Headlines for 03-12-08

US not seeking war with Iran: White House Riiight.


Pentagon denies Iran policy shift Mmmm k.


'Fox' Fallon Fired What makes this particularly ominous is that, according to former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Patrick Lang, Fallon told him, upon taking over at Centcom, that war with Iran "isn't going to happen on my watch." Lang asked him how he thought he could stop it: "'I have options, you know,' Fallon responded, which Lang interpreted as implying Fallon would step down rather than follow orders he considers mistaken."


US: Syria backs foreign fighters in Iraq Despite increased counterterrorism efforts by Damascus, as much as 90 percent of the foreign fighters in Iraq cross the border from Syria, according to a Pentagon report that says Iran's support for Shiite militants also is hurting efforts to improve Iraq security. Making the case for war.


Injury in Iraq was just start of troubles


Fallon's Exit Provokes Concern on Bush's Iran Policy Fallon's resignation came after publication of an article in Esquire magazine, written by Thomas P.M. Barnett, a former professor at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, that portrayed the admiral as the bulwark opposing a U.S. offensive against Iran. "If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it'll come down to one man," Barnett wrote. "If we do not go to war with Iran, it'll come down to the same man. He is that rarest of creatures in the Bush universe: the good cop on Iran, and a man of strategic brilliance."



Surging in All Directions by Philip Giraldi


The losers' game by Scott Ritter Iraq had been placed in the impossible position of having to prove a negative, a doomed process which led to war. I am fearful that the EU-3 is repeating this same process, demanding Iran refute something that doesn't exist except in the overactive imaginations of diplomats pre-programmed to accept at face value anything negative about Iran, regardless of its veracity.


Dissenting Views Made Fallon's Fall Inevitable Fallon's greatest concern appears to have been preventing war with Iran. He was one of a group of senior military officers, apparently including most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who were alarmed in late 2006 and early 2007 by indications that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were contemplating a possible attack on Iran.


More Bellicose Than Bush? McCain's brand of unflagging hawkery is ideologically akin to that of the neocon armchair generals -- the Wolfowitzes, Perles, and Kristols -- who avoided military service in their youth but feel a tingly rush of blood flooding to their loins at the thought of sending other people's children to war. It's no accident that his most enthusiastic booster among the conservative-opinion elite is neocon team captain Bill Kristol, whose Weekly Standard was practically a part of the McCain campaign communication apparatus in McCain's first presidential run in 2000. Or that his chief foreign-affairs adviser is Randy Scheunemann of Kristol's Project for a New American Century, a kind of chicken-hawk boy's club devoted to "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity."


NSA Shifts to E-mail, Web, Data-Mining Dragnet Recent evidence suggests that the NSA has been focusing on widespread monitoring of e-mail messages and text messages, recording of Web browsing, and other forms of electronic data-mining, all done without court supervision. Taken together, those activities raise unique privacy and oversight concerns greater than those posed by large-scale monitoring of voice communications.


Dollar sinks to record low vs euro, currency basket Hey I know - let's attack Iran.


Israel urges more pressure on Iran's leaders "We must increase the pressure on the Iranian leadership now if we want to avoid difficult dilemmas in the future," Tzipi Livni said in a speech to Massachusetts state lawmakers after a visit to Washington this week. Whose war is it?


US slaps sanctions on Bahrain bank for Iran links The US Treasury Department said it was taking the action against Future Bank BSC for being controlled by Iran's Bank Melli, which previously had been sanction by the Treasury for facilitating Iran's proliferation activities.


Livni to Obama: There is a direct link between Iran and terror Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni reiterated for United States presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Tuesday Israel's position on the negative influence of Iran on the region


Cheney says US needs missile defense In addition to potential threats from North Korea, Cheney emphasized what he said was a growing threat from both Iran and Syria.

It's laughable that Iran and Syria are a threat to THIS NATION. We all know which nation they purportedly threaten.


Chile: Palestinians look for a new future in South America A group of 117 Palestinian refugees trapped in the no-man's land between the Syrian and Iraqi borders are migrating to the Chilean capital, Santiago, to begin a new life.


Israeli official: Israel, U.S. united in fight against terrorism And not coincidentally, it was our support of Israel that spawned this whole thing. We've been dragged into Israel's war with the Arabs - cui bono? Who benefits? is ever the question that must be asked about Middle Eastern terror.


Syria blasts 'hypocritical' addition to US torture blacklist "The deaf ear turned by the US adminstration towards the recent Israeli human rights violations in the Gaza Strip and its killings of children, shows how little importance it attaches to human rights. It's the last country in the world that should be given the job of assessing human rights records."