[NYTr] Cheerleaders & Lying Propaganda Support US Attack on Iran

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Dave Muller - southnews - oct 2, 2007

Sydney Morning Herald - Oct 2, 2007
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/01/1191091029426.html

US garners support for strike on Iran  

[Note headline reports this as fact, not claims by the US govt or
anyone else. -NYTr]

by Anne Davies 
Herald Correspondent in Washington

AUSTRALIA, Britain and Israel have reportedly "expressed interest" in a 
US campaign to launch surgical bombing raids on Iran targeting 
Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities.

A report in The New Yorker by the journalist Seymour Hersh said the
Bush Administration had stopped trying to justify a campaign against
Iran on the basis of curtailing Iran's nuclear ambitions. It is instead 
redefining the war in Iraq as a strategic battle between the US and
Iran.

Hersh said the bombing plan has had its most positive reception from 
Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. While Hersh did not mention 
Australia in the article, he told CNN: "There have been expressions of 
interest from Australia, and other countries. The Israelis, of course, 
have gone bananas. They're very upset about the idea of not going  They 
want us to go. And they want us to hit hard."

The Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, was in the US a month ago for 
briefings with defence officials and a meeting with the US Defence 
Secretary, Robert Gates. Dr Nelson told reporters at the time that he 
had discussed Iran, but declined to elaborate.

A spokesman for Dr Nelson declined to comment yesterday.

A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer,
referred to his comments in New York last week after a meeting with the
Iranian Foreign Minister, and said the position had not changed.

He said Iran needed to be put under pressure by the UN Security
Council, but consideration should also be given to other measures such
as financial sanctions.

Hersh said the revised bombing plan, with its tightened focus on 
counter-terrorism, was gathering support among the generals and
admirals in the Pentagon who had been apprehensive about an earlier,
broader plan to bomb Iran.

"The strategy calls for the use of sea-launched cruise missiles and
more precisely targeted ground attacks and bombing strikes, including
plans to destroy the most important Revolutionary Guard training camps
supply depots and command-and-control facilities," Hersh wrote. He said
there were also plans to hit Iran's anti-aircraft surface-to-air
missile sites.

He said a Pentagon consultant on counter-terrorism had told him that if 
the bombing campaign took place, it would be accompanied by a series of 
what he called "short, sharp incursions" by American Special Forces
into suspected Iranian training sites.

Sources have told the Herald the plan is likely to be put into action 
only if there were significant US casualties in Iraq that could be 
attributed to Iranian activity. Hersh also floats this scenario, 
suggesting a significant attack on American servicemen from across the 
border could trigger US action.

Hersh pointed to a speech made by the US President, George Bush, in 
August to the American Legion in which Mr Bush said: "The attacks on
our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased
The Iranian regime must halt these actions, and until it does I will
take actions necessary to protect our troops.

"I have authorised our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's 
murderous activities."

But since then Mr Bush has made a number of other comments suggesting 
that the Administration may still be hopeful of a diplomatic solution, 
and in recent weeks has prevailed upon France to assist in dealing with 
Tehran.

In response to the Hersh article, a White House spokeswoman, Dana 
Perino, said: "The President believes this issue can be solved 
diplomatically. And the Administration is working with the
international community through the United Nations Security Council,
plus Germany to bring diplomatic measures to bear on Iran to put an end
to its enrichment and reprocessing activities."

But Hersh's article detailed conversations with numerous sources in the 
Department of Defence, the CIA and former Administration officials who 
have heard talk of the strike plans and who claim the option is gaining 
momentum.

                              ***

Today's Zaman, Turkey - Sep 30, 2007
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=123537&bolum=104

Top neocon to US president: Bomb Iran before its too late

One of the founding fathers of neoconservatism has privately urged 
President George W. Bush to bomb Iran rather than allow it to acquire 
nuclear weapons.

Norman Podhoretz, an intellectual guru of the neoconservative movement, 
has privately urged US President Bush to bomb Iran rather than allow it 
to acquire nuclear weapons.

Norman Podhoretz, an intellectual guru of the neoconservative movement 
who has joined Rudolph Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign as a
senior foreign policy adviser, held an unpublicized meeting with Bush
late last spring at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. The
encounter reveals the enduring influence of the neoconservatives at the
highest reaches of the White House, despite some high-profile
casualties in the past year.

Karl Rove, who was still serving in the White House as Bush's deputy 
chief of staff, took notes. But the meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, 
was not logged on the president's schedule.

"I urged Bush to take action against the Iranian nuclear facilities and 
explained why I thought there was no alternative," said Podhoretz, 77, 
in an interview with The Sunday Times.

"I laid out the worst-case scenario -- bombing Iran -- versus the 
worst-case consequences of allowing the Iranians to get the bomb." He 
also told Bush: "You have the awesome responsibility to prevent another 
holocaust. You're the only one with the guts to do it." The president 
looked very solemn, Podhoretz said. For the most part Bush simply 
listened, although he and Rove both laughed when Podhoretz mentioned 
giving "futility its chance", a phrase used by his fellow 
neoconservative, Robert Kagan, about the usefulness of pursuing United 
Nations sanctions against Iran.

"He gave not the slightest indication of whether he agreed with me, but 
he listened very intently," Podhoretz said. He is convinced, however, 
that "George Bush will not leave office with Iran having acquired a 
nuclear weapon or having passed the point of no return" -- a reference 
to the Iranians' acquisition of sufficient technical capability to 
produce a nuclear weapon.

"The president has said several times that he will be in the historical 
dock if he allows Iran to get the bomb. He believes that if we wait for 
threats to fully materialize, we'll have waited too long -- something I 
agree with 100 percent," Podhoretz said.

The question of how to stop Iran has acquired renewed urgency after 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, declared at the United 
Nations last week that the dispute over his country's nuclear program 
was now "closed."

He added that Iran would disregard any sanctions imposed by "arrogant 
powers" for pursuing peaceful nuclear energy.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said flatly: "Everyone knows that 
this program has military aims." However, his call for stronger 
sanctions against Iran was ignored in favor of further delays. The UN 
Security Council, facing deadlock with Russia and China, agreed on 
Friday to give Iran until November to answer questions from the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its nuclear program.