wide-ranging interview, Mullen detailed how Iran continues to supply weapons, training and financing to insurgents not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan. He said the Iranian involvement with Taliban fighters "mirrors what they are doing with Iraqis," although on a smaller scale.
"There's training going on, weapons which are entering," as well as technology -- assistance that is "very well connected" with the Taliban leadership, particularly in western Afghanistan, he said.
A State Department annual report on terrorism released yesterday said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or Quds Force, last year provided to the Taliban grenades, mortars, 107mm rockets and possibly shoulder-fired air defense weapons.
In Iraq, the report said, Iranian authorities continued to supply Shiite militias with advanced rockets, sniper rifles and explosively formed projectiles (EFPs), which have killed thousands of coalition and Iraqi forces. U.S. troop casualties rose in April to 48, the highest number since September, partly as a result of intensified fighting with Iranian-backed militias in Baghdad and elsewhere.
Mullen said recent unrest in the southern Iraqi city of Basra demonstrated that Iran is "very interwoven into southern Iraq in ways that had not been highlighted," adding that "they want to have a weak Iraq."
Offering an unusual insight into how senior military leaders are anticipating the transition to a new president, Mullen said he is continually thinking about how military decisions taken today will play out under a new administration.
"There are very few either briefings or meetings that I'm in that I'm not thinking about 'How does what we're talking about right now transition to next spring?' " Mullen said. He said U.S. commanders in regions overseas, as well as chiefs of the different services, are having similar discussions.
The transition is unlikely to be smooth, predicted Mullen, who assumed his position seven months ago for a two-year term. He said he hopes to offer a stabilizing influence as a military leader who will bridge two administrations.
"We will be tested. . . . I'm preparing that this country will be tested, and I have a role in that regard, certainly providing advice to whoever the new president's going to be," he said. He said his current priority is to develop military strategies for the Middle East and the globe to "tee up" for a new president.
Specifically, Mullen said he hopes that the change in politically appointed leaders will unfold at a wartime pace, rather than at a "peacetime" one. "I think it's important for us to get as many principals in positions as rapidly as possible in a time of war," he said.
Joined: Apr 27, 2007 Posts: 4353 Location: The Great Sonoran Desert
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject: Re: Iran- Latest News
As I have said before s "elections" will be "postponed" due to civil unrest.
We are being prepared for the "test". _________________ "There must be a bogeyman; there always is, and it cannot be something as esoteric as "resource depletion." You can't go to war with that." Emersonbiggins
"... hope is a rotten-thighed whore" Niko Kazantzakis
No US presidential election has ever been postponed.
Abraham Lincoln was urged by some aides to suspend the election of 1864 - during the US Civil War - but despite the expectation that he would lose, he refused.
"The election is a necessity," Lincoln said. "We cannot have a free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forgo, or postpone, a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered us."
No US presidential election has ever been postponed.
Abraham Lincoln was urged by some aides to suspend the election of 1864 - during the US Civil War - but despite the expectation that he would lose, he refused.
"The election is a necessity," Lincoln said. "We cannot have a free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forgo, or postpone, a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered us."
A near certanity.
The human species has never been on the cusp of a complete and total destruction of its economic, food, and energy systems.
History should not be considered as a guage of what is ahead of us. _________________ "There must be a bogeyman; there always is, and it cannot be something as esoteric as "resource depletion." You can't go to war with that." Emersonbiggins
"... hope is a rotten-thighed whore" Niko Kazantzakis
No US presidential election has ever been postponed.
Abraham Lincoln was urged by some aides to suspend the election of 1864 - during the US Civil War - but despite the expectation that he would lose, he refused.
"The election is a necessity," Lincoln said. "We cannot have a free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forgo, or postpone, a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered us."
A near certanity.
The human species has never been on the cusp of a complete and total destruction of its economic, food, and energy systems.
History should not be considered as a guage of what is ahead of us. _________________ "There must be a bogeyman; there always is, and it cannot be something as esoteric as "resource depletion." You can't go to war with that." Emersonbiggins
"... hope is a rotten-thighed whore" Niko Kazantzakis
Joined: Apr 27, 2007 Posts: 4353 Location: The Great Sonoran Desert
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 7:19 pm Post subject: Re: Iran- Latest News
BigTex wrote:
roccman wrote:
A near certanity.
The human species has never been on the cusp of a complete and total destruction of its economic, food, and energy systems.
History should not be considered as a guage of what is ahead of us.
Greater than 90% would you say?
Yes -
This has been in the making for years.
In an effort to keep this thread from being tossed in the tin foil bin I will leave it at this. _________________ "There must be a bogeyman; there always is, and it cannot be something as esoteric as "resource depletion." You can't go to war with that." Emersonbiggins
"... hope is a rotten-thighed whore" Niko Kazantzakis
Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 1583 Location: Nez Perce Nation
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject: Re: Iran- Latest News
His Rockfulness said: "A near certanity."
I'm skeptical. Can you elucidate? I can be swayed by logic and facts. _________________ "Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett
"It will be a dark time. But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
-- James Lovelock
Joined: Apr 27, 2007 Posts: 4353 Location: The Great Sonoran Desert
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 8:51 pm Post subject: Re: Iran- Latest News
DomusAlbion wrote:
His Rockfulness said: "A near certanity."
I'm skeptical. Can you elucidate? I can be swayed by logic and facts.
That's with two CCs... Rocc...like the Rocc of Ages...Rocc of Gibraltar...Rocc and Roll...Rocc you like a hurricane...
Savvy...??
To your question...McCain is dreaming...so we go to war...for oil. _________________ "There must be a bogeyman; there always is, and it cannot be something as esoteric as "resource depletion." You can't go to war with that." Emersonbiggins
"... hope is a rotten-thighed whore" Niko Kazantzakis
Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 1583 Location: Nez Perce Nation
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject: Re: Iran- Latest News
The link led me to MSNBC -- Got a nice ad telling me how Boeing was leading us into the future, but no news clip. Just a gentle reminder why I'm glad we have no TV.
Certainly you see something coming. It makes sense to you, so it could possibly make sense to others.
Can you share? _________________ "Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett
"It will be a dark time. But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
-- James Lovelock
Joined: Apr 27, 2007 Posts: 4353 Location: The Great Sonoran Desert
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 9:26 pm Post subject: Re: Iran- Latest News
DomusAlbion wrote:
The link led me to MSNBC -- Got a nice ad telling me how Boeing was leading us into the future, but no news clip. Just a gentle reminder why I'm glad we have no TV.
Certainly you see something coming. It makes sense to you, so it could possibly make sense to others.
Can you share?
I did share my rocc of knowledge...
You need to allow the video to load after a 15 sec commercial.
Then you need to watch the video.
Then you need to pay close attention to what the Neo Con McCain says.
He says, he has a plan ...
a plan to reduce our oil dependency...
a plan that does not include sacrificing our children...
so McCain says the war in Iraq was for oil.
STOP!
Think about that.
Stop!!!
Really stop and think about that.
McCain has a plan.
Really - ?? a plan that reduces the US' dependency on oil...
Really?
Does such a plan exist?
MEND has a plan too...and it includes killing for their oil.
If a plan does not exist...and it surely does not under a business as usual mindset...
THEN...
WE GO TO WAR!!
Where you ask?
The golden triangle.
It hath been foretold.
STOP and think about what McCain said.
He has a plan.
No he does not.
He is a Fark neo con...
We go to war...
with Iran. _________________ "There must be a bogeyman; there always is, and it cannot be something as esoteric as "resource depletion." You can't go to war with that." Emersonbiggins
"... hope is a rotten-thighed whore" Niko Kazantzakis
Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope."
Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan – but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines – up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups.
This is not going to end well at all... _________________ "There must be a bogeyman; there always is, and it cannot be something as esoteric as "resource depletion." You can't go to war with that." Emersonbiggins
"... hope is a rotten-thighed whore" Niko Kazantzakis
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 5907 Location: New Jersey
Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: Re: Iran- Latest News
It's interesting to see that Iran has been holding oil supplies off the market.
Granted their oil is of a lower quality (sour) that is not in high demand right now. However it can be sold at not too great of a discount. Perhaps they belive they will be attacked and/or are intentionally withholding oil to drive up the price.
Iran Doubles Oil Stored in Tankers, Bolstering Rates
May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, more than doubled the amount stored in tankers idling in the Persian Gulf, sending ship prices higher as demand for some of its crude fell, people familiar with the situation said.
The 10 tankers hold at least 20 million barrels of oil, equal to about 5 days of the country's output, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn't public. Rates for tankers have more than tripled since April 8, based on data from the Baltic Exchange and ship-fuel prices.
While oil rose to a record $119.93 a barrel on April 28, Iran has a glut of its sulfur-rich crude as refineries that can process the fuel shut down for maintenance. The discount on Iranian Heavy crude compared with Oman and Dubai petroleum has more than doubled since the start of the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
BAGHDAD, May 4 -- The Iraqi government said Sunday that it has "concrete evidence" Iran is fomenting violence in Iraq and that a high-level panel had been formed to document the proof.
Quote:
"There is an interference and evidence that they have interfered in Iraqi affairs," Dabbagh said in an interview arranged by a U.S. official. When asked how he would characterize the proof that Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq, he said: "It is a concrete evidence."
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