Monday, March 19, 2007. On this day, we mark a grim anniversary. Four long years ago, the Bush administration catapulted us into an unnecessary war in Iraq. They foolishly and arrogantly believed that in a matter of days or weeks we'd be greeted as liberators and have flowers tossed at our troops as they marched down a newly named thoroughfare in Baghdad named George Bush Blvd. Four years later, as a country we're hated, not trusted and weakened politically, our military forces are at or near the verge of breaking, we continue to lose our men and women fighting force, to sink our country into further debt, to diminish in world standing and we are less safe than before 9-11.If you think Iraq is bad, look what may be coming next. Now, four years later, a handful of national leaders are speaking up to warn us again-this time only a letter has changed in the name of the country in our crosshairs. The Gang That Hasn't Been Able to Shoot Straight plan to morph the war from Iraq to Iran and hope that no one wakes up to notice what has happened. Jim Webb knows it. He introduced a bill to insure that Bush doesn't pull the trigger on his own, that insists that Bush come to Congress for authorization of war on Iran. Wes Clark knows it. He's been saying this for a few years now, and his efforts have become more intense as the urgency grows.
To know more about what's being said and planned, and what Jon Soltz and Wes Clark are asking you to do, go to www.StopIranWar.com. Or continue reading below, but don't forget to come back to check out the website!
The following are comments made by Clark, taken from various venues, including the website www.StopIranWar.com.
"All Americans want to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and interfering on the ground inside Iraq. Yet President Bush's saber rattling gives the U.S. little additional leverage to engage and dissuade Iran, and, more than likely, simply accelerates a dangerous slide into war. The United States can do better than this.
Whatever the pace of Iran's nuclear efforts, in the give and take of the Administration's rhetoric and accusations, we are approaching the last moments to head off looming conflict.
Silence. That is what worries me. With every passing day that the administration won't talk to Iran, we come closer to an Iranian nuclear weapon, and the time at which the decision must be made whether or not the administration will use its military option. In today's video blog, Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org and I discuss the serious consequences of using military force against Iran--the impact on our men and women in uniform, the U.S. influence in the region, and the stability of the Middle East.
The Bush Administration may refuse to have direct talks with Iran, but we cannot remain silent.
Please join the Iraq War veterns at VoteVets.org and me and sign the petition to President Bush today. Military force against Iran is not the solution now, and if we adopt the right stategy, perhaps it need never be. Urge him to work with our allies and use every diplomatic, political, and ecomonic option at our disposal to deal with Iran. War is not the answer."
Wes Clark
Each of us can help increase awareness of this potential looming catastrophe. Materials are available on the website (www.StopIranWar.com) to gather signatures in person, to print flyers and doorhangers for distribution or rally cards. Let's send them a very clear message that they are not going to be able to pull one over on us again.
www.StopIranWar.com. PLEASE Sign the petition and pass the information along to your friends.
It's all about leadership...
Steve
This weekend I attended my Dem. Committee meeting with pins and petitions. I had no problem finding soulmates. Check out the website and look at the tools. There's plenty of help and plenty to do.
I know that many people find it hard to believe that bush would be stupid enough to attack Iran, but that isn't the case. Because bush is following his flawed course, he's driving us straight into a confrontation with Iran. Today Condi said that Iran is running out of time. As Donald Trump recently said: she waves and gets on planes; she get off planes and waves. She never gets anything done.
Tell her and bush to get something done.
We need a new policy, and we need it now.
Thanks for posting this diary.
One feature of the website www.stopiranwar.com is an ability to write to your representatives in Congress with one click, and write your letters to the editor with another. Of course, that presupposes that you sign the petition!
"Secondly, those who favour this attack now will tell you candidly, and privately, that it is probably true that Saddam Hussein is no threat to the United States. But they are afraid at some point he might decide if he had a nuclear weapon to use it against Israel."
June 14 2003, Amb. Joe Wilson -
"The real agenda in all of this of course, was to redraw the political map of the Middle East. Now that is code, whether you like it or not, but it is code for putting into place the strategy memorandum that was done by Richard Perle and his study group in the mid-90's which was called, "A Clean Break - A New Strategy for the Realm." And what it is, cut to the quick, is if you take out some of these countries, some of these governments that are antagonistic to Israel then you provide the Israeli government with greater wherewithal to impose its terms and conditions upon the Palestinian people, whatever those terms and conditions might be. In other words, the road to peace in the Middle East goes through Baghdad and Damascus. Maybe Tehran. And maybe Cairo and maybe Tripoli if these guys actually have their way. Rather than going through Jerusalem."
19:46: http://next.epic-usa...
"On the other ones, the geopolitical situation, I think there are a number of issues at play; there's a number of competing agendas. One is the remaking of the map of the Middle East for Israeli security, and my fear is that when it becomes increasingly apparent that this was all done to make Sharon's life easier and that American soldiers are dying in order to enable Sharon to impose his terms upon the Palestinians that people will wonder why it is American boys and girls are dying for Israel and that will undercut a strategic relationship and a moral obligation that we've had towards Israel for 55 years."
13:33: http://next.epic-usa...
Gen. Anthony Zinni
http://undergroundcl...
http://crooksandliar...
http://washingtonpos...
Gen. Wesley Clark
http://www.youtube.c...
http://www.youtube.c...
The War Party - BBC
http://video.google....
The World According to Bush (1 of 4)
http://www.youtube.c...
[NY Times' Tom] Friedman laughs: I could give you the names of 25 people who, if you had exiled them to a desert island a year and a half ago, the Iraq war would not have happened.
Call it the strength wing of the Demoratic Party.
Stan Davis
The same for Wes Clark. Anyone seeing Wes Clark's resume would assume he's some kind of gung ho military rah-rah leader. Instead, you find a man who's spent a lot of time thinking about war, about the factors that lead to war, about the harm that comes from war, and who is willing to say "War is Not the Answer". He's awesome.
I watched Joe Sestak this past weekend - so careful, so modulated, so articulate - this is a person who thinks through things and is not afraid to take a stand. He's almost too quiet for my tastes, but I thought he did a great job dismantling the thug DeLay. The thing is, he's got a resume that would make one think he'd be in there touting his own expertise, but he's quiet and almost self-effacing. To hear DeLay lecture this admiral and former carrier group commander on military matters was almost funny.
These, our citizen soldiers, show the genius of the American experiment. Each one of them cherishes the Constitution. Each values the Bill of Rights. You are absolutely right. They ARE the right stuff.
I saw Sestak seated beside Delay on MTP, too. After I got over my disgust that Tim Russert would put Tom "the exterminator" Delay on the same panel with Joe Sestak, I watched the former Admiral calmly and quietly and reasonably make his case. (Catzmaw, I agree he's quiet. But can you imagine him under fire? I'd rather have someone able to keep his cool than a hot-head like The Roach). And I did write to Timmy during the show to ask what the hell he was thinking.
These men (and no doubt, we'll have women from military leadership positions in elected office soon) are national treasures and can lead us out of this morass if we just listen and give them a chance.
Clark, Webb, Sestak, Patrick Murphy...I appreciate and support all of them.