Posted on 09/19/2004 7:01:21 PM PDT by freedom44
We tend to think that Russias "tough resolve" on the Chechyans has something to do with the war on Islamic Fundamentalists, but don't be fooled.
They provide weapons, technology, and sophisicated covert op's to top terror regimes across the world.
The Russians are the reason why the Iranian government built Busheshr and they're the reason why a second plant is going in Iran.
Their nightmare is a pro-US government established by the vastly pro-American populace in Iran, because they will lose mass economic viability.
They will arm our enemies to the teeth to ultimately destroy our country and claim innoncence when and if it happens.
I wouldn't, except for the way the CIA worded their denial; they couldn't confirm it. They couldn't confirm it because they didn't witness it, obviously, but it came to the press as a flat denial and the "can't confirm" was in the fine print. And I noted that they denied it almost instantly. When did they have time to even attempt confirmation when they denied it almost the instant it came out?
And I'm suspicious because of the way the story was denied through the press, where they printed that the Czechs had retracted the story, only to have Havel come back immediately to deny he had retracted anything and to reassert it.
I don't expect the CIA to confirm something they haven't witnessed, but their insistence on denying something they hadn't witnessed caught my attention. That by itself wouldn't have discredited them in my eyes, but I believe I am seeing a pattern in which people within the agency are leaking stories to the press designed to weaken the president.
The Niger story is a good example. The Iraqi trade mission was public information, but Tenet left the president to twist in the wind on that one, and it was a group within the agency that went public to undermine him. The president wasn't lying, the truth went beyond what he stated, but the agency went out of its way to try and sink him.
Libya's about face revealed further details about NIger's uranium industry that Tenet didn't know or didn't bother to mention when he left Bush to a public pounding for what was in the end simple truth. Remember that a group within the CIA conspired to kill a story that was true; the Iraqis had sent a trade mission to Niger and had followed with other contacts. French intel was also involved, having done their part to bury the story and discredit Bush, but whether the CIA agents were working for France seems unlikely; more likely they simply took the opportunity to shaft the president.
Perhaps this is another case of an intentionally misreported story. I've heard a little bit about how these wargame scenarios work. If the author was giving us all the info it might have read more like this: "They were unable to prevent escalation when a nuclear weapon was used."
There's a big difference, because the wargames scenarios run ALL the different scenarios. Everything from conventional weapons vs. conventional weapons, all the way to nukes, and the probability of the enemy using one, more than one, or the neighboring countries getting involved with their conventional or nuclear arms.
This poorly written and overly short article doesn't tell us jack other than spread fear. It's irresponsible to say "escalation" without defining what that means. Does it mean that other arab nations get involved in a traditional war? While that's bad it is managable. But it's nothing compared to say, Russia or China deciding to throw nukes back at us over it. We have no idea since the author left all the details out.
I HATE it when news reports give you everything except the information that matters.
Incidentally, I'm with the Marine above. I'm pro-escalation now if it means less later. There's no good way out of this, except through it. And if we have to go through, let's get it over with and do it right.
This isn't a funny subject, but risking getting hit by one nuke now is, actually, better than risking 20 in a year or two. Not a good choice, but the right one.
Pray for our leaders, especially the military, that they have wisdom to spend our lives and those of our soldiers the best way possible. They need it even more this year than most.
I guess it's also a little exercise in diplomacy. Think about it this way :
First, there's a debate on whether the opinion thinks bombing the nuclear facilities is a viable option.
Then, you have a press communiqué saying "We've made some simulations, the problem is that we can't stop the conflict from escalating", which to me sounds dreadfully like "WE ARE STILL WORKING ON IT"
It's like the crocodile in Peter Pan : tick, tick, tick...
I read it as "we are still working on it," too. We don't have a model yet for the war in which nothing politically incorrect happens.
"Don't worry about us Mullahs, we had some war games and they didn't turn out very well. Yeah, that's the ticket. Don't worry about us. We have no plans to in the way of coming after you. Just relax. No problem. You just go one and make your reactor..............."
Just go make your reactor, this way we really know which one to blow up. They are blowing up the mullahs egos, making them more brazen.
That reactor will never go hot.
"Depending on who inhabits the White House, I agree with you. If the incumbent wins, the reactor will not go hot. If the challenger wins, I have doubts about whether or not it will be prevented."
If Kerry wins you can bet that Clinton's appeasement policies will be followed. Kerry will force Israel to do something just so he can condemn them afterwards.
IMO it boils down to this, do we take care of the problem ourselves and deal with the fallout that ensues, or do we let Israel deal with it.
I would say letting Israel take care of it at this point would almost certainly plunge the entire Region into war.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.