Tony Snow: "...most Americans understand Iran is the foremost financier of global terror."

[sabra]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/01/11/snow-matthews-iran/

<snip>

SNOW: Ok, but, let me just do a couple of things here. I think you understand and most Americans understand Iran is the foremost financier of global terror. It’s a problem. But you don’t deal with everything militarily, as you know. The United States exhausted all diplomatic options before going into Iraq, and I think what you’re doing if you’re trying to go down the road of speculation that is just way ahead of events. Right now, we’re working on making Iraq a success. One other thing about Iran, Chris. The Iranian public, most which of is young, is very pro-American. We got a lot of people —

[liberal N proud]

1. WE DO?

They just make this shit up as they go along!

[malaise]

29. Actually current expenses say the US

is the chief financier of terror at home and abroad.

[goclark]

2. Here we go into Iran nt

[Beelzebud]

3. Actually it's Saudi Arabia, but we LOVE their oil.

[NewJeffCT]

5. That would have been my guess, too

Snow is not really part of the reality-based community, though.

[teryang]

17. Saudi, US and Pakistani terror support dwarf Iranian funding...

Where would these regimes be without al CIAda, to subvert and control their strategic targets? Divide and conquer.

[FarCenter]

54. Most Islamic terrorists are Sunnis

Hence, it is very unlikely that Iran is the dominant funder of terrorism. The Saudis and Pakistani funded the Taliban in Afghanistan, and they have also been the conduit for supporting Sunni terrorists in Chechnya, other parts of the Caucases and Central Asia.

[Theres-a]

4. Meme

He's trying to start a meme.It's the fucking ministry of propaganda.UTTER BULLSHIT."Most Americans" are against the surge,you asshat.You'll never hear him say THAT,though.

[adigal]

36. You are right - they are trying to get it into the

consciousness, where people hear it often enough, and they think it is true.

We need to push back with "Most people know that Bush has gone crazy, the war has pushed him over the edge."

Most people, you know, know this.

[bullimiami]

6. no. i think you will find most people understand that saudi arabia,

the foremost bfee friends and partners, are the foremost financers of terror.

[JCMach1]

13. Wrong, Snow Failed that class I see:

that would be Saudi Arabia!

[burythehatchet]

7. Actually its the United States of America Snowjob

has been since WWII

[kineneb]

28. since before WWII, even

read Chalmers Johnson's The Sorrows of Empire for a detailed account of our "adventures."
If another country had done such things, we would call them "terrorists."

Pot, see kettle. Both black.

[Supersedeas]

8. We have always been at war with EurAsia--you know that.

[endarkenment]

26. I thought it was Eastasia.

No wait, of course you are right, we have always been at war with Eurasia.

[pacalo]

9. Now how would he know what "most Americans" think?

Back it up, Tony. How did you arrive at this conclusion?

He's telling us what to think.

[LSK]

10. lets go to 2002 and replace "Iran" with "Iraq"

Tony Snow: "...most Americans understand Iraq is the foremost financier of global terror."

[BushOut06]

11. Iran is NOT funding global terror

They are funding the Palestinians fighting against Israel. HUGE difference. If you want to see who is truly the biggest financier of global terror, you merely have to look towards the White House.

[NNN0LHI]

12. Last year it was Osama n/t

[IDemo]

14. Most Americans also understand that Adam and Eve had a Stegosaurus SUV n/t

[bullimiami]

46. i thought that was fred and wilma.

[Rosemary2205]

15. It's Iran?? I thought it was the GOP. nt

[ftr23532]

50. No, just the GOP's Saudi and Muslim Brotherhood BFFs

Just ask http://fortherecordessays.blogspot.com/">Grover Norquist :-)

[tridim]

16. Rove's new project: Make the sheep believe that Iraq and Iran are the same country.

I'm not sure if it's working yet, but they're sure trying.

[Supersedeas]

35. a Propoganda shot across the bow

[Bucky]

18. Actually, Iran is the foremost financier of Palestinian terror (unless you count Israel)

Measured in dollars spent to civilians killed, I think the Israeli Defence Force has the top credits, from a financing point of view. But Iran is certainly giving them a run for their money. Those missiles don't fall from trees you know. They fall from Iranian financed missile launchers. Sunni shiekhs slipping a couple million here or there to charity groups that funnel money to fundy terrorists in Pakistand and western Europe is child's play in comparison to what Israel, Iran, and the United States to kill civilians. Or maybe you could just say that al-Qaeda is the only professional killer of civilians willing to do so on a budget.

There's plenty of moral high ground here. In fact, its the only territory left that's completely unoccupied.

[ftr23532]

55. Here's a fascinating Iran fun fact

This is from a 2006 http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/01/holy_warrior.html?welcome=true">Mother Jones article by Robert Dreyfuss on Said Ramadan and the Muslim Brotherhood:

...
Over the four decades after Ramadan's visit to the Oval Office, the Muslim Brotherhood would become the organizational sponsor for generation after generation of Islamist groups from Saudi Arabia to Syria, Geneva to Lahore—and Ramadan, its chief international organizer, would turn up, Zeliglike, as an operative in virtually every manifestation of radical political Islam. The hardcore Islamists of Pakistan (see "Among the Allies," page 44), whose acolytes created the Taliban in Afghanistan and who have provided succor to Al Qaeda since the 1990s, modeled their organization on the Brotherhood. The regime of the ayatollahs in Iran grew out of a secret society called the Devotees of Islam, a Brotherhood affiliate whose leader in the 1950s was the mentor of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization, began as an official branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The radical-right Egyptian Islamic Jihad and allied groups, whose members assassinated President Anwar Sadat of Egypt in 1981 and which merged with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda in the 1990s, grew out of the Brotherhood in the 1970s. And some of the Afghan leaders who spearheaded the anti-Soviet jihad that was run by the CIA in the 1980s, and who helped bin Laden build the network of "Arab Afghans" that was Al Qaeda's forerunner, were Brotherhood members.
...

Amazon let's you can also search inside Dreyfuss's book http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Game-Unleash-Fundamentalist-American/dp/0805076522/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product/104-2695951-3976711">"Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam", and he talks about about the "Devotees of Islam" and basically describes them as a direct offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood, much like nearly all the other Islamist militant groups out there today. You have to wonder just how strong those ties still are today considering the Saudis' close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. I've read about the cooperation and shared financing between Sunni and Shiite militant groups, but that historic fun fact puts that cooperation in a whole new light. Strange games are afoot these days.

Here's an interesting example of that which also shows just how much money can sometimes be laundered through charities, although I don't suspect this is typical. The SAAR/Safa Trust network of charities and institutions run out of Herdon Viriginia was basically a US-based Muslim Brotherhood/Saudi run outfit with close ties to both the Muslim Brotherhood's al-Taqwa bank and also ties to Grover Norquist. According to http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A52054-2002Oct6¬Found=true">this report, SAAR reported an astounding $1.8 billion in in gifts that passing through the foundation in 1998. They later claimed that was a clerical typo and resubmitted their tax form for that year claiming they actually received $0 in gifts that year. In the book http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Stones-Secret-Financial-Network/dp/0767915623/sr=8-1/qid=1168901415/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2695951-3976711?ie=UTF8&s=books">Blood from Stones by WaPo reporter Douglas Farah, the actual number on their original tax forms was $1,783,545,883, and showed up at least seven times on the tax form. Now that is some serious 'charitable contributions', although who knows how much of that money, if it wasn't simply a clerical error, ended up going to terrorist groups (my guess is "a lot" went to such groups or they wouldn't have had to cover it up). There's more on that case http://fortherecordessays.blogspot.com/2006/11/part-4-american-brotherhood-we-just_11.html">here. During the 90'sFBI authorities obstructed the investigation of folks closely connected to this network, according to FBI whistleblowers. For more on that go http://fortherecordessays.blogspot.com/2006/11/part-12-slick-powerful-brotherhood_11.html">here and skip down to "Operation Vulgar Betrayal". The person that FBI whistleblower Robert Wright accuses of obstructing the investigation is now Bush's counter-terrorism czar. :-)

I guess stuff like all this is part of the reason we need days like MLK day: to remind ourselves that societies can progress through means other than one group violenting beating an opposing group into submission.

[Subdivisions]

19. I would hedge my bets that our problems with Iran are of our

own making and that it is NOT Iran that is the financier of global terrorism but that it is actually Saudi Arabia that is either covertly trying to undermine us or is in cahoots with Bushco.

[qazplm]

32. there isnt "the" or "A" financier of global terrorism

there are plenty, of which yes, Iran is certainly a major one. Is it the biggest? Who cares?

Yes, SA is a huge one, Pakistan is a smaller one but also harbors AQ.

No argument that we are being hypocritical in who we target and who we don't but let's not get crazy and declare Iran a terrorist free zone just yet.

[bridgit]

20. so why didn't bush go into Iran? why the waste of blood & treasure?

[rock]

21. "Exhausted all diplomatic options before going into Iraq"

Well, except for that talking thing.

[LynzM]

24. I know, right?!

That line kills me! And sadly, more literally, many hundreds of thousands of others. :(

[coalition_unwilling]

47. And "that U.N. Security Council authorization to use military force" thing - n/t

[MidwestTransplant]

22. They will be real pro American when tanks rumble down their streets

Maybe we should drop some candy and flowers to the population so they can throw them at our troops.

[wakeme2008]

23. No Tony that is Saudi

:grr:

[endarkenment]

25. How many lies in that one paragraph?

I counted five in that single excerpt. Basically every assertion made is a lie.

1. "Iran is the foremost financier of global terror" - lie.

2. "you don’t deal with everything militarily" actually it seems we do, so that is a lie.

3. "The United States exhausted all diplomatic options before going into Iraq" - outright blatant baldfaced lie.

4. "Right now, we’re working on making Iraq a success" uh, hmmm... bullshit.

5. "The Iranian public, most which of is young, is very pro-American."
ah, well I admit I had to actually research this lie. Here is what I found:

When it came to their view of the United States, there was a split between the generations. Older Iranians were much more likely to admire the American people and society than younger Iranians. John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International, hypothesized that this generational split may be due in part to the lack of exposure to Americans over the past two decades.


“The poll illustrates the impact of 25 years of separation,” said Zogby. “The attitudes of younger Iranians toward the government, people and policies of the United States have been shaped by years of isolation, largely conservative religious leadership, and anti-U.S. rhetoric. This group is consistently more negative in its attitudes towards Americans and the American government than are older Iranians. However, new technology, including satellite television and the Internet, could be used as tools that connect young Iranians with other nations in the region, and the West.”


Those technologies – Internet access and satellite TV ownership – appeared to influence attitudes among Iranians, as did gender. Iranians with access to the Internet or satellite TV were significantly more likely than their “unconnected” compatriots to identify the United States as the country they admire the most. They were also significantly less likely to pick the U.S. government as the one they admire the least: one in three Iranians without Internet access (34%) chose the United States as least admired, compared with fewer than one in five Iranians with Internet access (18%), the poll shows.

http://www.zogbyworldwide.com/news/ReadNews1.cfm?ID=763

[High Plains]

27. Hey, I was gonna ask that!

[High Plains]

30. The Taliban-Al Qaeda are profiting from drug prohibition.

The Afghan opium crop is generating about $3 billion a year these days. The Taliban-Al Qaeda are getting some portion of that.

Hmmm, maybe drug prohibition is the foremost financier of international terror?

[coalition_unwilling]

48. Really, the CIA is one of the foremost financiers of international terror,

both small- and large-scale.

[SammyWinstonJack]

31. How DOES he sleep at night?

:grr: Lies, Lies and damn Lies!

[dogday]

33. Snow Jobbed again

Tony Tony Tony.....

[bdamomma]

34. tony snowjob is another a$$hole too.

[magellan]

37. Most Americans understood Iraq had weapons of mass destruction

...and we know that turned out to be a lie too, Tony.

[mvd]

38. Where's his proof?

Otherwise, I think it is another lie. Could this be the meme used to attack Iran?

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. We do tony

just as we understood about them WMSs in Iraq...

Ok

there are times when fool me once and fool me twice come to mind

[leftofthedial]

40. the bush cabal is BY FAR the foremost financier of terror

no other entity is even close

in the second tier, Iran doesn't hold a candle to the saudis or the other arab states

pakistan is up there too

[truth2power]

41. No, Snowjob...The US has that distinction. Moron!

[mvd]

42. Yeah, there's actually more evidence..

for London harboring terrorists of all kinds and the U.S. engaging in false-flag operations. I'm not saying Iran is clean, but there is no good guy here it seems.

[truth2power]

43. You're right. And what we've inflicted on Iraq

constitutes terror on stilts in my book.

[coalition_unwilling]

49. I like that image of "terror on stilts" -- one of the best signs I saw

at an anti-war demo recently said "War = Terrorism x 1,000"

[paparush]

44. Uh..Tony...that would be the C I A !!!!!

[The Wielding Truth]

45. *and anything connected to him has no credibility!That's what we all see!

[Rex]

51. Problem is, he is wrong.

Tony is proving to be the worst out of all the press liars Bush has thrown at us. I mean at least with Ari, the WH was getting quality lying and scumbaggery. Scottie couldn't hold a candle to Ari, but his impudent childlike ways endeared him to the Nelson family. With Tony, it is simpleton lying at clearance prices! That means NO one is fooled, not even the 13% droolcup fanatics!

So with that I say, keep up the good work Snowman!

[philosophie_en_rose]

52. Huh? I don't think there's a single truth in that entire paragraph.

:wtf:

[Swamp Rat]

53. "Most Americans understand... some people say..." more FUX Nooz illogic.

You should understand by now, you stupid jackass, that MOST Americans do not believe your neocon rhetoric anymore. :)

Fuck off Tony Snow! :D



hee hee! :D