IS A VOTE FOR ROMNEY A VOTE FOR WAR?

"...No one can say that a war with Iran would be a certain consequence of Mitt Romney becoming president. But... He has promised a more confrontational military policy towards Iran. His advisers include people who have been cheerleaders for war with Iran, and were cheerleaders for the Iraq war. He has pledged to increase the military budget. His advisers include people directly affiliated with military contractors who stand to profit if there were a new war and the military budget were increased.

"Furthermore, he opposes withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and he opposes the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, although the Iraq withdrawal is supported by eight in ten Americans, including the majority of Republicans. (Also)... he is a "chickenhawk", someone who loves war so much that he never served when he had the opportunity to do so, but wants to send other people's children off to die and be maimed... (So) is it not reasonable to infer that if Mitt Romney became the next President of the United States, the probability of war with Iran would significantly increase?..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/28-4

IRAN DISPLAYS U.S. DRONE

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5MCTJ80ZSA

"... (Iran) released the first images of the highly advanced US stealth spy drone which was downed through a cyberattack by Iranian military forces... the RQ-170 Sentinel drone... was part of a fleet of secret aircraft that the CIA has used for several years in an escalating espionage campaign targeting Iran's nuclear facilities..."
"Among the United States' main concerns is that Iran could use an intact aircraft to examine the vulnerabilities in stealth technology and take countermeasures with its air defense systems. Another is that China or other US adversaries could help Iran extract data from the drone that would reveal its flight history, surveillance targets and other capabilities."
"The drone was programmed to destroy such data in the event of a malfunction, but it failed to do so. The blow has been so heavy that the US officials do not still want to accept that Iran brought down the plane by a cyberattack. Instead, explanations have focused on potential technical failures..."
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007276579

SENATE PASSES SANCTIONS THAT MAY BENEFIT IRAN

"... the Senate unanimously passed legislation to force the President to impose sanctions on countries and companies that do business with Iran’s central bank or purchase Iranian oil... “The irony of this amendment is…there’s absolutely a risk that in fact the price of oil would go up, which means that Iran would in fact have more money to fuel its nuclear ambitions, not less, ” Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee... it could increase the cost of gas and threaten economies in Europe and Asia... (and) has the potential to actually increase revenues to Iran..."
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7764&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

IRAN WILL TARGET TURKISH NATO MISSILE BASES IF ATTACKED
Also Israeli nuclear facilities.

"Iran will target NATO's missile defense installations in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic... (and also) will target Israel's nuclear facilities should the Jewish state attack Iran..."
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-threatens-hit-turkey-us-israel-attack-153655802.html

IAEA REPORT MAKES WAR LESS LIKELY
Nuclear knowledge cannot be destroyed by airstrikes

"... there was nothing in the IAEA report that makes military action more likely. If anything, it points to the limits of the effectiveness of a military campaign, which would have to be weighed against the risk of starting a potentially catastrophic regional war. The report was mainly based on information already known to Western intelligence agencies. It did not reveal the sort of new evidence of immediate danger that would lead Israel or the United States to take a decision now about whether they can live with an Iranian atomic bomb or must take urgent military action to prevent it. Instead, Western states are likely to stick to diplomacy and economic measures, while keeping a vigilant eye out for as-yet-untaken steps - such as expelling international monitors or diverting nuclear material from known sites - that might show Iran was embarking on an all-out bid to build a bomb."

"... The IAEA report, like earlier U.S. intelligence estimates, suggested Iran had been pursuing the science needed to make an atomic bomb at least until 2003. But that interest mostly took the form of research, rather than building actual bomb-making infrastructure. Experts refer to that knowledge as a "nuclear intangible," and you can't destroy it by air strikes, said Andrea Berger of Britain's Royal United Services Institute: "Because it would be a nuclear intangible, it's something that can't be rectified with a military strike."

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-irans-nuclear-showdown-west-still-short-war-144321024.html;_ylt=AjoxSqEngJ7Z12_XGglq05zNt.d_;_ylu=X3oDMTRvOTlpY3IxBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwNjZGExOTk0OC1jZTVhLTNmN2QtYWM0NS1kYzVmMTI4NTgwOTMEcG9zAzkEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDODE4ZTEzYzAtMTUyOS0xMWUxLWJkZmEtOTY4M2FjYzhiYTVj;_ylg=X3oDMTNobW90YmFoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNWY5MmU4MTAtNWRiNi0zZTVkLWJjZmQtYWU1NWY4NGI2ODgwBHBzdGNhdANwb2xpdGljc3xkZXN0aW5hdGlvbjIwMTIEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

U.S. SECDEF WARNS AGAINST ATTACKING IRAN

"... US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said a military strike against Iran could have "unintended consequences". He said it would only delay Iran's nuclear efforts by three years at most... (and) might fail to deter Iran "from what they want to do. But more importantly, it could have a serious impact in the region, and it could have a serious impact on US forces in the region."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-middle-east-15688042

IAEA REPORT SHOWS IRAN NUCLEAR ACTIVITY IS LEGAL

"... the evidence... shows that Iran wants the knowledge and equipment that would let it build a nuclear weapon very quickly if necessary... The evidence does NOT show that Iran is actually building a nuclear weapon now, or has any present intention of doing so. And having the knowledge and equipment that would let you do so fast in an emergency is entirely legal under IAEA rules..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/10-0

IRAN ONLY SEEKS NUCLEAR LATENCY

"... the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report on Iran... reinforced the reigning assessment of the Iranian nuclear program: Tehran is, and has been for decades, seeking nuclear latency—the capacity to make nuclear weapons–but the IAEA does not conclude that it currently has an active program to build nuclear weapons... The Obama administration has been careful not to overstate the report’s conclusions. A senior administration official told reporters yesterday that “[t]he IAEA does not assert that Iran has resumed a full-scale nuclear weapons program nor does it [say] how advanced the programs really are.”
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7710&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

IRAN'S WARNING TO ISRAEL AND U.S.
"Iran's supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) warned Israel and the United States that… "Anybody who takes up the idea of an attack on Iran, should get ready to receive a strong slap and an iron fist… The enemies, particularly the United States and its pawns and the Zionist regime, should know that the Iranian nation does not seek to invade any country or nation. But Iran will strongly respond to any invasion or attack with such power and in a way that the aggressors and invaders will be smashed from the inside..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/ayatollah-khamenei-warns_n_1085925.html

IRAN WILL NOT GIVE UP PROGRAM, IS NOT SEEKING WEAPONS
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran won't retreat "an iota" from its nuclear program but is strongly rejecting a U.N. report claiming that Tehran is seeking atomic weapons…"
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ahmadinejad-iran-retreat-nuclear-path-14912292

IAEI SAYS IRAN PURSUING WEAPONS, VIOLATING NUCLEAR TREATY
"… the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency… (says) Iran has been pursuing nuclear weapons since before 2004, testing detonators and other components that have few uses other than for a nuclear bomb… (and that) Iran, which signed the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), is violating the pact…."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-11-08/Iran-nuclear-weapons-treaty/51125744/1

ISRAEL ATTACK ON IRAN "CLOSER"

"Israeli President Shimon Peres warned on Sunday that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely... (saying that) "The possibility of a military attack against Iran is now closer to being applied than the application of a diplomatic option"... the Haaretz newspaper reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak were seeking cabinet support for an attack... (and) that US officials had failed to secure a commitment from Israel that it would coordinate any attack plans with Washington... Barak denied reports that he and Netanyahu had already decided to attack Iran over the opposition of military and intelligence chiefs..."
http://www.canada.com/technology/Israel+Peres+warns+attack+Iran+getting+closer/5665596/story.html

ISRAEL MAY ATTACK IRAN WITHOUT WARNNG U.S.

"... a senior U.S. military official said... The U.S. is "absolutley" concerned that Israel is preparing an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities... (and) that Israel will not warn (the U.S.)... The military official emphasized that the U.S. is concerned about the risk a strike against Iran could pose for American troops in Iraq and in the Persian Gulf... (and) said that the U.S. does not intend to follow a military action against Iran..."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-military-official-we-are-concerned-israel-will-not-warn-us-before-iran-attack-1.393834

VOICES FOR WAR AGAINST IRAN

"... Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee... (held) a hearing on how the U.S. should respond to the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington... Panelists recommended a dramatic escalation of U.S. actions against Iran...

“You don't want to run away from that war, you want to run towards it," said Reul Marc Gerecht of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “We are more willing to have another front on the war on terror.”

“Let’s not wring our hands,” said General Jack Keane (Ret.). “If the international community doesn’t want to step up to it, we go without ‘em. We’ve got to put our hand around their throat right now.”

http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7681&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

ASSASSINATION PLOT A U.S. STING OPERATION AGAINST IRAN

"... the legal document describing evidence in the case provides multiple indications that it was mainly the result of an FBI "sting" operation... the legal document, called an amended criminal complaint... suggests that the idea originated with and was strongly pushed by a undercover DEA informant, at the direction of the FBI... when Arbabsiar first met with the DEA informant he thought was part of a Mexican drug cartel, it was not to hire a hit squad to kill the ambassador... there is reason to believe that the main purpose was to arrange a deal to sell large amounts of opium from Afghanistan... not a single quote from Arbabsiar shows that he agreed to assassinating the ambassador, much less proposed it... There is also circumstantial evidence that Arbabsiar may have even been brought into the sting operation to help further implicate his cousin Gholam Shakuri... an officer in the Iranian Quds Force... in the terrorist plot."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105458

IRANIAN PLOT ALLEDGED TO KILL SAUDI ENVOY

"... the U.S. Justice Department Tuesday charged a dual Iranian- American national and an alleged member of the Islamic Republic's special operations unit of conspiring to assassinate the Saudi ambassador here... the two named defendants, U.S.-based Manssor Arbabsiar and Iran-based Gholam Shakuri, sought to hire someone who they believed was a member of a Mexican drug cartel but who was actually an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to carry out the plot in exchange for 1.5 million dollars... the Iranian mission at the United Nations (U.N.)... said in a letter expressing outrage to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that his government "categorically reject(s) these baseless allegations".

"United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI), a hawkish group... called openly Tuesday for the president to "make it clear that Iran will face consequences for its actions, including military retaliation for attacks on Americans".

"... Others voiced caution. "If the alleged Iranian action was aimed at provoking the U.S., the Obama administration should be careful not to walk into such a trap," noted Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council..."

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105425

RUSSIAN-BUILT BUSHEHR NUCLEAR PLANT ONLINE

"Iran's much-delayed Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bushehr went on line... heralding a new era for the country that promises even greater national investment in nuclear energy in the coming years... ... Russia has given cause for national joy in Iran and this may mean more nuclear contracts with Tehran; this at a time when the West knows only the language of coercion and threats against Iran..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MI07Ak02.html

THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY WITH IRAN AFTER 9/11

"... Had the George W Bush administration responded to repeated overtures from Tehran, it might have cemented a powerful ally against al-Qaeda, given the US an easier time pacifying Iraq and reduced Iranian motivation to oppose Arab-Israeli peace... allowing the 2001-2003 talks to end was "a fantastic mistake. The dialogue that existed on Afghanistan was the single unparalleled opportunity to create a diplomatic process" with Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MI09Ak01.html

WAR ON TERROR WAS ABANDONED BY BUSH AGENCIES AS INEFFECTIVE

"... The War on Terror was based on the notion that Islamic terrorism represented a unified, ideologically coherent, and operationally centralized threat, demanding a singular and predominately military response. This notion was rejected by U.S. security officials long before the killing of Bin Laden. Indeed, it was abandoned well before the election of President Obama.

By the latter years of the Bush administration, the exceptional tactics that defined the War on Terror -- preventative detentions, pain-based interrogation, ethnic and religious profiling, and widely expanded domestic surveillance powers -- were either abandoned or dramatically scaled back based on overwhelming evidence that they were ineffective. Meanwhile, the actual wars initiated in the name of the War on Terror, in Afghanistan and Iraq, rapidly evolved into counter-insurgency and then counterterrorism campaigns as military leaders recognized that the U.S. was unable to replace theocrats and autocrats with stable, western-style democracies.

The War on Terror lives on today only as political theater..."

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/08/who-killed-the-war-on-terror/244273/

SOME CENTRIFUGES MOVED UNDERGROUND

"Iran has moved some of its centrifuge machines to an underground enrichment site that offers better protection from possible airstrikes... the facility in Fordo... is carved into a mountain to protect it against possible attacks... Iran plans to triple its output of the 20 percent enriched uranium and move the entire program to the new, secretly-built Fordo facility, just north of the holy city of Qom in central Iran. The bunker facility is to house approximately 3,000 centrifuges..."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2089760,00.html

RUSSIA KNOWS IRAN'S INFLUENCE TO INCREASE

"... Moscow has hurriedly scheduled an intensive strategic dialogue with Tehran... The geopolitical reality is that Iran's regional influence is poised to increase. The West's quagmire in Libya and the collapse of its attempts to overthrow the Syrian regime; Turkey's lurch toward Muslim Middle East and the breakdown in its relations with Israel; the collapse of the US-Israeli-Saudi axis and the surge of the Syrian-Iranian axis; US predicaments in Iraq and Afghanistan; Egypt-Iran rapprochement; high probability of UN recognition for Palestinian statehood; and not least of all, China's determination to build a strategic partnership with Iran - all these work to Tehran's advantage..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/MH04Ag01.html

IRAN DOWNS U.S. SPY DRONE

"Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that was trying to gather information on an underground uranium enrichment site... the drone was flying over the Fordo uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom in central Iran..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/20/iran-us-spy-plane_n_904355.html

IRAN TESTS LONG RANGE MISSILES

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards tested 14 missiles... (as) a show of strength to the Islamic Republic's enemies in Israel and Washington. The Iranian-made surface-to-surface missiles, with a maximum range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles), were fired simultaneously at a single target... the Guards fired nine Zelzal missiles, two Shahab-1s, two Shahab-2s and one upgraded Shahab-3 missile.Iranian officials have previously announced that the Shahab 3 can reach targets up to 2,000 km away, putting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf within reach... while Iran had the technological capacity to build longer-range missiles, the 2,000-km range had been chosen precisely with Israel and U.S. bases in mind... The head of the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace division (said) "Except American and the Zionist regime, we do not feel a threat from any other country."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/iran-test-fires-long-range-missiles-capable-of-striking-israel-u-s-bases-1.370029


IRAN SHOWS MISSILE SILOS



"Iran ... unveiled underground silos that can carry missiles capable of hitting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf... State TV broadcast footage of deep underground silos, claiming that medium- and long-range missiles stored in them are ready to launch in case of an attack on Iran. The silos are widely viewed as a strategic asset for Iran in the event of a U.S. or Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities... The commander of the Guard's Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, touted the silos as a crucial asset in its standoff with the West, saying that with "these facilities we are certain that we can confront unequal enemies and defend the Islamic Republic of Iran."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/iran-unveils-underground-silos-with-missiles-capable-of-reaching-israel-1.369924

MEK MAY GET U.S. SUPPORT FOR TERROR AGAINST IRAN

"... the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an organization with the blood of Americans and Iranians alike on its hands... a designated foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government... may succeed in getting removed from the terrorist list... as a result of an unprecedented multi-million dollar media and lobbying blitz.

:... the desire to de-list them in Washington seems partially driven by gravitation towards covert military action against Iran. Neither sanctions nor diplomacy have yielded the desired results on the nuclear issue, and some in Washington are advocating using the MEK to conduct assassination and sabotage campaigns inside Iran. As one former State Department official put it, the "paradox is that we may take them off the terror list in order for them to do more terror."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trita-parsi/washingtons-favorite-terr_b_887525.html

EGYPT MOVES TOWARD RESTORING RELATIONS WITH IRAN

"... Cairo and Tehran appear closer than ever to restoring diplomatic ties following a 31-year hiatus... "The Egyptian foreign minister and the Islamic Republic of Iran have announced their readiness to expand diplomatic relations between the two countries," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said... (and) Nabil al-Arabi, Egypt's first post-revolutionary foreign minister, declared that Cairo was ready to "turn a new page" with Iran. "The Egyptian and Iranian people," he said, "deserve to have mutual relations reflecting their history and civilisation."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56238

FALSE SPIN ON IRAN NUCLEAR ASSESSMENT

"Confusion over an assessment of Iran's nuclear program by the Rand Corporation in the past week perfectly illustrates the quagmire that anyone has to contend with when sifting through bias on media reports... A deluge of commentaries took it at face value that Rand was alleging with iron-clad certainty that Iran was "two months away from making nuclear bombs".

"... (however) the Rand report failed to mention that the US intelligence community has yet to revise its December 2009 finding that Iran as of early 2003 has stopped its nuclear weapon program. Nor does it mention that the IAEA despite its expressed concerns about the "possible military dimension" of Iran's nuclear activities has repeatedly stated that after extensive inspections it has found "no evidence of diversion of declared nuclear material".

"... A report by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh titled "Iran And The Bomb - How Real is the Nuclear Threat?" and published in the June 6 issue of The New Yorker magazine quotes former IAEA director general Mohammad ElBaradei as saying he didn't see "a shred of evidence" in 12 years in charge to suggest Iran is building nuclear-weapons facilities and using enriched materials..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MF10Ak06.html

IRAN TO DISPLAY DOWNED U.S. SPY DRONES

"Iran will put on public display two US Navy drones shot down by its elite Revolutionary Guards..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110115/wl_mideast_afp/iranusguardsdrone

RUSSIA: STUXNET VIRUS COULD CAUSE IRANIAN CHERNOBYL

"... Russian nuclear scientists are providing technical assistance to Iran's attempts activate the country's first nuclear power plant... (and) have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of... the extensive damage caused to Bushehr's computer systems by the mysterious Stuxnet virus..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8262853/Stuxnet-virus-attack-Russia-warns-of-Iranian-Chernobyl.html