Posts tagged Iran
Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan on Iran
0Among many insights from an extraordinarily knowledgeable man, Dagan gives surprising weight to the rationality of Iranian leadership and speaks on the foolishness of a bombing the country.
Is part of that “rationality” based on this shocking map of their country and the American military bases surrounding it?
Although I am nervous about Iran having “the bomb”, after seeing Libya give up their nuclear weapons and then be demolished by US and NATO forces I can see why Iranians would be driven to acquire such a weapon.
Ronald Reagan’s Assistant Secretary of The Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts wrote a pretty comprehensive piece on this situation.
What would America do if the tables were turned? How would you be voting if Iranian bases surrounded American borders? If our nieghbor Canada had been crippled by horrific Iranian sanctions that killed 500,000 children (as was documented in Iraq) would you be concerned if similar sanctions were being placed on us? Would that make you more or less likely to rally around the American flag, join with our government in war, and hostile to the Iranian presence?
My point in that confusing analogy is that our public efforts to stop Iran from getting the bomb by imposing dangerous and usually deadly sanctions will likely fail and rather than force the government to change, will instead rally everyday Iranians to the cause of violence to in an attempt to escape the prison of sanction.
There is no path to peace aside from peace itself.
(CBS News) Meir Dagan has been described as “hard-charging” and “stops at nothing.” For more than eight years, Dagan made full use of those qualities as chief of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, where he focused on keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
When that job ended, Dagan did something unheard of for an ex-Mossad chief: he spoke out publicly, voicing opposition to Israel launching preemptive airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities anytime soon. Dagan believes the Iranian regime is a rational one and even its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – who has called for Israel to be annihilated – acts in a somewhat rational way when it comes to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Lesley Stahl reports.
The following script is from “The Spymaster Speaks” which aired on March 11, 2012. Lesley Stahl is the correspondent. Shachar Bar-On, producer.
When President Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this past week, the subject was how, when and if to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, Netanyahu saying Israel can’t afford to wait much longer; Mr. Obama arguing there’s still time to let sanctions and diplomacy do the job. And he said some top intelligence officials in Israel side with him.
Actually, you’ll hear from one of them tonight: Meir Dagan, former chief of the Mossad, Israel’s equivalent of the CIA. It’s unheard of for someone who held such a high-classified position to speak out publicly, but he told us he felt compelled to talk, because he is so opposed to a preemptive Israeli strike against Iran anytime soon.
Dagan headed the Mossad for nearly a decade until last year. His primary, if not his only mission was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. And he says there is time to wait, perhaps as long as three years.
Lesley Stahl: You have said publicly that bombing Iran now is the stupidest idea you’ve ever heard. That’s a direct quote.
Dagan: An attack on Iran before you are exploring all other approaches is not the right way how to do it.
Stahl: The dispute seems to come down, though, to whether you are at the end of everything that you can try or whether you have a lot of time left to try other things, which seems to be your position.
Dagan: I never said it’s a lot of time but I think that-
Stahl: Well, more time.
Dagan: More time.
For nearly a decade buying more time was his job. The Iranians say Dagan dispatched assassins, faulty equipment and computer viruses to sabotage their nuclear program. All the while, he was poring over the most secret dossiers about the Iranian regime, gaining insights and a surprising appreciation.
Dagan: The regime in Iran is a very rational regime.
Stahl: Do you think Ahmadinejad is rational?
Dagan: The answer is yes. Not exactly our rationale, but I think that he is rational.
Stahl: Do you think they’re rational enough that they are capable of backing down from this?
Dagan: No doubt that the Iranian regime is maybe not exactly rational based on what I call Western-thinking, but no doubt they are considering all the implications of their actions.
Stahl: Other people think they’re not going to really stop until they have this capability.
Dagan: They will have to pay dearly and all the consequences for it. And I think the Iranians, in this point in time, are going very careful in the project. They are not running in it.
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Cenk Uygur smashes Iran propaganda
0Really nice work Cenk. Doesn’t this war mongering about Iran sound familiar?! Come on folks! We’ve seen this movie already—it’s called “Hey, Where Are The WMD’s?”
Stop the war mongering against Iran!
0A brilliant and definitive summary with premier experts in the field, precise data and enlightening translation corrections relating to the alleged “wipe Israel off the map” comments from Ahmadinejad. We the American people along with Mitt, Newt and Rick need to wake up and smell the propaganda.
Agent Giraldi
This time, the pro-war voices are exploiting a new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report to assert categorically that Iran is building a nuclear weapon that allegedly poses a major threat to the US. But the truth is that the IAEA makes regular inspection visits to Iran’s nuclear facilities and has TV cameras monitoring those sites around the clock. While there is reason to question some of Iran’s actions, the situation and the alleged threat are not as clear-cut as some maintain.
Mohamed El Baradei, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former IAEA director-general, said recently, “I don’t believe Iran is a clear and present danger. All I see is the hype about the threat posed by Iran.” And he is not alone: All 16 US. intelligence agencies concluded “with high confidence” in a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that Iran had halted its nuclear-weapons program as of 2003. They reviewed the evidence again in 2009-10 and concluded that there was still no solid evidence that the program had been in any way revived.
We are seeing a replay of the “Iraq WMD threat,” which used false information and sustained innuendo to lead the United States into a war that did not need to be fought. As Philip Zelikow, Executive Secretary of the 9/11 Commission said, “The ‘real threat’ from Iraq was not a threat to the United States. The unstated threat was the threat against Israel.”
More blowback as 1000+ Iranians enroll in nuclear science
0Iranian students are responding after the death of another nuclear scientist.
Report: 1000 Iranian students enroll in nuclear science
via DailyCaller.com
Five days after a nuclear scientist in Iran was assassinated, more than 1,000 students in Tehran’s universities announced their intention to apply or change their major to nuclear physics.
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, an official at the Natanz nuclear facility, was killed when a motorcycle-borne assailant attached a magnetic bomb to his car and rode way before the explosion. Iran continues to pursue what it calls a “right” to “peaceful nuclear energy,” even in the face of U.S. and other Western opposition.
“A number of students at the Sharif University of Technology have announced their readiness to work in the nuclear industry promising to rob the enemies of sleep, Mehrdad Bazrpash, an official at the university, said on Monday,” reported the Tehran Times.
Natanz was the site of the STUXNET cyber attack, which destroyed 1,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges. Iran has purported evidence of CIA involvement in the killing of Roshan. The accusations of American involvement in Roshan’s assasination come as U.S.–Iranian tensions over the Straits of Hormuz run high.
Recently, Tehran also announced the death sentence of former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati. Tehrabn — an employee of Kuma Games, a New York-based video game development company — who was arrested and accused of spying.
“Minister of Science, Research, and Technology Kamran Daneshjo also told a press conference on Monday that “three hundred talented students at Sharif university and about a thousand brilliant students at the country’s universities have applied in recent days to change their major and start studying nuclear physics and nuclear engineering,” reported the Tehran Times.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/17/report-1000-iranian-college-students-change-majors-to-nuclear-physics/#ixzz1kCTx37fW
“I believe fear is being used against us.” -Rick Steves
0The images we hold in our minds determine our opinions. What do we see when we hear the word “Iran”? Who do we think Iranians are?
Travel writer Rick Steves presents a very interesting look into this complex and “remarkably friendly” culture.
“I’ve never been anywhere where people were more willing to talk to me.”
“I’ve never been anywhere where being an American was more of an asset.”
“I was surprised how little energy Americans put into understanding their culture.”
“Every action has a reaction”
0Few people on the planet have a deeper, more detailed, and precisely educated view on terrorism, al Qaeda and war/foreign policy than former CIA Chief and head of bin Laden’s hunting force, Michael Scheuer. Why does he support Ron Paul?
Famous UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix doubts Iranian nuke threat
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Former Swedish Head of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Hans Blix told Russia Today news network on Tuesday that there are no indications in the agency’s latest report that Tehran is in pursuit of nuclear arms.
Blix added that the threats currently publicized by hawkish elements within the US government and the Israeli regime will not succeed in scaring off the Iranians from their present course and would not halt the nation’s drive towards nuclear energy.
“I do not see an immediate threat from Iran – but I can understand that the Israelis are nervous,” he stated.
Blix voiced optimism that the Israeli regime would realize the dangers of using nuclear weapons for real and not dare to attack Iran with or without them, since Tehran’s response would be immediate.
“Any kind of attack risks a total confrontation in the Middle East. Iranians are not sitting to tittle-tattle. They will have a counter attack and maybe they will drag the US into the war,” the former IAEA chief pointed out.
Blix, who was also the Chief of the UN Inspections Commission on WMD’s in Iraq from 2000 – 2003, argued that there were certain similarities between the futile search for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq and Iran’s nuclear issue.
“In the case of Iraq, they talked about weapons that in fact did not exist. Today they are talking about Iranian intentions [on a military diversion] that may not exist,” he said.
The former IAEA chief stressed that the international community should keep the channels of communication open with Tehran, arguing that the colonial upper-hand tone that the West often adopts in addressing Iran should be dropped altogether, because the Islamic Republic should be treated as an important and equal partner.
“They are proud people as many other nations are,” he said.
Senior American officials and the Israeli regime have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the “option” of a military strike against the Islamic Republic.
Despite the rhetorical and widely publicized claims by the US, Israel and some of their European allies that Iran’s nuclear program may include a military diversion, Iran insists that its nuclear program has a civilian nature. The Islamic Republic argues that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never pointed to any evidence indicating that Tehran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to weapons production.
What about Iran’s 25,000 Jewish residents?
2Did you know there are 25 synagogues in Tehran? Or that Iran is second only to Israel in Jewish population? How about the 30 centuries-long Jewish community living in the country?
In this very interesting video, Siamak Marsedeh a “pillar of the Jewish community” and the representative in Parliament for Iranian Jews makes a sharp distinction between the religion of Judaism and the political movement of Zionism.
This is the central issue of the modern debate over Iran and their alleged hate for the Jewish people. If this were so, why isn’t Iran waging an internal war against their Jewish population?
If you’re remembering Ahmadinejad’s statement about “wiping Israel off the map” please read this previous post and explore the intricate but extremely important translation details—much more than meets the eye is present.
