Comments on: Do We Have The Courage To Stop War With Iran? (By Ray McGovern)

By: Teaeopy

Teaeopy — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:21:00 +0000

There’s something that just won’t die; i.e., the belief that major military objectives can be achieved from air and sea with limited implications for ground forces. What consequences of an air and missile attack on Iran would not have extensive implications for ground forces?

With all of the administration’s support-the-troops hype, I wonder why we’re hearing very little in the administration’s Iran-related statements about deployments, extensions, and call-ups.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:51:39 +0000

Has anyone answered SusanUnPC yet? What do we do that can stop this war? King didn’t stop Vietnam. He didn’t put a dent in it. People all over the world have been protesting this war since before it started – no dice. We’ll protest it again on Sept. 15th. Nothing will happen.

By: Centrocitta

Centrocitta — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:56:34 +0000

Mexico is too close to Texas. There are thousands of retired military living down there. I was living there myself in 2000. A US citizens group run by retired military organized the absentee voting. They collected all the ballots but didn’t mail in (on a timely enough basis) the votes for Al Gore. After the election, the registered Democrats received notices that their ballots had not arrived in time and their votes were not counted. I still have my receipt. I will never part with it.

Also, lots of crime happening to American citizens in Mexico. On the very day I arrived in June 2000, a prominent couple from Dallas was murdered, execution style, in their home. Of course, the Dallas husband DID have some illegal land deals happening at the time. And the wife was a Daughter of Texas but they killed her too.

There are plenty of places in the world ideally suited for retirement. You should think carefully before you go to Mexico. And remember, when Mexico becomes part of the North American Union, you will still be living in the USA anyway.

By: SusanUnPC

SusanUnPC — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 13:04:42 +0000

I believe you. Wish we’d known of each other back then! I’d forgotten about that tank.

That day I got dumped off by the bus and had to walk downtown to try to find a taxi to get me home, I stumbled on to a protest and then saw this huge phalanx of cops in those uniforms and was terrified I’d get caught up and teargassed. Or even arrested … they’d already arrested a Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer, etc. and thrown them in jail.

Despite my warnings, my then teen daughter went down with her friend. They brought home pockets full of rubber bullets they’d picked up off the street. Just nuts. But at least she was able to report to me the kinds of people who were the real participants in the demos — decent working people terrified about “free trade” and mainstream-type members of human rights and environmental groups. (But no media report ever mentions any of that, just the brief violence that the police allowed to happen.)

P.S. The city/county’s refusal to run its buses through downtown — which has the main connecters for all bus routes everywhere — made it impossible for a lot of people to get to/from work that week. Minimum-wage workers had a hell of a time, and lost several days in wages. At the time, I was doing Web design for a software company so could afford a cab if need be (although cabbies had a rough time getting around too). And, unlike me, minimum-wage workers didn’t even have free bus passes. But — as I recall — the feds ordered the city/county into this “overkill” response mode. Stupid.

What it really was all about was to crush dissent, and to paint all demonstrators as wild-haired, masked “anarchists.”

By: Cee

Cee — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 05:18:54 +0000

Protesting in front of the local affiliates was also mentioned.
I don’t want the anchors left out.
Why should people who read the Pentagon scripts get to go home and not face the angry public?
The lies they tell get people killed. What price do they pay?

By: Mentifex

Mentifex — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:28:05 +0000

We can prevent a war against Iran by using the DC Madam connection to bring down Cheney and make him resign in disgrace. http://bigheaddc.com/2007/06/05/possible-dc-madam-dick-cheney-affair-raises-ire-among-concerned-citizens/ tells the story.

By: PrchrLady

PrchrLady — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 01:56:10 +0000

Yes, Betray-us is self serving, as are most of the people in positions of power, who remain close to bush, and his minions. It comes as no surprise, does it??? People tend to surrond themselves with people who think like they do. Makes life so much simpler, especially for the morally challenged such as this gang of war criminals. I pray that he will do the right thing, and tell the truth. I do not believe that will happen, although I pray I am wrong.

OT, please forgive. I have such a hard time following the conversation/thread sometimes, and sometimes miss some good comments… by the time I find them, after having to read all the comments, I forget what it was I was looking for… so, hope we can extend recent comments to about 25 or so…

anyway, wanted to share on communication with sons deployed. ALL communication is censored. Either through commercial or govt means. might be outsourced, not sure. We found mail best source, and know it had been opened at times as well. From email communications from him, my address has been watched for some time. I KNOW that my computer has been searched. As a former govt employee, as well as coming from a long line of military family, I never thought for a minute they would not check me out. My father, a former intell officer, as well as Marine, always said: “Remember, big brother is always watching you.”

Lastly what happened with the zogby idiot??? saw his first comment, then everything after that was gone when I got back. Saw you banned him, what happened???

By: GR3

GR3 — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 00:17:07 +0000

The bombing of Iran could certainly be catastrophic for France. Sarkozy doesn’t sound like a fool.
What are China and Russia saying? Something like, “Opportunity knocks!”?

By: Delia

Delia — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 22:55:34 +0000

Yesterday I put my daughter on a plane for a graduate school in Canada. The school is waiving the international tuition and giving her research assistantships and teaching assistantships. She’s not going to accumulate any debt. I also have a niece whose father is an Australian national who is attending college in that country. Because she has dual citizenship her college education is completely free. Some countries seem to think that having an educated, productive citizenry, not drowning in debt, is in their best interest. I guess they’re the ones who aren’t spending all their resources on a military that’s trying to control the world while their own population slips further and further into need.

I can’t speak for my sister’s hopes for her daughter, but I hope mine can find a job up north. Another war will finish us. What is it going to take to root out this dreadful drive toward empire? It does nothing for the most of us, those of us who don’t run vast multi-national industries. Yet the costs we’re being asked to pay go higher and higher.

By: Fred C. Dobbs

Fred C. Dobbs — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 21:21:59 +0000

The only evidence that Petraeus is NOT channeling Westmoreland is that we haven’t heard any promises to bring, “…our boys home by Christmas,” or that he sees, “Light at the end of the tunnel.”

But then, I’m pretty old, too, so forgive me for thinking that This Movie Has Already Played Here.

Awaiting an attack on the MADDOX and TURNER JOY…and a Persian Gulf Resolution.

By: Shirin

Shirin — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:44:45 +0000

Are you kidding? Petraeus cares about one thing and one thing only, and that is self aggrandizement. He will do whatever he thinks will help him promote himself and his career. Right now he seems to think serving the regime is the way to get ahead.

By: Shirin

Shirin — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:41:15 +0000

The US has, of course, been waging wars of aggression for a very long time. This would appear to be the first time it has ever come this close to becoming a police state, and it IS scary.

By: Shirin

Shirin — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:36:49 +0000

On a similar note, as far as I know there have not been any actions at all targeting the media. What about demonstrations outside the offices and facilities of the major networks? Every major metropolitan area has TV and radio station affiliates and they have offices and broadcast facilities that could be the location of rallies, or regular pickets. I think that might be even more affective than actions outside the homes of anchors, who mostly really don’t have much to say about what they present in their broadcasts.

By: John Shreffler

John Shreffler — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 17:00:28 +0000

Yeah, a friend of mine now call him General Betray-Us. Both he and Gates were brought in to run the surge, which would have been against anyone’s better judgment and they’ve thus been hooked and aren’t going to stop any attack on Iran. In for the penny, in for the pound.

By: Cee

Cee — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:58:20 +0000

But the police were terrifying — they had on the most frightening heavily-padded uniforms and weapons of every kind.

Sorry to keep posting!

Susan,

I was in Seattle. They also had that fast little tank.
What was most frightening was hearing the sound of their boots echoing off the buildings before you could see them coming.
It reminded me of the old Nazi SS footage.
Then came the tear gas.