US, Israel finalise Iran strike plan

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited Washington yesterday and met with US President George W. Bush to finalise plans for a joint US-Israel strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

President Bush hinted that actions against Iran will form the core of their discussion.

"I'm sure that we will find some time, also, to discuss other measures, such as the danger of Iran and the threats that come from the President of Iran, who talks time and again about the liquidation of the state of Israel, something that is totally intolerable and unacceptable," he said. "And we have to continue the measures taken in order to stop the Iranian efforts to establish unconventional weapons."

Talking to reporters at a joint press conference Bush once again re-iterated his position on military strikes against Iran by saying "I will tell you this, that my position hasn't changed, and that is all options are on the table."

"And I fully understand the concerns of any Israeli when they hear the voice of the man in Iran saying, on the one hand, we want to acquire the technologies and know-how to build a -- enrich uranium, which could then be converted into a nuclear weapon, and on the other hand, we want to destroy Israel," he added. "Look, if I were an Israeli citizen I would view that as a serious threat to my security. And as a strong ally of Israel, I view that as a serious threat to its security -- not only the security of Israel, but the security of the Middle East."

Olmert also met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to obtain their broad support for military action against Iran.

Pelosi's comments welcoming the Prime Minister indicate that he is likely to get the backing he is seeking from the Congress.

“With the Republican and Democratic leaders gathered here, you see how strong the bipartisanship is for a great U.S.-Israel relationship," Pelosi said.

Meanwhile, Iran has formally complained to the United Nations about the planned strike by US and Israel.

"I wish to inform you that, emboldened by the absence of any action by the Security Council, various Israeli officials have unabatedly continued to publicly and contemptuously make unlawful and dangerous threats of resorting to force against the Islamic Republic of Iran," Iran's UN ambassador Javad Zarif wrote in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, dated June 11.

Iran has also accused the US of carrying out covert operations aimed at destabilising the country.

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Re: our tearless leader

The Libertarian Party would be a great third party option... except that third parties have ZERO chance of winning national scale elections. The leaves Ron Paul as the best choice, IMO. He has consistently spoken out against our insane foreign policy and consistently stood up for the Constitution on a broad range of other issues, unlike everyone else in Washington.

War is an American value.

War is an American value. Why don't you tell me where you live so I can come kick your ass. If you don't like the US or it's President, you are free to leave...

reply

So if immoral and illegal acts which causes great suffering and misery to so many people is done by a leader put in place by representatives of people and then the people object that is the American way, or at least the verbage has been given that such is the case. Leaving America would be cowardice, so you want all objectors to be cowards as well, well ass kicker you can't have it both ways!

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How about you tell me where

How about you tell me where you live so I can kick your communist ass back to France? You have to have a shoetongue masquerading for a brain. Bet you go to church too don't you?

If I don't like America I change it. Fuck you, You leave. PRICK

Why would you kick his

Why would you kick his communist ass back to France? The onyl time France could have been considered even close to communist was during German occupation. Did you mean Russia, or you the one with a shoetongue in his skull?

War is an American Value?

Wait, what? How anti-American are you? You say that if we don't like the US or its President, that we are free to leave? So, in your America, critical thinking is outlawed? Criticizing the government is wrong? If we (the thinking people) did leave, then the country would be left to idiots like you, which would be a crime. So, we're not going.

US out of Hawaii, now.

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You are an ignorant idiot.

You are an ignorant idiot.

Name Calling Shills

Interesting that you have to resort to name calling to answer the question, "What good is Israel to the US?" Also, interestingf to note that you don't have the courage of conviction to post your real name.

How do American benefit from a close relationship with Israel? I am certainly not ignorant on the subject of Isreal's foreign policy. I just can't seem to find where it is in the best interest of US citizens to support a theocratic, racist government that continually lies (and blames Arabs) to start wars. I don't support torture, nor do I support building a 25 foot high wall around Palestine.

Remember how well Israel treated the US when they bombed the US Livberty? Remeber how compassionate the Israelis were when the folks at Odigo received instant message explaining the attacks two hours before the planes slammed into the towers? Never mind the illogical idea that Arab terrorists would give Israel heads up on their plans. Still, what did the Israelis do with this information? How many people died because the parasitic Israeli government wanted to fulfill their armegeddon fantasies?

Answer the question. If you can't answer a direct question with facts, then shut up!

how do we benefit from any

how do we benefit from any other democratic country ? Israel is the only bastion of freedom in that part of the world. They are attacked time and agian, showing much restraint. They do not continually threaten or have in their founding charter any mention of the destruction of any of their neighbors.
Are you so blinded by anti-semitisim that you cant be objective?

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re: Awesome! re: Israel - Palestine

Your post on Israel/Palestine was awesome! Great job!

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YEAH we need another hitler

YEAH we need another hitler dont we ?

WAR is NOT an American value.

What the...? I hate to say it, but war is our most cherished value in America. We have not fought one single defensive war in nearly 200 years. Yet, we are all told and convinced to support our troops, who have only participated in acts of aggression. Go ahead, tell me you didn't just feel offended by what I just said. Despite the fact that every war or conflict we've ever participated in, we had no business being in and could have opted out, we gleefully jumped into and escalated the destruction beyond where it would have gone had we butted out. Every time you support someone's decision to enter the military, you are encouraging them to help out in the raping and pilaging of some innocent country. Just look at soome of the slogans of our men in uniform, "kill them all, let got sot'em out" and " shoot first, make excuses later. " They defend their deadly mistakes by saying, "I thought my life was in danger, " or " It's not my fault I got stuck in this god forsaken place. " Well, what did they think when they joined up? They'd be sent to French riviera? When they do debasing acts, like raping or pilaging of the local populace, they blame the government for putting them in harm's way. They say, " the stress of war made me do it." Did they join military, get weapons training for three months and not expect to be submitted to the stress of war? Everyone should be familiar with the horror stories of Vietnam, the robbing of boats by rivulets, the indiscriminant slaughter of civilians, the burning of peasant homes. These things are embedded in the American psyche. At some point, it must enter into the minds of American soldiers that they will have the opportunity to do such things. And I'm sure, the more overzealous a prospective recruit is in wanting to kill the "enemy," the more the military wants him. The numerous stories we have in our culture of people picking up weapons and fighting, whether it's tyranny, corruption, or revenge, whatever... Commiting violent acts are considered heroic. How many people cheer when the hero kills the villian in the end of any story? Passive aggression is seen as weak and useless. In our society, criminals are glorified as heroes. How about the American ninja series? Ninjas were thieves, assassins, and sabateurs. They hid their faces because what they were doing was anything but noble. It was the same as the modern day cat burglar who wears a ski mask as he raids your home. Yet, countless films here in America portray these men as heroes and never as the villians they really were. Now, how about the latest Pirates series? How many people hissed as the English governor tried to rid the caribbean of thieving, murderous pirates while cheering for the brigands to get away? That's our military/industrial complex. A band of merry pilaging pirates, raiding country after country and getting us to hiss at entities like the UN that try and rid the world of brigands like them. We are taught that any interference in our ability to rape and pilage is infringement on our freedoms just like poor Jack Sparrow being oppressed by the evil Brits. Lets all cry as we see the little pirate boy being led to the gallows, how evil could these Brits be? Here in America, up is down. Violence is good, passivism is bad. Those who steal are heroes and those who'd try to stop the thieves are oppressors. Those who peddle weapons and flesh are morally righteous while those who faithfully adhere to religious doctrine are vile and depraved. Those that run our nation into a hopeless quagmire that propagates the sale of arms and turns people into slaves and prostitutes are the true Americans. Anyone who objects to this are unpatriotic traitors.

After a failed pre-emptive

After a failed pre-emptive strike into Canada, Colonial and British troops surged across the US border in 1814 and laid siege to Washington D.C. In retaliation to the destruction of Yorkton caused by the US Troops, the British ordered that Washington be set a light. Thus “The President’s House” became “The White House” after Monroe’s administration painted the building white to cover up the smoke damage.

History ALWAYS repeats

No War is not an American

No War is not an American value: neither is sitting back and letting someone attack your brother, sisters fathers mothers sons daughters
IS IT ?

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Iran's threats and clandestine prgrams justify action

If Iran had been straight up about it's nuclear intentions from the start. Had they not funded Hezbollah, developed ballistic missiles and threatened to obliterate USA, Isreal, NATO allies and half a dozen arab neighbours in the past decade the world would accept their nuclear projects much like the wrld has come to live with Pakistan and India having nukes. Thing is that iran has consistently refused to participate in a civil society.

In October 2003 IAEA caught Iran precipitating Plutonium from spent nuclear fuel. Iran has imported tributylphosphate from China for this very purpose. Iran has uranium reserves in Yzad province of just 5,000 tonnes. Only enough to fuel one reactor for 6.5 years, so whay do they want to build 7 reactors ?

In my view Isreal if not USA are perfectly justified in a first strike against nuclear targets in Iran. All nations have a right to go to war in self defence.

Incidentally I have never supported the invasion of Iraq.

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This coming from a man who

This coming from a man who could not come up with one word to counter anything I said.

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Why do you make statements

Why do you make statements with zero facts to support it? When, pray tell, has Iran attacked us? And please remember, you said everyday.

Oh, and what does Japan have

Oh, and what does Japan have to with Iran? Without arguing with you the differences between developed and prosperous nations, the fact you put these two sentences together in the same response shows that you must have Turret's. Now, to try to argue your amazingly inane point, our reconstruction of Japan has not backfired on us. They have not opposed us on any issue since. They are not our enemy. They continue to give us a strategic strike platform in their country despite the rift this has caused with their neighbors. They have been a stable trade partner. They brought industry to America when our own companies have exported jobs overseas. Some people can never get enough gratitude!

How was Japan liberated? By

How was Japan liberated? By bombing them, invading their country, controlling their resounces. Then you rebuild them, you control them, and reap all the wealth, isn't that what's happening to Iraq or any cournty the US bombs - isn't this how the US prosperpers. Isn't attacking Iran all about taking over their wealth and controlling who will get all the contracts to rebuild - who every controlls the rebuilding, then controls the economics - isn't this what's been going on with all the wars - to destabilize, rebuild and to have the country prosper, but you are the one that really prosper by suppressing the people? Iran is one of the only country in the world that is not controlled by the US and their big corporations. India, Pakistan and many places in Europe is already taken over and controlled

What you have said is all

What you have said is all that is wrong with imperialism. Thanks for proving me right.

US out of Hawaii, now.

Reply to anonymous

Anon said:
"Need I remind you that we declared our intent to invade Iran when we attacked another "axis of evil" country unprovoked. Even the school bully tells his victims to put up their dukes."

The Islamic world declared it's intent on 9/11 and I don't recall those bullies ever warned the victims on those planes, or in the buildings.

Iran showed it's true colours in the Iran-Iraq war when 546 tankers of neutral countries in the straits of Hormuz were targeted and some 400+ merchant seamen from non combattant countries were murdered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

What is a declaration of war. How about supplying Kytusha and Shehab-3 missiles to Hezbollah which they fired into Isreal in 2006?

How about the subsequent threats by Iran to attack all US allies ?

Is this what you call "unprovoked?"

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It's the Tanker wars you are

It's the Tanker wars you are referring to. Here's what WIKIpedia has to say of the tanker wars:
"The Tanker War and Direct U.S. Support for Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld meeting Saddam Hussein on 19 December - 20 December 1983. Rumsfeld visited again on 24 March 1984; the same day the UN released a report that Iraq had used mustard gas and tabun nerve agent against Iranian troops. The NY Times reported from Baghdad on 29 March 1984, that "American diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with Iraq and the U.S., and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been established in all but name."[11]Main article: U.S. support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war
The United States had been wary of the Islamic Republic of Iran since the Iranian Revolution, not least because of the kidnapping of its Tehran embassy staff in the 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis. According to former Iranian president, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, shortly after the 1979 revolution Americans, Israelis, Iranian royalists at a secret meeting in Paris drew up a plan to invade Iran. Soviets then obtained a copy of the plan and sold it to Iran through intermediaries for $200,000.[12] According to Robert Parry there was a secret encouragement by the US administration (President Jimmy Carter, conveyed through Saudi Arabia) which was embroiled in a dispute with the new Islamic Republic of Iran. In the words of Alexander Haig, secretary of state from 1981, "It was also interesting to confirm that President Carter gave the Iraqis a green light to launch the war against Iran through Fahd." [13][14][15] However, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's National Security Advisor (United States) does not support this assertion.[16]

Starting in 1981, both Iran and Iraq attacked oil tankers and merchant ships, including those of neutral nations, in an effort to deprive the opponent of trade. After repeated Iraqi attacks on Iran's main exporting facility on Khark Island, Iran attacked a Kuwaiti tanker near Bahrain on May 13, 1984, and a Saudi tanker in Saudi waters on May 16. Attacks on ships of noncombatant nations in the Persian Gulf sharply increased thereafter, and this phase of the war was dubbed the "Tanker War."

In 1982 with Iranian success on the battlefield, the U.S. made its backing of Iraq more pronounced, supplying it with intelligence, economic aid, normalizing relations with the government (broken during the 1967 Six-Day War), and also supplying weapons.[17] President Ronald Reagan decided that the United States "could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran", and that the United States "would do whatever was necessary and legal to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran."[18] President Reagan formalized this policy by issuing a National Security Decision Directive ("NSDD") to this effect in June, 1982.[19]

Lloyd's of London, a British insurance market, estimated that the Tanker War damaged 546 commercial vessels and killed about 430 civilian mariners. The largest of attacks were directed by Iran against Kuwaiti vessels, and on November 1, 1986, Kuwait formally petitioned foreign powers to protect its shipping. The Soviet Union agreed to charter tankers starting in 1987, and the United States offered to provide protection for tankers flying the U.S. flag on March 7, 1987 (Operation Earnest Will and Operation Prime Chance). Under international law, an attack on such ships would be treated as an attack on the U.S., allowing the U.S. to retaliate militarily. This support would protect ships headed to Iraqi ports, effectively guaranteeing Iraq's revenue stream for the duration of the war.

An Iraqi plane attacked the USS Stark (FFG 31), a Perry class frigate on May 17, killing 37 and injuring 21.[20] However, U.S. attention was focused on isolating Iran; it criticized Iran's mining of international waters, and sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 598, which passed unanimously on July 20, under which it skirmished with Iranian forces. In October 1987, the U.S. attacked Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for an Iranian attack on the U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tanker Sea Isle City.[21]

On April 14, 1988, the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts was badly damaged by an Iranian mine. U.S. forces responded with Operation Praying Mantis on April 18, the United States Navy's largest engagement of surface warships since World War II. Two Iranian ships were destroyed, and an American helicopter crashed with no apparent combat damage, killing the two pilots.[22]

In the course of these escorts by the U.S. Navy, the cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 with the loss of all 290 passengers and crew on July 3, 1988. The American government claimed that the airliner had been mistaken for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat, and that the Vincennes was operating in international waters at the time and feared that it was under attack. The Iranians, however, maintain that the Vincennes was in fact in Iranian territorial waters, and that the Iranian passenger jet was turning away and increasing altitude after take-off. U.S. Admiral William J. Crowe also admitted on Nightline that the Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters when it launched the missiles.[23] . The U.S. eventually paid compensation for the incident (to non Iranian passengers of the airliner), but never apologized.

According to an investigation conducted by ABC News' Nightline, decoys were set during the war by the US Navy inside the Persian Gulf to lure out the Iranian gunboats and destroy them, and at the time USS Vincennes shot down the Iranian airline, it was performing such an operation. [24]"

Both Iran and Iraq are responsible for the numbers you quoted and it was Iraq, not Iran who initiated that war with the full support of the US.

Why don't people WIKI and get their facts straight before they open their mouths and get humiliated?

This man is definitely

This man is definitely racist when he says "the Arab world" declared war on us. He's the type that will be demanding the government gather up all the arabs and imprison them in those camps haliburton's been building for "a large influx of immigrants and other government programs." What a shining beacon for fairness and equality!

"Perfectly Justified"????

BULLSH*T! Genocide is NEVER justified! Iran ahs not done anything to anyone. They are perfectly entitled to develop nuclear power if they want to---haven't the French? Hasn't the US? Hasn't ISRAEL?????

Why are these countries privileged characters and Iran must be kept crippled? Especially since the US and UK have shown such incredible aggression in their region, it is understandable that it has upped the arms race in the neighboring countries. This was one of the prime risks of the invasion all along, and the US knew it.

BTW if you're so concerned with Iran's nukes, ask that sob Dick Cheney why Halliburton developed them.

Genocide ??? response to jg murphy

You need a dictionary. Genocide is the deliberate extermination of an entire people or culture. The word I think you need is war. Please lay off the emotional hyperbola...

Unlike the examples of other nations cited, Iran is funding and supplying arms to Hammas, Hezbollah, and the Taleban. Chinese weaponry for example has started turning up in Afghanistan which was never previously seen in Afghanistan. These were weapons known to have been exported to Iran in early 2007. Iran is a country which will arm terrorists with nukes. Those terrorists have already threatened to exterminate non believers (of Islam).

Do you propose we all wait for nukes to go off in Washington DC, Tel Aviv, Rome and London ?

This isn't genocide. It's justified self defence.

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American values must change

Our violence ridden society must change. Hollywood must show the cop that shoots the bad guy as the killer he is. He must go thru an IA investigation and sent to prison. Soldiers who kill in a war must be shown to come home and suffer from their conscience. Ninjas, pirates, and the like must be depicted as the vilians they were. Heroes should be able to subdue a violent adversary with minimal or no violence. If Hollywood seriously toned down violence and destruction, I'm sure there would be no public outcry complaining. America is greatly influenced by what they see on TV. I'm sure it was somebody's scheme to make us indifferent to violent atrocities we witness our military commit on a daily basis. Things must change. We should be appalled when our air force bombs a mosque or our army shoots out a 1000 year old piece of stained glass or our troops shoot blindly into a crowd of people. They're arab, they're muslim. It does not make them any less human. When we mow them down by the dozen to get at one "terrorist" it makes us less human, not them.

the world has a jewish

the world has a jewish problem and needs a final solution

Jesus was a jew. I suppose

Jesus was a jew. I suppose you want hitler back? You are hated as much as you hate.

I am confused. Who are we

I am confused. Who are we supposed to root for? The people who want to eliminate the Muslims or the people who want to eliminate the Jews?

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Ahmedinejad never said he

Ahmedinejad never said he wanted to eradicate Israel. That was a mistranslation of what he actually said. Just google it and you will know the truth. Ofcourse you must be wide open for it.

You must be lying about

You must be lying about being neither American nor Israeli since those are the only two countries on the planet still advocating the mistranslation of the Iranian prime minister.

reply to simon gunson

Iran president never said he wanted to wipe israel from the map. This is a media error precipitated by israeli propagandists. what iran presidents said was that the occupiors of palistine (i.e. the current israeli regime) will be wiped from the pages of time (i.e. by their own actions, not by the actions of iran). This is so true. I have no doubt that just as in the 1940s Jews will once again have to conceal their jewishness, and this will be the direct result of their current leaders, not the consequences of other people's actions. The hatered that Israel is earning around the world today causes one to pause and begin to wonder if perhaps, just perhaps, it was similar conduct by their leaders that caused the world to hate jews as much as they did in the 1940s. Of course, we've never been allowed to ask, much less research, the question of how it was that the world so despised the jews in the 1940s, and during so many other periods in world history.

The current Isaeli leadership, however, has been heard to threaten palistinians with a holocaust. it has been heard to refer to Arabs as vermin and animals. Perhaps the nazis learned their ways from the jews.

Tom Hardy

Are you trying to claim that

Are you trying to claim that Hitler killed Jesus Christ? The Jews killed Jesus, everyone knows it except the Jewish sympathizers in the Christian community. Ponchus begged the people not to demand his execution for even the Romans felt Jesus didn't deserve it. His famous quote, "I wash my hands." It was the Jews' decision to execute Jesus, not the Romans.

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