[Peace-discuss] Look who's decrying HR 362

[Randall Cotton]

Did anything come of the plans to contact Bob Naiman about coordinated
action to influence our occasionally independent-minded Congressman Tim
Johnson regarding this issue? A group visit to Johnson's office was
suggested at the AWARE meeting Sunday before last...

R


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
To: "peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 4:16 PM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Look who's decrying HR 362


: A Phony Crisis -- and a Real One
: by Patrick J. Buchanan
: Posted 07/15/2008 ET
:
: Last week, the front pages of the world press blossomed with photos of
four
: Iranian rockets, fired in salvo, heading skyward.
:
: The image was powerful, and the message reinforced by the head of the
Iranian
: Revolutionary Guard. Should Israel attack Iran, said Ali Shira, Tel Aviv
will be
: "set on fire."
:
: U.S. reaction was swift and bristling. "Rice Says U.S. Will Defend
Gulf,"
: declared the headline over the AP story that began:
:
: "Condoleezza Rice flexed America's muscles in the Middle East Thursday,
: forcefully warning Iran the U.S. won't ignore threats and will take any
action
: necessary to defend friends and interests in the Persian Gulf. ...
:
: "Rice said Iran's leaders should understand that Washington won't
dismiss
: provocations from Tehran and has the ability to counter them. 'I don't
think the
: Iranians are too confused, either, about the capability and the power of
the
: United States to do exactly that.'"
:
: And what were the results of last week's missile crisis in the Gulf?
Tensions
: rose, strengthening Tehran's embattled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And oil
prices shot
: from $136 a barrel to a record $147.
:
: That $11-a-barrel spike alone translates into $25 million a day in fresh
revenue
: for Ahmadinejad and Co. And as the United States imports 13 million of
the 20
: million barrels we daily consume, that $11 spike in price translates
into $143
: million more sucked out of the U.S. economy every day -- into the
coffers of
: Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and OPEC.
:
: Can we not see who benefits and who pays for this war talk?
:
: Every day the war drums beat, the mullahs get richer and we get poorer.
Which
: raises the question. Was this mini-missile crisis cooked up by the
mullahs to
: rip off Uncle Sam? For by week's end it appeared the Americans had been
had,
: big-time.
:
: Saturday's New York Times reported that that photo of the four Iranian
missiles
: fired in salvo had been doctored.
:
: One rocket appears twice in the same photo. The large missile, on
inspection,
: was not the new Shahab-3b, which has a range of 1,200 miles, but a
Shahab-3a,
: with a range of 900 miles. It is no longer in production.
:
: The missiles fired with the Shahab-3a turned out to be Scuds, a
short-range
: missile that is no threat to Israel.
:
: The second day's firing turns out to have been of a single anti-ship
missile.
: Iranian TV showed one firing from three angles, making it appear as
though three
: missiles had been fired in succession.
:
: "The bottom line is that the Iranians are tweaking our noses," said
Charles
: Vick, an expert on Iran's missile forces.
:
: Under Secretary of State Nick Burns then splashed cold water on Iran's
alleged
: crash program to acquire nuclear weapons.
:
: "Iran has not yet perfected (uranium) enrichment," said Burns, "and, as
a direct
: result of U.N. sanctions, Iran's ability to procure technology or items
of
: significance to its missile programs, even dual-use items, is being
impaired."
:
: Though the ex-head of Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, says Iran may be one year
away
: from a bomb -- and will use it on Israel -- according to the latest U.S.
: National Intelligence Estimate, Iran shut down its nuclear weapons
program in 2003.
:
: Iran, says Burns, has not yet mastered the technology of converting
uranium gas
: into fuel for use in power plants, let alone the stuff of bombs. And
even if
: Iran is one day able to enrich to weapons grade, she would still have to
build
: and test a nuclear device, then weaponize it to fit atop a missile and
deploy a
: missile force. All in all, says Burns, Iran's progress with uranium
enrichment
: has been "modest."
:
: There is thus no imminent crisis to justify war on Iran.
:
: Yet, what is Nancy Pelosi's Democratic House doing?
:
: Some 220 members, a majority, have endorsed House Concurrent Resolution
362.
: This virtual war resolution "demands" that President Bush initiate a
blockade to
: halt all Iranian imports of refined petroleum products and impose
"stringent
: inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains,
and
: cargo entering or departing Iran."
:
: A Democratic House that came to power denouncing the rush to war on Iraq
is
: about to vote to demand that Bush commit an act of war against Iran.
:
: The front men for 362 are liberal Gary Ackerman of New York and
conservative
: Mike Pence of Indiana. But the juice behind them is that of the Israeli
lobby
: AIPAC, which is marching in step with Israel.
:
: Last week, Mossad's chief, Meir Dagan, was here to make the case for war
on
: Iran. This week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visits Dick Cheney and
maybe Bush.
: Next week, it is the head of Israel's armed forces.
:
: Israel and its Fifth Column in this city seek to stampede us into war
with Iran.
: Bush should rebuff them, and the American people should tell their
congressmen:
: You vote for 362, we don't vote for you.
:
: Mr. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of "The
Death of
: the West," "The Great Betrayal," "A Republic, Not an Empire" and "Where
the
: Right Went Wrong."
:
: Copyright © 2008 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
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