Posted on 08/09/2010 7:21:59 AM PDT by IbJensen
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Can you hear it?
It’s the drumbeat for war. And it’s beating louder by the day.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Eleven United States and one Israeli warships pass through the Suez Canal.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Former CIA Chief Michael Hayden says a United States military strike against Iran “seems inexorable” because diplomacy is failing.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen says the U.S. military has a plan to attack Iran.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives last week introduced Resolution 1553 which would give Israel the go-ahead to attack Iran. The resolution grants support for Israel to “…confront nuclear threats posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the use of military force…”
The neocons have never seen a war they couldn’t support, no matter the President’s party affiliation.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The end is near—so President Barack Obama tells us—for former President George Bush’s incursion into Iraq. He said last week that America’s combat mission in Iraq will end by Aug. 31. But that doesn’t mean all troops will come home. There will still be 50,000 there as August turns into September. And it’s going to be 18 more months before they all come home… if he sticks to his timeline.
We can only hope 50,000 troops are enough to prevent that governmentless nation from descending further into chaos.
For those troops that do come home, it appears they will only be home long enough to change their underwear and restock their ammunition belts before heading off to another Mideast hellhole to die… for what?
To blow up suspected nuclear sites, even though a 2007 U.S National Intelligence Estimate said that Iran had halted work on developing a nuclear warhead in 2003. Meanwhile, an unclassified military report submitted to Congress in April concluded, “Iran is developing technological capabilities applicable to nuclear weapons and, at a minimum, is keeping the option to develop nuclear weapons,” as The Washington Post reported.
A May report by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran hasn’t sufficiently cooperated to allow the agency to determine if Iraq’s nuclear activities are solely for peaceful activities.
Conflicting stories of weapons of mass destruction: Haven’t we heard this before… during the lead up to the invasion of Iraq?
If HR 1553 were to pass and Israel does strike at Iran’s nuclear reactors and nuclear sites, what then? If Iran strikes back—which President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad has said they would—and is joined by Syria, Lebanon and Hezbollah, would the U.S. then be obligated to intervene?
It would seem so. And what would be the result of such a conflagration?
Obama has pledged America’s undying support of Israel no matter what… even if he did treat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu badly during his visit to the White House earlier this year. And Israel maintains it is convinced that Iran is working to acquire nuclear weapons.
Much of the international community also seems convinced Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. The feckless U.N. Security Council has been trying to agree on sanctions against Iran for some time. China and Russia continue to hold out.
But aren’t Americans growing sick of war? Apparently the political class isn’t.
Nine years later we remain in Afghanistan, NATO allies are abandoning us and more and more of our troops are dying. Obama, with no clear-cut strategy to fight what he considers the good war, vows to continue fighting on, and any timelines he may mention mean little.
Seven years later we are still in Iraq, and at least a few thousand troops will remain there for the foreseeable future. Nineteen years later we’re still in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, even though the first Persian Gulf War supposedly ended with a good outcome.
Sixty-four years later we still have troops stationed throughout Eastern Europe and in Japan. Fifty-seven years later we still have troops stationed in South Korea. That war has not ended—no official peace treaty ever signed—and there have even been some drumbeats sounding from there. Just not as loud… yet.
But the recent U.S.-South Korea joint air and sea military exercises in the Sea of Japan intended to send a message to a recalcitrant North Korea—who has been accused of torpedoing a South Korean ship—antagonized China. And who can blame them?
What would we think if China or Russia conducted military exercises in the Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of New York or San Francisco? Either Obama and the Pentagon were naive to the implications of conducting war games in the area, or they conducted them intending to raise tensions in the area.
Boom. Boom.
According to the think tank Foreign Policy In Focus, there were 865 Pentagon-confirmed U.S. troop base sites located off U.S. soil in 2009. But this number doesn’t include all of the bases being used in Iraq and Afghanistan—as many as 150 more.
There are 268 bases in Germany, 124 in Japan and 87 in Korea. Others are scattered around the globe in Aruba, Australia, Bulgaria, Bahrain, Colombia, Greece, Djibouti, Egypt, Qatar, Romania, Singapore and Cuba, to name just a few.
The bases are draining our economy of billions of dollars a year. Isn’t it time we ended Empire America? Isn’t it time we brought our troops home?
There would still be work for them to do. Our border with Mexico is under assault.
But the military-industrial complex might not be as happy about that. Stopping Mexican paramilitary units and drug cartel thugs isn’t as lucrative as dropping bunker busters on Iran and North Korea… and maybe China.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Former CIA Chief Michael Hayden says a United States military strike against Iran “seems inexorable” because diplomacy is failing.
Diplomacy is failing because the other side has no interest in diplomacy except as a means to keep the West off their back until their nuclear programs are completed.
Who wrote this? John Lee Hooker?
It’s not that there aren’t legitimate American interests in various parts of the globe. The problem is that we never go in to “win”.
We worry more about our image and our enemies casualties than ourselves.
I would die for my country, but not for some BS political excercise.
Wow - I didn't know anybody actually still believed that report.
Boom boom boom boom.
Gonna shoot you right down.
Right off a your feet.
Take you home with me.
Put you in my house.
Boom boom boom boom.
A-Haw Haw Haw Haw!
HEY HEY!
I love to see you strut
up and down the floor
When you talking to me,
that baby talk
I like it like that
Whoa, yeah!
Talk that talk, walk that walk
When she walk that walk,
and talk that talk,
and whisper in my ear,
tell me that you love me
I love that talk
When you talk like that,
you knocks me out,
right off of my feet
Hoo hoo hoo
Talk that talk, and walk that walk
by John Lee Hooker
“inexorable”? Someone has been bitten by a Thesaurus.
Nah! John Lee’s lyrics are much better.
So what’s Boom Boom’s advice in this article? End Empire America and kick Mexico’s butt? Then what? Nation build in Mexico? Put them all on the health care system? It’s the same old assumption that without troops overseas and the military industrial complex nobody will be mad at us or try to take advantage of us. Oh yeah and we won’t need anyone else because we built windmills or something? This seems to push the same old anti-war buttons without much of a serious plan about how to get there.
Until such time as we face facts and understand that a victor will be crowned one way or another, then we are just being irrational. The end game is coming, and I fear, very soon.
Nothing like a military strike to stir-up some pro-American support for the President just before the mid-term elections. Another October surprise. Will the voters go for it? Just wondering...
Maybe this will be timed to go with the mortgage foregiveness/restructuring surprise as a way to buy some support for this flagging Administration.
Never let democrats lead you into a war. Never.
As long as its paid for.
And you believe that, Mr. Livingston?
But there’s a marxist mulsim apologist in the White House.
Fizzle. Fizzle. Fizzle.
Actually I believe that too but I also believe that right afterwards when they found out that we weren't coming for them next they started up the program again along with advanced IED development. And over in Libya Kadafy has to be kicking himself for being so gutless and turning over all his research.
Yep, right outside the Soul Food Cafe.
“Best damn chicken in the state.”
This is nothing but an anti-military liberal blog. Hardly news, much less breaking news.
“This is nothing but an anti-military liberal blog. Hardly news, much less breaking news.”
Really. From the site (and my personal knowledge).
“Bob Livingston is an ultra-conservative American who has been writing a newsletter for 41 years.”
Perhaps a warmonger could make such a statement as yours, but a conservative wouldn’t.
Hank
So why did we take out Iraq who was the enemy of Iran? FUBAR
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