After meeting with Vice president Cheney, Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, made use of that phrase regarding Iran that we first heard from the Bush administration in early 2004. I’ll bet you already know what he said:
“Israel believes that financial sanctions against Tehran could still prove effective, but all options should remain on the table,” Barak told Cheney, according to a defence ministry statement.
Well, all options except direct negotiations. In other words, we all know what Barak was saying: war against Iran is still a very real possibility. And you wonder why Cheney had to visit the Middle East at this particular time. I can assure you it wasn’t to further the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel. And while the Saudis may have discussed the price of crude oil “in passing” when they met with Big Time, Cheney wouldn’t fly all the way to Riyadh just to discuss the need to lower gas prices for the benefit of ordinary Americans. As he made abundantly clear, our needs and wants don’t count for a hill of beans as far as he’s concerned.
Meanwhile, Cheney himself continued to push the lie that Iran may be building a nuclear weapon during his trip, despite the fact that the last National Intelligence Estimate on Iran confirmed that work on its nuclear weapons’ program ended in 2003:
”What it (the NIE) says is that they have definitely had in the past a program to develop a nuclear warhead; that it would appear that they stopped that weaponization process in 2003. We don’t know whether or not they’ve restarted,” he said.
”What we do know is that they had then, and have now, a process by which they’re trying to enrich uranium, which is the key obstacle they’ve got to overcome in order to have a nuclear weapon,” he added. ”They’ve been working at it for years.”
Naturally he conveniently forgot to mention that the NIE also stated (caution: pdf file) “Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007”, which is standard operating procedure for this most audacious of Bush administration liars. After all, he’s still claiming that Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden were the best of best friends despite the fact that the Pentagon has confirmed what everyone else who has looked into the issue had already determined: that there was no connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda regarding the 9/11 attacks.
So the best that can be said about this latest news is that the Bush administration and its allies in the Israeli government continue to play a game of chicken with Iran, to coerce concessions from the Iranian government, or perhaps to bully others into agreeing to a tougher sanctions regime (the “Madman is loose again” ploy). The worst? Cheney was sent to Riyadh, Tel Aviv and other destinations in the Middle East to shore up support to a plan to strike Iran before the end of President Bush’s term in office. I’d like to believe the former, but with the recent dismissal of Admiral Fallon as CENTCOM’s commander, the one man who was the primary critic of, and obstacle to, the implementation of any plan to strike Iran, coupled with the refusal of the Pentagon to allow the good Admiral to testify to Congress, I greatly fear the latter is closer to the truth.
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US Vice President Dick Cheney, during a trip to the Middle East aimed at consolidating Washington’s position in its ongoing wars of aggression and preparing new ones, gave vent to his utter contempt for the will of the American people.
In the course of an extended interview with Cheney conducted in Oman, Martha Raddatz of ABC News noted, speaking of the Iraq war, “Two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting, and they’re looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.”
The vice president replied, “So?”
Raddatz continued, “So–you don’t care what the American people think?” Cheney responded, “No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.”
These opinion polls have indicated massive opposition to the war within the US population, without significant fluctuation, for the past three years. The Republican Party lost control of Congress in 2006 largely because of this opposition. Cheney, an authoritarian politician, brushes all that aside.
TROOPS BALAD AFB SUPPORT BARACK OBAMA
Raddatz also noted that she had spoken with US troops at the Balad air base in Iraq during a reception for Cheney. She explained that she had “asked people who they were supporting for president. Several said Barack Obama. I said, but he wants to get out of Iraq right away. And they said, that’s okay with me. These are the troops that you addressed yesterday themselves.”
Cheney responded, “What’s the question?”
“Any reaction to that?” “No.”
Raddatz went on, “It doesn’t bother you that some of the troops themselves want to get out of there?” To which Cheney replied, “They’re a broad cross section of America. I think they’ve overwhelmingly supported the mission. Every single one of them is a volunteer.”
VIDEO – Cheney On Two-Thirds Of The American Public Opposing The Iraq War: ‘So?’»
≈ Cross-posted from my diary — Green Card Soldiers ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."cheney goes fishing:
they must’ve taken his guns away from him, eh.
that aside, he’s still beating the war drums against not only iran, but syria’s now back in the sights along with hamas:
when they so blatantly show their hand, there is good reason to fear the consequences.
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BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon postponed its presidential election from March 25 to April 22 in the 17th delay of a vote that has been derailed by the country’s months-long political crisis
Saudi Arabia supports the Beirut governing coalition, which is backed by the United States and France, while Syria and its ally Iran back the opposition alliance led by Hezbollah.
Lebanon PM rejects civil war fear
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Cheney is such a puppet. He goes to breakfast with Olmert then drops a quote that he found terrifying. “Supported by Iran and Syria”. Whoa I’m freaking out here. Iran AND Syria! Holy shit Dick you better agree to anything Israel wants or needs for the murder of the Palestinian people. Wow lucky you went over there to hear exactly what you wanted. Wow Israel is in danger better kill some Palestinians for luck. The same stupid crap over and over no matter how many excuses it remains: Stealing Palestinian land and killing Palestinian people is wrong.
lets try and understand this. It really is simple.
Once you have the blood of 4000 US troops on you hand and there isn’t an uprising, what do you do next? Why, you aim for at least another 4000!
So? Sew buttons!
Thanks for the diary. The question remains of whether this trip was okayed by Bush and Condi or whether the office of the Vice-President is willing to set events in motion leading to the war PNAC has always wanted, even if it scuttles Bush and Condi’s efforts for an I/P “resolution” (hard to know whether its accurate to describe what they may be willing to settle for as “peace” or a “two-state solution”).