RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Iran Volunteers to Test Israeli Nukes

The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces.

Gordon D. Johndroe, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said two Iranian diplomats were among those initially detained in the raids. The two had papers showing that they were accredited to work in Iraq, and he said they were turned over to the Iraqi authorities and released. He confirmed that a group of other Iranians, including the military officials, remained in custody while an investigation continued, and he said, "We continue to work with the government of Iraq on the status of the detainees."

It was unclear what kind of evidence American officials possessed that the Iranians were planning attacks, and the officials would not identify those being held. One official said that "a lot of material" was seized in the raid, but would not say if it included arms or documents that pointed to planning for attacks. Much of the material was still being examined, the official said.

Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers.

"The president does not have the authority to launch military action in Iran without first seeking congressional authorization," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told the National Press Club.

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the G-man said:
Which would be a legitimate reason to go to the President and say privately 'listen, George, this is what we expect...' However, by making a public statement, it effectively undercuts the country's postion during negotiationas. Why should Iran pay attention if its heard Reid say that the Senate will not back the President?

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the G-man said:
How is it not a working democracy for the Senate leader to have a frank discussion with the President in private, as opposed to a granstanding statement that hurts our diplomatic efforts?

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Karl Hungus said:
i can see your point. but this is Bush's fault. He spent years with signing statements, pissing on the constitution

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the G-man said:

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Karl Hungus said:
i can see your point. but this is Bush's fault. He spent years with signing statements, pissing on the constitution

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Even assuming that were to be the case, and I do not concede it to be, is it really your permission that the democrats should let Iran go nuclear just to play "tit for tat" with the President?

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"Bush's fault. Bush's fault. BGAWWWWKK!!"


Geez man. Don't you guys ever let up?

You never miss an opportunity to absolve Democrats of blame, by demonizing Republicans and blaming it all on them.

Bush is not the first Republican you guys have demonized. If he was, I might say your attitude is an abberation caused by Bush.
How about acknowledging that the Carter and Clinton administrations might have just had maybe the teensy-est hand in causing global security issues in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, China, and elsewhere?

Iran plans three days of military maneuvers, including short-range missile tests, beginning Sunday — its first since the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions against it in late December, state-run television said.

Sunday's maneuvers are to be the first by Iran since the U.N. Security Council imposed limited sanctions on the country on Dec. 23, banning selling materials and technology that could be used in Iran's nuclear and missile programs and freezing assets abroad of 10 Iranian companies and individuals.

The United States will present evidence of Iranian agents' hostile activities in Iraq soon

A number of Iranian officials have been detained in U.S. raids in the past month, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters that the accusations against them would be made public soon.

Washington accuses Iran of helping arm, train and fund Iraqi militants.

The U.S. ambassador said yesterday that one of the Iranians detained by U.S. forces in Iraq during two raids over the past month was the director of operations for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds faction, the organization responsible for funding and arming Iraqi terrorists.

At least eight Iranians have been detained in Iraq recently, including two diplomats in a Dec. 21 roundup of a group of 10 suspects. The diplomats were interrogated and released to Iranian officials eight days later.

Six others were captured Jan. 11 at an Iranian liaison office in the northern city of Irbil. One was released and five are still believed in U.S. custody.

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the G-man said:
Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers...

if we can't credibly threaten military action, then retarding the Iranians' nuclear progress through diplomacy--which is what the Democrats claim to want--becomes absolutely impossible. You need the carrot and the stick.

If they can't bring themselves to give the President an authorization at this point for an attack on Iran, can the Democratic leadership at least refrain from loudly proclaiming their intention to block it?

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Iran, cranking up a war of nerves with the West, has demanded the removal of the official running U.N. nuclear inspections, diplomats said on Friday.

Tehran’s move, following a ban on 38 inspectors from four major Western nations announced on Monday, appeared aimed at testing Western resolve over its disputed nuclear activity while stopping short of violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty

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PJP said:
Praise Allah and his allies Clinton, Reid and Obama!

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Israeli security service, Mossad, may have killed prize-winning physicist who worked at plant where uranium gas is produced

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the G-man said:
Iranian Nuclear Scientist 'Assassinated'

Israeli security service, Mossad, may have killed prize-winning physicist who worked at plant where uranium gas is produced

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the G-man said:

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the G-man said:
Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers...

if we can't credibly threaten military action, then retarding the Iranians' nuclear progress through diplomacy--which is what the Democrats claim to want--becomes absolutely impossible. You need the carrot and the stick.

If they can't bring themselves to give the President an authorization at this point for an attack on Iran, can the Democratic leadership at least refrain from loudly proclaiming their intention to block it?

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And, on the heels of the Democrats preemptive surrender comes the news that Iran is going to assemble thousands of centrifuges, in an underground facility starting next month.

Again, I'm sure the timing is completely coincidental.

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Add Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton to the list of Democratic Senators publicly supporting Iran's nuclear bid:

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Matter-eater Man said:

It would be a mistake of historical proportion if the administration thought that the 2002 resolution authorizing force against Iraq was a blank check for the use of force against Iran without further Congressional authorization.

Nor should the president think that the 2002 resolution authorizing force after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in any way authorizes force against Iran. If the administration believes that any, any use of force against Iran is necessary, the president must come to Congress to seek that authority.

Hillary Clinton

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So, now the 2008 Democratic frontrunner has publicly told Iran that Bush may not have the authority to attack them if they continue building a nuclear weapon.

Good show, Hillary.

A Pentagon panel has been created to plan a potential bombing attack in Iran - and some troops have already entered the country, chasing Iranian operatives, according to a report in The New Yorker

The panel initially focused on destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and on regime change.

It has more recently been directed to identify Iranian targets that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq, according to an Air Force adviser and a Pentagon consultant

U.S. and Europe call for tougher measures than Russia and China are willing to accept in meeting at Britain's U.N. Mission

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the G-man said:

Meanwhile, Iran Issues Bank Note With Nuke Symbol Amid Standoff

Maybe we should just strike first and wipe them off the map.

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Iran's new bank note combines 3 thematic images and colors:

• a nuclear symbol,
• colors evocative of a nuclear explosion,
  
• and Koran prophecy of Islamic global dominance through
  "Science".

Clearly expressing the radical intent to use nuclear weapons
for violent Jihad.

An Iran that is already the world's largest exporter of islamic terrorism and
suicide bombers.


And yet liberals are afraid that Bush is a Christian who believes in
Armageddon?

Would that they held a far more radical Iran to the same standard, a nation
with a far clearer intent to move the world toward Armageddon.

Iran's top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday that the country will pursue nuclear activities outside international regulations if the U.N. Security Council insists it stop uranium enrichment.

"Until today, what we have done has been in accordance with international regulations," Khamenei said. "But if they take illegal actions, we too can take illegal actions and will do so."

Iran's top leader also issued a stark warning to the United States, saying Iran will "use all its capacities to strike" its enemies if his country is attacked.

The top five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have drawn up new sanctions meant to punish Iran for rejecting U.N. demands it halt the controversial enrichment — a key process that can produce fuel for a reactor or the material for a nuclear warhead.

Naval forces of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards captured 15 British sailors and marines at gunpoint Friday in the Persian Gulf — an audacious move coming during heightened tensions between the West and Iran.

U.S. and British officials said a boarding party from the frigate HMS Cornwall was seized about 10:30 a.m. during a routine inspection of a merchant ship inside Iraqi territorial waters near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway.

Iran's Foreign Ministry insisted the Britons were operating in Iranian waters and would be held "for further investigation," Iranian state television said.

Britain's Defense Ministry said the Royal Navy personnel were "engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters" and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by Iranian vessels.

The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were part of a task force that protects Iraqi oil terminals and maintains security in Iraqi waters under authority of the U.N. Security Council.

About 200 students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy on Sunday, calling for the expulsion of the country's ambassador because of the standoff over Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines.

Several dozen policemen prevented the protesters from entering the embassy compound, although a few briefly scaled a fence outside the compound's walls before being pushed back, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

The protesters chanted ''Death to Britain'' and ''Death to America'' as they hurled stones into the courtyard of the embassy. They also demanded that the Iranian government expel the British ambassador and close down the embassy, calling it a ''den of spies.''

Britain's Foreign Office said there had been no damage to the compound.

A British Foreign Office spokeswoman in London, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said diplomats were working normally inside the embassy.

''There is a police presence outside and there is no risk to those inside,'' said the spokeswoman.

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PJP said:
I have a feeling this will start a major World War......give it 3 more months.

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Iran has begun producing nuclear fuel in its underground uranium-enrichment plant, according to a confidential document from the U.N. atomic watchdog.

The document, obtained yesterday by news services, said Tehran had started up 1,312 centrifuge machines, divided into eight cascades, or networks, in the Natanz complex, in an accelerating campaign to lay a basis for "industrial scale" enrichment.

Both moves flew in the face of U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government stop enriching uranium over fears that its professed civilian nuclear-power program is a cover for mastering the means to build atomic bombs.

Tehran says it seeks only nuclear-generated electricity. But its past concealment of sensitive enrichment research from the International Atomic Energy Agency and continued stonewalling of IAEA inquiries have shaken confidence in its intentions.

A former engineer at the nation's largest nuclear power plant has been charged with taking computer access codes and software to Iran and using it to download details of plant control rooms and reactors, authorities said.

Mohammad Alavi, who worked at the triple-reactor Palo Verde power plant west of Phoenix, was arrested April 9 at Los Angeles International Airport when he arrived on a flight from Iran, authorities said.

Alavi, 49, is a U.S. citizen and denies any wrongdoing, said his attorney, Milagros Cisneros of the Federal Defender's Office in Phoenix.

According to court records, the software is used only for training plant employees, but allowed users access to details on the Palo Verde control rooms and the plant layout. In October, authorities alleged, the software was used to download training materials from Tehran, using a Palo Verde user identification.