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Petraeus points to war with Iran
- Text size
Patrick J. Buchanan
The Column
April 23, 2008
The neocons may yet get their war on Iran.
Ever since President Nouri al-Maliki ordered the attacks in Basra on the Mahdi Army, Gen. David Petraeus has been laying the predicate for U.S. air strikes on Iran and a wider war in the Middle East.
Iran, Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, has “fueled the recent violence in a particularly damaging way through its lethal support of the special groups.”
These “special groups” are “funded, trained, armed and directed by Iran’s Quds Force with help from Lebanese Hezbollah. It was these groups that launched Iranian rockets and mortar rounds at Iraq’s seat of government (the Green Zone) … causing loss of innocent life and fear in the capital.”
Is the Iranian government aware of this – and behind it?
“President Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders” promised to end their “support for the special groups,” said the general, but the “nefarious activities of the Quds force have continued.”
Are Iranians then murdering Americans, asked Joe Lieberman:
“Is it fair to say that the Iranian-backed special groups in Iraq are responsible for the murder of hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians?”
“It certainly is. … That is correct,” said Petraeus.
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The following day, Petraeus told the House Armed Services Committee, “Unchecked, the ’special groups’ pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq.”
Translation: The United States is now fighting the proxies of Iran for the future of Iraq.
The general’s testimony is forcing Bush’s hand, for consider the question it logically raises: If the Quds Force and Hezbollah, both designated as terrorist organizations, are arming, training and directing “special groups” to “murder” Americans, and rocket and mortar the Green Zone to kill our diplomats, and they now represent the No. 1 threat to a free Iraq, why has Bush failed to neutralize these base camps of terror and aggression?
Hence, be not surprised if President Bush appears before the TV cameras, one day soon, to declare:
“My commanding general in Iraq, David Petraeus, has told me that Iran, with the knowledge of President Ahmadinejad, has become a privileged sanctuary for two terrorist organizations – Hezbollah and the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard – to train, arm and direct terrorist attacks on U.S. and coalition forces, despite repeated promises to halt this murderous practice.
“I have therefore directed U.S. air and naval forces to begin air strikes on these base camps of terror. Our attacks will continue until the Iranian attacks cease.”
Because of the failures of a Democratic Congress elected to end the war, Bush can now make a compelling case that he would be acting fully within his authority as commander in chief.
In early 2007, Nancy Pelosi pulled down a resolution that would have denied Bush the authority to attack Iran without congressional approval. In September, both Houses passed the Kyl-Lieberman resolution designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
Courtesy of Congress, Bush thus has a blank check for war on Iran. And the signs are growing that he intends to fill it in and cash it.
Israel has been hurling invective at Iran and conducting security drills to prepare its population for rocket barrages worse than those Hezbollah delivered in the Lebanon War.
Adm. William “Fox” Fallon, the Central Command head who opposed war with Iran, has been removed. Hamas and Hezbollah have been stocking up on Qassam and Katyusha rockets.
Vice President Cheney has lately toured Arab capitals.
And President Ahmadinejad just made international headlines by declaring that Tehran will begin installing 6,000 advanced centrifuges to accelerate Iran’s enrichment of uranium.
This is Bush’s last chance to strike and, when Iran responds, to effect its nuclear castration. Are Bush and Cheney likely to pass up this last chance to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities and effect the election of John McCain? For any attack on Iran’s “terrorist bases” would rally the GOP and drive a wedge between Obama and Hillary.
Indeed, Sen. Clinton, who voted to declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, could hardly denounce Bush for ordering air strikes on the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, when Petraeus testified, in her presence, that it is behind the serial murder of U.S. soldiers.
The Iranians may sense what is afoot. For Tehran helped broker the truce in the Maliki-Sadr clash in Basra, and has called for a halt to the mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone.
With a friendly regime in Baghdad that rolled out the red carpet for Ahmadinejad, Iran has nothing to gain by war. Already, it is the big winner from the U.S. wars that took down Tehran’s Taliban enemies, decimated its al-Qaida enemies and destroyed its Sunni enemies, Saddam and his Baath Party.
No, it is not Iran that wants a war with the United States. It is the United States that has reasons to want a short, sharp war with Iran.
| WATCH ALEX JONES’ ENDGAME ONLINE NOW in its entirety. View more High quality trailers at www.endgamethemovie.com |
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April 23rd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
..yeah, he’s pointing alright, I can see the string attached to his wrist… look up and you can see the puppeteer!
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Oh, they wanna play war with toy soldiers again. We’re already bankrupt !
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Welcome the the Machine.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Sorry, I can’t even type anymore: “Welcome to the Machine”.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:50 pm
In the words of Georgie “Bring it on.” and ow the freedom fighters did more than he could ever imagine.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:51 pm
We have got to vote them all out of their positions of glorified ‘yes men & women’
Actually Anna is right on this one, he is merely doing as his master has said to, get him a war w/Iran.
“www.kickthemallout.com” , it’s a Ron Paul National MeetUp site and truthers will enjoy it, for all the varied info on it, including movie clip from “Washington, You’re fired” and Willie Nelson on his web cam, plus more links to other support info.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
President Bush is not a born again Christian, nor anyone else that is for preimptive war.
True Christians are peacemakers not warmongers.
The Bible says; Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Yeah, the meat grinder…
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
TXGIRL, I’m not the Anna that posted the other crap. I use a lot of different names when I post, in this case I used the twit that ridiculed the TX Congressman, so I took her (his?) moniker due to my creative will.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
What happened to Petraeus can only answer Iraq questions and he not in charge of Iran?
So anything Petraeus about Iran is irrelevant.
Next he better answer the questions asked of him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWr5Wl-mev0
I call for the immediate resignation of Petraeus if Bush calls for war with Iran. Petraeus clearly from the video above has NO knowledge of Iran.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Learn more about their future agenda. Google David Icke.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 pm
lol
in after reptile conspiracy.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
HOLD ON ITS GOING TO GET REAL CRAZY, THIS YEAR AND THE YEARS TO COME.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I heard Islam’s 12th Imam (like Pope) is coming after fall of Turkey by reptilians after WWI….soon s--- is gonna hit the fan. I think it is time to unite Christians and Muslims because they both believe in same one God and they both believe in Antichrist and coming of Jesus Christ.
God will protect us.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Shove your David Icke reptiles up your friggin ass!! That’s so freakin stupid it’s obvious that the dude is either mad as a hatter or is a disinfo agent.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Ha! I am so glad you guys said that about that phony, Icke. Shape shifting reptiles… HA!
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Jonathan, brother, I believe unity in John 14:6 is what is required of us.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
#17 Todd
Belief in the bible or any form of religion is for the weak. Take control of your own thoughts and support War on Terror. You have to understand we need to kill off anyone who follows the Muslim Religion.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I wonder if they would sell the war before or after the election? The sick part is if they waited and sold it through someone like Hillary or Obama people might even be persuaded more easily! Just like people are stupid enough to actually believe all of Hillary’s LIES that she gives a s--- about blue collar people.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
DeJa’vu – are we Americans really that silly and ignorant to fall for another of Bush’s and his Neo-administration conies lies, again? This devil is incapable of telling the truth, because the truth is not part of NWO agenda. The nation, with the help of a controlled media, crucified Bill Clinton, because they said he lied about his sexual indiscretion. Yet, we allow this current maniac of a president to lie about a war with Iraq, and yet again about a potential war with Iran, with no retribution. If we allow this happen, then we Americans deserve whatever punishment comes back to us, in whatever it form it comes. The Neo’s and we roboton so-called American patriots forget there is a spiritual law – what goes around comes around. Life is a cycle.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
If we need to kill anyone it’s intolerant assholes like YOU anna.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Come on people, open your minds! At least be fair and spend an an hour on google video, search :david icke; Freedom to Fascism CD 1 HighDef Ghis1964
He lays out the agenda.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Well, Petraeus is now the Central Command Head unofficially, fully taking Fallon’s spot real soon. That may be another indiciation that the hawks are lining their ducks up.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:13 pm
AHMENDENIJAD IS A CIA AGENT JUST LIKE BIN LADEN. INSIDE JOBBERS> WE GOT WAR A COOKEN ON THE GRILL AND ITS ALMOST READY TO SERVE> SO ALL U POOR IGNOINT SONS OF s--- JOIN UP YOUR MASTERS NEED YOU TO LICK SOME s--- OFF THERE BOOTS AND THEN EAT A BULLET> AMAZING HOW YOUR M UKIN HANDY CAP GRANDMA CANT GET ON A PLANE BUT AMA DENA s--- BAG CAN FLY OVER HERE AND MAKE HOMO HATE SPEACH AT AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. HES A PUPPET FOR THE ELITE. HE COMES OVER HERE TO “MAKE PEACE” AND HE SAYS JUST WHAT THE WAR MONGERS WANT HIM TOO. LMAO THE WRITINGS ON THE WALL. tHERES AN EROSMITH SONG ON EAT THE RICH………..7YEAH RIGHT IF YOU ONLY HAD BAWLS
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:13 pm
#18 Anna
Lady the “War on Terror” is a sham! It’s a way to control the conservative non-religious portion of the population the same way religion is used to control the believers. You need to take control of your own thoughts and look at the laws being broken by this pack of criminals. They are making the Constitution obsolete and saying that its all about being patriotic and fighting those evil terrorists. He isn’t after terrorists. He’s after making himself and his friends as rich as he can without going to jail. Period! Look beyond the rhetoric and flag waving and look at what the people themselves are doing to this country!
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Alright, repeat over and over,………… we don’t need this fascist groove thing! BROTHERS,…. SISTERS,…………… WE DON’ T NEED THIS FASCIST GROOVE THING!
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/groove.html click here and sing along!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
This is suicide for the planet. If Bush and Cheney aren’t arrested by the Provost Martial immediately, we will have gone past the point of no return–WWIII. GWB is opening the door to hell and no one in power has the courage to stop him.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
THE MUSLIMS WILL BE DESTROYED ALONG WITH RUSSIA LATER IN THE FUTURE IT IS INDICATED IN BIBLE PROPHECY (EZEKIEL 38 AND 39)– GOG AND MAGOG: RUSSIA AND THE MUSLIM NATIONS WILL JOIN TOGETHER TO ATTACK AND WHIP OUT ISRAEL EVEN THOUGH RUSSIA IS JUST GOING TO TAKE THE SPOIL BECAUSE RUSSIA IS JUST LOOKING OUT FOR THERESELVES BUT THE MUSLIM NATIONS ARE GOING TO DESTROY ISRAEL PERMANANTLY. BUT GOD SENDS JUDGEMENT DOWN FROM HEAVEN AND WHIPS OUT THE MUSLIMS AND RUSSIA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD SHALL GIVE ISRAEL THE RESPECT THAT SHE HASNT HAD SINCE SOLOMONS TIMES
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm
yeah…that’s a real shocker to find out that the next stage will be in Iran. I’m sure nobody saw this coming huh?
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
HEY JOHN! and the U.S. is not going to be judged or destroyed!!!!!!!!?????? WE DESERVE AS MUCH OF GODS WRATH as anyone else here.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
can anyone say citizens arrest?
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
HEY JOHN! THIS NATION is GOG also!! WE DO NOT DESERVE GODS WRATH??? yes , we do, and it will come real soon. I could care less about RUSSIA or ISRAEL. GOD sends judgement from heaven to kill the ARABS and the RUSSIANS???? are you nuts? we are the nation that is promoting THE ANTICHRIST N.W.O. agenda, AND WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS? And after the killing of 150 million babies, can you say , abortion ? GET REAL. dino.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Hey dino freudian slip? This nation is gog. As in Magog. I bet the mark those prophets tried to warn us about are going on you first, just for thinking you were so loyal to god. The global religions are the making of the Nwo, illumnati scum. They need your free thinking to atrophy at a young age, so they can indoctrinate you as a children into slavery, then tell you the misery created in this world is because some woman f---ed a snake and ate an apple? If you want a piece of mind, quit inviting them to f--- with your head, to fear unknown factors, when there are plenty of real ones in plain site. There is so much archaic, racist, conjecture in all religion I don’t even care to defend the good, moral stuff strewn throughout or have anything to do with organized religion. It’s propaganda of the soul. Look deeper….
April 24th, 2008 at 1:37 am
I wonder if the military will listen. If they do, then that will mean that we “Civilians” are going to be in alot of trouble. Because they would have totally forgotten what they are fighting for.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:24 am
…Ah-bdi…Worst than a kid that wants his new…bdi… play station !!!
April 24th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Why should Iran have to stop supporting political parties outside of it’s borders? The United States government has supported political parties, opposition groups and political movements all across the globe. Why is it okay for the US to meddle in other countries internal business yet when Iran does the same thing, it is condemened? If the United States can create the so called “Orange Revolutions” in other countries by pumping millions of dollars to opposition groups with fake NGO’s that are orchestrated by the CIA, then Iran has every right to support Hezbollah in Lebanon and whatever else it wants. Pure hypocrisy !!! When the Iranian people democratically elected a reform candidate that wanted to normalise relations with the United States and even considered recognising the State of Israel, his every overture was rebuffed and ignored by the US. President Mohammed Katami did everything possible to normalise relations with the United States including helping with fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan. Iran has single handedly pacified almost all of western Afghanistan and has been building roads, schools and hospitals in Herat and other places allowing the allied forces to concentrate their efforts in eastern Afghanistan against strongholds of Pashtun Taleban. Does Iran get any thanks for it?? No !! It is in Iran’s interest that stable regimes are in place in Iraq and Afghanistan and to claim that Iran is supporting forces that destabilise those countries is utterly absurd !! Iranian officials have been meeting the Maliki government and supporting his efforts to stabilise Iraq even knowing full well that he is an American puppet. The United States has done everything possible to destabilise Iraq and not allowed normalised relations between these countries. In response President Mohammed Katami’s constant rebuff and rejection by the United States, the reform desperate Iranian People ellected a hardliner since they figured that they might as well defend their country’s dignity after such a humiliation. For those who wanted war, Ahmadinejad was the answer to their prayers becuase he always seems to say just the right thing the Anglo-American-Israeli propagandists need at the right moment. So far however, Iran has resisted all the bait and traps set our for her at every turn. The Iranian armed forces appear to be in the hands of more rational and logical minded commanders and Ahmadinejad’s influence may not be as high as Cheney would have hoped for. No other country has the capability to bring stability, modernisation and progress to the middle east as Iran and if the stabilisation of Iraq was truly what the United States wanted, there would be no better partner than Iran. The policies of the United States right now are just as much against the interest of the United States itself as it is in the interest of Iran and come to think about it, its not in the interest of Israel either. Who’s interest is all this insanity? Israel would be much better off normalising relations with Iran and use Iran as power balancing partner against Arab domination of the region. War with Iran will not be in the best interest of the Israeli people who would be put in harms way with radioactive pollution. War with Iran does not serve the interest of any of the countries of the middle east including Israel, nor the interest of the United States. Who’s interest then? Its not war to capture oil fields or to protect Israel but war for the sake of war; war for the sake of killing and human suffering. These wars have absolutely no strategic logic whatsoever ! A war against Iran will be a war against all of humanity and in a way, we’re all Iranians because radioactive poison does not stop at national borders and does not need a visa to proceed on its journey of death. Somebody’s waging war against humanity here and its up to us to figure out who it is. If we let Iran fall, we’re next.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:34 am
http://www.spacewar.com/report.....l_999.html
Is something stinking in THE KINGDOMass
Or m’I drinking a lots of water?
Is USA “concern ” ?
Didn’t USA condemned it?
Is Tallibanies and Al’Queadas ours ALLIES?
Is the USA changing theirs enemies like they changed their clothiers?
DOWN HERODES
DOWN THE NWO
April 24th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Subject… NWO changed the SUBJECT… Target: YOUR MIND makes you confused very confused…
Take this serious
Understanding the Evil’s mind… The Evil of ALL TIMES…
The LORD OF the RING
FRIST: HERODES is alive
SECOND: The NWO believes that any child who did born without the POPE presence
( John Paul the II ) that means between April 10 of 2005 and April 30 of 2005 can be the NEW Messiahs.
This WAR is not about the OIL is about the BLOOD
This CARNAGE against children’s started very early… The TARGET the middle east
Why? Most probably in that region they have the JESUS BLOOD line connections.
Those 416 innocents children’s are going to submitted a DNA’s text to server the BLOOD line of the ILLUMINATI.
Why? Because the religion their parents belongs is avoiding any hospital’s routine frighten their own believes.
The NWO are going to data base everybody’s DNA’s and to make you accomplished with it they will start it with the all “ CRIMINAL’s “
Got ya?
The NWO believes they have the Jesus DNA. ( the DaVinci Code )
And another ” NWO scientist ” is going to realize any time sooner a God’s molecular part.
DOWN HERODES
DOWN THE NWO
April 24th, 2008 at 7:10 am
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.a.....=351020202
Blaming GAME? Just started
April 24th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Ieda is right with NWO molecule of god…physics to be masters and doc’s , are running for this fine , so f--- any hero they want to bring up against nature itself.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:13 am
????? can you clear up?
April 24th, 2008 at 7:22 am
can you be more clear?
DOWN HERODES
DOWN NOW
April 24th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Universitys are part of the the big web…in many science domains, they are looking with acceleraters superconducted to find a god and perfect particule.It was created by the nazis in early 30’s….everything’s goto be filed for reserch….foo , blood ….northern european countrys has been pointed out in the 90’s for filing population and taging them with ,good or not good subject for reproduction….then blaming benin tumor for mineur surgery. cuting the subject’s repro. systm….NWO scum are stuck in a dark corner.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Thank you… Fleur de lys
send us a web site’s
April 24th, 2008 at 9:41 am
REALLY.
Its’ all explained on Google Video (6 hrs):
David Icke; Freedom to Fascism CD1
and
David Icke; Freedom to Fascism CD2
A FREE education!
April 24th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Betayus is a f---ing Liar!!!!!!! He’s on the globalist payroll. (TRAITOR)
When he starts war in Iran, We are truly f---ed, and I mean f---ed!
April 24th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
here’s another analyss of the iran-zionist conflict. what zionists may be doing is goading iran into obtaining or manufacturing a bomb of their own.
then, when iran is ab. to produce one or actually have it, pounce on iran, knowing that this time they will have the proof.
zionists may even nuke iran in order to obtain iranian bomb.
one can imagine how much they would crow about this event. they’d proclaim selves as saviors of the world; reaffirm their supremacism, selfsacrifice, nobility. etc.
else, why would they rattle the sabers? they don’t need to do that. actually, it would have been better for zionists to first offer iran peace and harmony while intending to destroy it.
after all, nazis have done that to soviet union just before atacking it. russians may have not been that dumb. and iranians also are not stupid. we’ll see how it all ends.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
An attack on Iran will be the final nail in Americas coffin
April 24th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
i honestly can’t see the US invading iran. i think the people in the US will erupt if we spend more money on another war we have no right to declare.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
# 50
that is their Agenda
April 24th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
3 trilions dolars divided by 1 milion lifes=?
April 24th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I think the us is forgetting that if they attack Iran they will not be only fighting Mammoud but the Russian who have said that they will protect their assets in Iran and to counter attack anyone who is a threat to their assets so look out americans the Russians are coming and under the leadership of Putin have become once again the major force to deal with in the world once again.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Pitin is playing violin
April 24th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.a.....=351020206
Guess what? Now Sirya
April 24th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Exactly. Like the report I heard 2 weeks ago. Iran , Syria , Lebanon , and Palestine. Mabye a fifth one , but my memory evades me on it now.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
The PressTV Report
Syria: US nuke claim a ridiculous story
Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:42:43
Syria’s ambassador to the US has dismissed the White House’s claim that North Korea had helped it build a nuclear reactor as a “ridiculous story.”
Imad Moustapha said on CNN that he had been called into the US State Department Thursday, where officials “told me a ridiculous story about an alleged Syria nuclear project.”
He said they showed him “ridiculous satellite-taken photographs of a building in the Syrian desert, saying this is a nuclear reactor.”
“I had to remind them that it is on one hand preposterous. And on the other hand there is something silly about this. Not a single security guard. No barbed wire,” the ambassador said.
He added: “It’s just photographs of vacant buildings.”
The White House publicly accused North Korea Thursday of helping Syria build a nuclear reactor able to produce plutonium and said the facility was “not intended for peaceful purposes.”
Imad Moustapha said that the last time top US officials went to the UN Security Council with evidence about weapons of mass destruction “was when they were talking about the Iraqi WMDs,” or weapons of mass destruction, which never materialized.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
then from WSWS.ORG
Washington deploys warships off the coast of Lebanon
By Bill Van Auken
1 March 2008
The Bush administration has ordered the deployment of US Navy warships, including the guided missile destroyer USS Cole, off the coast of Lebanon and Israel, escalating the threat of a wider war in the Middle East.
The Cole, capable of striking targets throughout the region with cruise missiles, is expected to be joined soon by the US Navy’s Nassau battle group, which includes six vessels, including amphibious landing craft, as well as a contingent of over 2,000 Marines.
The deployment constitutes a “show of support for regional stability” because of “concern about the situation in Lebanon,” a Pentagon official told Agence France-Press.
In reality this naked exercise in gunboat diplomacy can only serve to increase tensions and make a regional war all the more likely.
The immediate target of the military buildup appears to be Syria and opposition political forces in Lebanon itself, particularly Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia mass movement that Washington has branded as a terrorist organization.
The military action was joined Thursday by the Bush administration’s announcement of another round of sanctions against Syria, this time directed at four named individuals alleged to have played a role in supporting the anti-occupation resistance in neighboring Iraq.
“We don’t succumb to threats and military intimidation practiced by the United States to implement its hegemony over Lebanon,” said Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah, who declared the naval deployment a direct threat to Lebanon’s sovereignty. “This proves the confrontation is with decision-makers in Washington,” he added.
Politicians linked to the US-backed government claimed that Washington had ordered the deployment without any consultation with Lebanese officials.
The US naval deployment coincided with yet another postponement of a parliamentary vote to fill the office of the Lebanese president, which has been vacant for the past four months. Washington is anxious to consolidate a US-dominated regime in Lebanon around Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to further its broader aims of controlling the region and its vital energy resources.
This week saw the 15th such postponement, derailing a mediation attempt by Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and making the selection of a new president unlikely until after an Arab summit scheduled in Damascus for March 29-30. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and some other Arab heads of state aligned with the US-backed ruling coalition in Lebanon have indicated that they will boycott the summit unless the political impasse is resolved and a Lebanese president is in attendance.
Washington has cynically opposed any negotiated settlement, instead seeking the installation of a regime committed to destroying the political influence of Hezbollah. For its part, Hezbollah and its political allies are determined to secure sufficient representation in the government to give them effective veto power. The opposition holds a sufficient number of seats in parliament to deny the ruling parties a quorum, thus giving it the power to prevent the selection of a president.
Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament and a leading opposition figure, charged the US with seeking to block any compromise. In a television interview Friday, he said that the Bush administration was particularly hostile to the Arab League initiative, which called for a unity government and the enactment of a new electoral law.
Washington and the March 14 coalition of pro-US government parties have sought to pin the blame for the government crisis on Syria, portraying it as an attempt by Damascus to extract revenge for having been compelled to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and cede power to pro-American politicians who succeeded in winning a parliamentary majority in 2005.
But there are growing indications that the attempts by the Bush administration to turn Lebanon into a key theater for prosecuting its “global war on terrorism,” with Hezbollah, Syria and Iran all as targets, are exacerbating deep-going social and political tensions in Lebanon. The US strategy is threatening to unravel the country’s frayed political power-sharing agreement between Maronite Christian, Sunni and Shia political forces and reignite the civil war that ravaged the country for 15 years beginning in 1975.
Popular protests over social conditions by the country’s predominantly working-class and poor Shia population have met with increasing repression. Early last month, a protest against power cuts in a Shia neighborhood in Beirut turned into a full-blown confrontation with the army that left seven unarmed demonstrators dead. The weeks since have seen repeated exchanges of gunfire between rival militias affiliated to either government of opposition parties.
Meanwhile, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a prominent member of the ruling coalition, used a televised February 10 speech to issue a bellicose challenge to the opposition: “You want disorder? It will be welcomed. You want war? It will be welcomed. We have no problem with weapons, no problem with missiles. We will bring them to you.”
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal warned recently that Lebanon was “on the verge of civil war.”
Washington has a long and bloody history of military intervention in Lebanon’s internal affairs, having acted repeatedly to bolster the political power of pro-Western parties and to suppress opposition from the country’s oppressed.
In 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower sent some 14,000 soldiers and Marines into Lebanon to prop up the rightist regime of President Camille Chamoun—who enjoyed financial backing from both the CIA and the oil companies—against mounting opposition from predominantly Muslim Arab nationalists.
Some 25 years later, US Marines were sent into Lebanon again in the wake of the Israeli invasion of the country, only to be withdrawn after the bombings of their Beirut barracks left 241 Marines and 58 French troops dead. Then, as now, US warships were dispatched to the Lebanese coast, bombarding Shia and Druze villages.
The other broader context of the US naval deployment is the mounting threat of renewed Israeli military offensives, both in southern Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip. Israel has carried out repeated air strikes against Gaza since Wednesday, killing at least 35 Palestinians, including a six-month-old baby and four children struck down as they were playing football.
The Israeli government said that the bombardment was a response to the firing of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel. Meanwhile, senior government officials have warned that an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza is virtually inevitable.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai employed the Hebrew word for Holocaust to describe the retaliation that is being prepared. He told the Israeli Army Radio Friday that the Palestinians would “bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves.”
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have also recently conducted war games on the northern border with Lebanon in apparent preparation for another war. In 2006, Israel launched a war against Lebanon, including massive bombardments that left over 1,000 civilians killed and much of the country’s infrastructure in ruins.
Nonetheless, the 34-day war was a defeat for Israel, leaving Hezbollah strengthened. A report issued recently by an Israeli commission formed to investigate the conduct of the war described it as “a serious missed opportunity.”
The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may well seek to reverse this failure with a new act of military aggression. The recent “targeted assassination” of Hezbullah’s senior military commander Imad Mugniyah in Damascus is widely seen in the region as a deliberate Israeli provocation aimed at provoking the Shia movement’s retaliation and thereby providing the pretext for another Israeli war in Lebanon. Such a project would almost certainly enjoy the backing of the Bush administration, providing it with its own pretext for targeting Iran and Syria as the supposed state sponsors of terrorism and instability in the Middle East.
The dispatch to the eastern Mediterranean of the USS Cole, a ship which has been identified with the US “war on terror” since it was attacked by a suicide bomber in Yemen in 2000, losing 17 sailors, constitutes a stark warning that US imperialism is preparing to follow up its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan with the unleashing of even greater armed terror against the peoples of the region.
April 25th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Let’s say Petraeus’s accusation is true. Then what is he waiting for?
April 25th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Get a passport and move to the southern hemisphere… ASAP
April 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am
HEY BUSH PETRAUS,CHENEY AND ALL YOU OTHER WARMONGERS
WE DON’T WANT YOUR f---ING WAR!!!!!!!!!!!
April 25th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I do not believe a word any of them say
they have the means and motive
to create any kind of evidence
for whatever reason the wish.
they do what they do, and thats all that they do.