Iraq 2: IRAN!


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Drunken Idaho
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Iraq 2: IRAN!

Post by Drunken Idaho »

Well, sounds like the neocons are banging the war drums again! That's right, John McCain, Carl Levin & Lindsay Graham have their own little drum circle going on, holding up signs that say "#Occupy Iran!" This time, it's Ahmadinejad who must be toppled because of potential WMDs. We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud, do we? Clearly a new war is what's needed. The US can afford it right?

Here's some news from today:
RawStory wrote:Panetta admits Iran not developing nukes
By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, January 9, 2012

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta let slip on Sunday the big open secret that Washington war hawks don’t want widely known: Iran is not developing nuclear weapons.

Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Panetta admitted that despite all the rhetoric, Iran is not pursuing the ability to split atoms with weapons, saying it is instead pursuing “a nuclear capability.”

That “capability” falls in line with what Iran has said for years: that it is developing nuclear energy facilities, not nuclear weapons.

“I think the pressure of the sanctions, the diplomatic pressures from everywhere, Europe, the United States, elsewhere, it’s working to put pressure on them,” Panetta explained on Sunday. “To make them understand that they cannot continue to do what they’re doing. Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability, and that’s what concerns us. And our red line to Iran is, do not develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us.”

Republicans have been beating the drums of war in recent weeks as tensions in the Iranian gulf have soared. Iran has threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transport hub crucial to global industry, if U.S. warships return to monitor their activities.

Iran said it was planning to hold military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz in the coming weeks, and prior wargames saw the Iranians test missiles that are designed to sink warships.

President Barack Obama recently agreed to fresh sanctions on Iran targeting the country’s central bank, in hopes of slowing down their nuclear program. The European Union was also considering fresh sanctions, and details were expected later in January. The U.N., as well, has sanctioned Iran repeatedly over its nuclear program.

Iran said recently that it had created the country’s first ever nuclear fuel rod made from domestic uranium enriched at their own facilities.

Nuclear fuel enrichment is much different from enrichment for weapons. Most commercial nuclear reactors use lightly enriched uranium, which is between 3-5 percent enriched. Weapons-grade uranium must be enriched to approximately 85 percent or more of a key radioactive isotope for it to be usable in an atomic bomb.

Iran added on Monday that it had also enriched uranium up to 20 percent in an underground facility, explaining that the isotopes were to be used to help cancer patients.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said late last year that Iran had carried out tests that suggested they may be taking the first steps toward building a nuclear weapon, but former agency insiders disputed the claim as being misleading.

This video is from CBS News, broadcast Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012, as clipped by ThinkProgress.
Edit: Forgot to link - http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/09/p ... ing-nukes/
Last edited by Drunken Idaho on 09 Jan 2012 16:45, edited 1 time in total.
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Freakzilla
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Re: Iraq 2: IRAN!

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I said YEARS ago that Iraq and Afghanastan were just staging grounds to attack Iran. All you have to do is look at a map to realize that.
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Drunken Idaho
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Re: Iraq 2: IRAN!

Post by Drunken Idaho »

Mmhm. We all knew this was coming, it was just a matter of when. I guess withdrawal from Iraq seemed like a good time.

Oh, and that drone nonsense is a joke no matter how you look at it. The fact that it was lost? A joke. Asking for it back? A joke. Expecting US citizens to be outraged over it? A joke... Watching this very small group of hawks desperately try to get people into invading Iran should be pretty entertaining.

In all seriousness, I hope they don't. Ahmadinejad is a bastard, but he poses no real threat to anyone in the west. I'm hoping the people of Iran can take care of it themselves, either democratically or via some kind of Iranian spring. Ideally the latter, since the tyrant rigs every election.

Oh, and this...

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Re: Iraq 2: IRAN!

Post by SadisticCynic »

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5urXhWb ... =endscreen[/youtube]

By all means watch all of it, but the part I'm thinkin' about starts at 1:34.
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Re: Iraq 2: IRAN!

Post by Serkanner »

Freakzilla wrote:I said YEARS ago that Iraq and Afghanastan were just staging grounds to attack Iran. All you have to do is look at a map to realize that.
Bingo!
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trang
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Re: Iraq 2: IRAN!

Post by trang »

We cant afford another war, Iran provides no advantage, other that pissing off the rest of the Arabs/Persians. They (our glorious elected officials) need to sit back and keep sword rattle to minimum. Diplomacy and Sanctions are fine, WE need to work with the World Community on this one.

I feel this is a Nature takes its course situation. The people of IRAN are oppressed by their own government and the latest trend in the middle east is uprising and ousting those regimes by their own.

Unless there is IMMEDIATE CLEAR and PRESENT DANGER of Nuclear attack against any nation from IRAN, there is more than the US that has a vital role in preventing that, Russia, China, India, specifically.

My prediction for 2012 is Iraq fracturing into sectarian rule (Kurdish North, rest divided by Sunni and Shiite) then IRAN invading them.

I fully believe Israel has its spies so far in IRAN that if they fart in the wrong direction they are ready to act, hopefully that's not the case.

Just dont think our role should be leading against IRAN. There is mission in Afghanistan (why we are still there I have no idea) that needs to get completed. We need to pull back and retool our military, which is going to cost an ass load anyway.
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Freakzilla
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Re: Iraq 2: IRAN!

Post by Freakzilla »

Idaho, sorry, I forgot about this topic when I started mine on Iran... care if I merge it?
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