Another Fake Lead Up To A War - But Unlike Iraq, Any Iran Invasion Wouldn't Be A "Cakewalk"

Here we go again! Another episode of huff and puff, this time to work up to an Iran invasion. But make no mistake, going into Iran for whatever reason would be the very definition of insanity. And it also would not turn into another 'regime change"  such as when Bush II invaded Iraq and reduced Saddam's army to rubble using 'shock and awe'.  Let's repeat this a hundred times: Iran is NOT Iraq.  As the website 'breakingdefense.com' has pointed out:

"Iran is spatially large and mountainous with an enormous, fiercely nationalist population. Make no mistake, U.S. military occupation of the Islamic Republic would make the Iraq War, for once, actually look like the “cakewalk” it was billed to be.

So where are the troops available to topple Tehran? They don’t exist. The U.S. military is already running at full throttle, and the American people won’t be flocking to recruiters to stave off an overhyped, distant Iranian threat. The polling data is clear: Americans don’t want another war."

These are not minor considerations. Hence, the Trumpie warhawks - especially John 'Nutso' Bolton- fanning the flames, need to tone it down.  Much has been made of alleged Iranian sabotage of oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, but as yet there is no iron clad evidence. Besides, even if true it is not a reason to start a war or launch an ill -conceived invasion in which tens of thousands of U.S. troops may lose their lives.

Never mind, the Trumpie propagandists have also called for evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad - asserting nebulous "threats" by Iranian "proxies" - whatever the hell that means. What it means for me and other critical thinkers is simply another ruse to bait Iran into a misguided conflict - that will be as bad or worse for us as it would for them. (And again bear in mind Iran is not Iraq!)

And if that fails, Trump, Bolton and their criminal cabal can pull the "nuke threat" out of their hats.  Oh wow, Iran now ready to go straight ahead to processing nuclear materials for warheads on missiles.  Well, whose fault was that anyway?  After all, it wasn't Iran that sundered the deal that the Obama administration and many allies had patiently forged! It was traitor Trump and his retinue of loons.  See e.g.

Brane Space: Iran Deal Is The Best The World Could Get: So Critics ...

brane-space.blogspot.com/2015/07/iran-deal-is-best-world-could-get-so.html

1. Cached

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Fortunately, one military voice of sanity has spoken out on this concocted Iranian "threat" propaganda,  set up by U.S. Neocons.  That would be Major General Chris Ghika - a Brit senior officer in the coalition fighting ISIS. Maj. Ghika, speaking in a video two days ago from coalition headquarters in Baghdad, told reporters the coalition monitors any hostile activity, i.e. of Iranian -backed forces.  And to the point:

"We do not see any increased threat from any of them at this stage."

Who could contest such a clear synopsis?  Well U.S.  Central Command ("Centcom") did, claiming Ghika's sober assessment "runs counter to the identified credible threats from Iranian-backed forces in the Middle east."  Which is absolute balderdash. 

Besides, why in hell should I believe this claptrap retort from a source (Pentagon) that up to now has not been able to account for $6.5 TRILLION in military expenditures?  This as documented in the July 2016, Dept. of Defense (DOD) Inspector General study.   So now, get this, these weasels are gaming for another couple trillion of American taxpayer dollars to set fire to in another useless military excursion. 

Let's also not forget that in December, 2016 a Washington Post article published its own account of a "buried" DOD report which had found "$125 billion in administrative waste" in Pentagon business operations. What happened to all those taxpayer dollars? Where is the rest of the  $6.375 trillion, what did these wastrels do with that?  And now they want to over extend for another war, indicted by contradicting the assessment of Maj. Gen. Ghiza?

All smoke and mirrors? Maybe not. The NY Times already reported on the potential deployment of 120,000 U.S. troops to the Middle East - but which was dismissed as only a "rumor" by Pompeo.  Well, pardon me but one might consult history here.

On October 18, 1913, after Serbia's occupation of Albania - a Balkan state also under the dominance of Austria-Hungary- the latter dispatched an ultimatum for withdrawal by all Serbian forces within 8 days..  Rumors of war circulated and the German Kaiser, grasping the 'genie' might be  out of the bottle, penned a letter to Austria stating "every reason for war is removed"- after a Serbian reply agreed.  

The letter of conciliatory support was too late, however, and barely an hour after the Kaiser penned those words Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.  The match igniting the conflagration known as World War I had been tossed, and eight months later my great grandfather Anton was conscripted into the army of Austria-Hungary, e.g. 















My Great-grandfather, left, after conscription into the Austro-Hungarian Army some eight months after the onset  of World War I. An Austrian officer stands next to him in this 1915 photo.

The confusion with the Kaiser's  letter directly led to 11 million military dead and 7 million civilians in World War I.   But you can be sure a misguided and misdirected Iranian conflict could be vastly worse, even conceivably leading to a thermonuclear war.  This is because - while the media hasn't mentioned it - the Russians do have strategic interests in Iran, as they do in Syria.  Hence, any misstep could have catastrophic consequences.  All of which attests even more to the folly of Trump recklessly pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

Will Maj. Gen. Ghika's comments be too late to stave off a rash move by the U.S. into an Iran invasion?  Let's hope so, because recall the Brit 1983 movie 'Threads' depicted a rapid escalation starting with an initial strike on a Russian nuclear reactor at Isfahan,  leading to global war. This also was ignited by reckless moves into Iran by the U.S. and a "coalition" of allies.

Let me pause here to interject that although none of us except  the Japanese have experienced an atomic bomb attack, you can get a very good inkling of what happens to humans by watching it in this clip from the movie 'Threads', e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrHoMSRZOS4

Watch it then watch again- especially the last 2 minutes of the clip-  to see what we may be in for if cooler heads do not prevail now and if congress again allows crazies to usurp its war making powers.

See also:

Iran

Neocons Won’t Stop Until They Get Their War With Iran

And:

Bolton in Wonderland

John Feffer

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John Bolton

by John Feffer | May 15, 2019 - 6:05am 

Excerpt:

"Of all the places where John Bolton would like to go to war, Iran is currently in the lead position.

The national security advisor was in office for less than two months before Trump announced that he was pulling the United States out of the nuclear deal with Iran, a key Bolton objective. Since then, Bolton has been part of the team that has put the squeeze not only on Iran (with additional economic sanctions) but any country with the temerity to continue any kind of economic engagement with Tehran (with the threat of secondary sanctions). Last year, Bolton also asked the Pentagon to prepare a menu of military options for striking Iran, scaring even some seasoned administration officials.

But it was earlier this month that Bolton upped the ante considerably. On May 5, he assumed the prerogative of the commander-in-chief by issuing a direct threat to Iran.

In response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings, the United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central Command region to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force. The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.

Trump And Cronies Dance With Saudis While They Screw Millions Of Trump Voters

Trump cabinet members Wilbur Ross & Rex Tillerson took turns dancing with Saudis, Trump had his turn too.

Trump -above- after Saudis delivered several lessons on how to do the "ardah". He still screwed it up.

"No, you asshole! You're doing it the wrong way!"

Many will likely recall how 7 years ago, Trump raked then President Barack Obama over the coals for "bowing" to foreign potentates. One is led to ask how hypocritical one has to be to do that, and then not only bow to the "supreme" Saudi leader but also curtsey, e.g.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-saudi-arabia-trip-curtsey-bow-king-salman-gold-medal-honour-barack-obama-bowing-a7747016.html


 then do a sword dance with this ilk, along with two members of his cabinet, Wilbur Ross and Rex Tillerson.  By all accounts in the Saudi-controlled media the trio yucked it up pretty good even as within hours Trump put the final touches on a wretched budget plan to reduce Medicaid spending by $800 billion, and also make food stamps cuts of at least 30 percent. Oh, and make those getting food stamps work. (Clue one: 95% of food stamp recipients already work.  It's just that they can't make ends meet with the jobs they have. Since nearly all the non-working food stamp beneficiaries are children, one guesses Trump and his cronies will make them work.)

The Trump supporters and voters need to take  note here, because it's estimated that up to 2 out of 5 of them depend on one or both of these programs. While they may firmly believe the current media firestorm over Trump's transgressions is fueled by media "hysteria", I can assure them that if the Trump budget passes they will experience hysteria first hand.

In his speech on Sunday,  Trump, as a guest of the Saudi monarch, spoke of a stronger alliance with mostly Sunni Muslim nations to fight terrorism and extremist ideology and to push back against Iran.  For reference, nearly all the 9/11 terrorists hailed from Saudi Arabia, whose Sunni monarchy controls Islam’s holiest sites. Ironically this bunch of freaks - recall ISIS is a Sunni entity too  -  sees itself as the natural leader of the Muslim world and has used its lavish oil wealth to spread its austere version of the faith.

Iran, meanwhile, was given short shrift by Trump, as he wailed about "terrorism" issuing from their faction of Islam. For reference, Iran is the world’s largest Shiite nation and is led by clerics who aspire to export the ideology of political Islam that brought them to power in 1979. But let us bear in mind, that ascension as well as the taking of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran, didn't just occur spontaneously. It was decades building up based on U.S. meddling ending with the support of the brutal regime of the Shah of Iran.

For historical reference,  U.S. oil interests -   in collusion with the then CIA-   deposed Premier Mohammed Mossadegh in a coup d'etat via  in Operation TPAJAX.  His offense? He had sought to audit the books of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), and implement new rules.  The eventual decision was to remove Mossadegh - the best chance at Iranian democracy.  So if Iran is "extremist" today we are the ones to blame, at least in terms of interfering in their then democratic processes by forcefully removing a head of state (like we did with Salvador Allende in Chile - except more violently in that case).

Let's be clear there is nothing in our Constitution that condones or approves of removing foreign heads of state, for whatever reason.

In some disinformationist quarters the CIA's role in the 1953 overthrow of Mossadegh is dismissed as a "myth" in the same way pro-Warrenites dismiss conspiracy in the JFK assassination as a myth - because it serves their nefarious interests to do so -- in bamboozling our fellow citizens. The truth is the CIA had its hands in the Mossadegh coup d'etat as much as they did in Kennedy's. You can read more details, including how the CIA actually admitted its role here:

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB435/

Meanwhile, three days ago, Frederic Wehrey, a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said:

“We are picking one side in this geopolitical struggle, and there is very little room for gray,.  Sectarianism is a byproduct of this geopolitical rivalry, and we are inadvertently picking one side in this sectarian struggle.”

The question is why did we pick the side that featured most of the vermin responsible for the most destructive attack on the nation in history?  Why also side with the nation with an embedded extremist strain (Wahabbi) that makes Iran's shortcoming pale in comparison?  

The Smithsonian channel's documentary, 'Islam and the West', ought to be required viewing for every American and especially the hysterical subset that believes all Muslims are the next thing to demons. The documentary traces the origins of Islam from Mohammed and to the present day, including how none other than the Brits- in the latter days of their Empire - drew up all the boundaries in the Middle East including for Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Palestine - totally ignoring ethnic and tribal affiliations. Viewing this excellent program will indicate why Trump's siding with the Saudis is a grave mistake.

In the meantime, the spectacle of the Trumpite Trio dancing with the Saudis even as they put the finishing touches on budget plans to undermine many of their own supporters couldn't be lost on the astute observer. It was also jarring to see Trump cozying up to this authoritarian, extremist lot in the way he did though we've already beheld his fondness for strong men, e.g. in Erdogan of Turkey, and Duterte in the Philippines.

See also:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/eric-zuesse/65437/the-sauds-impunity

And:

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/saudi_arabia_funds_and_exports_islamic_extremism_the_truth_behind_the_toxic_u_s_relationship_with_the_theocratic_nation/

After Latest BLOTUS Stunt- Dems Must Vow Total Obstruction

"Well, uh, uh, I'm just doin' what Stevie Bannon told me to do! BWAAAHAHAHA! Why does everybody hate me?"

The latest vicious stunt pulled by the Trumpistas was their de facto Muslim ban enacted by fiat Saturday at exactly 4:42 p.m ET, stranding thousands at airports around the world.

The pseudo-order(given it will surely be overturned) ,suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen

Trump has declared his paper piffle "E.O."  is "not a Muslim ban" but obviously it is and only a brainwashed, authoritarian Zombot would deny that. Clearly, Trump is capable of lying with impunity and getting too many of his groupies to swallow each of them whole.

As the NY Times Editorial Board put it Saturday night, after the latest Trump abomination:

"It must have felt like the worst trick of fate for these refugees to hit the wall of Donald Trump’s political posturing at the very last step of a years long, rigorous vetting process. This ban will also disrupt the lives and careers of potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have been cleared to live in America under visas or permanent residency permits.

That the order, breathtaking in scope and inflammatory in tone, was issued on Holocaust Remembrance Day spoke of the president’s callousness and indifference to history, to America’s deepest lessons about its own values."

The depth of depravity of Trump and specifically his Nazi advisor Steve Bannon, was on full display Saturday evening as hundreds of thousands of lives were dislocated by his insane scribbles passed off as "executive orders". They are nothing of the sort as I observed in my previous post, never mind thousands of  gullible officials taking them as settled law and preventing even green card and valid visa holders from returning home.

And while the pro-authoritarian Trumpies make much ado of how their gilded hero is "protecting " them, they'd be better served by backing up and putting on their thinking caps.  Mike Morrell, former CIA deputy director, noted this a.m. the ban is purely for show and given the history of recent attacks doesn't get at the core problem. In his words:

"I think the order is going to make the threat worse. It is going to make us less safe. First of all, the biggest problem we face is home-grown terrorism.  Of the roughly hundred people who've been indicted for Isis -related crimes over the last three years, eighty five percent were American citizens. This doesn't get at that at all.... It doesn't make the danger any less and it's playing right into the Isis narrative that it's a war against Islam. So this is going to be a recruitment boon for Isis."

Morrell also exposed the blatant Trump lie that these nations were on Obama's hit list. In fact not. They were really part of a program to enhance the security of a visa-waiver program for people traveling from European countries. So the Trump bunch effectively enhanced and 'weaponized' a nominal visa waiver program.

As I said, all for show, to posture in front of Trump's brain-addled authoritarian "hobbits" - as Bannon referred to them when he raged at the NY Times.

As the Times also  noted, regarding Trump''s - I mean Steve Bannon's "order" (since Bannon is really the one pulling the strings of the brain dead idiot)):

"The order lacks any logic. It invokes the attacks of Sept. 11 as a rationale, while exempting the countries of origin of all the hijackers who carried out that plot and also, perhaps not coincidentally, several countries where the Trump family does business"

Well, what would you expect from the pen of a white Nationalist Nazi who even dubs himself "Darth Vader", as he did in a documented phone call to the Times last week, ordering them to "shut up".  Trumpies ought to ask themselves why Bannon-Trump haven't banned the nations from which the 9/11 hijackers came. Well, because those nations have Trump business interests!    For example Trump is involved with multiple deals with UAE billionaire developer Hussain Ali Sajwani. Sajwani himself has engaged in several controversial land deals with senior officials in the United Arab Emirates .During Trump's recent news conference he actually admitted Sajwani offered him $2 billion worth of development deals in Dubai.

And don't get me started on the pussyfooting Dems who ought to be ashamed that Bannon - in his rant to the Times -  actually declared the MEDIA to be the opposition, NOT the Democratic Party!  If I were a Dem (which I am not, I'm unaffiliated) I'd hang my head in shame because Bannon's spiel to the Times really showed my party wasn't doing its job as an opposition.

But in the wake of Bannon-Trump's Muslim ban  we have a serious shot over the bow for any Dem cooperation with this vile bunch of reptiles.  Wait, that's an insult to reptiles..  Before, I was willing to give the Ds a pass even if they ended up voting for some of Trump's less vile despicables, but no more.  Now, I want to see full throttle obstruction to the Bannon -Trump Reign by Diktat.

For reference, after the Nazis occupied Paris in 1940, a clique of French authorities proceeded to work with them, including facilitating deportations of Jews to Nazi death camps.  This lot became memorialized in an infamous sense as "Vichy France". In other words, Nazi collaborators.  The Dems now risk becoming known as VICHY Dems if they do not fight like rabid ferrets against everything the Bannon-Trump hoodlums propose or try to do.

The reason is abundantly clear: nothing they propose,  no law or plan,  can have the nation's interests at heart given a) Bannon is really running the show and b) Trump is a mere mentally unstable puppet.

Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman tweeted on Tuesday that we have "An American first: a president who was obviously mentally ill the moment he took office. Thanks, Comey." Yesterday Arizona congressman Ruben Gallego said Trump is mentally unstable. He also said "This man is not normal. He is not acting normal. And there's nothing that he's done at this point for me that he's proven that I should work with him. And I don't think it's gonna change."

Do the Democrats get it then? You cannot work with an administration run by a Nazi white nationalist and a madman liar! This is a non-starter, What does this mean? What sort of actions does this translate into?

- No more votes cast for any Trump nominees! If they are going to get in anyway, fine- let the GOP deliver their votes, don't you do it!

- Total filibuster against ANY Trump Supreme Court nominee until Obama's SC pick (Merrick Garland) is first given a hearing. Sorry, you do not get to "jump" your place in line for SC nominees even after an election.  Any Dem who refuses to exercise the filibuster is to be primaried, no exceptions.

- No enabling passage of ANY Republican legislation that will ultimately be signed by Bannon-Trump. That includes infrastructure, Obamacare (ACA), defense.   Again, any Vichy Democrats who collaborate with these vermin to be primaried when they next face re-election.

In a more general sense, former Senate aide Adam Jentleson, writing in The Washington Post ("Senate Democrats Have The Power To Stop Trump If They Use It") referenced procedural measures to solidly muck up the works and slow everything to a grind. He writes:

"The tool lies in the simple but effective act of withholding consent" adding that "an organized effort on the Senate floor can bring the body to its knees and slow down the agenda of a president who doesn't represent the majority of Americans"

How  would it work? Basically the 48 Dems would have to organize so one is always on the floor when the Senate  leader (McConnell) calls for motion to consent. Bear in mind for the Senate to move in a timely fashion there must be unanimous consent for every action or measure put forward. If a single Senator objects to any consent agreement then McConnell will be forced to resort to time-consuming procedural steps through the cloture process.  These steps would generally take four days to confirm nominees and 7 days to advance any piece of legislation. And that's without any amendment votes, If those are added,  each such amendment can be subjected to 7 days of cloture as well. With the will to do it, the Dems for once could have the Reepo heads exploding with frustration and exert some measure of payback.

To effect this, all the Dems need is to ensure one of them is always on the floor to withhold consent. The beauty is that because every Senate action requires unanimous consent it confers massive leverage for Democrats. BUT....they must possess the  balls to use it, else forget it, as they revert to balless donkeys as depicted above. If they don't like being called "obstructionist"  then,  again, we must call them balless donkeys. There's no other option. You either do like the Reepos and bring an Uzi (not a knife) to a gunfight, or go home.

Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday vowed to “claw, scrap and fight with every fiber of my being until these orders are overturned.” That's fine as far as it goes, but unless he and fellow Dems unite to obstruct every move the Trumpists and GOP attempt in the wake of Bannnon's atrocity, it's merely empty words.

Am I advocating analogous strategies to the Tea Party? You're damned right I am, especially after Bannon-Trump's latest abomination with the de facto Muslim ban which will even have effects too many can't see  For example, the Tech companies including Google have vowed to move their companies to other nations if their workers can't secure the H1B visas here.

In the end this is about acting the part of a genuine opposition and not as political collaborators for an unstable asshole and his Nazi master, Obersturmfuhrer Bannon.   This is the piece of dung who - in a statement released about Holocaust Memorial Day - ensured that all reference to Jews was scrubbed beforehand. This, of course, is the M.O. of the Holocaust denier.

The media should not have to play the part of a full opposition party but rather a vigilant outside ("fourth estate") monitor- recorder of ongoing transgressions It is up to our opposing political representatives to act the part and not confect excuses not to.  It means risking collegiality but that's okay  For the parlous era in which we find ourselves collegiality must take a back seat to protecting citizens' rights and not enabling an  anti-American rabble that calls itself an administration.

Have my made my point clearly? Yeppers, I believe I have!

Lily Rothman, in her recent (Feb. 6, p. 20) TIME essay ('The Perils of Snap Judging A U.S. President') is correct to the degree that many U.S.  Presidents gummed things up in their first 100 days "as they try to find their footing as leaders of the free world".  But for Donald J. Trump there is zero danger of that, i.e. waiting past those 100 days for him to rectify. The reason is because we know - short of  his getting needed ECT and treatment at Bellevue - he will be as much (or more) of a lying asshole then, as he is now.

Thus the take of Garrison Keillor is the more correct:

"What we know is that this man is who he is. There is no larger, finer man waiting to get out."

So whether we wait 1 day, 100 days or 1000 days is immaterial. Trump, morally deformed mutant that he is will remain the same Indeed. A 70 year old psychopath with delusions of grandeur and omnipotence who relies on a white Nationalist consigliere (Bannon) to tell him what to do and what to sign. No wonder Paul Krugman in a Tuesday tweet referred to him as an American "first" - the first ever mentally ill  man to become president. The Dems and media must fight this monster with every fiber of their being, exposing his atrocities as they emerge- and there will be more.

The last straw was disallowing the Director of National Intelligence and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from being assured a seat at the principals meeting - the most senior grouping of national intelligence officials or NSC. And who will get special prominence? Who will be guaranteed a seat before all others? Why Steve Bannon, Nazi consigliere to the mad potentate with orange hair.     This is now serious territory, folks.  This is the territory of an emerging constitutional crisis. One which could have so easily been avoided had the electors done their sworn duty in December and prevented this fool's ascent to the highest office.

This is territory we cannot tolerate, and one hopes Nancy Pelosi- who is to convene a Town Hall tomorrow night - grasps the meaning of a Vichy Dem and doesn't try to insist we can work with these vermin.  On the positive side, even if he Dems punk out, the ACLU will be there to fight for us. They have collected $24 million since Saturday compared to typically $4 million a year.  Thanks, President Bannon, for your terrific help here, writing as a 25 year member of the ACLU!

See also:

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/pierre-tristam/70936/trump-s-middle-finger-to-muslims-and-law

Start a War With Iran? Conceivably the Worst Mistake in U.S. Policy History!

According to a recent extended TIME article, 'The Path To War' (March 11, p. 20) it is only a matter of time before the Obama administration launches an all out attack - and presumably - war, against Iran.  According to a senior official quoted (p. 25):

"One way or the other we are entering the final stages of this drama".

All I can say then, is that if wiser heads prevail, there can be NO war! Not unless this nation wishes to single-handedly send the entire global economic system down a real shit pile while adding nearly fifty million terrorists! Mainly currently normal, American-loving Iranians who will as quickly turn against us in the bat of an eye if we are foolish enough to strike their homeland, no matter what the excuse.

Is Obama really stupid enough to send the world economy back two decades over some tiff with Iran using their nuclear facilities? I cannot believe so! Is he so weak to stand up to the Military-Industrial complex? I hope to hell not! (Though I do hear disturbing news that a bill will soon arrive at his desk to protect the Pentagon from the sequester cuts and add the $46b to the domestic side. And he is unsure whether to veto them or not? Hello, Mr. Prez, you VETO them! This deal was made for both sides, domestic and miltary to feel the pain, and the one saving grace to the domestic cuts was knowing the Pentagon would also have its purse strings cut!)

Anyway, according to the TIME piece, the Federation of American Scientists estimates the cost of open war with Iran to be "$1 trillion to  $1.7 trillion". Pardon me, but with oil prices consequently going through the roof, and all the deaths, injuries from thousands of terror attacks incepted around the globe, plus the destroyed infrastructure, it will be more like double that. If the Russians get involved - since they have interests there- you can perhaps even double that $3.4 trillion.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a 2012 appearance:

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/10/04/robert-gates-war-on-iran-would-be-catastrophic-and-make-a-nuclear-iran-inevitable/

"Neither the United States nor Israel is capable of wiping out Iran’s nuclear capability"


Adding:

"Such an attack would make a nuclear-armed Iran inevitable. They would just bury the program deeper and make it more covert. Not only would Iran be likely to reconstitute its defunct nuclear weapons program, but Tehran might also respond by disrupting world oil traffic in the Persian Gulf and launching a wave of terrorism across the region." 

And:

" The results of an American or Israeli military strike on Iran could, in my view, prove catastrophic, haunting us for generations in that part of the world.”


So why the fuck do it! Macho-ism? To show who's the 'Boss' of the world? Because the Israeli warmonger Netanyahu insists on it? How about putting a muzzle on him and his war mongering ilk?  Because some dildo-brained  morons in the Pentagon want it? Stand up to them like JFK would! Tell them where to get off! Let them do a serious cost-benefit analysis, that is if anyone in D.C. has the I.Q. to pull it off!

Even leave out for the moment the report in an issue of The Economist ('Smart Concrete', March 3rd,  2012, p. 89) that recently developed U.S. "bunker buster", 30,000 lb. bombs may not be able to penetrate Iranian underground facilities, fortified as they are now with "ultra-high performance concrete" (UHPC) . It's still a terrible idea! 

In other words, attacking Iranian facilities using these Massive Ordinance Penetrators ("MOPS' ), which can break through 60 m of ordinary concrete, will not necessarily be a walk in the park. And if not for the U.S., it won't be for Israel either, unless they do something truly reckless like using tactical nukes - the basis for the horrific nuclear war flick, 'Threads', e.g.


http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2012/03/anxious-to-start-war-with-iran-see-this.html

There is also a major fault in the logic that if Iran goes nuclear it'll set off a nuclear arms race in the region. We have examples that counter such reasoning. When North Korea went nuclear, neither Korea or Japan followed suit. And when Israel went nuclear, neither Egypt or Saudi Arabia followed suit. Iran wants a few nukes for a simple reason: self-protection from an arrant, aggressive invasion such as done under the "Bush doctrine" to Iraq in March, 2003!  We already showed we didn't respect national sovereignty by that "Shock and Awe" Nazi- style, Blitzkrieg invasion - which btw, violated Principle IV against pre-emptive war, under the Nuremberg laws. (First incepted with Nazi Germany's violations of international law) That Principle states:

"The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law: (a) Crimes against peace: (i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances; (ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i). "

In other words, one can argue that the Iranians are obtaining  insurance against pre-emptive strikes or war such as the U.S. has already wantonly demonstrated 10 years ago. They reason, I believe correctly, that once they have x nukes, they will be less likely to be bombed or invaded, just as the N. Koreans have reasoned. (Recall both were placed on idiot Bush's "Axis of Evil" list with Iraq back in 2002 - and they saw what transpired with Iraq)

Neither does the argument that any nukes "might fall into the hands" of terrorists make sense. After all Iran has endured, including massive sanctions (the worst being cut off from the international electronic banking SWIFT system) how or why would they be so cavalier in allowing their hard won attainments to be usurped by loonies? It is all scare tactics.


Finally, the (mainly) Israeli argument that Iranians are "prepared to commit mass suicide if it means the extermination of Israel"  is hyperbolic babble. (This was the claim of the Israeli Ambassador on a Bill Maher show back in March, 2012). A truer take was offered by Gen. Martin Dempsey when he referred to Iran as a "rational actor" - which is ultimately invested in survival not self-extermination for a manic, irrational cause. Again, Iran sees the U.S. as the threat, given how it used a reckless 'bomb, burn and slash' invasion back in 2003, which by World Health Organization estimates,  killed over 600,000 Iraqis, perhaps 200 of whom were "al Qaeda" operatives - if that. IN the end it was all a ruse instigated by an Iraqi nut nicknamed "curve ball" who invented the bullshit about WMD.

The only rational response of the U.S.? Tell Israel and Benji Netanyu to shove it, and stop Biden and others from blustering on with war talk! 

The last thing this planet needs right now is another war, especially instigated from a nation that already has 5,000 nuke warheads of its own, and a smaller nation (Israel) that has at least 100. We need now Obama to stand up like a man, face down the warhawks and tell them to fuck themselves like JFK would. We need him to inveigh against the odious myth of "Pax Americana" - of the U.S. being the policeman of the world - and imposing peace by resort to American weapons of war. We need him to stand tall now as never before and aspire to steely spine,  as John Kennedy would have (at the peak of the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962) instead of expediting what will be the worst mistake this nation's ever made!