Secretary of Defense Robert Gates angrily reacted to media reports of his classified memo to National Security Adviser James Jones about Iran, claiming that the memo has been taken out of context and was just part of an “orderly and timely decision making process.”
The memo warned that Iran might go through all the steps of producing a nuclear weapon except for the part where they actually produce a nuclear weapon, and warned that the Obama Administration didn’t have a good strategy for what to do in that event.
Though the memo was said to have centered around new discussions to plan for that eventuality, all indications are that Secretary Gates’ solutions were military ones, and that what he chiefly sought were specific strategies for launching a military attack on Iran.
The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen once again reiterated today that attacking Iran should be absolutely a last resort, but added that “all options remain on the table.” The US and Israel have repeatedly threatened to attack Iran over their civilian program.
The real issue raised by the Gates memo is that the presumptive future status of Iran as “virtual” nuclear power, without actually violating the nuclear NPT in any way or doing anything but continuing their civilian nuclear program, would be sufficient justification for a military attack. This would seem to lower the bar considerably, and would moot the issue of the inability of the Bush and now Obama Administrations to provide any specific evidence of Iranian wrongdoing.
Congrats to Jason Ditz for another excellent article and analysiss.
Can anyone doubt that Gates will find the "military options? If only Blair were present to help "fix" things. This is almost like an Easter Egg Hunt.. Obama put Gates where he is so this is an Obama solution.
How many wars can be crammed onto the toboggan before he loses control?
Crazy is and crazy does as crazy "memos".
"The real issue raised by the Gates memo is that the presumptive future status of Iran as 'virtual' nuclear power, without actually violating the nuclear NPT in any way or doing anything but continuing their civilian nuclear program, would be sufficient justification for a military attack."
Preciely phrased and exactly to the the point.
With Gates, a Bush warcriminal holdover and AIPAC operatives Rahm and Axelrod constantly beating the wardrum, McShame and the censored MSM in place to report the propaghanda, next we'll have another cooked up Niger uranium rumor or falseflag incident by the Mossad or CIA and yet another perpetual war meant to disstabilize another soverign nation that by the way doesn't have a central bank controlled by the banking cabal…hmmm I wonder why the so called axis of evil countries N. Korea, Iran, Syria and lebanon all resist the intl. bankers and their money system?. I do know why they are demonized and why they all seek nuclear capabilities. They want to avoid being invaded by the minnions of the bankers, America, Isreal and the zionist. Without the same capabilities to defend themselves with a nuclear bomb as America, Isreal, Russia and China they know the invasion is coming.
Nuclear weapons are obsolete.
The US used nuclear weapons as economic warfare against the Soviet Union.
The Iranians are turning the tables–they really don't need nuclear weapons to succeed. They do want, and will develop, nuclear power however.
i know, every monkey on/in below planet of the pig pit/aka apes gets one,except ya just can't bring yer guns to town,thair can be only WMD McCloud,1 each and hoilstered to yer un-concealled fraudulent _SS,start counting kloownzsc,wanna buy some have we got a deal for U,everything must go,call before mid-night tonite fer yer special offer,and quit rearrainging the deckchairs i like em the way thay were,raaant raaant.its enough to piss ya/me off,its tOO easy,does not compute,sponsored by nsa-7 operating systems and total horseshO!Ot,well then whOOm will propqaGATE the fema/world bank annilihation WMD concept that the empires lack of clothes is based upon,error,error,does not compute or assphaze,yer cipher rythmn is outta whack were gonna have to shut down and re-subvert,doalive,out
If Medvedev looks a bit like Talleyrand, Gates is sometimes the spitting image of Herbert Hoover.
This time round skip the FDR (a Corporate Fascist) and go directly to Vladimir Lenin. Do not go past Go, do not collect two hundred dollars, and hoard your Get Out Of Jail Free cards for use by the collective, which may even include you.
"damnit stupid goyim, do what you are good for! kill more arabs for us!, give us more money so we can kill more and steal more land… erm i mean holocaust! anti-semite!, never again! ahmadinejad = hitler!, WMD, nukes!!!" -israel masters
Funny how its "okay" for America and Israel to have nuclear weapons but not Iran. Apparently Iran can't even have "virtual" nuclear weapons.
the hypocrisy of the west…. and we also can break the rules, treaties, and anything else, and iran gets nothing for following them to the t and beyond. And then theres israhell which is exempt from all rules anywhere everywhere since we veto every UN resolution denouncing them. Hell who are we kidding, even if the UN did pass the resolutions israel wouldnt listen anyway.
Precisely
One thing is DEAD certain. Should Bibi or Uncle 'O' go nuclear, there won't be "virtual" radioactive clouds nor "potential" retribution for such acts. That our delusional leaders should even speak of such atrocities tells the rest of the world all they need to know about the kooks running the show.
"The military also displayed on the back of trucks about a dozen home-built drones, which it claims can be used for surveillance and for combat, as well as a range of missiles — part of yet another Iranian programme which has caused concern in the West…."
[TIN]
Ah, let's see if we can figure this out, both the Iranians' non-existent nuclear weapons AND their drones are also "cause for concern in the West."?
Will pistaschios be declared dual use soon?
Apparently Israel's US-subsidized arms industry, which has been marketing drones–the Russians even bought a few–is quite in a flutter.
Will the Iranians launch a few satellites soon? How about some meteorological experiments in low orbital space, spreading barium clouds in the stratosphere to study the currents, for example?
"Will pistaschios be declared dual use soon? ……" Damn! And I really like pistaschios. Is some moron of a congress-critter going to rename them "Patriot-Nuts" or some such? Jeez!