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Lou Dobbs is outraged, outraged, I tell you!, at yet another example of lip service by the Bush Administration of caring about national security while doing something entirely opposite. No offense, Lou, but get in line.
Apparently, our tax dollars are going to fund a Russian nuclear lab (why?) that is in turn, working with the Iranians. The subtext is that the Russians are helping the Iranians develop a nuclear weapons program, NIE Report be damned. However, it would be interesting to know why the US continues to fund nuclear technology development in Russia.
PILGRIM: The rationale for the Department of Energy program was to pay the salaries of Russian scientists who were left without incomes after the Cold War. The thinking was to keep them on the payroll so they wouldn’t peddle their nuclear expertise to rogue nations like Iran. [..]
DOBBS: This administration, everyone keeps talking about the legacy of this administration, well their legacy is mind-boggling, unbelievable, breathtaking, incompetence and stupidity. That is going to be the legacy of the Bush administration. Thank god that Congressman Dingell and Stupak are leading the way on this issue. I mean my — how in the heck can a secretary of the Department of Energy, Samuel Bodman, even get up in the morning and think he has done anything but waste some of God’s protoplasm if he can’t run that department better than he is.
Transcript of this segment below. Full show transcripts available here.
DOBBS: I suspect you’re not going to believe at the outset a startling new twist in Iran’s ambition to develop nuclear power and weaponry. Unbelievably, the U.S. government has been funding a Russian institute that is working with Iran on nuclear projects. Another clear failure of the American government to protect our national security and it’s absolutely another statement as to the incompetence of our State Department and our foreign policy. Kitty Pilgrim has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. Department of Energy is funding two Russian institutes with about $4 million and those institutes help Iran with their nuclear program in Bushehr. Evidence is found in Russian documents obtained by the General Accountability Office. Page after page shows various projects and one page reads “integration of plant-shared equipment at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is in progress”. An Energy Department official at the House Energy Committee hearing today had no answers.
SAMUEL BODMAN, ENERGY SECRETARY: I have not had time to fully investigate but I have directed the principle deputy of the NNSA, Bill Ostendorf to look into those questions and to report back to me.
PILGRIM: He also added Bushehr is a commercial nuclear power plant not military.
REP. JOHN DINGELL (D), ENERGY & COMMERCE CHMN.: How, Mr. Secretary, do you then rhyme that statement with what the State Department said when they said this. Iran uses Bushehr as a cover and a protection for obtaining sensitive technology to advance its nuclear weapons program.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With respect to the Bushehr reactor, my understanding is that this is something we — that the president has spoken to President Putin about, that the proliferation issues have been discussed and that reactor remains under IAEA safeguards.
PILGRIM: Nuclear nonproliferation experts say Russian help with Bushehr can be used in other projects.
HENRY SOKOLSKI, NONPROLIFERATION POLICY ED. CTR.: What the Russians are actually helping to do is to bring a large reactor online which can make scores of bombs worth of plutonium per year and we’re hoping that the Iranians won’t divert any of this material.
PILGRIM: The rationale for the Department of Energy program was to pay the salaries of Russian scientists who were left without incomes after the Cold War. The thinking was to keep them on the payroll so they wouldn’t peddle their nuclear expertise to rogue nations like Iran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now the House Energy Committee can’t believe that writing on the Web site only this administration would complain about proliferation in Iran as part of the President Bush’s axis of evil and then finance it with American taxpayer dollars — Lou.
DOBBS: This administration, everyone keeps talking about the legacy of this administration, well their legacy is mind-boggling, unbelievable, breathtaking, incompetence and stupidity. That is going to be the legacy of the Bush administration. Thank god that Congressman Dingell and Stupak are leading the way on this issue. I mean my — how in the heck can a secretary of the Department of Energy, Samuel Bodman, even get up in the morning and think he has done anything but waste some of God’s protoplasm if he can’t run that department better than he is.
PILGRIM: Well, you know, just the answers today were astonishing. I don’t know, we’ll check.
DOBBS: Unbelievable. The arrogant, indifference and utter incompetence of this administration at every level. It is pervasive, it is shameful and the fact that the American people have had to put up with this and continue to do so, it’s — it’s just incredible. That is just an unbelievable story.
PILGRIM: Yes, it is unbelievable. There will be more — new developments, I’m sure, on this.
DOBBS: Any thought to, perhaps, changing the direction of policy at the Energy Department?
PILGRIM: They were defending the policy. They say that Russian institutes that participate in Bushehr are not disqualified from these funds. They were actually defending this policy today.
DOBBS: It — when I suggested there was a change of policy, I didn’t for a moment go into some sort of Polly-Anna lapse and assume that the — anyone in the Bush administration be intelligent or sensitive enough to think about a change. But Congressmen Dangle, Congressman Stupak showing some considerable presence and, frankly, some forward looking consideration. Are they demanding they change?
PILGRIM: Yes, they are.
DOBBS: Kitty Pilgrim, again, terrific reporting, really a lousy story for those who care about this country. Thank you
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Loooooooooooou!
So it’ll be ranted about once and then disappear from the media. No one in America will think this is a serious issue because it won’t be getting reported. THat’s the true sign of an American idiot, someone who still believes that whatever is truly important will be forced down their throats on MSM. This is modern propoganda, this is a crime against our human will to think freely! Thank you, Lou Dobbs– but will you ever speak up about this again??
Frank Dufek @ 2:
lou never lets sleeping dogs lie…when he finds an issue (like illegal immigration) he sticks with it
The US government wants the Iranians to get their hands on the nuclear technology, that way they will have a bona fide reason to attack them.
Just like the when the US sent Saddam his chemical/biological cocktails and then used them as a pretext to attack.
All we need is a trumped up story of babies tossed from incubators, and a US Ambassador telling the leaders that whatever you do, re: cross-drilling, is an internal affair and not of consequence to the US interests.
What I don’t understand is why Lou doesn’t run for office. It isn’t enough to bring these topics to the forefront on CNN he has to bring it everyones’ attention even those that watch Fox News
If the U.S. was raking in big fat profits from Iran’s nuclear programs instead of Russia we wouldn’t even hear a peep.
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 3:
I hope Lou sticks with this one and gives illegal immigration a rest for a while.
Lou should admit that the repuglican scheme of using the government budget as a cash trough has been such a rousing success that the Dems want in on it too.
L.A. Confidential @ 6:
Oh, but the US - MOST DEFINATELY IS - raking in huge profits from the fear created by Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Just in a roundabout way. Plus all the side benefits of trashing the Constitution/BOR, the prepositioning of legal precedents for martial law, Blackwater overseas operations - as well as domestic expansions, the never ending warrantless wiretaps…and on and on.
“Apparently, our tax dollars are going to fund a Russian nuclear lab (why?) that is in turn, working with the Iranians. The subtext is that the Russians are helping the Iranians develop a nuclear weapons program..”
Someone please tell O’Reilly that our own government is involved in a process that is ending up in business with Iran. It wasn’t that long ago that O’Reilly aired a report attacking GE, the parent company of O’Reilly’s arch enemy NBC (otherwise known as Olbermann) because they are allegedly doing business with Iran.
Sounds like it’s time for O’Reilly to do a report on what our government is doing with respects to Iran too (as in O’Reilly hold the Bush administration accountable). Eh, don’t hold your breath…..
Can’t stand Lou Dobbs. The guy should run for national office and see if his sh!t can stick. Otherwise, just stfu for crying out loud.
“…waste some of God’s protoplasm ”
quote of the week!
but the real meme is
IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN!
IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN!
IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN!
All IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN! IRAN!
All the time!
seagull.girl @ 7:
why should lou stop talking about illegal immigration?
is it not a serious issue?
Lou Dobbs? The same Lou Dobbs that called the Anti-Defamation League a joke? How about you guys stop making posts about this Bill O’Reilly wanna-be? This guy is pure scum. A racist thug.
I recently watched a documentary on Putin and his followers where had a youth rally organized by his cronies and they were chanting “Death to America” and running around with a pig draped in an American flag.
In subsequent interviews they blasted away at Democracy as a form of government and were spouting old style Soviet rhetoric and praising Putin’s authoritarian tactics that he has used to crush the Russian democracy movement and send its leaders off to mental institutions or assassinate them outright.
Now its not hard to find anti-American rhetoric in foreign countries these days, but this was different… it wasn’t based on Bush’s foreign policy or the war in Iraq, but all of the memes from the “cold war” days.
It boggles the mind that we would be funding a Russian nuclear research facility engaged in information sharing with Iran. Bush has very definitely followed an agenda that deliberately has destroyed our government with rampant cronyism and staffed it with incompetents and continued to make the argument that government doesn’t work… the ultimate “I told you so scam.”
But make no mistake about it… his agenda is much larger than most people realize. The pieces to the puzzle haven’t become clear yet… and I hope they don’t for our sake, but the one below is the scariest of all:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/....._0208.html
Bush and Cheney are prepping for something big and its isn’t good for the American people.
Truth B Told @ 9:
No the U.S. isn’t raking in huge profits from this. The Military Industrial Complex of which about 2 Million people work in full time is raking in huge profits but the rest of the country is out of the game economically.
Sometimes, I like Dobbs. He right on the money…until he goes of the rails about immigrants and calling China, “Communist China.” Since when are we supposed to put the style of government a country has before their names? (Technically, China isn’t a communist state–they have a government).
Lou ‘windsock’ Dobbs, the weathervain(sic) of CNN…
Well, I have to give it to Lou Dobbs. He at least has the courage to say it like it is, again and again. To bad the sheeple of this country aren’t more like him. I imagine if they were we’d be rolling out guillotines into the streets today. Oh, but for a Bastille to storm…go Lou, GO!
(Just thinking…remember Walter Cronkite? All ol’ Walter had to do was look at the camera with a serious face and tell the truth and opinions changed, policies changed, Presidents quivered in fear and even refused to run for re-election. Whatever happened to that kind of integrity in the press? At least we do have Lou, and Dan Rather is still out there somewhere crying in the wilderness…but, Jeezus i’d love to have Walter back.)
In an exchange with a guest, Dobbs says, ‘The ADL is’ — the guest says, ‘They’re a very well-respected voice.’ Dobbs says, ‘Not by me.’ The guest says, ‘The Anti-Defamation League?’ Dobbs says, ‘They are a joke.’
According to the ADL, the organization “was founded in 1913 ‘to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all’” and “fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all.”
Dobbs rants on this failed adminitration everyday.
He reports what the other corporate media will not.
L.A. Confidential @ 17:
There is no difference between the Military Industrial Complex and the US Government/Shadow Government.
Eisenhower explained as much.
I can’t stand this pompous jerk, but I have to admit ‘…he done anything but waste some of God’s protoplasm’ is a creative insult.
getalife @ 22:
Dobbs spent the majority of his career as a “Rah Rah” cheerleader for the corporations on his financial news show. Today his show is a gimmick, lapped up by Wal-Mart shopping rednecks who think Mexicans are the reason the U.S. can’t find bin Laden.
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 14:
Illegal immigration is a serious issue, and I don’t think Lou should stop talking about it. But…there are no shortage of issues for which Lou Dobbs, or any commentator, should use their bully pulpit. Our tax dollars funding a Russian nuclear lab that is in turn, working with the Iranians, is a very serious charge. If this is for real…Rasputin is correct…Bush and Cheney are prepping for something big and its isn’t good for the American people.
Truth B Told @ 23:
Thats what I was talking about. About 2 Million people are prospering or “have a secure job” in this country MIC.
The rest of us are eating shit.
Dobbs has become such a stark raving lunatic that this news story should have been reported by the last remaining CNN journalist Dr. Sanjay Guptah, who’s gonna believe ol’ Lou?
All hail the true American Patriot Congressmen with the courage and integrity to call for impeachment hearing against Cheney. Why is the list so short? Everyone needs to contact their representatives in congress and urge them to support this. My representative, Julia Carson, recently passed away, or there would be 1 more name on this list.
The following members of Congress have joined as signatories to my letter to Chairman Conyers in support of Cheney Impeachment Hearings:
(*= member of the Judiciary Committee)
Baldwin, Tammy, WI, 2nd *
Capuano, Michael E., MA, 8th
Clarke, Yvette D., NY, 11th
Clay, Wm. Lacy, MO, 1st
Cohen, Steve, TN, 9th *
Farr, Sam, CA, 17th
Grijalva, Raúl M., AZ, 7th
Gutierrez, Luis V., IL, 4th *
Kucinich, Dennis J., OH, 10th
Lee, Barbara, CA, 9th
Moore, Gwen, WI, 4th
Moran, James P., VA, 8th
Thompson, Mike, CA, 1st
Towns, Edolphus, NY, 10th
Woolsey, Lynn, CA, 6th
Wexler, Robert, FL, 19th *
Wynn, Albert Russell, MD, 4th
Note these Patriots, and know they are the true representatives of the People.
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Why doesn’t anybody ever tell some truth? Iran has the permission of the IAEA to build nuclear facilities for civilian energy purposes. This means the meme about a nuclear Iran being dangerous is another “SCARE” tactic, aka “FEAR” management of the people. But no one mentions the illegal Pakistani nukes or the still missing AQ Khan, protected by Musharraf, Bush’s best-est buddy in this war of terrorism, or the illegal nukes in Israel and the promotion of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and continued occupation of Palestine.
Russia contracted with Iran to assist the building of these facilities. It was approved by the IAEA. However, the USA’s lack of respect toward peace and peace initiatives gives licenses for propagandists to rant and rave about evil Iran’s intent to bomb Israel off the map(another lie propagated by USA) ergo, any nuclear facilities = evil.
Now, the USA doing business with Russia is good business practices for Corporations that like to outsource their products so as to tighten up that “bottom line”, aka profits. After all, profits matter, people don’t. More so, agreements and laws matter less to these corporate fascists.
Lou Dobbs is an agitator, NOT a journalist. Journalists pull from factual events, agitators pull perceived facts out their ass. One of those facts Lou pulls from that deep dark recess is this meme, “A nuclear Iran is a dangerous Iran.” Now, how is that journalistic?
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Competance in the Bush administration is seen from a different perspective than the practical view of competance most of us hold. In the Bush administration and Republican party competance is based on how much money have you made for yourself and your friends regardless of the method or ethics. Competance means how competant were you in destroying the goverment you serve in. With Bush and the Republican Party everything is convoluted.
on a related note:
A WHISTLEBLOWER has made a series of extraordinary claims about how corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets.
Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office.
She approached The Sunday Times last month after reading about an Al-Qaeda terrorist who had revealed his role in training some of the 9/11 hijackers while he was in Turkey.
Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.
Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says she heard evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State Department was being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan.
The name of the official – who has held a series of top government posts – is known to The Sunday Times. He strongly denies the claims.
However, Edmonds said: “He was aiding foreign operatives against US interests by passing them highly classified information, not only from the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in exchange for money, position and political objectives.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t.....137695.ece
what is lou dobbs’ take on this? oh wait, silly me, the american msm NEVER picked this story up…
i would take dobbs more seriously if he was a real journalist, instead of a denture-slipping news mannequin. his “outrage” would mean more if he didn’t spend the majority of the ’90’s defending outrageous CEO compensation
jp @ 31:
ahem, the Democrats colluded with this administration. From the moment the Anthrax arrived and the snipers in DC were loosed, the Democrats played ball.
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 14:
It’s disingenuous to call it illegal immigration, attempting to pin the issue on those seeking opportunities to carve out a living while NOT enforcing the laws that hold employers accountable for hiring undocumented workers. The problem is not those crossing the boarders for they have always sought to carve out a better life, least our ancestors were illegal too. The problem lies with the employers who hire undocumented workers, thus undermining the American worker seeking to carve out a better life.
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this guy doesn’t have a clue that the reason the americans are paying those russian salaries is so those nuclear scientist won’t go off and work for other countries eager to develop nuclear technology. duh.
Stamp you little feet Lou! Stamp you little feet!
Che G @ 28:
Guptah is a paid shill for Big Pharma and an enemy of all who want a one-payer health care system.
“Lou Dobbs Rails at Whitehouse”
Don’t worry Shrub, Windsock’ll go off the rails again…
“Lou Dobbs Takes Pentagon to Task for Failed Iran Hostage Rescue”