Wow... I'm impressed. With that word play, you must have advanced to the second grade!
What a loser, having to misquote people intentionally.
WC, your implication was clear -- you implied those soldiers who died got what they deserved because they raised serious questions about the war in the NY Times.
For someone who claims to be former military, you're a piece of and you deserve every personal attack you get for the rest of your miserable life.
Bush Setting America Up for War With Iran
By Philip Sherwell and Tim Shipman
The Telegraph UK
Tuesday 17 September 2007
Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.
Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.
Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.
Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Cheney and sanction military action.
In a chilling scenario of how war might come, a senior intelligence officer warned that public denunciation of Iranian meddling in Iraq - arming and training militants - would lead to cross border raids on Iranian training camps and bomb factories.
A prime target would be the Fajr base run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force in southern Iran, where Western intelligence agencies say armour-piercing projectiles used against British and US troops are manufactured.
Under the theory - which is gaining credence in Washington security circles - US action would provoke a major Iranian response, perhaps in the form of moves to cut off Gulf oil supplies, providing a trigger for air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities and even its armed forces.
Senior officials believe Mr Bush's inner circle has decided he does not want to leave office without first ensuring that Iran is not capable of developing a nuclear weapon.
The intelligence source said: "No one outside that tight circle knows what is going to happen." But he said that within the CIA "many if not most officials believe that diplomacy is failing" and that "top Pentagon brass believes the same."
He said: "A strike will probably follow a gradual escalation. Over the next few weeks and months the US will build tensions and evidence around Iranian activities in Iraq."
Previously, accusations that Mr Bush was set on war with Iran have come almost entirely from his critics.
Many senior operatives within the CIA are highly critical of Mr Bush's handling of the Iraq war, though they themselves are considered ineffective and unreliable by hardliners close to Mr Cheney.
The vice president is said to advocate the use of bunker-busting tactical nuclear weapons against Iran's nuclear sites. His allies dispute this, but Mr Cheney is understood to be lobbying for air strikes if sites can be identified where Revolutionary Guard units are training Shia militias.
Recent developments over Iraq appear to fit with the pattern of escalation predicted by Pentagon officials.
Gen David Petraeus, Mr Bush's senior Iraq commander, denounced the Iranian "proxy war" in Iraq last week as he built support in Washington for the US military surge in Baghdad.
The US also announced the creation of a new base near the Iraqi border town of Badra, the first of what could be several locations to tackle the smuggling of weapons from Iran.
A State Department source familiar with White House discussions said that Miss Rice, under pressure from senior counter-proliferation officials to acknowledge that military action may be necessary, is now working with Mr Cheney to find a way to reconcile their positions and present a united front to the President.
The source said: "When you go down there and see the body language, you can see that Cheney is still The Man. Condi pushed for diplomacy but she is no dove. If it becomes necessary she will be on board.
"Both of them are very close to the president, and where they differ they are working together to find a way to present a position they can both live with."
The official contrasted the efforts of the secretary of state to work with the vice-president with the "open warfare between Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld before the Iraq war".
Miss Rice's bottom line is that if the administration is to go to war again it must build the case over a period of months and win sufficient support on Capitol Hill.
The Sunday Telegraph has been told that Mr Bush has privately promised her that he would consult "meaningfully" with Congressional leaders of both parties before any military action against Iran on the understanding that Miss Rice would resign if this did not happen.
The intelligence officer said that the US military has "two major contingency plans" for air strikes on Iran.
"One is to bomb only the nuclear facilities. The second option is for a much bigger strike that would - over two or three days - hit all of the significant military sites as well. This plan involves more than 2,000 targets."
============
And of course , head and dubya and their accomplices will walk away from the entire mess into wealthy, extravagant retirement and $100K speech-making.
bearded clambake.
Small article this morning, buried back on page whatever, about
2 column inches. He changed his mind. It is time for talking
not fighting.
The Canadian Press
* Iran's nuclear ambitions; Out of Iraq
International Herald Tribune - 30 minutes ago
* Def Min: France not working on military plans against Iran
International Herald Tribune - 3 hours ago
* French defence minister says no military plan against Iran
AFP - 3 hours ago
Full coverage »
French foreign minister softens tone on war with Iran over nuclear program
22 hours ago
MOSCOW (AP) — France's foreign minister appeared Tuesday to soften his weekend warning of war with Iran if it develops nuclear weapons, emphasizing instead the need to "negotiate, negotiate, negotiate without respite."
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also had said that European leaders were considering their own economic sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt the enrichment of uranium in its nuclear program.
Kouchner, who is on his first trip to Moscow as France's top diplomat, Sunday said "we must prepare ourselves for the worst" if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, and he specified that could mean a war.
He told the French newspaper Le Monde that his comments were aimed at "drawing attention to the gravity of the crisis." On Monday, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon sought to play down Kouchner's comments, saying "France's role is to lead the way to a peaceful solution."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday shrugged off Kouchner's warning of war, saying: "We do not take these threats seriously."
After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kouchner said he meant to say that war would be "the worst thing to happen."
"Everything must be done to avoid war. It's necessary to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate without respite," he said.
Speaking on Ekho Moskvy radio after the talks with Lavrov, Kouchner said he never called for a war against Iran and was misinterpreted by media.
"We have to talk to Iranians. ... I can see that it's the best way," he said through a Russian interpreter. "It's not true that I desire war in Iran."
Lavrov warned against the use of force in Iran.
"We are seriously concerned about increasingly frequent reports that military action against Iran is being seriously considered," Lavrov said. "The result of it for the region already facing grave problems in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere is beyond conjecture."
"We are convinced that no modern problem has a military solution, and that applies to the Iranian nuclear program as well," he added said.
Kouchner said it was necessary "to work on precise sanctions that would show our seriousness and interest that we attach to a peaceful solution of this problem in line with the international norms."
Lavrov criticized the idea of unilateral sanctions by the European Union or the United States.
"If we agreed to work collectively, and that is represented in collective decisions made by the UN Security Council, then what purpose would unilateral sanctions have?" he said.
Lavrov's statement reflected a rift between Russia and the United States and other western countries that have pushed for tougher sanctions to persuade Iran to drop its uranium enrichment effort. U.S. officials have said repeatedly that all options including military strikes are on the table, but put the emphasis on diplomacy and economic levers.
He signalled Moscow's opposition to a third round of UN sanctions, praising an agreement the International Atomic Energy Agency reached with Iran aimed at resolving outstanding issues.
"We believe that the Security Council should not be pressured to step outside the framework of support for the IAEA," Lavrov said.
The United States, its European allies and other world powers suspect Iranian authorities of seeking nuclear weapons, although Iran insists its atomic activities are aimed only at producing energy.
Negotiations and two sets of Security Council sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to stop its program for uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear power plants as well as material used in atomic weapons.
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani, asked about the prospects for agreement on a third resolution, said, "Next week in New York there will be discussions to try to have a resolution. If in the framework of the UN things are not sufficient, we will act in the European framework."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is seen as taking a somewhat tougher line on Iran than his predecessor Jacques Chirac, and he is also seen as more friendly to the United States.
Russia, which has close ties to Iran and is building its first nuclear power plant, has repeatedly warned that overly harsh punishment for Iran could be counterproductive. Along with China, it has forced the U.S. and other Security Council members to water down sanctions.
Lavrov said that international negotiators should offer Iran some incentives in economic and other areas to help achieve progress in nuclear talks, adding that a settlement of the North Korean nuclear problem could serve as a model.
Hosted by Google
can someone tell me what that says?
I have the french on ignore.
Another tie in......just peaceful nations trying to get along,
and wanting sources of energy.......
Israel's daily newsmagazine
Jane's: Dozens of Iranians and Syrians died from poison gas missile blast
By Israel Insider staff September 18, 2007
Additional proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the development and deployment of weapons of mass destruction was revealed Monday in a Jane's Magazine report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.
According to the report, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas and VX gas.
The factory was created for the purpose of adapting ballistic missiles to carry chemical payloads, Jane's claimed.
Although reports of the accident were circulated at the time, no details were released by the Syrian government, nor was the Iranian connection revealed.
SANA - Syrian news agency -- at the time cited an official information source which stated that "an explosion ripped through an explosives depot in Aleppo, northern Syria, due to the high temperature that ... set off the high explosives materials. 15 soldiers were martyred and 50 were wounded. Most of the wounded were treated from their minor wounds caused by the shattered glass and left the hospital." The source The source added that " the explosion was not the result of sabotage."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had only praise Monday for Syrian President Bashar Assad Monday. "I have a lot of respect for the Syrian leader and for Syrian policy. They have internal problems, but we have no reason to rule out dialogue with Syria."
Syria is not a signatory of either the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), - an international agreement banning the production, stockpiling or use of chemical weapons, or the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Syria began developing chemical weapons in 1973, just before the Yom Kippur War. Global Security.org cites the country as having one of the most advanced chemical weapons programs in the Middle East.
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