Damn. They are installing 6000 centerfuges in Natanz. This is in addition to the 3,000 already there.
It’s like they are in some dick swinging contest with George W. Bush.
Category: Iran
Iraq Update: Petraeus As Lying Dishonorable Disgrace to Uniform Edition
We are still having c, see lashes between the Mahdi Militia and the Iranian Puppet Government forces.
David Petraeus is claiming that Iran supported the Mahdi militias in Basra, which is absolute BS.
While Iran wants a Shia dominated Iraq, they do not want Shia Arab nationalists dominating Iraq, they want people in their pocket, like Chalabi, Hakim, and Maliki.
Sir, in lying in this way to promote Bush’s war, you dishonor the sacrifices of your troops.
No, This Is Not The Onion
You just have to love this.
The Badr Brigades are militia of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI, the artist formerly known as SCIRI).
In addition ISCI and Maliki are doing their level best to ensure that they occupy as many positions in the security services, police and military, as possible.
During the Iran-Iraq war, the Badr Brigades fought for the Iranians. They were a part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which the State Department has declared a terrorist organization.
As a result, these folks are literally collecting a pension from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
So, the dog that we choose to hunt with in Iraq is literally pulling a pension from the Ayatollahs.
More Iraq
Busy past few days.
Basically, even though undoubtedly better equipped, and possibly better trained, the Iraqi Army and Police are getting their asses handed to them, because they are completely unmotivated. Unlike the Hakeem family, the army and police really don’t like fighting for the idea of greater Iranian hegemony in Iraq, which is clearly the goal of the current government.
Sadr is the only major Shia player who isn’t in the Iranian’s pockets, but he’s the one we are targeting air strikes at.
In any case, after some It appears thatfits and starts, negotiations finally got underway, with an Iranian general brokering the cease fire which is not in effect, if only barely (see here, here, and
here)
If you are wondering who won this, just reflect on Sadr’s terms for a truce, release of all Sadrists not convicted of crimes, and amnesty for members of the Mahdi militia.
This is a victory for him, and for Iran.
Rabi’ al-awwal (ربيع الأول) is Arabic for Tet
It appears now that the truce with Moqtada al-Sadr is well and truly over. Even if hasn’t called for a revolt against the Maliki government, he has called for civil disobedience and self defense, and the shooting has begun.
The US blames the latest attacks on rogue Mahdi Army elements tied to Iran, but analysts say the spike in fighting with Shiite militants potentially opens a second front in the war when the American military is still doing battle with the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
“The cease-fire is over; we have been told to fight the Americans,” said one Mahdi Army militiaman, who was reached by telephone in Sadr City.
The force most closely linked to Iran is not the Mahdi Army. It is sectarian, but also Iraqi nationalist.
It isn’t helping that out west, the Sunni Militias are going strike because they have not been paid.
It would be comical if it were not for the killing.
The ones in the thrall of Iran, are Maliki’s guys. They fought for Iran in the war, and tortured Iraqi POWs at the request of the Iranians.
The Americans don’t get it. Sadr is not an Iranian puppet, he’s the strongest nationalist Shia out there, though this is not stopping David Petraeus, Bushes Bitch on the Euphrates, from claiming that all the attacks are coming from Iran.
Sir, you are a lying sack of sh%$ and a disgrace to your uniform, the men who serve under you, and the United States of America.
The press coverage on this side of the pond, excepting the Monitor and McClatchy, is universally poor, with claims that the civil disobedience causing the violence.
Eric Martin makes some very good points about how Malicki and the US undermined the truce int he first place.
He notes there has been a crackdown against the Mahdi army and its related political party in advance of provincial elections.
It’s pretty clear that the state security apparatus, and the US military, have been used in an attempt to influence these elections.
It’s hard to say for sure, which of these factors [The surge, the Anbar Awakening, the Sadr ceasfire, or the Completion of ethnic cleansing in most of Baghdad] was the most important. The Bush Administration will tell you it’s all about the troop levels. I’ve tended to believe it’s more of a mix and was most inclined towards the Anbar Awakening and the sectarian cleansing as the important factors. But when you look at the data it really seems to indicate that the Sadr ceasefire may have been the key.
More than anything else, Sadr wants us out.
He may get it before November.
Bush Is Delusional, Iran Edition
Dan Froomkin notes that Bush just stated that the Iranian government, “declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy people.”
You know, when no such thing was said, and quite honestly it never would be said, because even by that clown Achmedinijad.
I hope that he’s lying, because if he believes it, then we have an insane man in the White House, and a congress unwilling to remove him.
A GBU-57 Theory
You may recall my linking to a blog post by Stephen Trimble about a mystery bomb, the GBU-57, for the USAF is letting out a contract for integration with the B-2.
While cleaning out my pockets, I came across an article from the Defense Technology International January/February Issue, there is an article on page 14 (no direct link because of the oddball way it displays pages) about three new/old bomb technologies.
Specifically, the use of ES-1 super hard “Eglin Steel”, the “precise time of arrival munitions, where multiple bombs dropped are given flight paths which will result in simultaneous detonation, and “skip bombing”, the Marnes Wallis’ technique used by the Dam Busters. in WWII.
It may still be some sort of MOP integration for a sneak attack on Iran, though how they can ask for bids when Congress has specifically forbidden spending money on this is beyond me.
The USAF is Integrating the GBU-57 Into the B-2
Stephen Trimble, who has a lot more patience than I do, notices a solicitiation document for bids to integrate the GBU-57 into the B-2.
He does some research, and all he can find is a reference to it being a 5000lb penetrating bomb from an article in the Grauniad* circa 2003, but this appears to be an error actually referring to the GBU-28.
So, why is the USAF putting out bids to integrate a new weapon into the B-2? Why does it appear to be a penetrator?
Is this a preparation for a first strike on Iran?
*According to the Wiki, The Guardian, formerly the Manchester Guardian in the UK. It’s nicknamed the Grauniad because of its penchant for typographical errors, “The nickname The Grauniad for the paper originated with the satirical magazine Private Eye. It came about because of its reputation for frequent and sometimes unintentionally amusing typographical errors, hence the popular myth that the paper once misspelled its own name on the page one masthead as The Gaurdian, though many recall the more inventive The Grauniad.”
UK May Not Deport Gay Man to Face Execution in Iran
Now that there has been some press coverage, the home office is reviewing their deportation 19-year-old Mehdi Kazemi.
Judith Miller in Drag
Well, it looks like Judith Miller style neocon warmongering is not dead at the New York Times. Yes, we now have new members of the Leonard Pinth-Garnell school of journalism, William Broad and David Sanger.
Short version of the story, is that the NIE saying that Iran had halted nuke weapons work is bunk, and they may have a nuke by next year.
This, along with Fallon’s firing, is a pretty good indicator that Bush and His Evil Minions™ want to bomb Iran before Jan 21 2009.
This is why the two Democratic nominees need to say specifically that any order to attack Iran in the absence of a congressional authorization would be an illegal order, and that, if elected, they would prosecute soldiers who obey illegal orders.
Those nuclear warheads that were “misplaced” a few months back were not “misplaced” it was an attempt to stage them for a nuclear first strike.
Thanks to Digby for the catch.
We Are Going to Bomb Iran
Admiral William J. Fallon, the head of Centcom, has been forced out by the Bush and His Evil Minions&trade.
This means we will be seeing air strikes on Iran. My guess would be in September, so as to influence the elections. Wag the dog, baby.
My suggestion for the Democratic candidates, they should make it clear that the AUMF against Iraq does not cover Iran, and as such any order to attack Iran is illegal, even if the order comes from the President.
Furthermore, it should be made clear that there would be courts martial if those illegal orders were executed.
Reports that Hizbullah Had Role is Assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, It’s Chief of Operations
This Report is very brief, and it’s from the Jerusalem Post which is pretty right wing, though they claim that the report came from the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi.
They are asserting some sort of power struggle.
I have no clue what to make of it.
Iran launches project to build stealth aircraft
At least according to the Tehran Times.
In related news, I am now dating Janice Joplin.
This is obviously not true.
However, it is entirely possible that Iran might be working on some stealth projects.
The basic science for computing radar cross sections has been known for years, the math was published in a Soviet mathematics journal in the 1960s, and if a Linux cluster can do Shreck, it can certainly work on that.
To do an operationally meaningful low radar cross section manned aircraft is very expensive, and at this point, they are reverse-engineering their 1960s vintage F-5 aircraft.
However, if you wanted to create a drone, or a missile with a low RCS in the forward hemisphere, that would sound to me quite doable, with the caveat that I have never worked on issues of radar cross section.
Delays in 30,000 lb Massive Ordinance Penetrator
It appears that there are significant delays with thebomb rack for the Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP).
Cost has increased 33%, and the delay is expected to be at least 10 months.
Considering the controversy over the weapon, Congress blocked funding to integrate it into the B-2, because of concerns that the Bush administration would use it on a surprise sneak attack against Iran, one wonders if the military might be dragging its heels until the crazies have left the White House.
“Filipino Monkey” May Have Created International Incident
Said “monekey” is a prankster who routinely broadcasts stuff like the “Iranian threats” in that region of the world.
The US Navy, and the Bush administration, got Punk’d.
Then again, they are desperate to find a reason to go to war with Iran.
More Tonkin
So, the military is now backing off on the charge that the Iranians were broadcasting threatening messages, and now, no mentions of boxes going over the sides.
Straights of Hormuz, Gulf of Tonkin, It’s All the Same
This report sounds very familiar, a bunch of small boats, “threatening” US naval vessels.
While I have no doubt that the Iranians have detailed plans for an assault of US Naval forces, this is not how they would do it.
On Black Monday in 1987, the US and Iranians engaged in the largest surface engagement since the battle of Leyte Gulf, which resulted in the destruction of half the Iranian surface fleet.
It didn’t get much coverage because of the stock market crash that day.
The Iranians have a very good idea of how much they are over matched, even in littoral waters like the Persian Gulf.
They won’t be broadcasting threats on the radio and broadcasting, “Your ships will explode in a couple of minutes”.
Any attack will be conducted in small boats, launched from a number of different locations, and it will be conducted in radio silence.
There was no attack, or any provocation, just some testosterone laden maneuvering.
US National Intelligence Estimate Says That Iran Has Shuttered It’s Nuclear Weapons Program
Iran shuttered its program in 2003, and it remains shut down to this day.
I’m not sure why the CIA, NSA, DIA, etc. are pushing back against Dick Cheney and rest of the war porn chicken hawks, but it’s good that they are.
I’m not sure why the DNI, who has been adamant about not releasing NIEs, chose to release this. My guess is that someone in the press got a hold of it.
U.S. Intelligence: Iran Has “Crazy Ass F@$%ed Up Sh*t”
Warning…Bad Words.
But very, very funny.
This is Why You Talk With Adversaries, and Keep Your Word
The Iranians have put it very clearly, they do not consider the United States, or at least the US as led by Bush and His Evil Minions™ to be a reliable negotiating partner. I agree with them Bush cannot be trusted to enter into good faith negotiations.
What’s more, this is a reasonable, and rational position.
“We don’t trust the United States,” he told McClatchy Newspapers after the IAEA Board of Governors finished its latest round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program. “We could suspend nuclear enrichment. We did it before for two and half years. But it wasn’t enough then, and wouldn’t be enough now. We will not suspend enrichment again because there is no end to what the United States will demand.”
I agree with Matthew Yglesias’s assesment, that it makes no sense to try to appease religious fanatics, so any confidence building measure is meaningless when the current US government simply cannot be trusted.