Raid on Iranian Consulate must be considered an impeachable offense

[Botany]

As bush spoke to America we were attacking an Iranian Consulate in Iraq.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,459083,00.html

Because international law considers embassies & consulates "foreign soil," any
attack on such an institution could be considered "an act of war." As bush
spoke to the nation he know that an attack on the Iranian Consulate
in Iraq was already underway. The U.S. Constitution does not allow unilateral
acts of war by the President. He/She must have the consent of Congress to undertake
any such actions. Also, the go ahead bush was given to conduct military actions
in Iraq did not grant him the leeway to start a war with Iran.

Wasn't too long ago that "We" were all up in arms about Iranian militants who were working
@ some level with the Government of the Ayatollah, about capturing our embassy in Tehran.
Now we violate the sanctity of a consulate's grounds in the same country but this time with our troops?
Violations of both U.S. and International laws are not a coherent foreign policy. And as such must
not be tolerated. Neither should acts as reckless as this one.

Congress must start Impeachment procedures as soon as possible and give the President
and his lawyers an OPEN VENUE in which to argue the merits and the legality of this raid.

BTW Anybody else notice how bush was all p.o.ed about Iran & Syria's help for
the rebels in Iraq but not word one about the Saudi's help to the Sunni fighters,
in Iraq who are killing American troops?

[mod mom]

1. Time for pitchforks and torches, yet?

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Take it back, now

Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugène Delacroix
From the website of the University of Southern California

[understandinglife]

36. At a minimum ....

....

[montanto]

37. Absolutely!!!!!!!

I'm there.

[BushOut06]

42. Are you allowed to have a pitchfork in front of the WH?

I doubt that anyone would be allowed within 1000ft of the WH with a pitchfork, but it would make for a GREAT protest!

[mod mom]

51. I am a 5'6" mother and I couldn't get within screaming distance of *.

We need the military to stand down. What's Colin Powell saying about Iran?

[Just-plain-Kathy]

56. mod mom...It's funny you say that

my 86 year old grandmother in-law (who grew up in Hungary) wanted to know why we "all don't get together and go after that bad man Bush with an axe".

...I told her, 'Granny you can't do that'.

she said, "An axe chops wood, right?.

I said, "yeah"

then she said, "then it would work". ...true story.

[mod mom]

62. My daughter asked why Santa didn't help do something. Different magic

I told her.

I'm ready!

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. Excellent point! n/t

[Botany]

4. I know I am wonderful aren't I?

:rofl:

As this came to me as I was walking home from dropping off my truck to be fixed.

The whole thing is criminal ..... bush new about the raid as he was trying to gin up support
for going after Iran because Iran is responsible for the mess bush got us into in Iraq.

:grr:

[Radio_Lady]

5. Kicked to the "Greatest" page... I have been watching the news for

five hours and haven't heard anything about this raid. I am sick to my stomach.

[Norquist Nemesis]

13. It's just been making it on to the newswires in the past couple of

hours and is making its way through. It's going to be interesting to see if the UN (new leader and all!) will come out and make a statement about it.

:popcorn:

[bdamomma]

16. Check out this article from Al Jazeera English version

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D380D570-5115-464C-8429-6D019CCAD42D.htm

US storms 'Iran consulate' in Arbil

[robertpaulsen]

6. Thanks for this, especially your last paragraph.

I hadn't thought of that, but as soon as I read it I went, "Hey, that's right! Saudis are helping the Sunnis. Wonder why such a double standard?"

And come to think of it, didn't Seymour Hersh report about Israel aiding the Kurds militarily? I'll have to double check that one.

[robertpaulsen]

19. Found it. Plan B: The Kurdish Gambit.

Plan B: The Kurdish Gambit (Seymour Hersh, New Yorker)

Very interesting. Hersh scores yet again.

http://newyorker.com/printable/?fact/040628fa_fact

Asked to comment, Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said, “The story is simply untrue and the relevant governments know it’s untrue.” Kurdish officials declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the State Department.

However, a senior C.I.A. official acknowledged in an interview last week that the Israelis were indeed operating in Kurdistan. He told me that the Israelis felt that they had little choice: “They think they have to be there.” Asked whether the Israelis had sought approval from Washington, the official laughed and said, “Do you know anybody who can tell the Israelis what to do? They’re always going to do what is in their best interest.” The C.I.A. official added that the Israeli presence was widely known in the American intelligence community.

The Israeli decision to seek a bigger foothold in Kurdistan—characterized by the former Israeli intelligence officer as “Plan B”—has also raised tensions between Israel and Turkey. It has provoked bitter statements from Turkish politicians and, in a major regional shift, a new alliance among Iran, Syria, and Turkey, all of which have significant Kurdish minorities. In early June, Intel Brief, a privately circulated intelligence newsletter produced by Vincent Cannistraro, a retired C.I.A. counterterrorism chief, and Philip Giraldi, who served as the C.I.A.’s deputy chief of base in Istanbul in the late nineteen-eighties, said:

Turkish sources confidentially report that the Turks are increasingly concerned by the expanding Israeli presence in Kurdistan and alleged encouragement of Kurdish ambitions to create an independent state. . . . The Turks note that the large Israeli intelligence operations in Northern Iraq incorporate anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian activity, including support to Iranian and Syrian Kurds who are in opposition to their respective governments.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=635408

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

7. K&R n/t

[helderheid]

8. Error: You've already recommended that thread.

[hootinholler]

10. Short-term memory issues?

I hate it when that happens to me too.

-Hoot

[helderheid]

12. DOH!

:P

[bobbolink]

17. Naw... better safe than sorry...

~~chortle~~

I have a very good memory. I hardly ever use it. :hi:

[uppityperson]

43. me too

[Avalux]

9. They just discussed this on NPR w/reporter who's there.

He said we really screwed up; not just because of who we kidnapped, but because we pissed off the Kurds. We've enjoyed an allegiance with them, but sending troops into one of their peaceful towns was a really bad move - he said our humvees we're surrounded by Kurdish troops on a road and there was a standoff (weapons drawn) for about an hour before helicopters came in to get our troops out.

Who the hell is in charge here????

[mod mom]

11. "the decider"-FRAUDULENT ELECTIONS HAVE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES!

[DearAbby]

14. According to Biden,

this would be an impeachable offense. B*sh does not have the authorization to attack Iran. I would assume that means their embassies, anywhere. The IWR does not include Iran.

IS IT TIME YET? What are we waiting for?

[MzNov]

20. He assumes???? Has this guy ever read anything related to international law

or the constitution??? I'm a regular citizen, and I can tell ya Bush conducted an Act of War by storming the consultate.

good gawd, sometimes I swear the american people are six times as smart as our illutrious officials.


:mad:

[FredStembottom]

15. Holy Smokes! Things are speeding waaaaaay ahead

I am starting to feel that not only will impeachment be put back "on the table" - it will be by later today!

Investigations/schmestigations! Congress may be pushed into impeachment as a frantic, last-ditch emergency maneuver to prevent world crisis!

Or better: Bush gets "the visit" - ala Nixon and resignation follows.

Maybe? Who knows. We're into some pretty realistic history-in-the-making, here!

[bobbolink]

18. uh, it's not an "either/or" Investigations are PART of impeachment

Really.

[FredStembottom]

64. I guess I was not denying that so much as........

suggesting that Bush may well do things so dire that the investigations part of the proceeding might be telescoped down to about an hour and a half (using hyperbole here, again) by a desperately frightened congress.

This new idea I contrast to the idea we all have of investigations going on for months and months by saying "investigations/schmingestigations".

[proud patriot]

21. I had to take a moment and let the gravity of this sink in

I'm shocked by this act of war .

That's what it is , nothing short of it .

[Botany]

22. call your senators & congressperson

this crosses so many lines it is not funnny

[CrownPrinceBandar]

23. Bravo!!.........

I'm not surprised that this hasn't gotten any play in the media; hands in the cookie jar and all.

Thom Hartmann also stated that this is not only an impeachable offense but a blatant act of war. It seems that Bush is hell-bent on bringing Iran into this war and he will do so at our and our soldiers peril.

k&r!

[Posteritatis]

24. IIRC, consulates aren't foreign soil, just embassies

I could be mistaken, and raiding a consulate is still a lousy, lousy thing to do, but it wouldn't be the open act of war that raiding an embassy would be.

That said, this isn't The Reason to nail Bush to the ceiling, it's just the latest drop in the ocean of them.

[Botany]

26. this more than enough reason

this happened as he was giving his speech trying to "gin up"
anger @ the Iranians for helping the rebels in Iraq.

This was a very provocative act by a mad man.

[Posteritatis]

27. Not denying that part at all. (nt)

[Botany]

29. thanx

not that there is tons of other criminal acts by bush ......

but this one can really come back and take a chunk out of his ass.

A 3:00 AM military raid on a foreign consulate where we take people
prisoner and seize computers and files? .... please this was an act that
crosses so many lines (and yes you stupid shit lurking freepers I know
Iran is a "bad country") that it really is an act of war. Or at least getting us in
deeper into the one we a stuck in now.

This is bush going, "look all that bad stuff in Iraq, it is Iran's fault, see."
All the time missing the point this raid, all the dead, all the hurt, all the
homeless, all the suffering have come 99% from President shithead's stupid
ass war.

[Pacifist Patriot]

53. I thought a consulate was granted "foreign soil" status while...

diplomatic relations were being normalized prior to an embassy being formally established. I could be wrong.

[conscious evolution]

55. A Consulate is like a branch office of an embassy

In many places around the world their will be a main embassy,usually in the capitol, and consulate offices in other cities.
Consulates have the same diplomatic immunity the main embassy has.

[twenty4blackbirds]

65. self-delete

doh!

[freefall]

25. Senator Biden said in the Foreign Relations Committee hearing right before

lunchtime adjournment that the Senate would not tolerate an attack on Iran by the executive without prior consent of the Congress. He was adamant that the administration should not attack Iran. Should we all call his office and ask what he is going to do about the fact that the administration has already crossed that line?

202-224-5042

Peace,

freefall

On edit: Actually, any calls should go to the majority office of the Committee rather than the Senator's office: [phone]

[RevCheesehead]

28. I just want to say

"You're my favorite. Please don't tell the others."

:hug::loveya:

[Botany]

30. Don't make me beg just post THE PICTURE

BTW call Russ F. and your congressperson and bitch ......

I hope KO rips bush a new one tonight.

Bush, "look it is Iran's fault."

[RevCheesehead]

31. As you wish, Cap'n Cuddles.

[redacted]

32. BBC update

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6251167.stm

This took place during his speech?

[Botany]

34. If i am correct in my math

GMT is 5 hours ahead of EST

So if bush was speaking @ 9:00 PM EST that is (9:00 PM is 21 00 GMT)

which is 02 00 GMT (2 AM)

"The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to local media."

0001 = 12:01 AM

So he must have known about the raid either being underway or being finished.

Impeach his ass now.

[mod mom]

41. Update says Pentagon spokeman says: NOT CONSULATE or Govmt Building

"I can confirm for you through our forces there that this is not a consulate or a government building," he said.

BBC upate posted

[uppityperson]

44. Reuters link says it was.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11580349.htm

[mod mom]

45. Pentagon spokesman lying? I'm shocked!

[PATRICK]

70. Technicality was ready and quickly

spun. A "diplomatic mission" in the process of forming an embassy. Typical WH point. Once you have denied full diplomatic status then you can move ahead with discreditng the individuals as enemies engaged in hostile activities. However, what exactly is the legality of diplomatic missions? Is this another time wasting ball of judicial paperwork or a clear assault on international law?

Also, hello, to be really clever, you actually have to immediately FIND some evidence of hostility. Attacking and detaining any foreign nationals in someone else's territory would at least need some justification. However, as the story develops there is more to the contrary. Whatever the legal interpretations in the minutiae it is a moronic slap in the face against the entire world- and mostly that was what was intended.

You can almost hear the self-satisfaction among the WH planners as the idea of spinning down the assault target as a "mere diplomatic mission" of possible gun runners and saboteurs gives them adequate cover against immediate world action.

Which means they expect the timetable to move on and favor them so these crimes won't matter much.

[HuffleClaw]

33. a deliberate provocation and you can be sure had iran done the same to a US consulate

on its soil (if there were any) bush would be SCREAMING about it.

[BrightKnight]

46. They did and we were. -n/t

[Straight Shooter]

35. Step 1. Asleep at the wheel, allow Sept. 11 attacks. Step 2. Attack Afghanistan.

Step 3. Afghanistan a failure.
Step 4. Attack Iraq.
Step 5. Iraq a failure.
Step 6. Attack Iran.
Step 7. Iran a failure ... no, wait. Not a failure. An ungodly spectacular no-holds-barred war erupts in the Middle East.
Step 8. bush succeeds at last in being the most maniacal POS ever to walk this earth.

I swear to God, I believe bush has decided that he is going to create a legacy for himself one way or the other. Since it's clear that it's over for him as far as being famous for spreading democracy, he is content to settle for starting the greatest war this Earth has ever seen. How else does one explain his delusions of grandeur as "Commander in Chief"?

[Raksha]

50. Seems like he's not too picky about what KIND of a :"legacy"

it is either.

Re >>I swear to God, I believe bush has decided that he is going to create a legacy for himself one way or the other.<<

I guess "worst homicidal maniac since Hitler" sounds more...you know, IMPORTANT to him than "worst president ever."

[montanto]

38. I've been sick to my stomach k/r

all morning since I heard about this raid. Got in a fight w/someone at work over it. (idiot horned in on a conversation that I was having with someone else, plus he hadn't even heard about it.)

This is really good news to me. I hope we can capitalize before * gets it on with Iran too.

edit k/r silly me. thanks

[Rosemary2205]

39. Fuck. k&R nt

[donkeyotay]

40. For accuracy say, Bush committed yet another impeachable offense

There have been so many, we couldn't keep up with them all without the internets.

[jazzjunkysue]

47. MSNBC not alking about the attack, yet. n/t.

[mod mom]

63. Both Keith and Scarborough covered it.

[redacted]

48. AFP story now front page news on the France24 website

http://www.france24.com/

http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20070111-raid-iran.html

[jazzjunkysue]

49. I just emailed it to my senators and congresswoman, and Keith.

Everyone: Memorize this: www.congress.gov, www.senate.gov, [e-mail]

Let them hear you! We can make a difference, now.

[texpatriot2004]

52. Um, you mean ANOTHER impeachable offense nm

[Pacifist Patriot]

54. I would consider it one among many. When is enough enough?

[EFerrari]

57. Impeach. Indict. Say good bye, it's time to go.

K&R

[Miss Chybil]

58. Have to get Cheney first.

If you think things are bad now, think "President Cheney."

[crispini]

59. K&R nt

[redacted]

60. AP update via CBS: "U.S. Detains 6 Iranians in Irbil Raid"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/12/ap/world/mainD8MJD00G0.shtml

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 12, 2007
By KIM GAMEL Associated Press Writer
(AP)

(AP) U.S.-led forces detained five Iranians Thursday after a raid on a government office flying an Iranian flag, Iraqi officials and witnesses said, as President Bush vowed to isolate Iran and Syria as part of a new strategy to quell violence in Iraq.

The multinational forces entered the building overnight, detained the Iranians and confiscated computers and documents, two senior local Kurdish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Six people suspected of being involved in attacks against Iraqi civilians and military forces were initially detained, the U.S. military said in a statement. One was later released. The statement did not identify the nationalities of the suspects.

ABC News, quoting Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, reported that U.S. forces tried and failed later Thursday to seize more people at Irbil's airport. That raid resulted in a tense, armed standoff with Kurdish peshmerga militia forces, the television news organization said.

more at link

[redacted]

61. About 550 articles on Google News now covering story

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1112608633

[Kablooie]

66. I have a bad feeling that there is something bigger than we think behind this.

Things don't smell right.

Bush and his monsters have an ugly surprise they are about to spring on us.

[Kelly Rupert]

67. An "impeachable offense" is whatever Congress says it is.

This would be kind of laughable, especially when you consider the actual crimes Bush has committed.

[Divine Discontent]

68. lol

good one Kelly... this pResident has done far worse and gotten away with it. His Republican coward Congress stood by while he committed crime upon crime. Hopefully the Dems will not do the same, and make them answer in intense questioning for their lies.



www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- antibush prodem stickers/shirts

[focusfan]

69. this man needs to be stopped

does congress have the power to impeached Bush if so i hope
they start proceedings.

[farmbo]

71. Bush would like nothing better than for the Dems to "impeach" over this

Think this through...

This would require every House Dem to stick their necks WAY OUT to cast a vote in favor of the sanctity of IRAN's foreign consulates.

Does anybody remember 1979-80? (The Iran Hostage crisis?)

Like it or not, the US is more sinned against than sinning when it comes to diplomatic outrages involving Iran.

It is a non-starter.

Domestic surveillance, torture, suspension of habeas corpus, lying to the American public about WMD...all good grounds for impeachment.

Raiding an Iranian consulate office in the midst of a bombed out Sunni enclave...not so good.

[Vinca]

72. Reason to impeach #3,019. nt

[bleever]

73. * used a sucker punch on the American people with that stunt.

Time to bench this guy.

[colorado_ufo]

74. AHA! This is the answer!

This is why -

* There were no photos allowed after the speech;
* It had been pre-recorded - to make it seem like he had no idea what was going on.
* Meanwhile, as the American public watched and listened to this "new plan," and the news media were distracted, and our other public figures were distracted,
* He was free to be in contact with the operatives involved in this attack on the consulate.
* This is also why his great "new plan" was nothing more than throwing a few thousand troops at Baghdad:
* There are much bigger things in the works.
* And now we are all focused on the 20,000 troops and not looking any deeper or for anything else.

Was this Cheney's idea? Did it terrify even Bush - which is why he looked positively stricken during his speech?

This is a national emergency!