i wonder if Vegas is taking bets on when the draft will be?

Only Impeachment Can Prevent More War
by Paul Craig Roberts

Everyone knows that Bush’s Iraq "surge" will not work. Even the authors of the plan, neoconservatives Frederick Kagan and Jack Keane, have emphasized that the plan cannot work with any less than an addition of 50,000 US troops committed to another three years of combat. Bush is only adding 40% of that number of troops, and Defense Secretary Gates speaks of the operation being over by summer’s end.

On January 18 a panel of retired generals testifying on Capitol Hill slammed Bush’s surge plan as "a fool’s errand." Even the easily bamboozled American public knows the plan will not work. Newsweek’s latest poll released January 20 shows that only 23% of the public support sending more troops to Iraq and that twice as many Americans trust the Democrats in Congress than trust Bush.

A majority of Americans (54%) believe Bush to be neither honest nor ethical, and 57% believe that Bush lacks "strong leadership qualities."

Nevertheless, Bush defended his surge plan, telling a group of TV stations last week, "I believe it will work."

Bush is correct that it will work – indeed, the surge is working. We have to be clear about how the plan works. It does not mean that 21,500 more US troops will bring order and stability to Iraq. The surge is working, because it is deflecting attention from the Bush Regime’s real game plan.

The real game plan is to orchestrate a war with Iran and to initiate wider conflict in the Middle East before public and military pressure forces the Bush Regime to withdraw US troops from Iraq.

Two US carrier attack groups have been deployed to the Persian Gulf. US missile systems are being sent to oil producing countries to counter any incoming missiles from Iran should any survive the US attack. Israeli pilots have been training for an attack on Iran. US war doctrine has been changed to permit pre-emptive nuclear attack on non-nuclear countries. US attack aircraft have been deployed at bases in Turkey. A neocon admiral who attends AIPAC events has been made commander in chief of US forces in the Middle East. Obviously, the ground war in Iraq and Afghanistan are not the focus of the Bush Regime’s new military deployments. The Bush Regime is focused on attacking Iran.

In CounterPunch (January 16) Col. Sam Gardiner reports that the Bush Regime has put into operation a group led by National Security Council staff whose mission is to create and foment outrage against Iran. Col. Gardiner details various signs of the Bush Regime’s escalation and indicates some of the final deployments that will signal an imminent strike on Iran, such as "USAF tankers moved to unusual places, like Bulgaria" in order to position them for refueling B-2 bombers on their way to Iran.

Both Michel Chossudovsky (ICH Jan. 17) and Jorge Hirsch (Antiwar.com Jan. 20) have recently documented evidence that the Bush Regime is orchestrating a crisis with Iran that can lead to the use of nuclear weapons to attack Iran.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts192.html

Before he went AWOL, DL Abrahamson had made a good case for there already having been 2 groups in the Gulf before this one -- the third -- was sent. I see he hasn't updated the FF News website recently -- bummer, 'cause I would really like some links to his sources on this.

Fomenting war with Iran is the strategic equivalent of Hitler moving into Stalingrad. It is Bush's Waterloo. It will be the biggest U.S. military blunder since...Iraq?

This situation is similar to the Cuban Missile crisis - except in THIS case it appears that OUR president is to blame - and on a bad combination of acid and crack.

HOW can they think that they can possibly WIN a war with Iran?

Sure - we can probably reduce Iran to rubble in a matter of minutes. But it will take the use of nuclear weapons - and the ramifications of such an act will be catastrophic. The USA and ISrael will be viewed and reviled as the world pariah - akin to nazi germany. the world will rise up against us. we will be attacked economically and militarily by likely and unlikely enemies. everything from domestic terrorism to the collapse of the world bank to nuclear terrorism itself could emerge. MILIONS could die.

let me ask you. do you think for ONE MINUTE that anyone cold have predicted the death of 50 million people in World War 2?

when Hitler was marching around in silly uniforms in 1933 - and invading small defenseless countries like Poland in 1939 - do you think that ANYONE could have EVER imagined the WORST CASE SCENERIO that resulted?

no. of course not. we are all living in denial. even us. we all tell ourselves that - relatively speaking - everything will be ok. sure - we may see wars and violence - but the ONE thing that people are NOT understanding is that the WORST CASE SCENERIO could happen - again.

and we all know what that means.

this is the biggest crisis in world history. i know that sound exaggerated - but the stakes have never been this high. the weapons have never been so fearsome. the sheer magnitude of billions of lives hanging in the balance - depending on such limited resources and food - and at the mercy of the political and military aspirations of just a handful of ruling elite - is unparalleled in world history.

the bigger they are - the harder they fall. all this technology we rely on is a house made of straw - and the winds of war are only now starting to blow.

imagine for one moment the results of complete breakdown in communication and transportation and resources and law and order. imagine for one moment waking up and discovering that a major US city has been destroyed with millions dead.

what is it going to take to stop this president from launching or causing a war with Iran?

Let's hope Final Cut comes out before this Iran thing get's out of hand.

Mike Tsarion's point - it's truly subliminal psy-ops! If you think about it, how can we wage war on a tactic? Why haven't we declared war on terrorists or even terrorism? It clearly has us thinking the war is on the world but at a level the average couch potato can't truly appreciate.

Are people voting Andrew down just because he's Andrew? Or because he quotes Shayler? Or what? Why not save it for posts of his that actually have objectionable content? (I mean, not that that ever happens. Kof... npt kof.)

"Cahhhn." Definitely no "s" on the end :)