
US military officials are putting huge pressure on interrogators who question Iraqi insurgents to find incriminating evidence pointing to Iran, it was claimed last night.
Micah Brose, a privately contracted interrogator working for American forces in Iraq, near the Iranian border, told The Observer that information on Iran is 'gold'. The claim comes after Washington imposed sanctions on Iran last month, citing both its nuclear ambitions and its Revolutionary Guards' alleged support of Shia insurgents in Iraq. Last week the US military freed nine Iranians held in Iraq, including two it had accused of links to the Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force.
Brose, 30, who extracts information from detainees in Iraq, said: 'They push a lot for us to establish a link with Iran. They have pre-categories for us to go through, and by the sheer volume of categories there's clearly a lot more for Iran than there is for other stuff. Of all the recent requests I've had, I'd say 60 to 70 per cent are about Iran.
The more I read about this the more it seems like there are elements in the White House that understand that war with Iran would be an unmitigated disaster and there are elements that just don't care. I keep hearing reports on the BBC that those that want war are loosing Bush's favor, but they're obviously still able to command some influence.
I really wish that our representative democracy wasn't so entirely representative. I wish that if you could get enough people together, you could just demand a new election by a popular vote.
I remember watching The Path to War, a movie about Lyndon Johnson and how we got into Vietnam. Near the end, one of the generals advising him suggested that they started bombing dams to flood the country and kill hundreds of thousands of civilians. His response was that if they did something like that, he suspected that people would rush the White House and "lynch their President."
I hope that our current President is thinking thoughts like that, it might keep him honest, and keep us out of war. Unfortunately I don't think he's that bright, and he probably doesn't get out often enough to really understand the feeling about him right now.
We are totally over-extended, two wars is two much, three would be totally intolerable. I'm counting the days until the end of his Presidency.
as long as you simply count the days, the pres can do what he wants.
@ Smiling Jack with 53% of US citizens thinking that war with Iran is a good thing and 51% of them believe that the devil is real, the notion that democracy even exists is comical to say the least. To have a Democracy you need a properly informed voter base, but there are elections where only 11% bother to vote and it is still declared a valid result. How is this possible, is there not some threshold in the US that demands a certain amount of voter participation ??
@ Killfile with Pakistan falling to the Taliban, Swat Valley is already in Talib hands, and no action by the US in Iran, NATO will have a hard time explaining just what the hell they are doing in Afghanistan, and China will be at the head of that queue. With Georgia flying apart and the threat to BP's BTC the US will want to be careful it does not light up the war in South Eastern Turkey, also known as Kurdistan and Western Armenia. Armenia has said repeatedly and recently that they intend to take Baku and the Naxcivan enclave and they already occupy about 20% of Azerbaijan (Nargorno-Karabakh) The loss of Baku or Georgia would be the worst disaster imaginable for the USA as that would mean Russia would have total domination of the Caspian reserves and be the dominant player in the world energy market.
The US better not blink here or when they open their eyes the world they knew will be but a memory.
Unrelated:
Leaked Rumsfeld memos: "Link Iraq to Iran" and "keep elevating the threat"
Is Gates, the old spook, carrying out the same policy, albeit much more discretely?
Brose, 30, who extracts information from detainees in Iraq, said: 'They push a lot for us to establish a link with Iran.
A damn familiar tune. Bush would love to start WW III and leave it for the next administration. When Rummy was asked why invade Iraq after they chased the Taliban out of Afghanistan and had Osama Bin Forgotten on the run. He simply said "but Iraq has such great targets". Washington is pushing this "interrogator" to gather intel. I am not sure what wars Killfile is watching but I do believe it's the other way around. Those that don't want war are losing favor with the Chimp and his Circus.
"'It now really depends on who gets elected President in the US. If nothing changes in the current course, I'd say military action is inevitable. But we have to hope there will be a change of course."
When military interrogators don't want war, that should tell you something...
No one seems to want war except the people who won't have to fight it.
I heard Brian Baird say an interesting thing this morning. We can't leave Iraq now because we are winning. I find that interesting because we couldn't leave it before because we were losing. Apparently there is never going to be a good time to leave Iraq. Throw these Republicrats out of office right with the Republicans.
The Republicrats better put a leash on the commander guy or they will share responsibility for this disaster too.
The exact same crud that we had in the run-up to the Iraq war.
Will be ever learn...?
I can't help but compare the differences in availability of information online between now and 2002. I wonder if the saturation of blogs, networking sites, linking, emails, chat (and on and on) that help disseminate stories such as this could in fact prevent the 'crud' from blanketing popular opinion? Or at least help bring other sides of issues to some kind of forefront? I don't think there really were 'blogstorms' and definitely not the emphasis on online social networking and sharing of information back in 2002. However, the same technology could be used to influence popular opinion the other way too.
The military is now saying that an attack on Iran would be a last resort. What the hell do they know and since when is it their decision anyway? Once upon a time Bush said an attack on Iraq was a last resort too and mistakenly took him at his word.
As we've seen with Iraq, it doesn't matter so much whether "we" learn or not. "We" know longer seem to have much to say about it. When the Bushies start banging the drums and beating the bushes for hype, they find a way to march. The MSM has to speak truth and stop helping the cause for more war. We need fresh thinking in Washington to inspire rather than manipulate, which is all we see on both sides of the aisle.
Fresh ideas and new directions are seemingly squashed like bugs and the people coming forward with them are painted as crackpots for upsetting the status quo. How the hell did we get here again? Oh yeah, we all fell asleep and let the foxes into the hen house.
Someone needs to pass this on urgently to Sy Hersh. He's been saying war with Iran is imminent now for 16 months.
His work seems to be working then.
Bill it isnt quite as easy this time to convince peopel the evidence is slam dunk..
I am quite sure war would have already happened if bolton and cheney had their way..
how long has it been since we came out with our "evidence" that iran was helping the insurgents?? you know the evidence we kept promissing to release and then kept canceling and then when we did release it, zero us personel would let their names be taken down with the claims.
and i guess you missed the 4 carrier groups we have off the shore of iran, I'm sure they are there for the view.
Just because we arent at war yet doesnt mean that it is BS that this admin is trying very very very hard to go to war with iran.. and even the brits arent swallowingit this time.
I hope there isn't an Iranian equivalent of Curveball.
Well sorta, we got tons of info about the iranian WMD program from the anti iranian terror group the MEK.
Any country but Saudi Arabia is the real goal here. We should be invading them before anyone else, but the Bush family and the al-Saud family are just a little too friendly.
Al, why don't you tell us which previous administrations had been "unfriendly" or even mildy provocative to Saudi Arabia starting with FDR's and proceeding to the present. You bunch of whiners are going to be the most disappointed people in the world when the president doesn't fulfill your wet-dream fantasy of attacking Iran. And, btw, if you think the recent decline in arms seized coming in from Iran and the release last week of the nine Quds Force members previously held by us in Iraq is some kind of coincidence, think again.
Al, why don't you tell us which previous administrations had been "unfriendly" or even mildy provocative to Saudi Arabia starting with FDR's and proceeding to the present.
No, you can do that. It's one thing to be diplomatic, but it's another thing to fly bin Ladens out of the nation on Sept 13, 2001.
You bunch of whiners are going to be the most disappointed people in the world when the president doesn't fulfill your wet-dream fantasy of attacking Iran.
Projection aside, no, we won't be disappointed. It'd be avoiding a nightmare. The Bush Administration thinks that it can re-make the world in its own image using military might, but they are so very naive.
And, btw, if you think the recent decline in arms seized coming in from Iran and the release last week of the nine Quds Force members previously held by us in Iraq is some kind of coincidence, think again.
I've heard lots of crazy rumors about the situation in Iraq. Iran is a problem, and they must be dealt with, but there are ways to do things and ways NOT to do things.
I wonder what Iran would be like today if the US and UK hadn't subverted and overthrown Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq, (re)installing the Shah as autoctrat?
Since the mullahs also hated the secular and economically incompetent Mossadegh (he was big on nationalization) -- probably not much different.
I'm sure that foreign agents whooshing into your country and toppling your government has nothing to do with radicalizing people or increasing their insecurity and awareness of vulnerability to the whims of external powers. I'm also pretty sure that since democracy was not allowed during the reign of the Shah, not much in the way of democratic traditions or institutions were further developed to counter the sway of fundamentalists.
Stop, stop... I've heard this joke before. Here's the part where the Secretary of State goes off to the UN and talks about WMDs.
These comedians need to get some new material.... [badump] So there are three guys, a Shiite Mullah, a Wahhabi jihadi and Dick Cheney on an airplane, the engines catch fire...
As usual certain people keep wetting their pants over the we have plans to attack Iraq scare.
Let your Depends dry out.
We are not going to attack Iran
US strike on Iran 'not being prepared'The Pentagon is not preparing a pre-emptive attack on Iran in spite of an increase in bellicose rhetoric from Washington, according to senior officers.
Admiral William Fallon, head of Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, told the Financial Times that while dealing with Iran was a "challenge", a strike was not "in the offing".
We are not going to attack Iran
...and, oh yeah, we don't torture, there are weapons of mass destruction, and it's not about oil. Just sayin'.
You bunch of whiners are going to be the most disappointed people in the world when the president doesn't fulfill your wet-dream fantasy of attacking Iran.
I believe you're confusing us whiners with Dick Cheney.
You're right. Why would we think that this Admin would go to war needlessly? that's just nonsense.
Let your pants dry out.
I bet you said the same "Tough Guy" Bill-O wanna-be lines before we went to war with Iraq. wake up man.
Oh yeah, attacking Iran is every Anti-War supporters wet-dream. I just LOVED it when we sunk all of our resources into Iraq, because it proved me right in thinking that The Admin and all of it's little sheepish followers were filled with a perverted bloodlust that can only be quenched by killing brown people. It's worth the lives of thousands and thousand of people to feel right. You nailed it right on the head...
You need professional help.
perverted bloodlust that can only be quenched by killing brown people
You are sick.
Oh shock and horror!!!! look at the words he used to describe war-mongers!!! bloodlust?!?!?! that's nasty! grow up.
I didn't start the war, support it, or take a part in it. I didn't even support the party of the administration that did it. did you?
Bush is responsible for more death and distruction than any other leader in the 21st century. Think about it.
As much as Bush sucks, this title actually goes to Josef Stalin. 25 million.
Uhh.... Mao?
Mao Zedong probably killed somewhere between 40 and 75 million people over the course of his regime.
EDIT:
21st Century. Well that does narrow the field considerably. Never mind.
Trick question but you caught it Killfile. Bush is firmly in the lead. One of Bush's many historical firsts.
Bush is firmly in the lead.
Failure to understand the numbers is no excuse Bill. Bush is over the million mark in Iraq but who's counting? No, literally, who is counting?
The Sauds have plants high up in the administration. They're using the U.S. as their pawn to destroy the two Shia countries and reestablish an all-Sunni Caliphate. The (relatively) left-leaning Iran is their biggest obstacle to these Wahabist goals.
Plants? They probably DO have plants. However, with the overly cozy relationship Prince Bandar enjoys with the Bush family (they call him an honorary son/brother) all it takes is for Bandar to ply Bush with a little booze and steer the conversation certain ways....it's really a frightening prospect to know our president is that intimate with a terroristic regime.
Booze? how dare you! Remember when Laura said "It's either Jack Daniels or me!!" and then Jesus came down on a cloud to liberate our Glorious President from the grasp of alcoholism???? this isn't a joke man!!!! Dubya kicked the habit....
our Glorious Leader is more into "booger sugar"
LOL. But I guess you never saw the 90's wedding video which showed a drunk Bush holding a drink a drink and making no sense...about 7 or 8 years after he was supposed to have quit drinking!
And I have no doubt that he indulges in "booger sugar" (love the nickname) as well.
*sniffle* but Laura said.....
well, she said nothing about Dancing with the White Lady
Mars313
Seek help.
LOL sure thing
Update to NIE, Prospects for Iraq's Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead
The IC assesses that Iraq's neighbors will continue to focus on improving their leverage in Iraq in anticipation of a Coalition drawdown. Assistance to armed groups, especially from Iran, exacerbates the violence inside Iraq, and the reluctance of the Sunni states that are generally supportive of US regional goals to offer support to the Iraqi Government probably bolsters Iraqi Sunni Arabs' rejection of the government's legitimacy.Over the next year Tehran, concerned about a Sunni reemergence in Iraq and US efforts
to limit Iranian influence, will continue to provide funding, weaponry, and training to
Iraqi Shia militants. Iran has been intensifying aspects of its lethal support for select
groups of Iraqi Shia militants, particularly the JAM, since at least the beginning of 2006.
Explosively formed penetrator (EFP) attacks have risen dramatically.
go ahead and quote the reports that showed "proof" of WMDs in Iraq while you're at it. You are a sucker for propaganda.
Yes, perhaps they will also find the missing 190,000 weapons and the billions of dollars that have gone missing too. So much stuff disappears in Iraq you gotta wonder where they hide it all.
The National Intelligence Estimate is propaganda?
When useful to certain aims it's trumpeted, when not, Suppressed
Is that not a form of propoganda?
Yes, the NIE can be used as propaganda. Reports can be edited or falsified. Welcome to America, I.V.!
How long has Twilight Zone music been playing in your head?
What head?
Since 2001.
Pity...how does one keep up with the very latest in conspiracy nonsense? Are there special web sites?
yeah FoxNews.com
A short while ago I wrote two articles concerning my analysis on USA requirements of securing world oil supply.
Why I think that USA wants to go to war with Iran
The threat of iran nuclear attacks
The global picture
This article gives me confirmation that USA is building up factors to give excuse to achieve the global plan of securing world oil supply before Russia and China gets to far with their own plans to do the same.
It does not matter who sits in the seat of power in the US the plan will go a head.
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