US sets sights on toppling Iran regime

[muriel_volestrangler]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-3-1181969,00.html

(may be subscription only outside the UK; I'll see if I can find any other place this has been put)

THE US will mount a concerted attempt to overturn the regime in Iran if President Bush is elected for a second term.

It would work strenuously to foment a revolt against the ruling theocracy by Iran’s “hugely dissatisfied” population, a senior official has told The Times.

The United States would not use military force, as in Iraq, but “if Bush is re-elected there will be much more intervention in the internal affairs of Iran”, declared the official, who is determined that there should be no let-up in the Administration’s War on Terror.

To what extent the official, known to be hawkish, was speaking for the White House was unclear, but his remarks are nevertheless likely to cause alarm in Europe. He hinted at a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying that there was a window of opportunity for destroying Iran’s main nuclear complex at Bushehr next year that would close if Russia delivered crucial fuel rods. To destroy Bushehr after the delivery would cause huge environmental damage. The rods would allow the Iranians to obtain enough plutonium for many dozens of nuclear weapons, he said.

The article goes on to say the Bush administration has contempt for the diplomatic efforts of Britain, France and Germany; and thinks the tough line will be easier once Colin Powell is out of the way.

Any guesses as to the wingnut? Wolfowitz, maybe?

[physioex]

1. Part of is Wolfie...

But don't forget Dickie, Rummy, Libby, and Perly....The whole PNAC with their PAX America nonsense....

[coloradodem2005]

Please. Tell me you are joking.

n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. No joke. This is the lead story in the UK Times for Saturday

The official thinks the US can stir up unrest amongst the young (60% are under 24) for whom there aren't enough jobs.

[coloradodem2005]

10. This "Not Enough Jobs" thing sounds familiar.

Like with the young people here. For whom there are not enough jobs. How odd. I wonder why that could be.

[Massacure]

2. Bush needs to keep his damn nose out of other peoples business

And fix this damn country first.

[coloradodem2005]

3. He can't fix it.

He's the one who fucked it up in the first place.

[SammyWinstonJack]

46. More to the point,

he doesn't want to "fix it." I swear! I can't take much more of this CRAP! :argh: STEAL AN ELECTION AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS! :grr:

[Larkspur]

5. Maybe that's why Iran is helping insurgents in Iraq now

They figure either way, Kerry or Bush, that Israel and the US will try to overthrow the Iranian regime. Don't like the Iranian regime, but our meddling will only abort their growing democracy movement, but maybe that is the goals of the corporate sponsors of Bush and Kerry. Real democracy would bridle corporate power.

[rocktivity]

6. But for all practical purposes, Bush put a ruling theocracy in Iraq

didn't remove one from Afghanistan, is supporting one in Saudi Arabia, and is trying to install one in the United States!

:headbang:
rocknation

[rfkrocks]

13. Excellent!

[Bandit]

7. Sounds like this unnamed official is trying his best to get Bush* ousted

Why else spread such a bullshit story a few months before the election. After F 9-11 anyone hearing such a story as this will immediately register a burning hatred for the Bush* Cabal. I think that is the intention. No one can be this stupid.

[maggrwaggr]

9. why would that be a bullshit story?

It sounds exactly like Bushco and PNAC to me.

I would 100% expect this to happen, and quite possibly before the election, or even during the lame-duck period.

Why wouldn't you expect this?

[DemBones DemBones]

42. But how many are seeing F/911? 11% of the

population is what I read yesterday. Last night -- Friday night, mind you, a great movie night, there were about 20 people at the 7:30 showing here. On Tuesday night, there were about 30. We in the choir are showing up to be preached to, but what about all those who aren't?

I despair today.

[UpInArms]

8. I wonder who will work strenously to foment a revolt

against the "ruling theocracy" in the good ole' USoA by the "hugely dissatisfied" population here?

It would work strenuously to foment a revolt against the ruling theocracy by Iran’s “hugely dissatisfied” population, a senior official has told The Times.

[Disturbed]

12. "No one can be this stupid."

Yes they can!!!!

Hint> Dumbya

[lordwhorfin]

24. Or my top vote for the 'unnamed official'

This has John Bolton's spittle all over it.

[SOS]

44. No one can be that stupid...

Michael Ledeen:

"'No one I know wants to wage war on Iran and Syria, but I believe there is now a clear recognition that we must defend ourselves against them,' Ledeen wrote on May 6 in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

"Though he appears on conservative outlets like the Fox television network, Ledeen has not been singled out for much media attention by the Bush administration, despite his extensive influence in Washington. His views may be perceived as too extreme for most Americans, who prefer to think of the United States as pursuing violence only when attacked and manifesting primarily altruistic goals toward other nations."

[peacetalksforall]

11. Implicating Kerry? And this person is supposed to know something

about Kerry plans? Is it all the same? Or should Kerry fight this allegation with passion and persistence?

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. No, there's no mention of Kerry at all

This is meant to be purely 'if Bush is elected'.

[peacetalksforall]

17. I should have replied to Larskpur in #5 - where he interpreted

something? when he said....
"They figure either way, Kerry or Bush, that Israel and the US will try to overthrow the Iranian regime. Don't like the Iranian regime, but our meddling will only abort their growing democracy movement, but maybe that is the goals of the corporate sponsors of Bush and Kerry. Real democracy would bridle corporate power."

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. Ah, I understand now (n/t)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. Deja Vu

>>The United States would not use military force, as in Iraq, but “if Bush is re-elected there will be much more intervention in the internal affairs of Iran”, declared the official, who is determined that there should be no let-up in the Administration’s War on Terror.<<

Awwwww we have to do it all over again. Pity. They hate us cuz we're free. Free to destabilize whatever govt we choose... install a dictator yesman.... and pretend nothing happened.... how quaint.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471265179/qid=1090024173/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/102-4452437-3274527?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
>>From Publishers Weekly
With breezy storytelling and diligent research, Kinzer has reconstructed the CIA's 1953 overthrow of the elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh, who was wildly popular at home for having nationalized his country's oil industry. The coup ushered in the long and brutal dictatorship of Mohammad Reza Shah, widely seen as a U.S. puppet and himself overthrown by the Islamic revolution of 1979. At its best this work reads like a spy novel, with code names and informants, midnight meetings with the monarch and a last-minute plot twist when the CIA's plan, called Operation Ajax, nearly goes awry. A veteran New York Times foreign correspondent and the author of books on Nicaragua (Blood of Brothers) and Turkey (Crescent and Star), Kinzer has combed memoirs, academic works, government documents and news stories to produce this blow-by-blow account. He shows that until early in 1953, Great Britain and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company were the imperialist baddies of this tale. Intransigent in the face of Iran's demands for a fairer share of oil profits and better conditions for workers, British Foreign Secretary Herbert Morrison exacerbated tension with his attitude that the challenge from Iran was, in Kinzer's words, "a simple matter of ignorant natives rebelling against the forces of civilization." Before the crisis peaked, a high-ranking employee of Anglo-Iranian wrote to a superior that the company's alliance with the "corrupt ruling classes" and "leech-like bureaucracies" were "disastrous, outdated and impractical." This stands as a textbook lesson in how not to conduct foreign policy.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.<<

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. "The Times" userid and password from BugMeNot

Use googles21 for the username and googles for the password

Thanks to DUer salvorhardin for this.

[Invalence1]

31. Username & password

Just tried it from CA. Must work only w/in the UK. Took me to a subscription page.

[Sufi Marmot]

18. Bombing Bushehr and formenting revolt are mutually exclusive...

They might get away with one, but not both. As soon as American bombs start falling on Iran, we've lost any hope of using our "soft" influence with Iranian students/dissidents to catalyze removal of the ruling theocracy.

-SM

[teryang]

19. All their oil belongs to us!

Basis of American policy. I'm sure the nut case is Bolton, the hatchet man for the military industrial complex.

[Geo55]

20. I guess they feel Iraqi oil

will be under control by then....time for enlarging the EMPIRE.
If the "messiah" wins...the world is F*&KED !!!!!!

[Demeter]

21. Politician Hack, Heal Thyself!

Regime change begins at HOME!

[agincourt]

23. I think the report is valid,

The only thing incorrect I believe is the statement of non-use of military force. I firmly believe shrub will get us in a ground war in Iran or Syria if he stays in power.

[teryang]

25. They'll attack right after the elections

Their credo is who can stop us and what are you going to do about it.

This is the essence of their fascist ideology.

[Mike Niendorff]

30. bingo.

Their philosophy is simply "Because we can."
No accountability, no responsibility, no honor, no shame.


MDN

[DemBones DemBones]

43. Clinton had an affair "because he could"; Bush* starts wars

"because he can."

[medeak]

26. They are following the script

to a T. Unbelievable. And who's going to be our allies this time pray tell?

[PassingFair]

27. I believe this 100%

...was talking to an Iranian woman, highish ranking Ba'hai. Her group supports *co because the Ba'hai have been severely persecuted in Iran. I told her that I understand that her stance is very personal, but that if she thought that *co would "liberate" Iran for the cause of religious freedom, she would be sorely mistaken.
We will prop up ANY regime that will pay our demanded tributes.

[tlcandie]

28. The next step is that this regime comes out denying this.. that

it is plain baloney...no way are they thinking of this! Par for the course, so be prepared!

Of course, they are NOT thinking of it, they already have it planned and just working out the minor details and kinks that arise until the plotted time.

[TankLV]

39. "there are no plans on the desk"

they are on the table, in the desk, on someone else's desk, in another office,

you get the picture.

[2Design]

29. maybe this is where rummy is....making plans....eom

[Matilda]

32. The U.S. and the British stuffed up good and proper in 1953

when they forced the Mossadegh government out - damned socialists!

By forcing Iran to reinstate the hated Shah Reza Pahlavi, they were
the indirect means of helping Ayatollah Khomeini to power. Things
may not be ideal in Iran, but they've certainly improved since the
days of Khomeini, or the Shah. The clerics have too much power, but
given time and the freedom to do things their way, the Iranians have
a chance of achieving a stable country.

I see Israel behind this - they won't be satisfied until Iran, Iraq
Syria and Lebanon are under the de facto control of the U.S. It's
got nothing to do with the wishes or rights of the Iranian people.

[soothsayer]

33. Our local news is running a story about a 1998 PDB (prez daily brief)

saying that terrorists would try to hijack planes and take hostages, AND that Al Qaeda was involved, AND Iran, too. Bingo!

Of course, we've been watching them tee up Iran since last year when they started introducing legislation condemning Iran for this and that, just like Iraq.

[Barkley]

34. Boy, this news ought to just wonders to oil prices ... n/t

[Yavin4]

35. If Bush Wins In November...

even if it's by one point, he, and the neocons, will take that to mean a ringing endorsement of his handling of the war on terror, and that means a full-fledge invasion of Iran, which will necessitate a military draft.

Yes, Virginia, there will be a military draft in 2005/2006 in order to fight Bush's wars.

[daleo]

36. Maybe it will happen before November

Nothing like a war to rally the American populace around the flag. If that fails, war plus a "terrorist attack" could be all the excuse the BFEE feels it needs to suspend the elections.

[TankLV]

40. or more likely

if Kerry gets millions more votes, any bunkerboy loses again, but the SCOTUS installs him anyway, they will declare a decisive "mandate" to rule anyway.

sane shit.

[Strelnikov_]

37. Target: Iran Date: October 2004

It appears that this is setting up to be one of the October surprises.

- Operation 'October Surprise' (oops, 'Operation Summer Pulse 04') carriers, conveniently in this part of globe, converge on the Arabian Sea. The F-117's just moved to S. Korea are probably bound for a 'friendly' gulf country for the strike, with the Naval air to provide backup if things get out of control (as they typically do).

- Minimal public preparation (leaked news reports) in advance of the strike due to the need to maintain secrecy (and maximize voter 'shock and 'awe').

- The urgent nature of destroying the facility in advance of fueling will be used to fend off critics of the timing of the attack. 'Intelligence' will show that Iran is moving up the fueling, making action in October necessary.

- Release of the 9/11 report purporting Al Qaeda ties with Iran will be used to discredit critics of a pre-emptive air strike.

Like everything with this administration, this seemingly 'safe' military action will spin out of control. The strike will tend to move the Iranian people toward the ruling theocracy, not away as is their purported goal.

[tlcandie]

38. Leave it to this regime to think ...they really shouldn't try that :P...

That they must save face and PROVE their military prowess by bombing to smithereens the Iranian nuclear facilites and initiate a democracy with a coup at the same time!

This reason proves about as valid as anything else I've seen.

[DemBones DemBones]

41. I nominate Douglas Feith as the wingnut likely to leak this.

Though whether he'd be described as "senior" is another question. What is he, deputy secretary of defense?

Dear God, these people are insane! If the Iranian people are so dissatisfied, let them handle it themselves. It's none of our business. But, of course, those whose business is oil think any country with oil is their business.

[SOS]

45. Could be...

Those who know him confirm that he has what it takes to be a policy maker in Bush World.

"He was very arrogant,' Karen Kwiatkowski says, describing what it was like to work with Feith.

"He (Feith) is the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth" - General Tommy Franks.