UPDATED: Sy Hersh joined CNN’s Late Edition and discussed his new article out in the NewYorker: “Shifting Targets,” which says that the WH has a new talking point which it will sell attacking Iran and as usual, our media will lap it up. The CIA has created an Iran Study Group with dozens of new members with the goal of launching a strike against Iran, including ground forces. Bush feels that using the nuclear threat as the reason to bomb Iran has failed miserably, so they switched talking points and are going to say they are defending themselves against Iranian meddling in Iraq. We told you so….
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Hersh: You can also sell counter-terror, it’s much more logical. You can say to the American people, we’re only hitting these people that are trying to kill our boys and the coalition forces and so that seems to be more sensible, The White House think s they can actually pitch this, this would actually work…
Now you understand why the Lieberman/Kyl amendment was just put through. If BushCo. wants to heighten the sense of nationalism in Iran, just attack them and keep on this course of immorality. It’s another disaster coming from Bush/Cheney and the Neocons in a long line of them and I know Bush and Cheney thank our media for doing what they always do…Nothing, except Sy.
Thanks Sy….Here’s my Iran Action Alert post:
Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121. We need to let our representatives know that Bush cannot attack Iran.
Propaganda for Dummies continues with: Matt Yglesias:
“Last week, Daniel Drezner and I were wondering what ever happened to the PR rollout for bombing Iran. Don Van Natta reports for The New York Times on Freedom’s Watch—-its intention to far outspend its rivals and its ambition to pursue a wide-ranging agenda. Its next target: Iran policy.” Sounds fun.
And the Sock-puppets attack….(h/t SN) The New Yorker:
This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants.
The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran’s known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites. Now the emphasis is on “surgical” strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq. What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism…
The shift in targeting reflects three developments. First, the President and his senior advisers have concluded that their campaign to convince the American public that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat has failed (unlike a similar campaign before the Iraq war), and that as a result there is not enough popular support for a major bombing campaign. The second development is that the White House has come to terms, in private, with the general consensus of the American intelligence community that Iran is at least five years away from obtaining a bomb. And, finally, there has been a growing recognition in Washington and throughout the Middle East that Iran is emerging as the geopolitical winner of the war in Iraq…read on
Filed Under: Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Iran, Neocons/PNAC, War Coverage
7 Trackbacks To “Sy Hersh on Bush and Iran: Shifting targets: New Propaganda push to attack their Revolutionary Guard“
The problem is that the media will push whatever the WH wants, yet they won’t show a Anti War March in DC- OUR capital of 100,000, so what do we do ?
I long for the day that the media gives us real news instead of the propaganda this administration feeds them.
IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH
This article is a travesty to our great nation. It will be immoral upon us not to protect our soldiers who are in the Iraq theater. We must be do our best to defend ourselves and attack those who attack us, whoever, wherever they are. The Revolutionary Guards have done great damage to our troops in Iraq theater. We must defend ourselves against them.
Given the higher # of casualties in Iraq that is directly/indirectly caused by the Revolutionary Guards, we have the higher authority and moral ground to pre-emptively strike against this pestilence, called the Revolutionary Guards. They are a terrorists organization.
Another source for pushing this unprovoked attack on Iran which will result in the killing of many innocent Iranians is Faux News and its dumb ass talking heads such as those on ‘The Beltway Boys.’ On two occasions, at different times yesterday, Saturday, I scrolled past Faux News and they were pushing hard for this invasion. Kondracke was ecstatic about the possibility of this nation widening the war. His beady eyes were gleaming at this possibility. What a bunch of sickos. Of course Kondracke and rest are not going to be putting their collective asses anywhere near this conflict, nor will their kids. So guess who they want to fight and die for this absurity? I would strongly recommend to the joint Chiefs that they invoke the principle in the Uniformed Code of Military Justice which says that ‘no one can command you to do an immoral act.’ They should all grow a set and tell Bush/Cheney to go screw.
If President Cheney and VP Bush had been in office during Vietnam, no doubt we’d have attacked China for the very same reasons.
Arlington Group @ 4:
Are you insane?
dd
Some day, the word “neocon” will have connotations as bad as the word “nazi.”
We’re getting steadily closer to that day.
My 2 cents.
Exposed: Bush’s claim about Iranian Quds forces proved to be false
excerpt (read the whole article at the above link):
I’m still reeling from the declaration of our esteemed Democratic Candidates that they will try really hard to get out of Iraq by 2013. We are already viewed as an out of control rogue nation by most of the civilized world and now we will remove all doubt by an invasion of Iran on more trumped up evidence. Will they bring Colin back for a encore at the United Nations with all new props? This government no longer works for us and should no longer be trusted to do anything in our name.
Nice. But CNN is still overstacking the analyses with conservatives. Hopefully CNN will be the first to realize viewers don’t want re-vomited puke from the Cheney propaganda machine.
Occassionally something decent comes from CNN. So far it’s overpowered by the stoopid bleating.
We need to start convicting corporations for complicity in war crimes. Corporations are people, and so they can be held responsible for complicity in war crimes. They should be. Especially media networks and particularly international banks that launder money for weapons dealers.
The best way to deal with terrorists is to cut off their funding and disable their propaganda machine. Terrorism is a crime problem and terrorists need to be dealt with as criminals. International terrorist leaders such as george Bush and dick Cheney should be dealt with accordingly.
Another thing - where’s Pelosi, Hillary and Obama - why aren’t they countering the White House and capitalizing on all the donations and votes it would win for their campaigns?
Pelosi and Hillary in particular must be aware that if the White House was tied down with impeachment proceedings, they could not sell another war. Don’t tell me that don’t know that. They know it.
Hillary and Pelosi seem to have made a bargain with the White House: cover their backs against impeachment, do not take an antiwar stance, and the White House will leave them alone for the time being.
Hillary and Pelosi must be bargaining with the neocons. That’s really awful.
Arlington Group @ 4:
yes lets get them quickly , before they remember america furnished sadam with thoes poison gasses we gave him to kill them with! oh my
Way to stand up Arlington. These guys weren’t paying attention when,the week of taking Baghdad, Iranians were i.d.’d as contributing to the killing of Coalition Forces AND Iraqis. And they have done so ever since - along with gathered physical evidence over that time.
And these guys will use the same game all over again. Whenever a mention is made of a different element to the basic explanation for proposed action on Iran, they will say you have changed the reason once again. This is done boisterously and avoids the actual point that much longer.
[Some response: (”Are you insane?”)Ha! That is sad and unfortunate.]
Yes, we all knew why the Lieberputz/Kyl Amendment was pushed through. But our clueless Dems, like Hillary, fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Thanks Hillary and friends! /sarcasm
again, guys, see this article. It states that there is NO proof that Iran has trained anyone to attack American troops. This is a false charge. Remember Brzezinksi’s testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee? Earlier this year, the former Carter NSA said
Why has USA meddled in Iran for all these years? Seriously. Can someone answer?
VietVet8666 @ 9:
And “Democratic Congressman” will have an explanatory link in the dictionary under “invertebrate”.
VietVet8666 @ 9:
I think we have already arrived.
level @ 14:
Enough of the right wing talking points. Show me the evidence.
Arlington Group @ 4:
Why are U.S. soldiers in Iraq in the first place? What would you do if the U.S. was occupied by soldiers from a foreign government and these soldiers were walking down U.S. streets heavily armed with AK-47’s and protected by tanks and helicoptors?
Guido, OBGYN @ 17:
CIA In Iran
and
Read this essay.
What is the most effective route to stopping this from happening…Any ideas?
Can we go ahead and end the World already? This anticipation is killing me.
AntiFed1791 @ 24:
Thanks for the chuckle, Fed.
dirty d @ 23:
As the original post says, “Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121. We need to let our representatives know that Bush cannot attack Iran.” Call early and call often.
Fuck them all! Let the White House and the MSM push the war with Iran. They will do exactly what they want anyway because they think they are beyond recrimination. I wonder what’s going to happen, though, when Iran sends thousands of soldiers across the Iraqi border to destroy the US armed forces by joining with their Shia compatriots? I wonder how Bush/Cheney and the MSM are going to claim “Mission Accomplished” while the oil fields are being bombed into rubble? The American people were fooled once by the lead up to the Iraqi war. They won’t be fooled this time although I doubt very much whether we have any say in this whatsoever - until, of course, after the disastrous results and the people become so incensed at the outcome of a war they opposed (and with support for an Iran war currently at about 8%, there are going to be a lot of us) in the first place. So bombs away, you stupid fucking idiots. Get some more soldiers killed at the altar of neoconservatism. I just want to see what excuses Wolf Blitzer and Katie Couric and Dan Abrams and Thomas Friedman and Chris Matthews and all the other cheerleaders for the Iraq disaster are going to use this time. If the American people are stupid enough to fall for this idiocy once more, then we deserve all that we get. Just don’t expect me to mop up the fucking blood.
Otay @ 15:
Otay, I got an e-mail saying that that amendment had been defanged. The most controversial parts had been cut out. How would one go about checking on this?
We are only in the Middle East for oil. We let North Korea test nukes and didn’t do jack. When are Americans gonna wake up and realize wth is going on. Republicans are such pussies they crap their pants anytime the news mentions “the smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud”. Iran hasn’t attacked anyone in recent history. All I hear is a lot of BS lies from our government. Prove Iran killed American soldiers or STFU.
You know what, screw it. If the administration is dumb enough to actually think bombing Iran is a good idea, let them do it. If all the leading presidential candidates think it’s a good idea to keep a permanent presence in Iraq, well good luck in doing so after you pissed off Iran.
If any politician doesn’t understand why bombing Iran is a bad idea with or without the public saying so, then they really don’t deserve to be in office. So go ahead, bomb and attack Cambodia, erh Iran. See how long you can hold your position in the Middle East when you’ve pissed off all of the neighboring countries along with with the civil war/insurgency occurring in the countries you occupied. Hell, all Iran has to do is stop delivering oil to the US to make us regret our action.
I’m personally in favor of a quick burn out of our forces through stupidity like bombing/invading Iran instead of slowly bleeding our troops until 2013.
It is a distraction from the needless genocide and slaughter of innocent Iraqis.
The cleansing is complete in Baghdad ,the Shiites rule there but allied with Iran.
Hillary voted for the Lieberman amendment to look strong in the general.
If she did not, the gop candidate will want war with Iran making her look weak.
Have we not learned from looking weak on security in the last two elections?
Get tough, if you want to win.
@getalife Shame on you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dK19sYq9fI
Also imagine if all the Neocons were in jail? :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukanmXma9Z4
Ok i”ll go away now! ;)
VietVet8666 @ 9:
I’ll ad another $0.02. (about all I can afford now - thanks bush )
Neocon=nazi
Dumbass said: “This article is a travesty to our great nation. It will be immoral upon us not to protect our soldiers who are in the Iraq theater.”
Yes, let’s withdraw them immediately–that is the best protection, rather than having them play Russian Roulette with multiple deployments until their luck runs out. Immoral upon us? Learn English from Dubya?
Dumbass continues: “We must be do our best to defend ourselves and attack those who attack us, whoever, wherever they are.”
Especially if we start a war of aggression on THEIR border, with many threats against them both verbal, kidnaping of their citizens and build up of naval forces off their coast. Sure, we are completely innocent, as we have always been in every war of aggression we start. Nam, Iraq, Iran next. We’re the good guys, they’re the Bad Guys. A three year old can figure all this out. By the way, the real terrorists are on Mars. I recently saw a movie about them. Are we going to Mars? Yes we are–Dubya says so.
Dumbass knows: “The Revolutionary Guards have done great damage to our troops in Iraq theater. We must defend ourselves against them.”
Who told you that, General BetrayUs?
Dumbass elaborates: “Given the higher # of casualties in Iraq that is directly/indirectly caused by the Revolutionary Guards, we have the higher authority and moral ground to pre-emptively strike against this pestilence, called the Revolutionary Guards. They are a terrorists organization.”
Of course we have the higher authority–we’re AmeriKans, we rule the world, we can kill anyone we want to be cause we have the guns. We’re exceptional, the smartest, most moral, most obese, on and on. Dumbass is RIGHT of course–like Cheney.
What would we be without the Dumbasses that live with us, clog the roads, raise our medical costs, and our taxes. We’re so superior, right DUMBASS?
This is so typical — shifting excuses to do what they want to do — Cut taxes? Because there’s a surplus — oh wait, because the economy is slowing down.
Invade Iraq? Because of weapons of mass destruction — no, no, wait — it’s because Saddam is evil — wait, hold on, it’s because we’re spreading democracy in the Middle East!
Bomb Iran — is it to stop nuclear proliferation? To take out the Revolutionary Guard to prevent attacks in Iraq? Oh who cares — we just want to bomb Iran.
getalife @ 31:
What, the 2006 election where democrats won against every non-incumbency? The Kerry campaign where he was bashed not for being against a war, but not taking a solid position on anything? I mean, if Kerry had taken a solid stand against the war from the start he would have energized his base who were less then enthusiastic about voting for Kerry. The same election where Kerry didn’t defend himself from any of the partisan attacks against him or do anything to redefine the argument in his favor?
The lesson as well as most people should have taken from that election is to take a solid stand one way or another, stand up for yourself and don’t let Republicans completely frame the debate in their favor. If Hillary makes it through the primary and loses in the general election, it will be for similar reasons that Kerry lost, not because she didn’t appear tough enough on Iran. If Democrats really had to worry about looking too weak on terrorism, then people wouldn’t support Democrats more then Republicans when dealing with terrorism as most polls show. Democrats need to stop fighting previous election campaigns and look at the current reality of situation before them.