Here are a couple stories that aim to tell you what you (should) already know. First, we go to Vienna, Austria, where the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that "all is not well with the IAEA." He also adds that after 6 years of inspections, the UN can't rule out "the possibility that [Iran] may be running clandestine nuclear programs."
A six-year probe of Iran has failed to rule out the possibility that the country may be running clandestine nuclear programs, the chief U.N nuclear inspector said Monday, urging the country to end its secretive ways.
"All is not well with the IAEA," ElBaradei said, asking the opening session of the agency's general conference for more money and authority.
Back in America, an email has surfaced via Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit, sent in by a reader who works in a mainstream media newsroom:
"Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working."
The only surprising thing here is that someone on the inside admitted what we all (should) know.Labels: Election 2008, Iran, Media, Obamamania
In a radio interview last week, President Bush spoke about the danger presented by the Iranian regime. He attested that Iran has "declared they want a nuclear weapon to destroy people."
Would Iran love to get the bomb? Yes. Would they love to destroy people? Sure. They've already got a few Jews -- ahem, people in mind. But what Bush said isn't true. It just isn't. His terribly (yet typical) imprecise rhetoric undermines the very case he's trying to make.
Above: That's...that's nice.
Even though the country's leaders haven't committed political suicide by openly "declaring" their intent to gain nuclear weapons (as Bush contests), it's obvious that Iran is a serious threat to peace and stability. As worthless as "world opinion" is, we can't turn our back on the reality that our national strength is dissolving, and in order to keep (actual) weapons out of the hands of evil people, we need resolute support from nations on the sidelines.
The fall of Iraq gave Iran a "freebie" by taking out their biggest regional competitor. Last year it was revealed that Israel tried to convince the U.S. that Iran was the bigger terror culprit than Saddam's regime in Iraq, and warned against an invasion in favor of focusing international scrutiny on the Mullahs.
While Bush might have cried wolf in the past, now there actually is a big bad wolf threatening the West. With presidential credibility merely a fond memory, we are now paralyzed by baseless claims made in the name of ideology -- particularly those that preceded what many (including this writer) consider to be the biggest strategic blunder in the history of the United States: The invasion of Iraq.
Now we face another situation, due in part to Bush's lack of credibility and recklessly irresponsible rhetoric, in which most of the non-military solutions which could have been approached to deal with Iran's nuclear impudence have dissolved.
The sanctions have been modestly effective, and they do seem enrage Ahmadinejad, which only costs him support on the world stage, but what about cutting off trade? How about increasing support for Iranian dissidents? Perhaps we could openly declare that we have no desire to establish military bases or a troop presence in Iran? Our intelligence agencies seem to have our "presence in Iran" covered.
How about doing everything possible to reduce the price of oil? If the price of oil were half of what it is today, Iran's religious leaders would be loathed by the masses as food and gas prices soared, and there would be growing outrage over the squandering of the nation's petrodollars on Hezbollah and Iran's proxy war against Israel. Iranians care far more about feeding their families and lighting their homes than fulfilling the genocidal dreams of their leaders.
Bush made perhaps the most ironic statement of his presidency when, in the same interview, he said:
"Once a nation hasn't told the truth, it requires a lot of work to convince people that they'll be telling the truth in the future."
No, he wasn't talking about his own administration. It will be too late when (not if) A.Q. Kahn's infamous "Islamic Bomb" comes to Iran. The wolf will devour not sheep, but a nation, and the villagers will ignore the cries of the boy on the [capitol] hill. I think Aesop said it best: The liar will lie once, twice, and then perish when he tells the truth.Labels: Iran
Eliot Spitzer is not just corrupt. He's not just arrogant. He's not just a low-life. He's an idiot. Only a New York governor would take a New York prostitute (this is her actual myspace page) to Washington D.C. and pay for everything by wiring money using a fake name.
Above: Does this remind you of anything, Hillary?
Iranian Reza Zarei, Tehran's police chief for the last four years, was arrested after being found nude with six prostitutes. Do you think the Iranian media is awash with stories of "scandal?" Do you think Reza would be "urged to resign?" Do you think he and his wife (or wives, as it were) are going to have to saunter in front of an Iranian television camera while he wraps his mandatory apology around a slimy frown and a cheap suit?
Above: The world's oldest confession.
Please. The best part of the story was that Reza's hypocrisy was just as sweet as Spitzer's. According to the article:
"Over the past year Zarei was in charge of enforcing the Islamic dress code on Iranian women with the purpose of "moralizing of the city.'"Ouch. The truth is both painful and ironic. There is actually one very distinct difference between the cases of Zarei and Spitzer. Five years from now, Spitzer will still have his head.
Labels: Iran, Media
It’s time to ready yourself, Israel. You’ve got war on the horizon. You are surrounded by nations who want to dissolve you, and your corrupt government is even less popular than that of the United States. You are no longer an independent nation. You cautiously measure each step, afraid of angering your puppeteers in Washington.Iran wants you gone. Iran props up Shi’ite Hezbollah, who wants you gone. Hamas is at your doorstep, and they want you gone. The Americans are war-weary and might be on the verge of surrender in Iraq, but not before handing a strategic victory to the Hitler of Iran.
Above: Hezbollah fighters await a televisedspeech by leader Hassan Nasrallah."We are ready for another war and it will come...you will see a very different kind of fighting.”
UN peacekeeping forces are saying the situation in the region is “so dangerous that the tiniest spark can start a new war." You have also been issued a personal warning by Hezbollah's Nasrallah: "We will kill you in the fields, we will kill you in the cities, we will fight you like you have never seen before."You have the capacity to turn the south of Lebanon into a parking lot, which is why the Lebanese people do not want another war any more than you do. You must create revolutionary tension between Lebanese Shi’ites and the extremists of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Every time you bring a war of survival to Lebanon, increased support for Hezbollah will be the result.You must remember, you are not fighting an isolated warring faction, but the violent hand of your true enemy – Iran.Meanwhile, you must also understand that your enemy and its murderous tentacles do not want you to change your behavior – they want to drive you into the sea. The following is from a letter by Muhammad Ali Jafari, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, written to Hassan Nasrallah after Imad Mughniyah's death:"The cancerous growth Israel will soon disappear...we will witness the disappearance of this cancerous growth Israel by means of the Hezbollah fighters' radiation [therapy]."
Ahem..."radiation?" Is there any doubt as to what is being said here? You can’t keep kvetching to Washington, who seems to be joining the rest of the world in watching the Iranian time-bomb tick away.America has given you her money, her might, and her blessing. But it is time for the “little Satan” to determine the future of its nation and its people. Throw out the schmucks who are corrupting and endangering your homeland, and crush the murderers who want you dead.Labels: Iran, Israel, Terrorism
Well, that and the fact that Iran is as close as ever to possessing an Islamic Bomb (if they don't have one or several already). From the Jerusalem Post:
