The White House on Tuesday flatly denied an Army Radio report that claimed US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term. It said that while the military option had not been taken off the table, the Administration preferred to resolve concerns about Iran’s push for a nuclear weapon “through peaceful diplomatic means.”

Army Radio had quoted a top official in Jerusalem claiming that a senior member in the entourage of President Bush, who concluded a trip to Israel last week, had said in a closed meeting here that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action against Iran was called for.

The official reportedly went on to say that “the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice” was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic for the time being.

The Army Radio report, which was quoted by The Jerusalem Post and resonated widely, stated that according to assessments in Israel, the recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah has de facto established control of the country, was advancing an American attack.

More at the Jerusalem Post

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In a sharp reversal of its longstanding accusations against Iran arming militants in Iraq , the US military has made an unprecedented albeit quiet confession: the weapons they had recently found in Iraq were not made in Iran at all.

According to a report by the LA Times correspondent Tina Susman in Baghdad:

“A plan to show some alleged Iranian’supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized none of them was from Iran. A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion to a misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin. When U.S. explosives experts went to investigate, they discovered they were not Iranian after all.”

The US, which until two weeks ago had never provided any proof for its allegations, finally handed over its “evidence” of the Iranian origin of these weapons to the Iraqi government. Last week, an Iraqi delegation to Iran presented the US “evidence” to Iranian officials. According to Al-Abadi, a parliament member from the ruling United Iraqi Alliance who was on the delegation, the Iranian officials totally refuted “training, financing and arming” militant groups in Iraq . Consequently the Iraqi government announced that there is no hard evidence against Iran.

More at Information Clearing House

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“information based on speculation” Guess all those accusations Petraeus and Co. are making are “speculation. They keep saying they have proof……another lie.

The Iraqi government seemed to distance itself from U.S. accusations towards Iran Sunday saying it would not be forced into conflict with its Shiite neighbor. And Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the formation of a committee to look into foreign intervention in Iraq.

As the government appeared to back down from its hardening stance against Iran, in Anbar, four Marines were killed in the deadliest attack in the Sunni province in months.

The government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told reporters Sunday that a committee was formed to find “tangible information” about foreign intervention, specifically Iran’s role in Iraq rather than “information based on speculation.”

More at KansasCity.com

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These assholes aren’t going to be happy until they strike Iran. Nevermind that it will be the end of life as we know it. You think gas prices are high now? You think food prices are high now? You think our infastructure is fucked up? You think healthcare, medicare, medicaid and any social programs are bad? You think the economy is in the shitter? George Popeil Bush says……BUT WAIT! We’ll fuck it up beyond belief!

A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the “increasingly hostile role” Iran is playing in Iraq - smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.

“What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and -women inside Iraq,” said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

U.S. officials are also concerned by Iranian harassment of U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf as well as Iran’s still growing nuclear program. New pictures of Iran’s uranium enrichment plant show the country’s defense minister in the background, as if deliberately mocking a recent finding by U.S. intelligence that Iran had ceased work on a nuclear weapon.

More at CBS News

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Breaking………. here we go.

A ship contracted by the U.S Military Sealift Command has fired at least one shot toward an Iranian boat, a U.S. defense official said Friday.

“It was an MSC vessel,” the official said, confirming the ship fired on an Iranian boat.

Other details were not immediately available.

And we heard this from Mullens this morning:

The Pentagon sharpened its warnings about Iran on Friday, saying Tehran had boosted its support for Iraqi militias fighting U.S. troops and that Washington had military options to force Iran to stop. (emphasis mine)

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military had evidence Iran was sending new weapons to Iraqi insurgents despite Tehran’s commitment to the government in Baghdad that it would halt such support.

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Krauthammer has officially flown over the cuckoo’s nest.

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Hiding from and fearing perceived enemies. Isn’t this the way a chicken shit twelve-year-old would act?

Maintaining an open-door policy would always be in our best interests.

“Sitting down at the table, having your picture taken with a tyrant such as Raúl Castro, for example, lends the status of the office and the status of our country to him,” Bush said, referring to the new Cuban president. “He gains a lot from it by saying, ‘Look at me, I’m now recognized by the president of the United States.’ ”

Bush said a decision to meet with some foreign leaders could be counterproductive. “It can send chilling signals and messages to our allies. It can send confusion about our foreign policy. It discourages reformers inside their own country. And, in my judgment, it would be a mistake” with Iran and Cuba, he said.

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The Bush administration has agreed to turn over to international inspectors intelligence data it has collected that it says proves Iran worked on developing a nuclear weapon until a little more than four years ago, according to American and foreign diplomats.

The decision reverses the United States- longstanding refusal to share the data, citing the need to protect intelligence sources.

The administration acted as the International Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to issue a report as early as next week on Iran’s past nuclear activities. Administration officials hope that the nuclear inspectors can now confront Iran with what the Americans believe is the strongest evidence that the Iranians had a nuclear program.

More at the NY Times

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2008 holds promise of being the crappiest year yet.

It’s bad enough that the moron tries to start a war with Iran against the wishes of the American people. Now he’s out drumming up support elsewhere.

Bush Urges United Action Against Iran

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 13 — President Bush on Sunday accused Iran of undermining peace in Lebanon, funding terrorist groups, trying to intimidate its neighbors and refusing to be open about its nuclear program and ambitions.

In a speech described by the White House as the centerpiece of his eight-day trip to the Middle East, Bush urged other countries to help the United States “confront this danger before it is too late.”

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“You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government,” Bush said. “And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms.”

I guess in America, Bush decides what’s legitimate. If it’s criticism of him and his administration, it’s not legitimate.

And the beating of the war drums continues:

United Arab Emirates - President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger “before it’s too late.”

“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,” Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact - an accord he said whose “time has come.”

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Iranian TV: Pentagon Video, Audio Fake

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of fabricating video and audio released by the Pentagon showing Iranian boats confronting U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.

The video from Sunday’s incident shows small Iranian boats swarming around U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz. In the recording, a man speaking in heavily accented English threatened, “I am coming to you. … You will explode after … minutes.”

“The footage released by the U.S. Navy was compiled using file pictures and the audio has been fabricated,” an official in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying by the state-run English-language channel Press TV.
[...]

The Bush administration continued to denounce the Gulf confrontation as “provocative.”

“This is a provocative act - not a smart thing to do, and they are going to have to take responsibility for the consequences, if they do it again,” National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Bush flew from Washington to Israel.

Who’s telling the truth? Hard to say. When you get to the point that you question the honesty and integrity of any and all things Bushco, that’s pretty sad. But I will extend those doubts to the Iranian government too.

But a little food for thought; When you have (Bush-controlled) warships patrolling waters just off your coast, with their big guns pointed at your cities, who really is being the provocateur here?

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H/T to TOB for this post.

Various news agencies this morning have reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards naval forces apparently tried to provoke a trio of US Navy warships in the Straits of Hormuz. We’ll cite the BBC’s report (the italicized bits are my emphasis):

Iran boats ‘threatened US ships’

Five Iranian speedboats harassed three US navy ships at the weekend, approaching them and radioing a threat to blow them up, US officials say.
The incident happened as the US vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz, which separates the Arabian peninsula and Iran, Pentagon officials said.
US sailors came close to opening fire, unnamed officials told CNN.
The White House on Monday warned Iran against “provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident”.
The speedboats came within about 200m of the US vessels, a Pentagon official told the French news agency AFP.
“I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes,” the Iranians said in a radio transmission, according to the officials.
The Iranian craft turned away “literally at the very moment that US forces were preparing to open fire”, the Associated Press reported, also citing an unnamed Pentagon official.

More at My Two Cents

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Is he hellbent on making an ass of himself or does it just come naturally? I believe he has a lot of splainin to do himself!

From the Associated Press:

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Major crude producer Iran has completely stopped carrying out its oil transactions in dollars, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Saturday, labelling the greenback an “unreliable” currency.

“At the moment selling oil in dollars has been completely halted, in line with the policy of selling crude in non-dollar currencies,” Nozari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

From Raw Story:

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Shoddy? Since it’s the Bush administration we’re dealing with here, I’m sure Ahmadinejad meant to say ’shitty’. And seeing as how the older report appeared to be pulled out of someone’s ass, that would be quite more fitting.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday called a U.S. intelligence report that downgraded Iran as a nuclear threat “a declaration of victory” for the Iranian nuclear program.
[...]

During a televised speech made from Ilam province in western Iran, Ahmadinejad said earlier reports from the United States had been based on “shoddy intelligence.”

The Bush administration has for years warned that Iran’s development of nuclear power plants and enriched uranium masked an effort to produce an nuclear bomb.

Top officials have called the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran “unacceptable.”

But in a report released Monday, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Iran had suspended nuclear weapons work in 2003 and was unlikely to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb until at least 2010. The assessment reverses a 2005 National Intelligence Estimate that found the Islamic Republic was “determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure.”

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