No 'Good Friday' attack on Iran last night?

[Earth_First]

:shrug:

[Pathwalker]

1. Congress wouldn't give them the money, so they

couldn't steal the Iraq money for the assault on Iran. Plus, the British refused to help. That's why all the pndits are spitting mad.

[liberal N proud]

2. Could be he is going to steal the Easter news for the attack

I still have not ruled out the possibility that they are going to use the Christian holiday to launch another war.

[whistle]

3. Bush needed the $122 billion from the emergency Iraq spending bill

...which he doesn't have yet. Given that he has not made his move on Iran, congress should on coming back retract the emergency funding bill and instead pass a bill to end the Iraq involvement now and bring the troops home.

[TheWraith]

4. It has nothing to do with the funding. There never was an attack plan. NT

[Leopolds Ghost]

19. I guess, then, if we DO attack like politicians and journalists are constantly threatening

"No one could have forseen it actually happening".

It will be an attack no one really wanted or expected, but their hand was forced, eh?

[scarface2004]

5. according to al jazeera..

tehran was attacked with many civilian casualties..being covered up to conceal the crimes against humanity.

[The Magistrate]

6. There Never Was Going To Be One, Sir

The root source for the claim was a Russian bunch that is well known for flat out making things up, and their fiction was picked up by a number of persons who make a business of exploiting credulity, such as Tarpley and Jones and their ilk. The whole thing was nothing more than a commercial amusement aimed at people who enjoy the experience of fright without danger: as they say, there is no accounting for tastes....

[Name removed]

15. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Leopolds Ghost]

20. No reason not to ask: in what way is this guy Chossudovsky discredited by Russian allegations?

I see no indication that Chossudovsky is giving any credence to the date-certain reports put out by figures such as the Russian "journalists", or Sy Hersh.

"While the Russian report must be acknowledged, there is, however, no corroborating evidence, which would enable us to pinpoint the exact timeline of a military attack on Iran.

Moreover, there are several important factors which suggest, from a military organizational standpoint, that unless we are dealing with a case of sheer political madness, the Pentagon is not ready to launch an attack on Iran."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20070401&articleId=5247

Therefore, I have no reason to dismiss his claims off the bat, since he is NOT arguing in favor of Sy Hersh's and these other people's ridiculous notion that an attack is bound to happen on a pre-planned date.

I suggest that all responsible DUers should call more attention to the loss of credibility on Sy Hersh's part, due to his date-certain pronouncements, instead of saving all their ire for figures such as Jason Leopold and various unknown Russian and Arab "journalists". (I have no way of knowing if you agree, but plenty of folks were heaping ire on those people, but not on those of us that listen to Sy Hersh. In fact, I have no clue what gets people so riled up about Leopold, or in disproving foriegn "journalists" who are probably not journalists in the first place.)

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. When did Sy Hersh give "date-certain pronouncements"?

I can find, for example, a recent article saying an attack would possible this spring, but that the military didn't think Bush would be stupid enough to order it:

Still, the Pentagon is continuing intensive planning for a possible bombing attack on Iran, a process that began last year, at the direction of the President. In recent months, the former intelligence official told me, a special planning group has been established in the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, charged with creating a contingency bombing plan for Iran that can be implemented, upon orders from the President, within twenty-four hours.

In the past month, I was told by an Air Force adviser on targeting and the Pentagon consultant on terrorism, the Iran planning group has been handed a new assignment: to identify targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq. Previously, the focus had been on the destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities and possible regime change.

Two carrier strike groups—the Eisenhower and the Stennis—are now in the Arabian Sea. One plan is for them to be relieved early in the spring, but there is worry within the military that they may be ordered to stay in the area after the new carriers arrive, according to several sources. (Among other concerns, war games have shown that the carriers could be vulnerable to swarming tactics involving large numbers of small boats, a technique that the Iranians have practiced in the past; carriers have limited maneuverability in the narrow Strait of Hormuz, off Iran’s southern coast.) The former senior intelligence official said that the current contingency plans allow for an attack order this spring. He added, however, that senior officers on the Joint Chiefs were counting on the White House’s not being “foolish enough to do this in the face of Iraq, and the problems it would give the Republicans in 2008.”

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh

Are you saying Hersh has been more specific than this?

[CJCRANE]

7. Ahmedinajad defused the tension

by releasing the British captives.

[The Magistrate]

8. The Prediction Was Made, Sir, Long Before There Were Any English Captives

It was being touted here back at the start of March, as an iron-clad certainly revealed by impeccable authorities, something that was baked in the cake and could be taken to the bank, pure gold....

[CJCRANE]

10. Excuse me sir

but for an attack to take place a trigger or casus belli is needed.

Blair said the "next 48hrs is critical" just before the captives were released. So either Ahmedinajad blinked or (as I think) the Syrians or some other country warned him and he turned the release into a PR stunt to save face and fend off attack.

[The Magistrate]

14. This Was Announced, Sir, By Its Pronoters

As a planned sneak attack, for which orders had already been dispatched. This was claimed early in March, long before any English sailors and marines were in Iranian hands. The claims had nothing to do with the recent incident, no more than they ever had to do with the realities of the situation. They were made up tales, for amusement only....

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. Excuses, excuses.

The prediction was wrong. It was bullshit. Admit it. Just like every other prediction of military action against Iran.

[CJCRANE]

11. Ahmedinajad out-maneuvered them.

Keeping the captives would have increased the likelihood of attack. Just go and see what John Bolton and other hardliners had and have been saying.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. No, no, NO.

Again with the excuses. This prediction predated the "crisis." If anything, this just shows how retarded it is to make predictions of an attack on a particular date. Either way your point is rubbish.

[Leopolds Ghost]

17. Why are some DUers so insistent on the notion that an Iran attack is unthinkable?

Often the same DUers who argue that Iran is evil?

And yet, because our gov't is so rational and pure at heart,
we would never do an unprovoked attack on Iran?

I wonder what you guys would be saying if a provocation broke out?

My guess is:

"As you all know, I have never been in favor of a war on Iran,
I have always believed it to be unthinkable. There was never any
reason to believe Bush wanted to attack Iran. But this aggression
by Iran cannot stand..."

I call it the "Richard Cohen approach".

It's similar to the strange insistence on getting DUers banned
for defending Jason Leopold, as if DUers had some personal stake
in whether or not Karl Rove was prosecuted in a scandal none of us
have the goods on.

As the romans say, cui bono?

[Leopolds Ghost]

18. You could also call it the "goose in a new world gambit".

"I am shocked, shocked that we actually went to war with Iran! Now is not the time to claim that Bush was deviously planning this all along..."

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

26. Why are some DUers...

...so insistent that they know the date of the attack, eh?

[Telly Savalas]

12. Nope. But I'm sure we'll be getting similar bullshit predictions with a new date

pretty soon.

[Leopolds Ghost]

16. The attack plans are under seal and have been delivered to Generals

But can't be made public because of a last-minute plea by Ahmadinejad.

Give them 48 business hours.

I can't tell you my sources but I'd bet my reputation as a journalist... :evilgrin:

[loudsue]

21. Let's look at how it all unfolded, and why the media is so pissed.

1) Brittain & the US have deployed a HUGE naval presence to the area.

2) One Brittish ship turns loose 15 of their sailors, in a tiny boat, and they end up in a position 12 MILES FROM THE MOTHER SHIP (??? ) that Iran claims as their territory. Now, I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm pretty sure the Brits & Americans KNOW DAMN GOOD & WELL which waters Iran considers theirs, even if these waters have been in "dispute" with Iraq from time immemorial. So, like any sovereign nation would do (especially one who is continually being threatened with invasion), they capture these 15 sailors. (Now, WHY again were these 15 sailors that far away from the mother ship? )

3) The Brits & the U.S. make a huge ordeal out of this capture, and start their bullying tactics (same as always before invasion).

4) Iran keeps the sailors for a couple of weeks, and then, lo & behold, turns them loose right before the pre-determined date for invasion.

5) The media in the U.S. -- DO NOT FORGET THAT THEY ARE PART OF THE REPUBLICAN MACHINE, AND OBVIOUSLY HAVE INSIDE INFORMATION -- are furious at the Brit sailors, for a number of reasons... the main reason being that the media didn't get the new war they were promised when these sailors were put there in the first place.

It is SO classically bush/blair/MSM (all part of the same group) that the transparency of it makes you want to laugh. Iran pissed in the bush/blair/media's cheerios.

:kick::kick::kick:

[CJCRANE]

22. Bingo! Thank you.

Everyone please read up on the Sunday Times article from a week before predicting that Iran wanted to take captives to make a point about the Iranians detained in Iraq (i.e. British intelligence knew well in advance what could happen).

Once the British sailors were taken captive Blair did NOTHING that would actually aid in getting them back - he ESCALATED the situation. Then he basically gave Iran a 48hr ultimatum and knowing that Ahemadinajad was a hothead it seemed unlikely that he would back down. If Ahmedinajad had not backed down Blair's next gambit could have been limited air-strikes - as he already gone to the UN with no real result, tried sanctions and diplomacy. Limited air-strikes would probably have made the Iranians harden their position even further.

So Ahmedinajad basically wrong-footed Blair and I'm glad he did. Who knows, maybe Pelosi told the Syrians to make it clear to Ah'jad that B*sh-Blair weren't playing around and really did want to attack Iran and he was giving them the perfect excuse.

[Leopolds Ghost]

23. Yep n/t

[blues90]

25. It's pretty difficult to know what to think .

There has been so many lies and mis- information flying around now for over 6 years that anything is suspect and who can blame anyone who is concerned about this claimed attack on Iran .

None of us know what is really going on behind the scenes or deep within the blowels of the pentagon or what cheney or the neocons have in their plans .

We are constantly directed all over the globe with issues like never before , we have the pet food recall suddenly leaping out of nowhere .

There is the Plame hearings , the Walter Reed issues , the fired attories and this surge and more if I could keep my memory clear enough to list them all .

So really , who the hell knows what tomarrow will bring into this pile of endless crime and horror ?