As the war in Iraq drags on into a fourth brutal year, the same politicians who led the U.S. to war in 2003 are preparing for a new war --this time against the people of Iran.
Once again using the pretext of "weapons of mass destruction," the U.S. is moving the forces into place in preparation for a possible attack.

Extinction is Forever - Book Mark

Congratulations on your May 13 article by Irene Chapple on Justice Thomas's statements on Blair as a war criminal, as by association are others, such as the George Bush Administration. The Bush/Blair deceptions to gain support before launching their illegal war on Iraq are one of the major crimes of our era.

- Cindy Sheehan Says She Will Return After Stepping Back as Antiwar Leader
Cindy Sheehan has been the face of the US antiwar movement for the past two years. In August 2005, she set up Camp Casey outside President Bush's Crawford estate in memory of her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq. Now Cindy says she is stepping back from her role as a leading campaigner against the Iraq war. In this Democracy Now! special, Cindy Sheehan joins us for the hour to talk about her decision. [includes rush transcript]

US Using Nuclear Weapons in Iraq

DU weapons spread toxic radioactive dust wherever they are used. With a half life of 4 billion years, the poisonous effects are gradually spreading around the world causing death and disease. It is like a slow motion form of nuclear war against all humanity, insidiously and secretly drifting world-wide, infecting millions. The US has slyly introduced a form of nuclear weapon and then lied. They claim DU weapons are harmless. The poisonous effects may manifest years later in the form of cancer, genetic mutations in the children of exposed people and a range of other diseases.
Remember!
Present and increasing DU dust in our global environment can cause mutations in anyone's children, grandchildren and future generations forever. Banning DU weapons and educating others about DU is everyone's responsibility.

POISON DUst

..... Today, half of the 697,000 U.S. Gulf War troops from the 1991 war have reported serious medical problems and a significant increase in birth defects among their newborn children.

One of the best Articles on Nuclear War On Iran

Created In May 2005, Chossudovsky's article remains one of the best I have seen on the US planned nuclear war on Iran. I therefore recommend that people read, or reread this article. Its message is re-enforced by millions of other articles, some by world experts if you Google search "US Nuclear War On Iran". Consider it and what you could do to help prevent such a holocaust, and reverse the machinery of war and deception, that is creating these doomsday scenarios. This article deals with the facts, not with the implications and some of the deeper, darker evil machinations of the Bush hierarchy. I will outline a few of these.

At the outset of Bush's second term, Vice President Dick Cheney dropped a bombshell. He hinted, in no uncertain terms, that Iran was "right at the top of the list" of the rogue enemies of America, and that Israel would, so to speak, "be doing the bombing for us", without US military involvement and without us putting pressure on them "to do it":

Chris Hedges, former Middle East Bureau Chief of The New York Times, gives us valuable insights into how 'Coalition of the Willing' troops have become murderers of some 600, 000 innocent Iraqis since the US invasion in 2003. It is little wonder that the Bush regime and the Iraqi puppet government are suppressing this information. These trained murderers, disturbed, resentful, bitter and often wounded and infected with DU poisoning are returned and turned loose on US society. The costs of these damaged human beings, and their genetically damaged offspring, will be felt at many levels of American society for generations to come.

A Culture of Atrocity: U.S. Troops Feel the Effect of Prolonged Combat

After four years of war, our troops in Iraq have become acclimated to atrocity. The rage that soldiers feel after a roadside bomb explodes is one that is easily directed over time to innocent civilians -- a short psychological leap, but a massive moral one.

... To Libby and his fellows lying is second nature and regarded as a tool in their kit box of tricks to deceive the public into wars like Iraq, and Iran to come. They invent various justifications for their lies, war plans and grandiose ambitions such as the goal of US global domination. They use the language and trigger words of 'Democracy, Freedom, Liberty, Free Expression', etc., to gain public approval and support for plans and wars based on gross deceit and deception. The psychopathogy of Bush makes the choice of such liars for top positions a very essential thing to do. If you decide on going for global domination, that means lots of lies, endless wars and killings and misery for all except those few people at the top of the military-industrial-political complex. President Eisenhower warned about the malign influence power of the "military-industrial complex" just before he left office in 1960. Almost 50 years later it is much more powerful. Wars are fabulously profitable for the few.

Begging His Pardon

We have yet another remarkable revelation of the mindset of Washington's ruling clique of neoconservative elites - the people who took us to war from the safety of their Beltway bunkers. Even as Iraq grows bloodier by the day, their passion of the week is to keep one of their own from going to jail.
It is well-known that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby - once Vice President Cheney's most trusted adviser - has been sentenced to 30 months in jail for perjury. Lying. Not a white lie, mind you. A killer lie. Scooter Libby deliberately poured poison into the drinking water of democracy by lying to federal investigators, for the purpose of obstructing justice.

... Americans will be fooled again and swallow any accusation Bush offers, as they did with his litany of lies to justify the war on Iraq. They have not been educated about how the US and other states have used covert 'false flag' operations and then blamed the nation they wish to attack. They have been conditioned to believe a similar litany of lies about Iran and most now regard Iran with fear and hate, as do the Republicans below. The 'false flag' provides them with phony 'justification' for an attack and they will believe Iran did it.

The Real Reason for Bush's Invasion of Iraq is a National Security Secret

American soldiers have been fighting and dying in Iraq since 2003, and Americans do not know why.
All the reasons President Bush gave us for his war are false. Bush said he invaded Iraq “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.”
.... War without cause is murder, not war.

Only one Republican Presidential candidate, Ron Paul, argues against nuclear bombing of Iran. All others accept Bush lies about Iran and therefore the possible need to nuclear bomb Iran to prevent it from making nuclear weapons.
The Democrats are not much better. They accept Bush's Iran lies including the alleged need to possibly nuclear bomb Iran but they want to talk first to see if Iran will capitulate to US demands.

US Republicans Favour Iran Nuclear Strike

Republican candidates for US president agreed on Tuesday that Iran must not develop atomic weapons even if a tactical nuclear strike is needed to stop it and accused Democrats of being soft on the issue.

Decide as soon as Bush Has Set the Stage for a 'False Flag'. Bush's 'National Security Presidential Directive' (below) sets the stage for Bush to impose harsh fascist controls on what's left of American Democracy, after there is another US disaster like the 9/11 attack.

With scarcely a mention in the mainstream media, President Bush has ordered up a plan for responding to a catastrophic attack.
In a new National Security Presidential Directive, Bush lays out his plans for dealing with a “catastrophic emergency.”
Under that plan, he entrusts himself with leading the entire federal government, not just the Executive Branch.
And he gives himself the responsibility “for ensuring constitutional government.”
He laid this all out in a document entitled " National Security Presidential Directive /NSPD 51" and "Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20."

Hartung and Berrigan document that Bush is increasing nuclear weapon expenditures, and developing nuclear war-fighting doctrines and new nuclear weapons while he portrays his chosen target (Iran) as being a nuclear threat. But Iran is within the NPT agreements by enriching uranium to power Iran's nuclear reactors.
Again Bush is lying to lay the groundwork and justification for war with Iran, as he did in preparation for his war with Iraq. The authors have assembled an impressive array of facts in the following article which supports this.

Is Bush Leading Us to Nuclear War?

Only days before the fifth anniversary of September 11, President George W. Bush addressed military officers in Washington to warn that nuclear-armed terrorists could "blackmail the free world and spread their ideologies of hate and raise a moral threat to America."
This alarmist vision was accompanied by the White House's release of "A National Strategy for Combating Terrorism," which painted a picture of a "troubling potential WMD terrorism nexus emanating from Tehran." The administration is building the case for war against Iran - a job made easier by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent announcement that Iran can now enrich uranium on an industrial scale - despite the fact that many Iran-watchers and nuclear experts consider their claims of enrichment capacity to be an overblown boast.

If You Think Bush Is Evil Now, Wait Until He Nukes Iran

The war in Iraq is lost. This fact is widely recognized by American military officers and has been recently expressed forcefully by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq during the first year of the attempted occupation. Winning is no longer an option. Our best hope, Sanchez says, is "to stave off defeat," and that requires more intelligence and leadership than Sanchez sees in the entirety of our national political leadership: "I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time."

This vitally important article in the US Congressional Quarterly is a very important revelation of how close the world came to a major US nuclear war with China . This almost happened because Taiwanese politicians were encouraged by US Defence Department highly-placed necons to declare independence from China. This was clandestinely encouraged by top neocon members of the Bush regime, such as Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Cambora and right wing Republicans in particular. We can thank Colin Powell, and the US State department at that time, for correcting this impression with independence-minded Taiwanese politicians, saying the US may not defend Taiwan if it declares independence.

Defense Officials Tried to Reverse China Policy, Says Powell Aide

The same top Bush administration neoconservatives who leap-frogged Washington's foreign policy establishment to topple Saddam Hussein nearly pulled off a similar coup in U.S.-China relations—creating the potential of a nuclear war over Taiwan, a top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell says.

Mohammed El Baradei is head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. One of his jobs is to oversee that all states are obeying the terms of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. His inspectors go into countries like Iran, inspect all nuclear facilities and issue reports as to whether Iran is complying with NPT terms and whether or not it has nuclear weapons, or are developing nuclear weapons. They reported that Iran has no nuclear weapons and has no nuclear weapons development programme.

IAEA chief warns of "crazies" seeking Iran war

The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief warned on Friday against the "new crazies" advocating military action to halt Iran's nuclear programme and said he did not want to see another war like that in Iraq.
"I wake every morning and see 100 Iraqis, innocent civilians, are dying," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Mohamed ElBaradei said in an interview for BBC Radio.
"I have no brief other than to make sure we don't go into another war or that we go crazy into killing each other. You do not want to give additional argument to new crazies who say 'let's go and bomb Iran'," he said in a documentary, excerpts from which were published on the BBC's Web site in advance.

While the polls show that most Americans reject Bushism, there is little questioning, action against, or even awareness of the obvious fascist trends and what might follow.

Dark Secrets at the Front

Prisoners and interrogators are both brutalized in a war that changes who we are.
..."Less than half of other soldiers and Marines (in Iraq) believed that non- combatants should be treated with dignity and respect and well over a third believed that torture should be allowed to save the life of a fellow team member.

The more I read, the more convinced I am that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job engineered by the Bush Administration. But I would be relieved to be able to change my mind if anyone was able to answer the many questions on our site. They can start with the amazing facts and questions below. This was a major false flag operation that worked well and was believed. It still serves as a launch pad for Bush's 'wars on terror'. Because of his very low popularity and growing public doubts, the Bush Administration will probably launch another convincing 'false flag' like 9/11, then blame Iran as justification to launch his much rumoured attack on Iran. He has marshalled a huge naval strike force of ships and planes off Iran's coast for this purpose.

From Baghdad to New Orleans--Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild. Expanded Paperback Edition Greg Palast
BuzzFlash and Greg Palast go back a long way, right back to the stolen 2000 election.
Palast was the only journalist who did the hard work of proving how the Bushevik felon purge in Florida stole tens of thousands votes from Gore. You see, Palast is University of Chicago trained and knows statistics. He was dead on accurate about the theft of the 2000 election from Gore -- and he's been on the heels of the corrupt Republicans, robber barons, and Enron-inspired corporate thieves, among others, throughout the seven year history of BuzzFlash.

Double the US troops in Iraq by Christmas, according to Robert Parry. Some have suggested that increased US troops are to cope with increasing resistance if Bush attacks Iran . They may be used against Iran after Bush launches a bombing attack.

.... The unspeakable suffering of these parents of dead soldiers stands in marked contrast to the maneuvering over the Iraq War now underway across the river in Washington. There, George W. Bush appears quietly planning another escalation of the Iraq War - possibly doubling U.S. combat troops by Christmas - and many members of Congress are frightened of the political repercussions if they stand up to him.

In the Bible both Mark and Mathew refer to Jesus as a carpenter and carpenter's son. In the following article two UK carpenters were found innocent by a jury in England for planning to prevent US B52's from committing war crimes by dropping bombs to kill or maim Iraqi people.
Jesus was an inspired social reformer and activist in his day and acted against those committing crimes against the people. So today's two carpenters are carrying on a fine tradition. They risked great danger and years in prison for what they did. They deserve praise and recognition for their contribution to humanity. If the UK was a real Christian nation they would be honoured with a knighthood. Some 0ne million articles are listed under a Google search of "Jesus - the Carpenter"

Fairford Two strike blow for anti-war protesters

after jury decide they were acting to stop crime
If they were to do it over again, Phil Pritchard says, they would bring less stuff. He and Toby Olditch were carrying "silly amounts" when they broke into RAF Fairford on the eve of the Iraq war: bolts and screws to be placed inside the B-52s' engines, pictures of smiling Iraqi children to be stuck on to the payload doors, toothbrushes and stamps to be used in prison, and flashing headbands in the hope that they would look too ridiculous to be shot.

Hugh Scott's piece was a comment on the article which follows, I felt it should also be featured as it is so good and to the point.
Bush could start a war with Iran anytime with a surprise pre-emptive strike, perhaps nuclear as mentioned by several informed commentators. He may not wait until 2008. Bush will need some kind of event or manufactured provocation he can use to justify a sudden attack.

I'm convinced President Bush will order the bombing of Iran's nuclear facilties in 2008, - for three reasons. .....
....The big question then becomes, will Gen. Pace act like an American patriot instead of a White House lapdog and declare the Oval Office order unconstitutional – i.e. an act of war without the approval of Congress?  We had all better pray he does.

The hard right in the U.S. has tried to exploit the arrest of Middle East scholar Haleh Esfandiari to create a reason for America's conservatives to attack Iran.
Beyond the simple human rights considerations, there are two other aspects of this grim matter that deserve mention. First is the way in which the intellectual elite in this country pick and choose their battles. Haleh Esfandiari, whom I know, certainly deserves the protest being stirred on her behalf. But we have many cases of abuse of freedom of travel and speech -- some committed by the U.S. government -- that gain little notice. Why some and not others? To some extent, the protest in effect reflects U.S. policy preferences and the drumbeat of anti-Iran media coverage in this country.

This is a great speech by Al Gore who won the popular vote for US President in 2,000 and should have been declared President.
There would have been no Iraq war, and no plans for war on Iran or other states. The terrorist threat would have been dealt with in far different and much more effective ways by co-operating with other governments, and their police to catch and punish the genuine terrorists. The enormously wasteful war expenditures would be non-existent. There would be no threat to the American people or Constitution from a power-mad Administration taking away American civil liberties while it is "trying to impose global domination" according to Al Gore.
I think if Gore ran for President in 2008, he would win many more votes than in 2000 and end up as US President. No other acceptable Democratic candidate could expect to come close to the majority Gore would get.

Moral authority, which is our greatest source of strength, has been recklessly put at risk by this wilful president.
The pursuit of "dominance" in foreign policy led the Bush administration to ignore the UN, to do serious damage to our most important alliances, to violate international law, and to cultivate the hatred and contempt of many in the rest of the world. The seductive appeal of exercising unconstrained unilateral power led this president to interpret his powers under the constitution in a way that brought to life the worst nightmare of the founders. Any policy based on domination of the rest of the world not only creates enemies for the US and recruits for al-Qaida, but also undermines the international cooperation that is essential to defeating terrorists who wish to harm and intimidate America. Instead of "dominance", we should be seeking pre-eminence in a world where nations respect us and seek to follow our leadership and adopt our values.

Lots of former Bush boosters have been in damage-control mode ever since the spotlights of "shock and awe" that they focused on Iraqis and American liberals began turning back on them. Some even associate themselves retroactively with the early war skepticism and genuine contrition of William F. Buckley Jr., who wrote recently, "If I knew then what I know now about what kind of situation we would be in, I would have opposed the [Iraq] war."

Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.

Chalmers Johnson is an eminent US historian and gives us a comprehensive look at the American Empire today. In any kind of a normal world run by normal human beings with some established values and standards, the present disastrous trends would continue. Bush and his Republicans would be overwhelmingly voted out of office in 2008. But this is not a normal world and the Bush regime is run by people with few or no values and standards.

I According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll , released on April 26, 2007, some 78% of Americans believe their country to be headed in the wrong direction. Only 22% think the Bush administration's policies make sense, the lowest number on this question since October 1992, when George H. W. Bush was running for a second term -- and lost. What people don't agree on are the reasons for their doubts and, above all, what the remedy -- or remedies -- ought to be.

Congratulations on your May 13 article by Irene Chapple on Justice Thomas's statements on Blair as a war criminal, as by association are others, such as the George Bush Administration. The Bush/Blair deceptions to gain support before launching their illegal war on Iraq are one of the major crimes of our era.

A New Zealand Supreme Court judge has launched a blistering attack on outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, effectively calling him a war criminal for his role in the Iraq conflict.
Justice Ted Thomas, who retired last year but still presides over ongoing cases, told the Sunday Star-Times yesterday that Blair "deceived Cabinet, parliament and the British people" over the war.

‘Tony Blair's contempt for Middle Eastern lives has already been adequately demonstrated in Iraq and Lebanon . His lack of genuine concern for British servicemen is demonstrated by his steadfast refusal to meet even one parent of a dead British serviceman or woman killed in the wars he created.'

This is a great interview with a long term investigative journalist who knows his Washington subject and their history going back to the 70s and 80s. It gives a new perspective on important events.
One point I question is his assertion that al-Qaeda wants US troops to stay in Iraq so they can be destroyed. I think it may be more true that the CIA and neocons may wish us to think al-Qaeda wants the US troops to stay etc. It is part of US strategy, I believe to stay in Iraq indefinitely and that's one reason they have built new permanent US military bases in Iraq and the biggest US embassy in the world in Baghdad.

Robert Parry of ConsortiumNews.com discusses the need he found to create a new home for investigative reporting back in the 1990s, explains the role of the old Iran-Contra criminals in running the war party today, evidence of George Bush Sr.'s role, the narrative of the “crazy” Iranian regime which was apparently plenty sane enough when this same crew sold them weapons to use against Iraq who the U.S. was also backing in the 1980s, the October Surprise, how Bush claims to follow the advice of his generals as he replaces them with ones sure to “agree” with him that the answer in Iraq is to escalate, why al Qaeda wants the U.S. to stay in Iraq, why they did 9/11 in the first place, the crazy theory that the President has unlimited power over an unlimited area forever, and the media narrative that Bush is some great decisive leader even though he is an idiot and a coward and their suppression of the story of the Florida recount in the election of the year 2000.

Colonel Lankford suggests you use Google to verify any comments he makes. He mentions a number of whistle blowers in government or University that have asked awkward questions or exposed Government lies about 9/11. Many have suffered the consequences of their honesty. A growing number of people who have researched the 9/11 questions, have become convinced that the Bush Administration staged a 'false flag' terrorist attack on the US to create a false 'Pearl Harbour'. The intention was to get public support to make war under the new catch-all slogan of 'war on terrorism'.

.... Are you afraid that you will learn the truth and you can't handle it? I think I know some people in that category. Are you afraid you will draw the attention of thugs who could do the things that were done that day? Do you believe your fellow man is just not capable of that degree of evil? I would not have believed that my country would ever become a torture state and have the Congress arguing with the executive about it. I thought that Habaes Corpus was fundamental to our civil rights, and now I find that it is not. I thought my country stood for honorable dealings with other nations, then watch a jingoistic cheerleading orgy on TV, composed like Oscar night, with the centerpiece a campaign of "Shock and Awe" as our armed forces invade a practically defenseless nation, without provocation, while considerable doubt of the validity of the reasons for that invasion exists.

US New Nuclear Targets and Weapons

New expanded US nuclear weapons programme, and new pre-emptive strategies to use them. That is the policy of the Bush neocon administration as described below by William Hartung. ...
... How come people tolerate this and say they will start protesting if he starts? But once a conventional or nuclear attack is launched, and Bush uses the 'crisis' to advance his domestic programme to systematically introduce a military dictatorship - protest, if it happens at all, will make little difference.
Protest or ' Impeach Bush' action after the damage and genocide has been done, will be too late.

The Bush admininstration's "Complex 2030" plan is reviving the nuclear threat
Only days before the fifth anniversary of September 11, President George W. Bush addressed military officers in Washington to warn that nuclear-armed terrorists could "blackmail the free world and spread their ideologies of hate and raise a moral threat to America." This alarmist vision was accompanied by the White House's release of "A National Strategy for Combating Terrorism," which painted a picture of a "troubling potential WMD terrorism nexus emanating from Tehran." The administration is building the case for war against Iran--a job made easier by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent announcement that Iran can now enrich uranium on an industrial scale--despite the fact that many Iran-watchers and nuclear experts consider their claims of enrichment capacity to be an overblown boast.

This American organization is doing it's best to awaken America to the catastrophic threat that the Bush Administration is planning a war on Iran. The military is in place and the demonization of Iran is continuing, just like Bush did before he invaded, bombed, occupied etc Iraq and killed 600,000 innocent people. If you wish to learn more, and help, contact the Stop War on Iran organization.

6:30 pm, Judson Memorial Church Assembly Hall, 239 Thompson St., (Washington Sq. Park South & Thompson) in Manhattan
Join us for a forum and discussion on the growing threats and ongoing attacks by the U.S. against the people of Iran.
Why has the U.S. targeted Iran for “regime change?”
Why is the U.S. backing terrorist attacks inside Iran, including kidnappings, assassinations, and car bombings?
What's behind the massive U.S. military buildup in the Gulf, including 2 aircraft carrier groups and hundreds of attack aircraft?
How is the demonization of the people of Iran and their democratically-elected President part of the Bush Administration's drive to war?
What can you do to help the campaign to stop a new war in the Middle East?
         for more information - stopwaroniran.org or American-Iranian Friendship Committee

If you do a search of "False Flag Operations" on Google, you will get the first page as shown below of some 1,150,000 entries.
...... Some Homework For Those Who Have The Time - If you read some of the attached articles and decide to try this idea, please let me know the results - whether favourable or not favourable. Who was approached; their reactions; was anything published or not, and in what media and date.

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,150,000 for False Flag Operations .

Paul Craig Roberts has had an illustrious career, shown following his article below - the latest of many we have posted on our website. It is well worth reading, and reflecting on its dire implications. We live in one of the greatest crisis in history. Today's nuclear weapons arsenals place every man, women and child at risk, particularly from the new permissive nuclear weapons-use doctrines. Unlike histories previous rogue governments limited to a region and its neighbours, the Bush regime's policies and actions can decide the future of mankind in hours. Whether your children live or die depends on the multiple lies and illegal war polices of the Bush regime. Their war on Iraq may soon be followed by a war on Iran, and much more, if the many expert warnings are any indication.  (One example is to Google "US War on Iran". There are 20 million articles)
How long can people be casual, unconcerned or just dismiss this epic tragic drama and unprecedented personal threat to self, family and humanity?

Every American who voted Republican shares responsibility for the great evil America has brought to the Middle East.
The evil that America brought to Iraq transcends the tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed and maimed in the conflict. The evil goes beyond the destruction of ancient historical artifacts and the civilian infrastructure of a secular state and the decimation of the lives, careers, and families of millions of Iraqis.

This appeal is from General Wesley Clark's website. It is unusual to have a 4-Star US General campaigning to prevent a war.
He certainly has an illustrious record as head of NATO attacking the Serbian invasion of Kosovo.  I think his accusations against Iran are quite wrong, but he is condemning the Bush regime's push for a war with Iran. He is advocating peaceful discussions with Iran with a view to resolving differences. He is recommending people take action to help bring this about. All this is good and should be supported. People may disagree with Clark on many points, as I do, but we are lucky to have him on the side of peace when the Bush Administration is working toward a catastrophic war with Iran.

Please join the Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans at VoteVets.org and me -- sign the petition to President Bush today.  Urge him to work with our allies and use every diplomatic, political, and economic option at our disposal to deal with Iran.  War is not the answer.
All Americans want to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and interfering on the ground inside Iraq. Yet President Bush's saber rattling gives the US little additional leverage to engage and dissuade Iran, and, more than likely, simply accelerates a dangerous slide into war. The United States can do better than this.
See also: The Danger of Silence by Wesley Clark, Huffington Post, March 7, 2007

Every leader who wants his people to support and fight in his wars appeals to their 'patriotism'. He also uses other trigger words and values to invoke patriotic fervour such as "defending our liberties, freedoms and democracy".
He tries to sell the idea that to be ''patriotic' a citizen must accept the leaders definitions of who is the enemy and how he must be defeated.
As George Bush told Americans when he announced his 'war on terror'  "You are either with us or with the terrorists". There are no doubts, questions or choices. To be patriotic means following the leader and accepting his lies.

A future generation if there is one, and if US democracy ever returns, people will marvel at how easy it was for a small dedicated group of neocons to steal 2 presidential elections and fool and terrify Americans into giving up their democracy and embracing a military dictatorship. It's an amazing but very sad story for the whole human race. Everyone in the world will experience the disastrous consequences. The following article describes how the stage has been set. All that is required is a new Bush war, such as the planned war on Iran.

America is headed for a military dictatorship – and recent legislation makes this all but inevitable. Last September, Congress passed the Defense Authorization Act , which empowered the president to declare martial law with very little provocation, namely in the aftermath of a "terrorist attack or incident." Having determined that "the execution of the laws" is hampered by the "incident," the president can unilaterally impose martial law – without the consent of Congress, which need only be informed of the event "as soon as practicable." The only condition attached instructs the president to report to Congress after 14 days, and every 14 days thereafter.

All that is needed as Brzezinski warned is "a staged provocation in Iraq or a false flag terror attack within the US". Given these dire warnings about something that could spiral into a World War III or endless wider wars with disastrous horrific consequences, why do people seem so unconcerned?

Former National Security Advisor and founding member of the Trilateral Commission Zbigniew Brzezinski tacitly warned a Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that an attack on Iran could be launched following a staged provocation in Iraq or a false flag terror attack within the U.S. ...
... Brzezinski was careful to highlight the word "defensive" as if to discount its credibility, suggesting that the Bush White House itself would be behind the attack or provocation and subsequently use it as a pretext for war.

I have to say that watching Bill Moyers' " Buying the War " was quite an experience for me: a kind of vindication, yes, but also, ultimately, quite a depressing experience.
As the editorial director of Antiwar.com , my job is to make sure that we cut through the government propaganda and get at the truth about what is really going on in the world, and during the run-up to the Iraq war we had quite a time of it. The lies were coming so thick, and so fast, that it was all we at Antiwar.com could do to continually refute them , and yet that is precisely what we did. Moyers takes us through the lies , and shows how the "mainstream" media failed to make any critical analysis of the administration's allegations. That job, sadly, was left to us.

Naomi Wolf's article, 'steps to fascism in the US' spells out the details of the Bush neocon's assault on American democracy and freedoms. Like our other articles on this subject, this systematic study adds to our valuable collection on this issue. As Bush fascism bites into traditional American freedoms and liberties, and continues with the regime's policy of staging endless perpetual wars based on lies, the world proceeds full steam toward multiple catastrophes.

From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.
Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody. ...
... As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration. ...

The following article in the London Times is a good example of US-UK collaboration in planting false stories to justify an attack on Iran. Tony Blair is probably staying in office as a trusted US war collaborator until sometime after the US launches the attack. The comments following the article are most valuable in pointing out how closely this false story is to the ones the UK used to justify the Bush-Blair illegal war on Iraq. M15 and other intelligence agencies in the UK and US are now an integral part of the US-UK deception campaign......
Just as the Germans believed Hitler's lies, so the US-UK publics are likely to believe really 'big lies' about Iran. Murdock is the man to give these lies to the people using the London Times.
Some newspapers in New Zealand are playing a similar role, often choosing to reprint blatant propaganda stories from the Murdock paper, in preference to more balanced comment and objective real news stories, such as one sees in The Guardian or Independent.

AL-QAEDA leaders in Iraq are planning the first “large-scale” terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report.   - We have seen these before too!
Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on “a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki” in an attempt to “shake the Roman throne”, a reference to the West.
Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a “change in the head of the company”.               But - Who is doing this plotting and timing?

If Vermont can do it, others may follow.
Let hope this positive step to take American back from the war criminals will bear fruit before they manage to start another war.

The Vermont Senate has passed a resolution urging impeachment proceedings in the U.S. Congress against President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
The resolution passed Friday 16-9. The 16 supporters were Democrats. Three Democrats joined six Republicans in opposing the resolution, the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press reported Saturday.
The resolution said Bush and Cheney's leadership raised "serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality and abuse of public trust."  The state's congressional delegation said it is premature to pursue impeachment, though they share frustrations and anger at the Bush administration.

It's wonderful that the American people are working to have Bush and Chaney impeached.
This prospect is another reason why the Bush regime may resort to extreme measures soon. If he stages a 'false flag terrorist attack' excuse to nuclear bomb Iran, he is likely to quickly follow that with all kinds of emergency legislation in the US including martial law, conscription and a crack down on critics of the Bush regime.

When Nancy Pelosi announced last fall that impeachment was "off the table," official Washington accepted that the primary avenue for holding lawless Presidents to account had been closed off by the new Speaker of the House. But the Republic's citizenry has not been so inclined. And now, with the Administration's troubles mounting, they're preparing to tell Pelosi that America and the world cannot wait until January 20, 2009, to put an end to Bush's reign of error. When Pelosi arrives at the California Democratic Convention in San Diego on April 28--the same day that activists nationwide will rally for presidential accountability--she'll find on the agenda a resolution that declares that the actions of President Bush and Vice President Cheney "warrant impeachment and trial, and removal from office." Delegates are expected to endorse the measure.