Big Dogs House

US Gearing Up For Trouble With Iran

Feb 1, 2010 Political

The United States under Barack Obama is beginning to take the threat from Iran seriously. The administration is sending missile defense systems to four countries and placing two ships capable of shooting Iranian missiles down, in the area. After trying the diplomacy route the adminsitration must have realized that it will not work.

The US is dispatching Patriot defensive missiles to four countries – Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait – and keeping two ships in the Gulf capable of shooting down Iranian missiles. Washington is also helping Saudi Arabia develop a force to protect its oil installations.

~snip~

The deployment comes after Obama’s attempts to emphasise diplomacy over confrontation in dealing with Iran – a contrast to the Bush administration’s approach – have failed to persuade Tehran to open its nuclear installations to international controls. The White House is now trying to engineer agreement for sanctions focused on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, believed to be in charge of the atomic programme. Guardian UK

It is interesting that the Guardian points out that Obama’s approach has been different than Mr. Bush’s because Obama tried diplomacy first. I think the Bush administration tried diplomacy but not very much of it because George Bush understood the threat and knew that Iran would not respond.

Now, 12 months into his term, Obama has realized the same thing. Obama has ended where Bush was after a 12 month delay that involved an unsuccessful attempt at diplomacy.

Don’t get me wrong, if Obama thought this was best then that was his call to make but now that it has failed we can all see that Bush was pretty much on target. Iran is not interested in diplomacy.

Wow, one year in and Obama is gearing up for a conflict with Iran. He promised to get us out of war but might be getting into another.

I have no problem with the US protecting people in that region, especially our friends in Israel (though this country is not mentioned and is probably the last thing on Obama’s mind) but I have never been one of the Code Pinko anti war types that supported Obama.

They must be taking gas over this.

If Iran launches a missile we should shoot it down and then send about ten thousand Tomahawks into the country divided among their nuclear facilities.

That would send a message…

I hope Iran shoots first. Obama can’t really be a preemptive war kind of guy and still curry favor with the dope smoking peaceniks on the left…

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Tags: Iran, missile defense, Obama, war

Iran Refuses Entry To John Kerry

Jan 4, 2010 Political

Iran has decided that it does not want John Kerry (he served in Vietnam you know) visiting. Kerry had been pushing this idea that he could go over and talk to the Iranians and let them know what swell folks the Obama clan are and how they all want peace in our days. Kerry wanted to just show up and ask them to stop building nuclear weapons and maybe, just maybe there would be a prize in that Cracker Jack box.

Iran said thanks but no thanks.

“Members of the Iranian parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee (a subcommittee of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission) voiced opposition to the request after studying the issue,” Hassan Ebrahimi, head of the committee, told the semi-official Fars News Agency.

Seems they don’t want him either. That is too bad because I was hoping he would go over there and they would keep him.

Big Dog Salute to Gateway Pundit

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Tags: Iran, john kerry, reject, vietnam

Better Get Mr. Joe Wilson Plame On The Case

Dec 30, 2009 Political

Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame’s husband, is the guy who was sent on a mission by Mrs. Plame, a so called covert CIA agent (I am still having trouble reconciling how she was supposed to be covert but you could call the CIA and ask for her and they would put you through), to see if Iraq was trying to obtain yellow cake uranium.

He came back and lied about a few things. He claimed that Hussein (the one in Iraq not the one in the White House) had not tried to purchase uranium though at the time he made the allegation there was reason to believe that he had. According to Fact Check:

Ironically, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who later called Bush’s 16 words a “lie”, supplied information that the Central Intelligence Agency took as confirmation that Iraq may indeed have been seeking uranium from Niger.

Wilson also claimed that VP Dick Cheney had sent him on the mission but he was sent by his wife, not the VP. But this post is not about Joe Wilson and Iraq. It is about Joe Wilson and Iran.

We need Joe Wilson to quickly go to Kazakhstan and determine if Iran has been trying to purchase Uranium. Then we need him to hurry back and write a report and we need it to be done quickly. Obama’s tired butt will be back from Hawaii soon and he will deliver the State of the Union Address next month. We need to make sure he does not insert 16 words that will lead us to war with Iran.

This is all necessary because:

Iran is close to clinching a deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan, according to an intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday. Diplomats said the assessment was heightening international concern about Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Such a deal would be significant because Tehran appears to be running out of the material, which it needs to feed its uranium enrichment program.

The report was drawn up by a member nation of the International Atomic Energy agency and provided to the AP on condition of that the country not be identified because of the confidential nature of the information. My Way News

This is all looking eerily familiar. With the claim that a nation that some of us think is an enemy trying to sneak in uranium, with reports from unnamed sources, with heightened tensions, it all looks just like the lead up to the invasion of Iraq.

There is a bit of a difference. Iraq was in violation of UN Resolutions from the first Gulf War and our Congress gave authorization to use military force there. Iran has been an enemy for decades and we should have handled it before but it is unlikely that a Democratic controlled Congress would vote to authorize military force there at this point in time (and frankly we do not need another war).

So, we need Mr. Valerie Plame to quickly write up a report saying that none of this is true so we can avoid a fight that liberals have no will to start or complete.

Of course, we could just let the Israelis handle it and be done with it.

It will be interesting to see how Obama and his liberals handle this. We were told that Hussein was no threat to us and we had no right to go in there (a subject for another debate) so how will we be sold Iran? Will we be told that the uranium means nothing and that they cannot harm us (Obama said they were a little nation and not a threat) or will we be pitched a great story of how dangerous they are?

It will be interesting because it was the Dems who ignored the reports about Iran and then gleefully said I told you so when an incorrect (false?) report indicated Iran had no nuclear program. They had one and it was hidden. By the time we were informed about it they were well ahead of where we thought they would be. They also suddenly had a few more enrichment facilities. Perhaps if Democrats had not ignored what they were told. Well, you never could trust that George Bush to keep you safe.

In any event this will be a tough one for the Democrats. They already demonstrated their weakness on national security this week (maybe White House security was put in charge of the airports) and if they ignore Iran they will look even weaker. If they take action it will be in direct conflict with how they felt and what they said about Iraq.

Maybe they will just let Obama decide the matter. The way he deliberates and as long as it takes him to arrive at a decision, Iran should have enough nuclear weapons to cause the end of the world.

Like I said, let’s just “mind” our own business and let Israel settle the issue. At least we know the job will be done right.

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Tags: Iran, Iraq, joe wilson, Obama, uranium, valerie plame

The Impotence Of Words

Oct 4, 2009 Political

There will be a war- just how big, or how severe, is still to be determined, but all the key players are lining up, all while our Resident thinks the sound of his mellifluous voice will sooth the savage nuclear holocaust. He is a legend in his own mind- unfortunately, he impresses no one else, especially the ones he has needed to impress. It is to the point now where even internet pundits and newspapers are opining about the impotence of our Resident.

Will all the pundits who relied on the discredited 2007 NIE on Iran now admit that they were wrong? That they bought into and kept citing, without any serious questioning, the now clearly politically skewed analysis in the so-called National Intelligence Estimate of that year? You remember: the considered consensus wisdom of the entire U.S. intelligence community, which misled the world into believing there was nothing to worry about Iran’s nuclear program, that it had virtually ceased. When, in fact, out of the three components of a nuclear weapons program, at most one might have been suspended, if that.

Will the congressional intelligence committees demand to know how such a deliberately misleading report was being leaked and fed to the public by half-baked pundits even after (we now learn) some part of the “intelligence community” knew — before the the NIE was issued — about the secret nuclear fuel facility we’re now reading about?

What took them so long? Or if there were reasons to keep silent about it, why issue a report that deliberately misled the world into the opposite conclusion? The NIE now appears to be a deliberate LIE — deliberate disinformation, disingenuously written by its authors, who should be hauled before the committees and asked how they could have made such fools of the “intelligence community” and those who took their report seriously.

pajamasmedia.com

First, the lie- the report, as Ron correctly says, gave the Iranians about two years free rein on constructing the essential components necessary to make a bomb. This report also puts Israel in a corner- and if our Resident thinks he can control, or even should control Israel, he is vastly wrong, but perhaps he has wanted this all along- certainly he has almost willfully made every diplomatic miscue he possibly could.

The Obama administration’s positive tone following its first diplomatic encounter with Iran covers a deep and growing gloom in Washington and European capitals. Seven hours of palaver in Geneva haven’t altered an emerging conclusion: None of the steps the West is considering to stop the Iranian nuclear program is likely to work.

Not talks. Not sanctions, even of the “crippling” variety the Obama administration has spoken of. Not military strikes. And probably not support for regime change through the still-vibrant opposition.

For obvious reasons, senior officials won’t state this broad conclusion out loud. But it’s not hard to find pessimistic public statements about three of the four options. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the prospects for diplomacy “very doubtful.” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said military action will do no more than “buy time.” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, echoing private statements I’ve heard from the Obama administration, told me last week that a strategy of backing the Iranian opposition “would take too long” and might well produce a government with the same nuclear policy.

washingtonpost.com

It is rapidly becoming obvious to almost everyone except, apparently the Resident, that the time for action is rapidly approaching- and what form it takes, or who is who’s allies, well, that part is truly murky, and the most dangerous aspect of the whole scenario, because of America’s “diminishment” on the world stage, due in large part to the Resident’s Perpetual Apology Tour, and the rise of Russia, China, and India as emerging powers. Especially Russia.

American officials said concern about Russian experts acting without official approval, had been raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a report more than a year ago.

“There has been Russian help. It is not the government, it is individuals, at least one helping Iran on weaponisation activities and it is worrisome,” said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who is president of the Institute for Science and International Security.

However, Israeli officials insist that any Russian scientists working in Iran could do so only with official approval.

Robert Einhorn, the special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is understood to believe that Russian companies have also supplied material that has been used by Iran in the production of ballistic missiles.

The disclosures came as Iran agreed at talks in Geneva to submit to IAEA inspections of its newly disclosed enrichment plant, which is being built under a mountain on a military base at Qom. Iran revealed the plant to the IAEA to pre-empt being caught out by an imminent announcement from western governments, which had discovered its existence.

The West says the plant is tailor-made for a secret weapons programme and proves Iran’s claim that its nuclear programme is intended only for peaceful purposes is a lie. The plant is designed to hold 3,000 centrifuges — enough to produce the material needed for one bomb a year.

Iran’s conduct over the next few weeks will determine whether the West continues its new dialogue or is compelled to increase pressure with tougher United Nations and other sanctions.

timesonline.co.uk

Sanctions? I think the time for that may be well past. Just as you can really only help those who are willing to help themselves, you can only punish those who fear the punishment- nothing else works, and I am afraid the Resident doesn’t know that, and there is no one telling him this reality. Just as he knows nothing about the military, and thus is disengaged about Afghanistan, he thinks, even after his ignominious defeats at all of his meetings, including the Olympics plea, tha the power of his personality will still win the day.

I have bad news for him- his ego is not a weapon- nor is it particularly impressive, as you actually have to be able to back it up on the world stage, and so far, he has bupkus. The rest of the world laughs at him, and apparently it is obvious to everyone but him.

I wish he could do something about this situation, I truly do- the alternative will be very deadly to the whole world, but I am afraid he is not up to the task, as I have thought all along.

Our Resident likes to quote Lincoln, but the President he should look to now might be Teddy Roosevelt-

“Talk softly- but carry a big stick.”

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Tags: appeasement, Iran, nukes, Obama, war

Iran Drops Nuclear Bombshell

Sep 25, 2009 Political

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has disclosed that his country has a second nuclear enrichment facility that was built underground and could be enriching Uranium by next year. This is a bombshell disclosure and was made ONLY because the secrecy of the program had been breached by Western Intelligence Agencies. Ahmadinejad found that his cover was busted so he is disclosed the information (which contradicts his country’s earlier claims that it had no undisclosed programs).

Iran revealed the existence of a covert uranium enrichment facility to the U.N. nuclear watchdog this week after it discovered the project’s secrecy had been breached by Western intelligence agencies, FOX News has learned. Fox News

Barack Obama will have a press conference today to announce this stunning information and will say that the West has been tracking it for years. This is a cover your tail event because, despite Obama’s claims, we were caught by surprise.

President Obama will call attention to the existence of the underground facility in an early-morning statement to reporters here before the opening of the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh, and will say that Western intelligence agencies have been tracking the facility for years. WaPo

I don’t think it is correct to say Obama will call attention to it. Ahmadinejad already did that. Obama is going to speak so it looks like this was no surprise. He can’t let it look like he is in over his head.

The left has been enabling Iran for years with regard to its nuclear program. As George Bush was making his case a now discredited report was released that stated Iran had no nuclear program and had abandoned its ambitions. The left went nuts and drank that up like it was fresh Obama Kool Aid. They believed that it showed Bush was itching for a reason to attack Iran and that he was trumping up reasons like he did (in their minds) to invade Iraq.

On the campaign trail, then candidate Obama, said that Iran was a small country and not of real concern. He did not perceive them as much of a threat and dismissed their impact on the world. He back peddled on that statement when his rivals pointed out his naivete.

So which is it Mr. Obama? Are they not a threat with no nuclear program of which to speak (as the report claimed) or have we been tracking them for years? If we have been tracking them for years how could a report come out claiming they had abandoned their program? Both cannot be true.

Iran is a dangerous country because it is headed by a fanatical psychopath who is hell bent on wiping Israel off the map and ushering in the appearance of the twelfth Imam.

It is dangerous because the Democratically controlled Congress has dismissed warnings for several years and it is more dangerous because while Obama was out apologizing for America and working on one world governance the leaders of that country kept working in secret to build its nuclear program.

The fact that Obama keeps opposing Israel, a nation that has no problem taking out its enemies, is another impediment to stopping Iran and does nothing more than enable Ahmadinejad and his henchmen.

How is that Hope and Change working out for you?

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, Iran, nuclear weapons, Obama, secret nuclear facility