{"article":{"id":218086,"heading":"US Politicians at AIPAC "Hate Iran Week"","author":"Oppose US\/Israeli Neo-Fascism, Aggression","created":"2008-06-05 13:14:51","modified":"2013-11-11 00:53:41","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:53:41","article":"

Stop Iranian bomb by \"all possible means\": Olmert

Tue Jun 3, 9:10 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday Iran's nuclear program must be stopped by \"all possible means\" and Tehran must be made to see it would suffer devastating repercussions if it pursued atomic weapons.

(However, Iran hasn't done anything wrong, isn't pursuing weaponization, doesn't have the capability to develop weaponization, and this entire facade is strictly focused on starting a war against Iran that Israel and the US 'Neo-Conservatives' (Fascists) planned when they drew up plans for invading Afghanistan and Iraq.)

\"The Iranian threat must be stopped by all possible means,\" Olmert said in a speech during a visit to Washington. \"The international community has a duty and responsibility to clarify to Iran, through drastic measures, that the repercussions of their continued pursuit of nuclear weapons will be devastating.\"

(What \"continued\"? They haven't done this. We can stop the 'threat' by not spreading this malicious LIE to our citizens any more, and removing from power anyone who actively seeks to start illegal war.)

Writing by Jeffrey Heller; editing by Mohammad Zargham

http:\/\/ca.news.yahoo.com\/s\/reuters\/080604\/world\/international_usa_israel_olmert_iran_dc<\/a>

Olmert.

Just because Israel lied to the world and built a secret nuclear weapons lab under Dimona (rendering all US 'aid' illegal) does not mean that the other nations of the middle east are as evil and duplicitous as Israel is. As far as anyone can tell, Iran is building a nuclear power station because they understand that the oil will not last forever, they lack the refining capability to meet their growing energy demands, and under the NNPT, which Iran and the US (but not the aforesaid duplicitous Israel) have signed, Iran has a legal right to build a power station.

Rice says no point in talking to Iran now

Rice says no point in talking to Iran unless the regime changes its behavior

MATTI FRIEDMAN

AP News

Jun 03, 2008 12:16 EST

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday there's no point in talking to Iran unless the clerical regime changes its behavior and gives up its suspected nuclear weapons ambitions.

(Nobody 'suspects' them of such 'ambitions'. Not even the people who repeat this LIE in order to try and feign a reason to start the war they've planned.)

Rice said true diplomacy \"is not a synonym for talking,\" but must be combined with pressure tactics.

(It's that perverted view of diplomacy that's the root of the problem. Well, that and the fact that diplomacy can't work here, because there is no crisis, and Israel and the US are just trying to start a war, while trying to shirk the image of the aggressors.)

Speaking to the pro-Israel group AIPAC, Rice made it clear she doesn't believe Iran has quit pursuing a nuclear bomb.

(Yes, AIPAC's 'hate Iran week' brings out the worst in everyone involved, but also demonstrates where the real threat lies ...)

There may be a time to engage the Iranians, but \"not while they continue to inch closer to a nuclear weapon under the cover of talk,\" Rice said.

(They're not doing this, so I guess she's really saying that dialogue should begin immediately.)

The secretary posed a series of rhetorical questions (as opposed to contrary evidence, which everyone involved knows doesn't exist ...) to cast doubt on Iran's claim that its nuclear program is purely peaceful and for civilian purposes. She asked why Iran has allegedly not been forthcoming with the U.N. nuclear agency and why part of its program is run by the military.

(The IAEA already said this will all be put to rest, and the military runs it because it's a sensitive area of research, demanding a high level of security.)

She also pointed to a new skeptical report by U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei.

(In which he, again, said there is no evidence to support Israel\/PNAC's LIES, intended to cover for their aggression, and distract attention from their plot for another illegal war.)

\"It's just hard to imagine that there are innocent answers to these questions,\" Rice said.

(Not if you ignore Ideology, and focus on the evidence ...)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was scheduled to address the lobby group later Tuesday.

Olmert, embattled politically at home, could be making his last trip to Washington as Israel's leader. He planned to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and Iran with Rice and President Bush on Wednesday.

Israeli newspapers have reported that Olmert also hopes to acquire a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system, advanced radar and new warplanes.

(Despite the fact that, under existing US laws, until Israel brings its clandestine programs of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons - WMD for short - under international monitoring, all US 'aid' to the Zionist military-Apartheid state is illegal.)

But the visit is being overshadowed by Olmert's legal troubles at home, where a corruption investigation has decimated his popularity ratings and fueled growing calls for his dismissal.

The normally talkative Israeli leader did not emerge from his private quarters to speak to reporters during an overnight flight from Israel, arriving in Washington a couple of hours before dawn Tuesday.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Tuesday that Bush is thinking about the Mideast peace negotiations, not Olmert's political problems. \"Our focus hasn't been on that,\" she said. \"President Bush has to keep his focus on the big picture. He's not spending a lot of time worried about that.\"

Rice told AIPAC that the U.S.-backed peace talks offer the best chance for a meaningful settlement of the six-decade conflict in the Middle East, but she also said the diplomatic process must carry over to the next U.S. president.

(Bullsh*t. The entire process, lorded over by the sponsor of the party perpetuating its expansionist war, is solely to designed to generate positive PR for Israel, and stall any real process which would force Israel to accept its legal and moral obligations to the Palestinians.)

Olmert's trip comes at the height of the worst crisis of his two-year term. Israeli prosecutors are looking into hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions that Olmert received from American donors in the years before he became prime minister.

Last week, the key witness in the case, American Jewish businessman Morris Talansky, said he gave Olmert cash-stuffed envelopes over 15 years, in part to help fund a penchant for luxury goods and five-star hotels. The testimony devastated Olmert's already compromised credibility and sent his popularity plummeting.

(But it was interesting to watch the Zionist Extremists turn on one of their own, just because he was pretending to make peace while continuing Zionist expansion, while they want to decimate Gaza.)

Olmert, who has weathered four previous police investigations since he took office, has said he will step down if indicted. But that has not helped ward off his political opponents.

Last week his key coalition partner, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, issued him an ultimatum: Step aside or Barak's Labor Party will topple the government and bring about new elections, more than a year ahead of the scheduled March 2010 vote.

On Monday, Barak told Labor lawmakers that he has drawn up the necessary legislation to dissolve the parliament — a move that would likely win approval in the 120-seat house. Barak did not say when he would submit the bill for a vote, but said elections this year are \"entirely possible.\"

Olmert, meanwhile, has tried to project a business-as-usual appearance, meeting Monday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the status of peace talks before heading to Washington.

With Bush looking on, Olmert and Abbas relaunched 'peace talks' last November (while Israel planned military incursions into Gaza, expansions in the W. Bank, and a further tightening of the illegal Collective Punishment of Gaza) after seven years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The two leaders have set a year-end target to reach a blueprint for peace before Bush leaves office.

But those talks appear to have made little progress. Olmert's woes and the increasing likelihood that Israel is heading for new elections make it unlikely that goal will be reached or that Bush and Olmert will still be around to see the results of the process they launched in Annapolis, Maryland.

(And the fact that the entire process is a facade ...)

___

Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Anne Gearan contributed to this report.

http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/news\/mochila\/Rice_says_no_point_in_talking_to_Ir_06032008.html<\/a>

Iran: Former German official says War Imminent

http:\/\/www.indymedia.org.uk\/en\/2008\/05\/399921.html<\/a>

Iran Will Cooperate with UN Probe into US\/Israeli Allegations

http:\/\/www.winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?13896S<\/a>

Israel's Syrian Air Strike Was Aimed at Iran

http:\/\/www.winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?8196S<\/a>

The ME has had a Secretive Nuclear Power in its Midst for Years

http:\/\/www.winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?8195S<\/a>

Spooks Refuse to Toe Cheney's Line on Iran

http:\/\/www.winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?8173S<\/a>

IAEA Again Verifies Iranian Compliance

http:\/\/www.winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?8130S<\/a>

Israel Considering Strike on Iran Despite US Intelligence Report

http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/iran\/story\/0<\/a>,,2224052,00.html

US intelligence report heightens danger of Israeli strike on Iran

http:\/\/www.wsws.org\/articles\/2007\/dec2007\/isra-d06.shtml<\/a>

'Laptop of Death': Revising the NIE on Iran

The entire claim that Iran was building nuclear weapons rests on a laptop provided by a single, dubious source.

http:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/ips\/akhavi.php?articleid=12028<\/a> www.antiwar.com\/prather\/?articleid=12025

Israeli Extremists Prep for Nuclear Strike on Iran http:\/\/www.israel.indymedia.org\/newswire\/display\/7903\/index.php<\/a>

Hersh: Israel Pressed me to Write Syrian Site was Nuclear http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/news\/2008\/Sy_Hersh_Israeli_raid_on_Syria_0208.html<\/a>

Sy Hersh confirms: Syrian Facility Bombed by Israel Not Nuclear

http:\/\/winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?10935S<\/a>

A Strike in the Dark - What did Israel bomb in Syria?

by Seymour M. Hersh http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/reporting\/2008\/02\/11\/080211fa_fact_hersh\/?printable=tr<\/a>

War Clouds Over Mideast

http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/?page=7<\/a>§ion=0&article=108719&d=8&m=4&y=2008

Israel & The 'Clash of Civilizations'

http:\/\/winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?11022S<\/a>

The largest threat to the region doesn't come from Iran: it comes from Israel's success in having had the US \"neutralize\" countries which it believes to be an existential threat to it's existence. However, there's just one little problem with this approach concerning Iran. Russia's diplomats have stated unequivocally that any attack against Iran will be perceived as an attack on Russia.

UN Nuclear Watchdog in Milestone Iran Deal

http:\/\/winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?14262S<\/a>

Iran Dumps US Dollar in Oil Trading, US Preps War

http:\/\/winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?14276S<\/a>

Israel's Extremists STILL Beating Iran War Drums

http:\/\/winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?14360S<\/a>

Iran Mosque Blast Plotters Admit Israeli, US Links

http:\/\/winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?14997S<\/a>

Israel, US Joint Plotting Against Iran, Attack ElBaredei http:\/\/www.israel.indymedia.org\/newswire\/display\/7888\/index.php<\/a> llll

ElBaradei: Iran Not After Bomb

http:\/\/www.indymedia.org.uk\/en\/2008\/05\/399278.html<\/a>

Israel Calls for US Blockade of Iran http:\/\/www.indymedia.org.uk\/en\/2008\/05\/399342.html<\/a>

US Report on 'Iranian Weapons' Postponed Due to Lack of Evidence

http:\/\/winnipeg.indymedia.org\/item.php?17560C<\/a>

Pakistan May Turn Over U.S. Terrorists To Iran http:\/\/www.indymedia.org.uk\/en\/2008\/05\/399471.html<\/a>

Iranian Mosque Blast Plotters Admit Israeli, US Links http:\/\/www.indymedia.org.uk\/en\/2008\/05\/399467.html<\/a>

Bombing Iran: Extremists' Mad Clamor Persists http:\/\/www.indymedia.org.uk\/en\/2008\/05\/399468.html<\/a>

Carter: Israel Has At Least 150 Nukes http:\/\/www.indymedia.org.uk\/en\/2008\/05\/399591.html<\/a>

IAEA Again Confirms: No Weaponization in Iran

http:\/\/www.indymedia.org.uk\/en\/2008\/05\/399625.html<\/a>

And the Winner Is ... The Israel Lobby

http:\/\/www.atimes.com\/atimes\/Middle_East\/JF03Ak01.html<\/a> tlm77tlmzi <\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Sadly, these fanatics don't care if something is true (or has been proven false). All they care is that they are allowed to repeat these LIES in order to create the illusion of a crisis, because it distracts from their actual plot to attack the country, in the process, once again committing "The Supreme International Crime". \r\n\r\nIt's interesting to watch these criminals as they keep doing, over and over and over, exactly what they call their opposition "antisemitic" for pointing out ... ","numcomment":26,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2008\/06\/218086.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":218095,"heading":"McCain's Speech to AIPAC","article":"McCain's Speech to AIPAC\r\nJohn McCain\r\n\r\nThank you all very much. I appreciate the kind introduction, and the invitation to address you. I see we have some students here, including a few from Arizona, and I welcome you to Washington. It's a pleasure, as always, to be in the company of the men and women of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. And I know that all of us are proud to be in the company of the distinguished senator from the State of Connecticut, my friend Joe Lieberman.\r\n\r\nAll of you involved in the work of AIPAC have taken up a great and vital cause -- and a cause set firmly in the American heart. When President Truman recognized the new State of Israel sixty years ago, he acted on the highest ideals and best instincts of our country. He was a man with courage and a sense of history, and he surely knew what great challenges the Jewish state would face in its early years. To his lasting credit, he resolved that the people of Israel would not face them alone, because they would always have a friend and ally in the United States of America. \r\n\r\nThe cause of Israel, and of our common security, has always depended on men and women of courage, and I've been lucky enough to know quite a few of them. I think often of one in particular, the late Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson. I got to know Senator Jackson when I was the Navy liaison to the Senate. In 1979, I traveled with him to Israel, where I knew he was considered a hero. But I had no idea just how admired he was until we landed in Tel Aviv, to find a crowd of seven or eight hundred Israelis calling out his name, waving signs that read "God Bless you, Scoop" and "Senator Jackson, thank you." Scoop Jackson had the special respect of the Jewish people, the kind of respect accorded to brave and faithful friends. He was and remains the model of what an American statesman should be.\r\n\r\nThe people of Israel reserve a special respect for courage, because so much courage has been required of them. In the record of history, sheer survival in the face of Israel's many trials would have been impressive enough. But Israel has achieved much more than that these past sixty years. Israel has endured, and thrived, and her people have built a nation that is an inspiration to free nations everywhere. \r\n\r\nYet no matter how successful the nation of Israel, or how far removed from the Holocaust, there are experiences that will never pass from memory. Not long ago I was in Jerusalem with Senator Lieberman and our colleague Lindsey Graham, and we went to the Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem. And for all the boundless examples of cruelty and inhumanity to be found there, for all the pain and grief remembered there, somehow I was especially moved by the story of the camp survivors who died from the very nourishment given to them by their liberators. They had starved and suffered so much that their bodies were too weak even for food. They endured it all, only to die at the moment of their deliverance. \r\n\r\nThese are the kind of experiences that the Jewish people carry in memory -- and they are far from the worst experiences of the Holocaust. These are the kind of griefs and afflictions from which the State of Israel offered escape. And today, when we join in saying "never again," that is not a wish, a request, or a plea to the enemies of Israel. It is a promise that the United States and Israel will honor, against any enemy who cares to test us.\r\n\r\nThe threats to Israel's security are large and growing, and America's commitment must grow as well. I strongly support the increase in military aid to Israel, scheduled to begin in October. I am committed to making certain Israel maintains its qualitative military edge. Israel's enemies are too numerous, its margin of error too small, and our shared interests and values too great for us to follow any other policy. \r\n\r\nForemost in all our minds is the threat posed by the regime in Tehran. The Iranian president has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and suggested that Israel's Jewish population should return to Europe. He calls Israel a "stinking corpse" that is "on its way to annihilation." But the Iranian leadership does far more than issue vile insults. It acts in ways directly detrimental to the security of Israel and the United States. \r\n\r\nA sponsor of both Hamas and Hezbollah, the leadership of Iran has repeatedly used violence to undermine Israel and the Middle East peace process. It has trained, financed, and equipped extremists in Iraq who have killed American soldiers fighting to bring freedom to that country. It remains the world's chief sponsor of terrorism and threatens to destabilize the entire Middle East, from Basra to Beirut. \r\n\r\nTehran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons poses an unacceptable risk, a danger we cannot allow. Emboldened by nuclear weapons, Iran would feel free to sponsor terrorist attacks against any perceived enemy. Its flouting of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty would render that agreement obsolete and could induce Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others to join a nuclear arms race. The world would have to live, indefinitely, with the possibility that Tehran might pass nuclear materials or weapons to one of its allied terrorist networks. Armed as well with its ballistic missile arsenal, an Iranian nuclear bomb would pose an existential threat to the people of Israel.\r\n\r\nEuropean negotiators have proposed a peaceful endgame for Tehran, should it abandon its nuclear ambitions and comply with UN Security Council resolutions. The plan offers far-reaching economic incentives, external support for a civilian nuclear energy program, and integration into the international community. But Tehran has said no. \r\n\r\nThe Iranians have spent years working toward a nuclear program. And the idea that they now seek nuclear weapons because we refuse to engage in presidential-level talks is a serious misreading of history. In reality, a series of administrations have tried to talk to Iran, and none tried harder than the Clinton administration. In 1998, the secretary of state made a public overture to the Iranians, laid out a roadmap to normal relations, and for two years tried to engage. The Clinton administration even lifted some sanctions, and Secretary Albright apologized for American actions going back to the 1950s. But even under President Khatami -- a man by all accounts less radical than the current president -- Iran rejected these overtures. \r\n\r\nEven so, we hear talk of a meeting with the Iranian leadership offered up as if it were some sudden inspiration, a bold new idea that somehow nobody has ever thought of before. Yet it's hard to see what such a summit with President Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another. Such a spectacle would harm Iranian moderates and dissidents, as the radicals and hardliners strengthen their position and suddenly acquire the appearance of respectability. \r\n\r\nRather than sitting down unconditionally with the Iranian president or supreme leader in the hope that we can talk sense into them, we must create the real-world pressures that will peacefully but decisively change the path they are on. Essential to this strategy is the UN Security Council, which should impose progressively tougher political and economic sanctions. Should the Security Council continue to delay in this responsibility, the United States must lead like-minded countries in imposing multilateral sanctions outside the UN framework. I am proud to have been a leader on these issues for years, having coauthored the 1992 Iran-Iraq Arms Non-Proliferation Act. Over a year ago I proposed applying sanctions to restrict Iran's ability to import refined petroleum products, on which it is highly dependent, and the time has come for an international campaign to do just that. A severe limit on Iranian imports of gasoline woul d create immediate pressure on Khamenei and Ahmadinejad to change course, and to cease in the pursuit of nuclear weapons. \r\n\r\nAt the same time, we need the support of those in the region who are most concerned about Iran, and of our European partners as well. They can help by imposing targeted sanctions that will impose a heavy cost on the regime's leaders, including the denial of visas and freezing of assets. \r\n\r\nAs a further measure to contain and deter Iran, the United States should impose financial sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran, which aids in Iran's terrorism and weapons proliferation. We must apply the full force of law to prevent business dealings with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. I was pleased to join Senators Lieberman and Kyl in backing an amendment calling for the designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing American troops in Iraq. Over three quarters of the Senate supported this obvious step, but not Senator Obama. He opposed this resolution because its support for countering Iranian influence in Iraq was, he said, a "wrong message not only to the world, but also to the region." But here, too, he is mistaken. Holding Iran's influence in check, and holding a terrorist organization accountable, sends exactly the right message -- to Iran, to the region and to th e world.\r\n\r\nWe should privatize the sanctions against Iran by launching a worldwide divestment campaign. As more people, businesses, pension funds, and financial institutions across the world divest from companies doing business with Iran, the radical elite who run that country will become even more unpopular than they are already. Years ago, the moral clarity and conviction of civilized nations came together in a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping to rid that nation of the evil of apartheid. In our day, we must use that same power and moral conviction against the regime in Iran, and help to safeguard the people of Israel and the peace of the world. \r\n\r\nIn all of this, we will not only be defending our own safety and welfare, but also the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people. They are a great and civilized people, with little sympathy for the terrorists their leaders finance, and no wish to threaten other nations with nuclear weapons. Iran's rulers would be very different if the people themselves had a choice in the matter, and American policy should always reflect their hopes for a freer and more just society. The same holds true for the Palestinian people, most of whom ask only for a better life in a less violent world. \r\n\r\nThey are badly served by the terrorist-led group in charge of Gaza. This is a group that still refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, refuses to denounce violence, and refuses to acknowledge prior peace commitments. They deliberately target Israeli civilians, in an attempt to terrorize the Jewish population. They spread violence and hatred, and with every new bombing they set back the cause of their own people.\r\n\r\nDuring my last visit to Israel in March, I saw for myself the work of Hamas in the town of Sderot, just across the border from Gaza. I saw the houses that have been hit by Hamas rockets. In the face of injuries, death, and destruction thousands of Israelis have fled the town. Many others have stayed, to carry on as best they can. I visited the home of a man named Pinhas Amar, who lives with his disabled wife, Aliza, and their children. One day, last year, the sirens sounded again to alert the town to incoming rocket fire. The rest of the family found cover. Aliza, on the other side of the house, was knocked out of her wheelchair and struck by shrapnel. \r\n\r\nThis occurred on December 13. And from that day until the day of my visit just some three months later, more than a thousand rockets had struck Sderot. Today, siren warnings are commonplace, the elementary schools are surrounded by concrete shelters and children walking the streets in costume for Purim celebrations did so in fear. No nation in the world would allow its population to be attacked so incessantly, to be killed and intimidated so mercilessly, without responding. And the nation of Israel is no exception.\r\n\r\nPrime Minister Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are engaged in talks that all of us hope will yield progress toward peace. Yet while we encourage this process, we must also ensure that Israel's people can live in safety until there is a Palestinian leadership willing and able to deliver peace. A peace process that places faith in terrorists can never end in peace. And we do no favors to the Palestinian people by conferring approval upon the terrorist syndicate that has seized power in Gaza. \r\n\r\nLikewise, Israel's chance for enduring peace with Lebanon depends on Lebanese government that has a monopoly on authority within its country's borders. That means no independent militias, no Hezbollah fighters, no weapons and equipment flowing to Hezbollah. \r\n\r\nHezbollah fighters recently took up arms against their fellow Lebanese, starting the worst internal fighting since the civil war ended in 1990. In the process, they extracted an agreement for a new political arrangement in which Hezbollah and its allies can veto any cabinet decision. As the leader of Hezbollah often reminds us, this group's mission is the defeat of Israel. The international community needs to more fully empower our allies in Lebanon -- not only with military aid but also with the resources to undermine Hezbollah's appeal: better schools, hospitals, roads and power generation, and the like. We simply cannot afford to cede Lebanon's future to Syria and Iran. \r\n\r\nAnd we have an additional task. In the summer of 2006, Hamas and Hezbollah kidnapped three young Israelis -- Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser -- and have held them ever since. I met with the families of two of these men in December 2006, and heard firsthand about their ordeal. I committed then to bring attention to their situation, to insist that the Geneva Conventions are observed, and to call for the swift release of these men. These men are being unlawfully held, and they must be set free and returned home to Israel.\r\n\r\nAnother matter of great importance to the security of both America and Israel is Iraq. You would never know from listening to those who are still caught up in angry arguments over yesterday's options, but our troops in Iraq have made hard-won progress under General Petraeus' new strategy. And Iraqi political leaders have moved ahead -- slowly and insufficiently, but forward nonetheless. Sectarian violence declined dramatically, Sunnis in Anbar province and throughout Iraq are cooperating in the fight against al Qaeda, and Shia extremist militias no longer control Basra -- the Maliki government and its forces are in charge. Al Qaeda terrorists are on the run, and our troops are going to make sure they never come back. \r\n\r\nIt's worth recalling that America's progress in Iraq is the direct result of the new strategy that Senator Obama opposed. It was the strategy he predicted would fail, when he voted cut off funds for our forces in Iraq. He now says he intends to withdraw combat troops from Iraq -- one to two brigades per month until they are all removed. He will do so regardless of the conditions in Iraq, regardless of the consequences for our national security, regardless of Israel's security, and in disregard of the best advice of our commanders on the ground. \r\n\r\nThis course would surely result in a catastrophe. If our troops are ordered to make a forced retreat, we risk all-out civil war, genocide, and a failed state in the heart of the Middle East. Al Qaeda terrorists would rejoice in the defeat of the United States. Allowing a potential terrorist sanctuary would profoundly affect the security of the United States, Israel, and our other friends, and would invite further intervention from Iraq's neighbors, including an emboldened Iran. We must not let this happen. We must not leave the region to suffer chaos, terrorist violence and a wider war. \r\n\r\nMy friends, as the people of Israel know better than most, the safety of free people can never be taken for granted. And in a world full of dangers, Israel and the United States must always stand together. \r\n\r\nThe State of Israel stands as a singular achievement in many ways, and not the least is its achievement as the great democracy of the Middle East. If there are ties between America and Israel that critics of our alliance have never understood, perhaps that is because they do not fully understand the love of liberty and the pursuit of justice. But they should know those ties cannot be broken. We were brought together by shared ideals and by shared adversity. We have been comrades in struggle, and trusted partners in the quest for peace. We are the most natural of allies. And, like Israel itself, that alliance is forever. \r\n\r\nThank you.\r\n\r\nJohn McCain, a U.S. Senator from Arizona, is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. \r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/printpage\/?url=http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2008\/06\/mccains_speech_to_aipac.html","author":"McCain's Speech to AIPAC","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-05 16:06:48","modified":"2008-06-05 16:06:48","fileurl":""},{"id":218109,"heading":"GaG!!","article":"Doesn't that say everything?\r\nThe Mossad operative who helped Al Gore fold the election for GW.\r\nWho's tail is wagging which dog?\r\nWith these israeli citizens in the critical points of our government, it becomes clear that israel is a cancer which has the body politic of America ready for termination.","author":""my friend Joe Lieberman. "","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-05 20:14:19","modified":"2008-06-05 20:14:19","fileurl":""},{"id":218129,"heading":"Mossad operative?","article":"Mossad operative? He's an elected US senator for many years! \r\n\r\nPerhaps a little "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" influence here,eh?","author":"Mossad operative?","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-06 19:07:32","modified":"2008-06-06 19:07:32","fileurl":""},{"id":218131,"heading":"deep placement","article":"When ever they bring up 'the elders of zion' you just know they are caught in a crack.\r\n\r\nT Stokes \u2013 August 10, 2006\r\nFor far from being an American patriot, Lieberman was and probably still is a Mossad asset. The Jewish underground known as the Sanyannin, can call on any Jew throughout the world to work for Israel, which they often do, and Lieberman is probably one such. -\r\nhttp:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/article.asp?ID=4951\r\n","author":"bit and brace","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-06 19:31:30","modified":"2013-11-11 00:53:41","fileurl":""},{"id":218152,"heading":"Its a Jewish CONSPIRACY!","article":"Its a Jewish CONSPIRACY!\r\n\r\nThis siTe is like a magnet for those wack jobs!","author":"Its a Jewish CONSPIRACY!","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-07 13:45:12","modified":"2008-06-07 13:45:12","fileurl":""},{"id":218169,"heading":"not 'Jewish'","article":"And as everybody knows, people of power without morals never gather together in order to commit immoral acts.\r\nAsk any zionist.","author":"it's a zionist conspiracy","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-07 16:59:26","modified":"2008-06-07 16:59:26","fileurl":""},{"id":218171,"heading":"No, But It IS A Conspiracy","article":"No, it's a Zionist conspiracy, aided by US Neo-Fascists. Just like Iraq and Afghanistan.\r\n\r\nIsraeli attack on Iran 'unavoidable'-Olmert deputy\r\nhttps:\/\/israel.indymedia.org\/newswire\/display\/9171\/index.php","author":"Israeli attack on Iran 'unavoidable'-Olmert d","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-07 16:59:26","modified":"2008-06-07 16:59:26","fileurl":""},{"id":218175,"heading":"Jordan Thornton\u2019s definition of Zionism","article":"Jordan Thornton\u2019s definition of Zionism\r\n\r\n"A Zionist is someone who's amassed great wealth and power by deceiving Jews, telling them that they are the victims of a war Zionism actually started, in order to perpetuate their war to amass more wealth, power, and territory, and thus, perpetuating the threat to Israelis."\r\n\r\nAND he claims not to be a wack job!\r\n","author":"Jordan Thornton\u2019s definition","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-07 17:47:20","modified":"2026-10-25 17:02:53","fileurl":""},{"id":218177,"heading":"wack jobs","article":"But the only wack jobs seem to be defending, lying and apologizing for the actions of the zionist state.\r\nJordan Thornton\u2019s deffinition sure hits the mark, who ever he is. \r\n\r\n","author":"Jordan Thornton is correct","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-07 19:39:27","modified":"2013-11-11 00:53:42","fileurl":""},{"id":218190,"heading":"Lover of Israel","article":"A Zionist is someone who's amassed great wealth ...\r\n\r\nI'm poor. really poor.\r\nBut i love Israel and support Israel,and believe in the right of the Jewish people to self determination in their ancient homeland.\r\n\r\nSo I guess I'm not a Zionist. I'm just a little old "Lover of Israel"\r\n\r\n","author":"Lover of Israel","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-08 13:17:13","modified":"2008-06-08 13:17:13","fileurl":""},{"id":218192,"heading":"get this","article":""in the right of the Jewish people to self determination"\r\nand how about the rights of Palestinians to self determination?\r\nI never hear that from zionist 'isreal' lovers.\r\nKinda racist if you get mah drift.\r\nScum.","author":"get this","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-08 13:50:37","modified":"2008-06-08 13:50:37","fileurl":""},{"id":218209,"heading":"Zionism=self determination","article":"You can believe in the right of the Jewish people to self determination AND believe in the palestinian people's right to self determination. One doesn't preclude the other. Why should it?","author":"lover of Zion","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-08 23:09:28","modified":"2008-06-08 23:09:28","fileurl":""},{"id":218222,"heading":"not","article":"Zionist-self determination means the ethnic cleansing of all non Jews for a racist ideology which expels, imprisons and kills for 'living room' all members not inside these made up people [ zionists] that now call themselves 'Jews' when most Jews are non zionist and in fact most zionists are Christian extremists. They never fail to jam this \u2018Jewish\u2019 linkage, which doesn\u2019t exist; down our collective throats.\r\nIt\u2019s always \u201cJewish\u201d when in fact it\u2019s zionists who have raped Palestine, not the rational peace loving Jew. It doesn\u2019t matter to the zionists that the horror and evil they have committed has been done under the cover of world Jewry.\r\n\r\n***\r\n\u201c-Jewish people to self determination AND believe in the palestinian people's right to self determination. One doesn't preclude the other\u201d\r\nSure it does. Let\u2019s look at your statement. I know it wont convince your kind, but the rational person knows that when a racist\/ethnic qualifier is used to preclude another racial\/ethnic group; it amounts to naked racism.\r\n*And no amount of shyster wordsmithing can change this fact which equates to mass graves and a culture wiped from their land, against their will through an orgy of massacres, herded into concentration camps which are subject to daily intrusions by israeli armor, sniper and air attacks and then told to \u2018behave themselves\u2019.\r\n\r\n*Zionist denials to come...\r\n\r\n\u201cJewish people\u201d\u201d [ zionist weasel talk for Europeans who converted to Judaism a few centuries ago, but particularly the upper class business families who worked with Eichmann to colonize Palestine ] is a constructed zionist mask having *an absurd relation* with - \u201cthe right of the Jewish people to self determination in their ancient homeland. \u201c - even if such a ridiculous thesis for ethnic cleansing by people who had never even had ancestors living there, could have any sane merit. Because they converted they now have claim to another cultures land?\r\nNot even funny.\r\nZionists.\r\n Racists and cowards who need to hide under the cover of a holocaust they helped to commit. Just like their nazi collaborators. Eichmann and his zionist enablers would be proud.\r\nlook up\r\nnazis +zionists\r\nin any search engine","author":"me","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-09 15:14:39","modified":"2013-11-11 00:53:44","fileurl":""},{"id":218314,"heading":"What should have been said to AIPAC","article":"What should have been said to AIPAC \r\nBy Michael C. Desch \r\nJune 11, 2008 \r\n\r\nWhen politicians speak before the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, they do so to burnish their credentials as friends of Israel. \r\n\r\nAs longtime State Department Middle East adviser Aaron David Miller reminds us in his new book, "The Much Too Promised Land," "it's hard to compete and be successful in American politics without being good on Israel." And so when the AIPAC annual conference coincides with a presidential election, as it did this year, these speeches become bidding wars to demonstrate the fervor of the candidates' support for the Jewish state. Sen. Barack Obama declared himself the "true friend of Israel." And Sen. John McCain set the late Sen. Henry Jackson's uncompromising pro-Israel stance as his "model of what an American statesman should be." For both, friendship with Israel means embracing the notion that the Jewish state faces dire threats that require unwavering American support. \r\n\r\nBut the mark of real friendship, as abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher put it, is "to speak painful truth through loving words." By that criterion, neither of the presidential candidates qualifies as Israel's true friend. Rather, it has been individuals like former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretaries of State James Baker and Henry Kissinger who have been Israel's real friends. As public officials, they had a realistic view of Israel's situation and were willing to criticize the Jewish state and push it at critical junctures in its history for it own good. \r\n\r\nNo doubt Israel faces threats from Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. \r\n\r\n(But these 'threats' are only a reaction to Israeli rejectionist policy.) \r\n\r\nBut Israel's security situation is by no means as perilous as the candidates imply. Israel has long-standing peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. The Palestinian Authority is committed to a negotiated settlement based on a two-state solution, which the Arab League supports, holding out the prospect for even wider recognition of the Jewish state in the Middle East. And Syria has been willing since at least the late 1990s to make peace with Israel in return for getting back the Golan Heights. \r\n\r\nIsrael also has by far the strongest military in the region and the wartime track record to prove it. Its failure in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 was the result of a misguided strategy\u2014trying to defeat Hezbollah with air power alone\u2014not military weakness. The candidates' fixation on Iran's nuclear program should not obscure the fact that Israel has its own robust nuclear deterrent, which means Iran would be committing suicide if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. \r\n\r\nA true friend of Israel would acknowledge that Israel's security situation, while certainly not ideal, has improved significantly over the years, and advise as Baker did in his famous address to AIPAC in 1989 that "caution must never become paralysis." \r\n\r\nA real friend would tell Israel the hard truth that Arab intransigence is not the only obstacle to peace in the region. You would never know it from the candidates' remarks, but Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which continue to grow, make it impossible for the Palestinians to have a viable state of their own. \r\n\r\nFurthermore, Israel has been unwilling to return the Golan Heights to Syria, which is essential for ending the conflict between those two countries. And an agreement there would help weaken Hezbollah, which is heavily dependent on Syrian support. Someone who really cares about Israel would say to AIPAC, as Baker once did, "now is the time to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a greater Israel." \r\n\r\nCandid talk is absolutely essential because Israel's survival as a Jewish and democratic state is being undermined by its continuing occupation of the West Bank. Carter incurred the wrath of the pro-Israel community by making this very point in his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." Despite having brokered the first Camp David peace accords, a major step bolstering the Jewish state's security, Carter was vilified by so-called friends of Israel. But he was only stating the obvious: If the occupation continues and there is no Palestinian state, Israel, as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently said, will "face a South-African style struggle." Other prominent Israelis, as well as South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, have warned that continuing the occupation will turn Israel into an apartheid state. \r\n\r\nAnother uncomfortable truth is that a major obstacle to withdrawing from the West Bank is Israel's political system, which allows small fringe groups like the settler's movement to undermine the peace process. Seventy percent of Israelis are willing to trade land for peace, but they have been thwarted by an uncompromising minority. The majority does not need reflexive, unthinking support from their friends in America for everything Israel does; rather, it needs backing against the extremists on both sides of the conflict. \r\n\r\nMcCain and Obama claim to be Israel's best friend and try to prove it by outdoing each other in their unqualified support for the Jewish state, as we just saw at the AIPAC conference. But the threats Israel faces hardly match the candidates' apocalyptic rhetoric and their unthinking support for almost every policy Israel adopts. This is not good for Israel, much less America. Although it is not clear who will win the race for the White House this fall, it is already clear that the winner will be no real friend of Israel. \r\n\r\nMichael C. Desch holds the Robert M. Gates Chair in Intelligence and National Security Decision-Making at Texas A&M University. \r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/opinion\/chi-oped0611aipacjun11,0,3939210.story \r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"What should have been said to AIPAC","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-15 01:38:45","modified":"2013-11-11 00:53:45","fileurl":""},{"id":218320,"heading":"please....","article":""Candid talk is absolutely essential because Israel's survival as a Jewish and democratic state"\r\n\r\nBe real about this.\r\nA 'Jewish' state is a racist state, mocking the proclamation of being a 'democracy'.\r\nTear down your walls.\r\nEqual rights ( that means acknowledging the humanity of the people of Palestine) for all peole, independent of race religion and all other factional divisions between people.\r\nOne world, one race. We are all brothers and sisters on this garden. ","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-15 11:02:02","modified":"2008-06-15 11:02:02","fileurl":""},{"id":218321,"heading":"Except for one thing","article":"The West Bank and Gaza have no desire to be annexed by Israel. And Israel has no desire to annex the West Bank or Gaza.\r\nSo what right do you as an America, have to impose on these people a "solution" that neither find acceptable?\r\n\r\nThe Palestinians want their own state. Unfortunately, they want the Christians and Jews gone from it. The Jews want their own state. They will accept the presence of Christians and Muslims in theirs.","author":"Renaldo","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-15 12:03:40","modified":"2008-06-15 12:03:40","fileurl":""},{"id":218322,"heading":"Begone, Troll","article":""And Israel has no desire to annex the West Bank or Gaza."\r\n\r\nSure it does. Zionist Extremism's cultish drive for the annexation of all of Palestine is what this is all really about.\r\n\r\n"So what right do you as an America, have to impose on these people a "solution" that neither find acceptable?"\r\n\r\nIsrael is unrestrained by the law, and therefore, they must be forced to abandon their war to wipe Palestine off the map, and live up to their legal and moral obligations. They have proven that nothing less than international action will stop them.\r\n\r\n"The Palestinians want their own state. Unfortunately, they want the Christians and Jews gone from it."\r\n\r\nNo they don't. They want what every other human being on this floating rock wants; peace and security, employment so they can build a better life for their families.\r\n\r\n"The Jews want their own state."\r\n\r\nNo, the ZIONISTS want their own state.\r\n\r\nMost Jews reject this self-serving, racist and violent Supremacist political ideology.\r\n\r\nNow, do you wish to address the subject?","author":"Zionists Don't Compromise","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-15 13:14:04","modified":"2008-06-15 13:14:04","fileurl":""},{"id":218325,"heading":"what a bunch of vicious weasels","article":""So what right do you as an America, have to impose on these people a "solution" that neither find acceptable? "\r\n\r\nWhat the hell do you think this article is about?\r\nIt's the renegade israeli state with its moles of 'dual' [ israeli ] citizens in this bought and sold administration that is pushing US into a thermonuclear war .\r\nWe STILL don't know what happened to that missing sixth NUCLEAR warhead that the Cheney [ read israeli ] administration 'lost'.\r\nAny nuclear incident in the Western world should be viewed as an israeli attack for false flag provocation to war with Iran.\r\n\r\nSo why don't you, your AIPAC spies, your mossad operatives [ read death squads ] and your 'dual' citizen get the hell off MY turf.\r\nAnd your greedy hands off my tax money.\r\n\r\nOh, and by the way, johnk...\r\n\r\nStop fucking with the 'publish' function, if it's you doing it.\r\n-To convince us that you're a human being and not a spambot, please answer the following math question. \r\nType the answer in English: What is three plus five? \r\nAnswer\r\neight,\r\nWhy is this a 'wrong answer unless it's the author or content that is a problem?\r\nOutside interference or inside interference?\r\nYes, my cookie is in.\r\n","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-15 14:35:39","modified":"2008-06-15 14:35:39","fileurl":""},{"id":218390,"heading":"Weak","article":"Unlike Iraq, the hand of Israel's ruling Extremists in starting another ILLEGAL war is out in the open for all to see.\r\n\r\nWe know who poses the real threat.","author":"Zionist Hatred Is Getting Exposure","parent_id":218086,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2008-06-19 15:47:33","modified":"2008-06-19 15:47:33","fileurl":""}]}