Political Bloviation

Lawyers, Guns and Money: What Leverage Does a Nuke Earn Iran?.
Bob Farley from LGM wonders about the real effects of a nuclear Iran. The context here is that a US President might feel constrained when contemplating military action in the Middle East if Iran has the bomb. He points out a comparison to Pakistan:
Another way [...]

Neda shot by the Basiji police – Iranian Riots and Protests
The death of an innocent galvanizes protesters in Iran and across the globe. A man and his teen daughter are watching, but not participating in the protests, when an unseen sniper hits her in the upper chest. It’s hard to watch. She literally bleeds out [...]

GOP rivals back tax, spending cuts in SC – Yahoo! News
I don’t watch the debates, I don’t have a high enough threshold for nausea. Between the inane stupidity from the moderators and the genuinely stoopid answer, I just can’t take it. In the latest dolt-fest that passes for a GOP debate, all candidates [...]

Ezra Klein: “Time to Talk to Iran”
A salivating ultra-hawk admits that the recent Iran NIE makes the chances of a strike against Iran extremely unlikely. Thank God.

US: Iran halted weapons program in 2003 – Yahoo! News
Wow that’s good news. I guess the president will have to back off the bellicose saber rattling directed at Iran, right?
No so much:
President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that Iran remains a danger despite a U.S. intelligence report that Tehran halted its atomic weapons program [...]

Iran wants Western “apology” after IAEA report – Yahoo! News
Iran called on its Western foes on Friday to apologize to the Islamic Republic after the release of a U.N. nuclear agency report which Tehran said showed it had been telling the truth about its atomic plans, according to state media.
I think the past shows that [...]

Ezra Klein: Lieberman Helps Destabilize Iraq
Take a look. Ezra argues that as long as we antagonize Iran and use bellicosity instead of reasonable diplomacy, Iran has no incentive to help in Iraq. Once Iraq is secure, guess which country is next on the Bush-Chenney hit list?

Bush Wants $50 Billion More for Iraq War – washingtonpost.com
The revised supplemental would total about $200 billion, indicating that the cost of the war in Iraq now exceeds $3 billion a week. The bill also covers the far smaller costs of the war in Afghanistan. The Pentagon said recently that the cost of the Iraq [...]

Iran says ready to fill vacuum in Iraq left by U.S. | Reuters.ca
I seem to remember saying sometime ago that the best possible outcome in Iraq would be the creation of a new ally for Iran. It’s hard to believe that the “brilliant” neo-cons in the White House were unable to see that destabilizing a [...]

Hillbilly White Trash: Dims find no support for surrender
The Democrats confused the American public’s unhappiness with the way the war was being fought with a desire for surrender and retreat. To be fair this was made easier by the high decibel shrieking from their lunatic fringe.
Over the months since the election they have forced to [...]

America’s new path on Iraq: talk to Iran | csmonitor.com
It’s strange how often Bush gets forced into doing things he said he would not. Why does he always wait? What is it that leads him to act that way, petulance, immaturity, stubborness or some inflated sense of entitlement? I wish the decider would decide to [...]

VOA News – Top American General Disputes US Military Claim on Iran
Somehow the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Pete Pace didn’t get the memo. He failed to back the position that EFP’s are sent to Iraq from Iran with the complicity of the Iran government during visit with Aussie PM John Howard. [...]