We are in such trouble..OMG,

[serryjw]

I hate being right....this time! OMG, I have been doing this too long.
----------

A former diplomat who talked to Hersh predicted that the Iran crisis “will really start at the end of August, when the Iranians will say no (sic),” to a UN deadline to halt their uranium enrichment project.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CAR20060814&articleId=2961
-------------

Tuesday, August 22
Lailat al-Me'raj (Muslim) A VERY HOLY DAY!
The night of Lailat al-Me'raj commemorates the night journey and ascension of the Prophet Muhammed.



http://www.usc.edu/programs/religious_life/calendar/

------------------

Iran announced it would reply to the Western incentives on its nuclear program on August 22, the first time it has given a precise date after weeks of being accused of stalling

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-07/21/content_646384.htm

[TomInTib]

1. This should prove interesting...

We are setting our clocks and calendars...

[saltpoint]

2. Since I don't believe Bush is interested in peace, I can only hunch that

he wants to bomb Iran to jack up his ratings and save his presidency.

If he orders the attack on Iran I believe the opposite outcomes will ensue.

There is less reason to attack Iran than there was Iraq, and there was no reason to attack Iraq.

I don't believe he will enjoy the support of key people in the Pentagon or the Congress, and I wouldn't be surprised at a couple of Cabinet resignations.

Outcry will be notable and historic and the president's "legacy" will be a corpse-strewn trail of oil and blood.

[serryjw]

3. All is try except

if we don't have an election!Remember..he is the WAR pRESIDENT

[saltpoint]

9. I wonder though if his deciding to attack Iran would prompt the

need for the November midterms to an even greater urgency.

As it stands now, there's a lot of his former supporters waiting to vote for the other team's candidates.

In any "normal" Republican administration, Ken Blackwell would be doing a lot better in the polls. Strickland is going to mop the floor with Diebold Ken, and there are some other Ohio races tilting discernibly blue.

If Bush the failed war president is perceived as using military might to generate poll numbers, I think his poll numbers will fall further.

This November is going to be a real interesting night at Ken Mehlman's office.

[serryjw]

11. .....or they will steal another

election with the new voting machines

[saltpoint]

15. They're a desperate bunch, to be sure. On the rabid-rat fringe

of territorial politics.

But this blue tide people are writing about and volunteering to be a part of... it's getting more forceful by the hour.

One recent poll in Ohio showed Blackwell 20 points behind Strickland. I don't think any voting machine can disguise an electoral tide like that.

Even the comatose David Broder suggests a huge blue tide in the heartland.

[serryjw]

16. I'm a cynic

Lets talk after the election....I can't get my hopes up. 2002/04 almost killed me, ONE 2 year depression.

[saltpoint]

20. On November 7th, serryjw, I'll buy you a cyber-beer, no matter the

outcome.

Parts of me are still smarting from the McGovern/Nixon race in 72. We'll drink our cyber-beers and swap observations.

[serryjw]

23. I was 22..I remeber my

parents being unhappy. We need to first get past 8/22, then we can plan for our cyber beer.......It's times like this I wish I drank

[saltpoint]

27. I understand. You hang in there.

[Sherman A1]

28. Agreed

[no_hypocrisy]

29. Can't they steal ANOTHER election WITHOUT bombing Iran?! n/t

[Webster Green]

4. I agree. Iraq is out of control and its the war-chimp's doing.

Serious chimp-fatigue is setting in, and he wants to start another war?

Repukes are going to pay dearly in November for their war-chimp's failures.

[saltpoint]

10. Yes. Hunter S. Thompson described the jumping of ship by Nixon's

men as being "like rats in a slumfire."

Bush had his chance to plan and execute a "war" and failed miserably. People are pissed.

Iran is not a smart military option for him, and it's even less a smart political option.

The boy's cooked.

[Trajan]

5. Again ... We will NOT bring war to Iran ....

The US Military will NOT do it .... Even if Bushco wants to ....

They do not have the manpower ...

They do not have the resources ...

They do not have the winning strategy ...

Aint gonna happen ....

(Addendum: They MAY bomb the nuclear facilities .... But they cannot go any farther than that)

(Addendum 2: Israel will not bomb Iran .... The result of Lebanon makes sure of that )

[Kiouni]

6. how can you be so sure?

just because they dont have the resources has never stopped buchco before!

[Trajan]

7. The Military was dragged into Iraq ...

Kicking and screaming all the way ....

Things are not well there : to focus on Iran now would divert resources from Iraq, which could fall apart in weeks ....

Hell ... it is destined to fail as it is .... Will they lick their wounds in Iran ? ....

No .. I dont think so .... Even the Rumsfeldian lackeys would be hard pressed to guide a constrained military into a new theater .....

They would resign en masse ....

It is important to note how much STRONGER an Iranian military is .... they have not been reduced by a decade of sanctions, like Iraq was ..... They are no slouches ....

I am reminded of a Brecht quote:

Great Carthage fought three wars ...

After the first, it was barely recognizable ...

After the second, it was uninhabitable ...

After the third, nobody could find it at all ...

Edit: er .... I paraphrased ... here is the real quote :

"Great Carthage fought three wars. After the first
war, it was still strong. After the second war, it was
still inhabitable. After the third war, nobody could
find it at all."

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Odin2005]

32. I'm afraid only a coup will rid us of the Neocons.

Political discourse has become so infected with the Straussian "useful myths" (like how they turned a lucky little bunch of Islamists in Afganistan into a giant boogyman) they created that only a forced "purging" of the myths will bring our country back to normal. Us just taking back power in '06 and '08 won't fix anything because we are forced by political neccessity to purpetuate the neocon myths otherwise we will be labeled "soft on terrorism."

[Donna Zen]

33. The Army maybe, but..

The Air Force was good to go.

My take on listening to people like Krystal...they actually believe that we can bomb the nuclear facilities and get out. There is a Democrat who have gone to Israel and repeated this message. Unfortunately they are wrong. We do not know if we can take out Iran's nuclear program. Also, if we do, there will be plenty of people willing to help Iran restore and accelerate their ambitions.

General Clark when he last spoke about this (which was before the end of Hizbullah/Israel war) said that it would roll out after Labor Day.

[serryjw]

8. I'm with you

NOTHING he has done has made sense..why should this?

[clmbohdem]

13. I could see Bush bombing the nuke plants

in the name of stopping the new term "Islamic Fascism". Then once Iran sunk a few of our ships, we all get screwed again, this time much worse. I agree that Israel will sit this one out.

[The Magistrate]

19. Quite Right, Marcus Ulpius

A pleasure to see you about the place again, my friend!

[Trajan]

21. Hello to you, Magistrate ....

Yes .. it has been a while since we have talked ..... and nice to see you as well ...

I hope all is well for you and yours ....

Tis my bedtime, for now .... PLEASE take care ....

[countmyvote4real]

12. If * attacks Iran BEFORE the midterm elections, the GOP are toast.

It will be after and only after * has had a chance to scan and blackmail the newly "elected" legislative body. What? Me cynical?

You best believe it.

[Sinti]

14. If there were a terror event of circumstance, the draft would follow

very quickly. Then we could attack whomever we chose to.

[Skarbrowe]

17. Can Bush start bombing Iran without a vote from Congress?

I suppose I'm being pretty damn naive here, but I thought bombing a country was an act of war that had to be voted on by Congress. Does Bush have the authority, I mean I know he THINKS he does, but can he really just one day to decide to bomb Iran? Didn't Nixon start bombing Cambodia without telling anyone? It's late and I'm more than confused. But you know Bush knows that if the House and Senate go to the Democrats in November he doesn't have much time left to put himself down in history as the guy who took away the nuclear threat from Iran. Just makes me worry more than usual. Worry in the sense that something horrible might be about to happen that would let him try and convince us that Iran was the culprit. That and the fact that we are going to have a major terror alert a day for the next 80 days.

[Tesha]

31. Bush can do anything he's allowed to get away with.

Until someone sends in Federal Marshalls to arrest him,
he can get away with anything.

Do you really think a Republican Congress will block
action they tacitly approve of?

Tesha

[Amonester]

18. Repugs Won't Risk Crude Oil at $250/Barrel B4 November Mids

That would be the equivalent of a "Political Hara-Kiri"

So calm down (until after the mid-terms & pray the house will be Blue by then otherwise we in the north will freeze to death this winter...).

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/07082006/325/oil-soars-above-76-alaska-shutdown.html
~snip~
A further spike in oil prices resulting from a broader Middle East conflict would drag an already slowing U.S. economy into recession more easily now than a year ago, Standard & Poor's said...
...
The credit ratings agency forecast three scenarios -- with a $250 oil barrel sparking global recession in the worst of them, should Iran close the Strait of Hormuz, a bottleneck in the Gulf region between Iran and Oman by which tankers from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates transit.
...
Iran, the fourth-largest oil exporter, vowed on Sunday to expand its atomic fuel work and warned of a harsh response if the United Nations imposed sanctions aimed at halting enrichment.
...
We do not want to use the oil weapon, it is they who would impose it upon us,"...

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/07082006/325/oil-soars-above-76-alaska-shutdown.html

Get it while you can! :scared:

[FlavaKreemSnak]

22. They can just say that liberating Iran is the only way to have cheap gas

All they have to do is say that Iran has Al Qaeda links and talk about 911 and then show people paying a lot for gas and say that it is because they need to be liberated so they will have the freedom to be pro-American and let us have the gas for real cheap. And then they can have those people that used to be hostages talk about how much the people hate that guy with the name I can't spell but are scared to say so, and then they can get some of the people that got asylum with the shah that time and they can go on Fox and talk about how everybody in Iran wants to be pro-American and have democracy and the only way that can happen is if we help them be liberated and also we will have cheap gas.

[Amonester]

24. Wall Street will not "buy" that (Note: before Nov.)

They won't cheer "risking" a total collapse of the markets at 3 to 4 times the price of a fill-up overnight, (almost) nobody will be able to even drive to work and back (if they still have a job...)

One Black Monday like never B4 if the cabal goes nuts (as they could...) :scared:

[serryjw]

25. Personally, I think you're catching on

Rove couldn't have said it better.Lets talk after 8/22

[tom_paine]

30. "Never roll out a new product in August."

So sayeth the evil marketing genuises that are transitioning America from Democratic-Republic to Empire.

The product rollout will begin in September (I suspect the actual invasion or nuking of Iran will occur some time after the rollout hype begins).

[Parche]

34. Iran

Iran Iwalk...........maybe Einstein can get us out of this mess!!!!