Beirut, North Carolina and Behesht-E-Zahra; October 23 1983 and Today

October 23, 2008 will mark 25 years from the day that 241 United States Marines were killed following a suicide attack on a barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

September 26, 1983 the order is given:

"an official with the Iranian Intelligence Service in Tehran phoned the Iranian ambassador in Damascus and issued an order to have them killed."

They Came in Peace:

"At dawn this 23 October, a solemn candlelight vigil will begin the day at the foot of the Beirut Memorial, nestled in the pines of North Carolina. Families, veterans, and friends will gather to pay tribute to those who "Came in Peace" on this, the 25th anniversary."

At the Behesht-E-Zahra cemetery in Southern Tehran lie those that died during the Iran-Iraq war fought during the 1980's. In 2004 a monument in commemoration of those that died carrying out the suicide bombing that killed our Marines, was erected at the cemetery. On October 23, 2008 there will be a ceremony celebrating death at this particular monument.

A question the answer to which, escapes many regards Iran's "peaceful" nuclear ambitions. Confidently we can reply "we don't know," with a near 100% certainty that is. It's one of those "we know what we don't know" scenarios.

Unfortunately, too often "certainty" is historical.

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A “Highly Confident” Friday Sermon from Iran

James S. Robbins wrote yesterday at NRO:

“The NIE has presented Iran with a major strategic opportunity. Iran’s best move at this point is to open some form of dialogue with the United States. Promote the idea that the “grand bargain” to settle the major issues of the region is possible, play into that instinct on our side. This will serve as a useful shield against attack by third parties, because if negotiations are afoot, we will strongly discourage any other country from taking military action. Keep the talks going for as long as possible. Periodically hint at breakthroughs, settle some minor issues, feed the vanity of diplomacy. Meanwhile move out vigorously on developing a nuclear-weapons capability. When the time comes to test the weapon, foment some kind of small crisis, break off talks (though not too belligerently), conduct the test, and blame the United States for making it necessary. Then call for a new round of talks, particularly about limiting nuclear proliferation in the region. Once Tehran has the Bomb, non-proliferation will be Iran’s number one priority. At least to anyone who might fight back.”

Oddly enough in today’s Friday Sermon, Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani “the Swell” spoke of the U.S. intelligence community and the recent NIE regarding Iranian “peaceful” nuclear intentions.

“the West should benefit from the positive points in Iran's nuclear case. "Why are you trying to distort the report presented by your own intelligence units? Why are you trying - based on your diversionary analysis - to consider the positive move of Russia, which has acted on its duty, in delivering the first fuel consignment of Bushehr nuclear power plant as an ultimatum?" Referring to positive moves taken in Iran's nuclear case, Iran's enhanced cooperation with the IAEA and providing answers to questions of the UN nuclear watchdog, and the report of the US intelligence units have on the whole been to a large extent in favor of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

In what could be considered an “even chance,” which “almost certainly,” though if only “remotely” is a page taken from the NIE the Friday speaker said:

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is the responsible party; is not after tension and sabotage and favors peace, calm and tranquility.”

I'll agree Iran is "responsible" for this mess, but how does an extremist government achieve the favored "peace, calm and tranquility?" Nukes? After all, he didn't say when and how.

In “Rafsanjani the Swells” closing (bold mine):

"To sum up, ever since the US president started speaking of the axis of evil, Americans have suffered the most damage. Americans raise their military budget annually. Their war casualties are high and they have many physical and psychological war disabled. This has turned into a disaster for them."

That the U.S. has “suffered the most damage” and “war casualties are high” is difficult to reckon what is being used “subjectively” by the bloodthirsty man of the soiled cloth; however “WITHOUT DOUBT (my intelligence estimate) he is not using the Iran/Iraq war of the 80’s casualties of Iran at roughly 1 million as his benchmark.

The Vindication of Iran

From the National Intelligence Estimate of December 3, 2007:

“What We Mean When We Say: An Explanation of Estimative Language:

“We use phrases such as we judge, we assess, and we estimate—and probabilistic terms such as probably and likely—to convey analytical assessments and judgments. Such statements are not facts, proof, or knowledge. These assessments and judgments generally are based on collected information, which often is incomplete or fragmentary. Some assessments are built on previous judgments. In all cases, assessments and judgments are not intended to imply that we have “proof” that shows something to be a fact or that definitively links two items or issues.”

"We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program"

Raymond Ibrahim, author of “The Al Qaeda Reader” wrote yesterday at NRO regarding language that couches the findings in the “estimate” along with the juxtaposition of the 2005 NIE and this newest (italics mine):”

“A ‘high confidence’ judgment is not a fact or certainty, however, and such judgments still carry a risk of being wrong” — such as when NIE stated in 2005 (two years after “Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program”) that “[We] assess with high confidence that Iran currently is determined to develop nuclear weapons.”’

We’ll have to assume this year’s estimate was not based on “assessments (are) built on previous judgments.”

It would appear that “intelligence estimates” serve the purposes of many on both sides of an argument and as much as none of the individuals involved would bet their lives on the finished report we should all pass on the “take your pick” NIE and consider Raymond Ibrahim’s closer on the subject of “intelligence” and common sense:

“When it comes to all things human, such as politics, “objective” science cannot always help; the irrational is, and always will be, a predominant factor in human relations that cannot be quantified and analyzed. But a little cognizance of human nature — common sense — goes a long way.

Bottom line: Yes, Iran wants to acquire nuclear weapons.”

At least Iran is making good use of the NIE.

For further consideration in what might be used as a guide in defining "common sense" give Great Satan's Girlfriend a visit and enjoy "Divine Intervention and the Date Police" (they don't just live inside of your head)

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Bush Warning to Iran and Democrat Dwarves

President Bush warned Iran again about its efforts at nuclear program. Also he said that "talks" are not off the table.

In addition from the AP

"Bush, who has threatened to veto 9 of 12 annual appropriations bills, wants the GOP to be seen as the party of fiscal disciplinarians. Democrats, however, say the billions spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dwarf the far smaller increases they want in domestic programs.

Bush said the five-year budget proposed by the Democratic leadership of Congress would increase spending by $205 billion over five years.

"All these programs sound wonderful," he said. "Except how are you going to pay for it? ... And the answer is raising taxes."'

And I guess as the Dems "say the billions spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dwarf the far smaller increases they want in domestic programs," so if we could just "end" this silly war their "dwarf-like" and "far smaller" tax increases could happen; again it the fault of others.

Another clue as to why the war to Dems is the "war;" as with so much to the party leadership if they can imagine something doesn't exist, then convince the rest something doesn't exist, why everything will be all right!

So for those of you that insist things right in front of you don't exist, go right on ahead a keep on keeping on; we'll take care of the children until you get out.

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Change Tack on Nuclear Iran

An article at Realite EU, reprinted from The Financial Times (8/16/07) points to some of the basics of what Iran is and is not doing. Sadly, it all becomes possible due to time; time that time and again is given to Iran for its weapons grade enrichment of uranium.

Hey, it's only for peace, with peaceful intentions...won't you give us time to prove this? Need more time? Peter Zimmerman, Realite EU:

"Iran has stalled and teased and played the European Union three of Britain, France and Germany as an expert fisherman might handle the big one. For more than 18 years Iran violated its safeguards agreement with the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency, in effect violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by conducting clandestine enrichment research and experiments without declaring them to inspectors.

Then Iran began the process of learning to enrich uranium in earnest and on an industrial scale. All the while it held out the prospect that it might suspend its activities if only the right concessions were made. Iran needed time to advance its nuclear weapons programme and, by buying into intermin¬able negotiations, we gave it.

We are still giving Iran time. Late in June Ali Larijani, Iran’s chief negotiator, and Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA director-general, agreed to work out a “plan of action” within two months on resolving IAEA questions about Tehran’s contested atomic programme. A team of IAEA inspectors has just returned from a mission to see Iran’s heavy water reactor construction site.

This may sound like more of an advance than it is, as Iran’s safeguards agreement mandates such inspections. At the same time Iran is claiming an “inalienable right” to enjoy the benefits of nuclear technology under the terms of the NPT, because its programmes were exclusively for “peaceful purposes”. It does not, in fact, enjoy that right because it is engaged in a programme which violates critical parts of its safeguards agreement and which appears to be intended to make nuclear weapons. Nuclear safeguards are not a menu from which a nation can choose which parts it will follow and which it will not.

Ordinary uranium contains 0.7 per cent of the only isotope that matters, U-235, the one that fuels nuclear bombs. Most of the remaining 99.3 per cent is U-238, which is not usable on its own in atomic weapons. The process of “enrichment” is really one of concentration, in which the U-238 is progressively filtered out using centrifuges. When the concentration of U-235 reaches 90 per cent or more, the mater¬ial is often termed “weapons grade”, and very efficient bombs and warheads can be made.

Many thousands of centrifuges are needed to process industrial quantities to highly enriched uranium. The west and the IAEA thought this was a target that would take Iran a long time to hit. But we now know that the Iran¬ians have 10 centrifuge cascades, totalling 1,640 machines. However, Iran claims to have assembled at least 3,000 centrifuges, enough to make another nine or 10 cascades. As the centrifuges now operating are configured, Iran is making 4 per cent U-235, suit¬able for use in a power reactor: 3,000 centrifuges will produce U-235 for one bomb each year.

It is now obvious that Iran skilfully played for time until they reached a rather high level of technical mastery of the enrichment process. This is the price paid by the west and the Russians and Chinese for their reluctance to apply meaningful sanctions to Iran two and even three years ago.

Even if Iran abandons its plans to build more than the current 3,000 centrifuges, another problem remains. Part of any negotiation will have to be an iron-clad guarantee that supplies of fuel for Iranian nuclear power reactors will be available, no matter what political winds blow. In practice that will almost certainly mean that Iran will be allowed to hold at least a year’s spare fresh fuel as a buffer. The danger here is that reactor fuel, enriched to 4 per cent U-235, is already more than halfway to bomb grade because enrichment becomes easier as concentration of U-235 increases. If Iran decides to throw out international inspectors and abandon the NPT, the capabilities of its “pilot plant” will be more than doubled if it taps into its stock of reactor fuel.

American hawks and neocons are reputedly putting pressure on the Bush administration to talk tougher and to plan military strikes. While the military option must remain on the horizon, it would be an error to make the threat explicit right now. The advances in Iran’s nuclear programme mean that vigorous diplomacy backed by credible sanctions must aim at removing the completed centrifuges. This will buy some time, and sometimes delay is equivalent to denial, especially if it allows time for the Islamic Republic to abandon its nuclear programme and its hostility to its neighbours."

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Iran Policy Rift - State Doves and Cheney Hawks

The toilet Paper sees signs of a split within the Bush administration on Iran policy and that language in the President’s speech on Thursday “reflected an intense and continuing struggle between factions within his administration over how aggressively to confront Iran.”

This “struggle” has been ongoing between Secretary of State Rice and her State Department diplomatic mentality and Vice President Cheney’s office. Further distinguishing between the two approaches is The Times description of State and Rice reflecting:

“the more diplomatic view advocated by the State Department, which has pushed for a more restrained tone in America’s dealings with the world in general, and Iran in particular.”

And the VP’s office as:

“Mr. Cheney and hawks in his office, however, have become increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of progress in curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”

One side the doves, the other hawks. Interestingly, the “dove” approach is one that has been practiced by each administration over the past 30 years, which has navigated us to the impasse of the moment. This mindset reflects the comforting belief that Iran and its leadership can be negotiated with and that Iran would in turn honor any negotiated agreements.

“Mr. Cheney and hawks in his office,” have evolved from the past decades failure to resolve and/or appreciate the true nature of the Islamic Republic. Laughably the “hawks” “have become increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of progress,” of the recent pasts inability to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions; State and professional diplomats continue with practices that have proven to be a failure for three decades and Cheney and the “hawks,” time to face the reality of the dead end that believe Iran negotiable.

Professionals are quick to call the Bush policies failures, yet 30 years of doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results is not? It is high time that Iran be looked upon a little differently, perhaps for a change as the intolerant, instigator, supporter of terrorist groups like al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, et al and not an honest broker.

Iran could not speak more plainly on a daily basis of its intentions for the region with itself in the throne. When Iran denies various involvements and calls these accusations lies we should be a little less gullible and take them at the words of their usual rants, as the daily paints a more honest picture.

Us and Them

We have been lulled into viewing these facts from the wrong perspective:

“Beyond its nuclear program, Iran has emerged as an increasing source of trouble for the Bush administration, American officials said, by inflaming the insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza, where it has provided military and financial support to the militant Islamic group Hamas.”

Iran is an “increasing source of trouble for the Bush administration?” It is distinctions like this that allow for a separation of the reality of Iran’s threat to regional stability and in the greater war in general and the more comforting belief that this is just Bush’s problem; peace and levelheadedness is just around the corner.

Iran and the Greater War on Terror (label)

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Petraeus Betray Us, Feinstein Lyin': Iraq and the Greater War on Terror

From the Editors at National Review Online comes this closer, which says it all:

“Sen. Dianne Feinstein yesterday dismissed General Petraeus as not an “independent evaluator” of the Iraq war. Everything we’ve heard this year indicates that Petraeus is in fact a cautious and factual evaluator of the surge, but in a sense Feinstein is right — Petraeus is vested in the war, sees it as an important national project, and wants to win. Would that Democrats showed a similar bias.”

There happens to be a lot of great points in this editorial that make it very worthwhile reading as well as more commentary from: Byron York, Michael O’Hanlon, Michael Yon, John Boehner, Mark Hemingway, Fred Kagan, Donald Kagan, W. Thomas Smith, Jr., Michael Barone, William Hawkins, Mark Steyn and James S. Robbins.

So, with the new majority in Washington are we truly to believe that Bush is the whole problem?

On another facet of the war on terror Newt Gingrich visited Fox and Friends this morning, where in part he suggested the U.S. concentrate/debate on the big picture in the war on terror and not just focus on Iraq. This is wise advice as so many speak to the Iraq theater just going away if we withdraw/redeploy; an end to this war.

Iran for some time now has been shelling in the Kurdish north of Iraq; an Iranian delegation at a diplomatic conference in Baghdad at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry warned in diplomatese:

“if the Iraqi government could not stop militants from crossing into Iran and carrying out attacks, the Iranian authorities would respond militarily.”

A veiled suggestion to enter Iraq militarily is the first straight forward remark from Iran even though its words reveal its plans daily.

According to the delegation the U.S. has a “double-standard” as:

‘”Supporting military and political actions by terrorist elements in Iraq against neighboring countries is considered dangerous behavior that we cannot tolerate, and a major factor in the chaotic security situation and instability in the region.”’

This double-standard unfortunately does not reach the heights of the exponentially rising “double-standards” of Iran, but the U.S. has to start somewhere, no?

The conference, which was organized by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and led by Hoshyar Zebari was attended by the U.S. and other “concerned” neighbors in the region.

We’ve all heard of the calls from many on the Left to bring regional players together in a diplomatic forum (this conference; an example of what they do not see) to bring peace and calm to Iraq. At the conference, Hoshyar Zebari proposed:

“creating a “secretariat” to keep track of the Iraq issues being considered at the meetings.

When it became apparent that the United States and Britain backed Mr. Zebari’s proposal, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and others quickly took the floor to shoot the proposal down. The conference ended with the issue unresolved.”

This is a shame, but par for the course. Groups like this don’t appear to have any difficulty when it comes to say, a Durban II; then again, Durban II is in line with Democrat talking points and strategy of reframing the debate with misleading, obfuscation and lies.

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Iran and Nuclear Weapons of Peace

A concern about the effort at curtailing and/or preventing Iran and it's nuclear ambitions has always been the international community and whether or not it was going to get on board and seriously economically constrict the Islamic Republic. Well, this hasn't happened, but as Victor Davis Hanson points out this morning at NRO of the current and generally "bipartisan" policy:

"Show the world that Americans tried the European route with the EU3 (Britain, France, German) negotiations that have so far failed; let the U.N. jawbone (so what?); help Iranian dissidents and democratic reformers; keep trying to stabilize Iran’s reforming neighbors in Afghanistan and Iraq; persuade Russia, China, and India to cooperate in ostracizing Iran; galvanize global financial institutions to isolate the Iranian economy; apprise the world that an Iranian nuclear device is unacceptable — and hope all that pressure works before the theocrats have enough enriched uranium to get a bomb and, as Persian nationalists, win back public approval inside Iran."

Hanson writes of "subtle indications" that the policy is having some positive effect and admits that there is "no reason yet to believe that Iran’s megalomaniac plans are stalled," which is a bit of commonsense, yet the entire picture is somewhat more comforting that a glimmer of hope exists.

"Don't Bomb, Bomb Iran; For now, we should avoid a smoking Tehran"

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Celebrating and Waiting for 12th Imam

Celebrations have been taking place recently in Qum, Iran in a festival dedicated to the birth of Imam Mahdi or the 12^th imam:

“Shiites believe that Imam Mahdi, the 12th imam in a direct bloodline from the Prophet Muhammad, is alive but has remained invisible since the late ninth century, and that he will reappear only when corruption and injustice reach their zenith.”

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the support of the Mullahs has done much to hone this message to buttress support against the “great satan” in what they see as the coming conflagration between its hoped for leadership role the global war between Islam and the infidels.

Here’s to the hope that the zenith of “corruption and injustice” is rightly seen by the Iranian people as being advanced by the leadership in their own country and not against those of us in the West, who like Rodney King just want us all to get along.

Tehran a threat to the region? This is something rarely heard from a news source, but that is just what can be read at The Times. Often it is the U.S. that is the threat to regional instability with scant attention paid to the meddling of Iran.

“Iran’s Choice:”

“Rarely has his message been as blunt. Denouncing support for terrorism, arming of Iraqi militias and attempts to place the Middle East “under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust”, President Bush accused Iran of threatening the security of nations everywhere. America, he insisted, would “confront this danger before it is too late”. Within hours of his tough message, US forces in Iraq had arrested eight Iranians, searched their luggage and confiscated their Iraqi escort’s weapons before releasing them. American commanders are taking no chances. They know that Iran is smuggling men and weapons into Iraq in huge quantities, arming not only Shia militias but also rival Sunni groups with the express aim of harassing and killing coalition troops.”

Yeah, that's right, Iran actually has something to do with all of this

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Friday Sermon from Iran: Iran Protects the Gulf

"Thanks God, we are now at a point in which no one can deprive us of our nuclear technology" - Tehran's substitute Friday prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati

Scattered clouds and temps in the low 90's welcomed worshipers today in Tehran as Tehran's substitute Friday prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati praised the Ahmadinejad Administration actions in the past two years and the necessity of hanging tough against the evil hegemonic Great Satan.

The headline "Major Cleric Strongly Supports President Ahmadinejads Government," is amusing in the sense that if this cleric and others didn't support the government of Ahmadinejad it would no longer be his, not that it really is his to begin with.

"If a government is weak, it resorts to flattery, courtesy and respect and even if it is against something, it doesn't dare to announce its opposition, but a strong government announces its opposition frankly."

"The grandeur of this government has been established now everywhere and the world has known about its stability." Stressing that all the threats and sanctions by the hegemonic powers have been futile, Ayatollah Jannati said they thought that they could reach their objectives by employing the language of force and they used this language in the negotiations but "we never retracted from our positions."

In other news, it is becoming more and more apparent that it may be safe to leave Iraq as Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said:

"The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly protects security of the Persian Gulf region. The powerful and vigilant armed forces of Iran are determined to seriously deal with any threat at this strategic waterway."

The gig is up as the Islamic Republic knows what the U.S. is up to:

"The US is now trying to take advantage of regional conflicts to achieve its goals. By resorting to a policy of intimidation, the US wants to find a way out of the quagmire and continue its illegal presence in the region."

How might this tie in with Jannati's "but a strong government announces its opposition frankly," comments from the Sermon today?

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The Martyrdom Seeking Culture will Protect Us Against ALL Social Problems

Any and all difficulties a zealous belief system faces are unbeatable if you just believe…

So says President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud “MoMo” Ahmadinejad:

"The martyrdom seeking culture will protect us against all social problems."

This was one of his statements while:

“speaking to officials in charge of holding ceremony commemorating martyrdom of 36,000 army commanders during eight years of sacred defense, he said martyr seeking spirit would is the strongest shelter against enemies' guns and machine guns and no one can confront a nation with such a high morale.”

Regarding Iranian “peaceful” nukes:

“following the proposal made by Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Madrid on resolving the remaining issues with IAEA, once again Tehran proved its good will and let the IAEA inspectors visit Arak heavy water plant.”

IRNA has been going through a general over haul in its tone of reporting with the occasional rhetoric full articles. I’m guessing we’ll all remember this new state news agency tone when it comes time to ultimately let Iran continue on its path. Although in reality allowing Iran to continue on its path is already taking place.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, war on terror, Israel…we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

The Geopolitical Stakes of a Nuclear Iran:

"Any Iranian bomb would proliferate. The current regime in Tehran (and in particular, for the past year and a half, the government dominated by the Pasdarans) has fully shown that its geopolitical stance was not merely Persian-nationalist, but above all pan-Shiite, and aims to destabilise a certain number of Middle Eastern States, some of which host Shiite minorities. This can clearly be seen in Lebanon, but is also evident in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bahrain. The development of a “dirty” bomb –a modified atomic bomb– is not a mere fantasy. The regime in power in Tehran would initially be happy giving such a bomb to terrorist groups and/or movements in countries they would like to see being weakened."

NY Times Has the Answer to All Our Problems and Theirs in Iraq

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Friday Sermon from Iran

Provisional Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami led the congregation with his usual flair and aplomb; speaking of the recent televised confessions of American-Iranian “spies”:

‘"This policy has worked in some countries, but in Iran, it has faced defeat, just like the other failed US policies on Iran."’

Khatami’s statement fits perfectly in line with the propaganda of the regime and mullahs, which is according to Amir Taheri in today’s NY Post, “The Conspiracy That Wasn’t.” The use of these hostages is for the fodder they can make of them and the United States and msm should be screaming up a storm about it.

The use of the propaganda unfolds to include statements such as:

‘"During the past fifty years the United States has directly or indirectly interfered in the internal affairs of 25 countries of the world militarily, and the funny thing is that Washington also claims it is after the establishment of democracy throughout the world."’

Khatami, member in good standing of the Leadership Experts Assembly also highlighted Iran's role in preserving stability and security in the Middle East region, and added:

"Iran's policies regarding Iraq have always been aimed at promoting security measures there and serving the oppressed Iraqi nation, and yet the United States has always, resorting to fake pretexts, been accusing Iran of interference in Iraq's affairs."

“The US policy in Iraq today is aimed at bringing the Ba'th Party back to power, and fueling the flames of tribal and sectarian wars there."

This, as well as every Friday Sermon would be very amusing were it not so alarming – These are the people we would negotiate away from their “peaceful nukes?”

Oddly, on that very subject a joint communiqué stated that:

“Iran's nuclear issue should be solved through dimplomatic channels and negotiations with no strings attached.”

It also stressed and warned of the “danger of the Zionist regime’s nuclear arsenal for the region and called for immediate action by international bodies to foil this threat.”

Condemning “the continued aggressive and oppressive acts of the Zionist regime” it also “underscored the rights of the Syrian people to restore occupied Golan Heights up to the June 1967 borderline.”

Obviously the various “injustices” are part of the pathetic nature of the backward region, where defeat followed by their attacks and instigation are used as pity party talking points. Unfortunately, the pity parties consist of continued death and mayhem.

Futher proof the “peaceful” intentions were underlined in the statement with:

“Iran and Syria in their joint statement invited the Palestinian groups to dialogue and keeping national unity and supported the rights of the Palestinian nation for the return of the refugees to their motherland and establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Ghods city designated as its capital.”

Additional proofs of “peaceful” intentions were noted earlier this week with the following news:

an adviser to the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, claimed Iranian ownership of the Gulf Arab state of Bahrain stating:

"The public demand in Bahrain is the reunification of this province with its motherland, the Islamic Iran."

As well is the announcement of the inclusion of Syria under the Iranian missile umbrella aimed at 600 targets in Israel threatened as retaliation if Iran is attacked.

These are the people we would negotiate away from their “peaceful nukes?” Nice

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Let's Not Forget Other Costs in the Recent Democrat Off-Broadway Production

While the sleepover took place and the theatrics were going full bore sans fireworks, while the Democrats or Reid’s Rosies moaned of the “distraction” that Iraq is from “real” terror the world continues to spin.

Iran and it’s proxies in Iraq and elsewhere in the region have been all but forgotten. This is one of those subjects of debate the media aids and abets the Democrat party as it tries to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. There are so many pieces to this war on terror that regardless of size need to be addressed; Pakistan, Afghanistan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere. It all continues apace.

The Rosies apply the makeup, have their jammies pressed, teeth brushed and put on their latest off-Broadway hit; who says sequels can’t draw in the crowds.

“Negotiations” with the IAEA continue with Iran as the lead in the show recites his practiced lines. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini discusses efforts to avoid a third resolution against Iran, while stating what “appeared to refer to an agreement reached last week between Iran and the UN's nuclear watchdog for a new negotiations framework,” which the UN hailed recently.

This “new negotiations framework” stems from June 25 when Iran “invited an International Atomic Energy Agency team to Tehran to work on clearing up suspicions about its nuclear program, an IAEA spokeswoman said Monday.” Excitedly hailed at the time as forward momentum in the quest to cease the Islamic Republics nuclear ambitions by the UN, Iran and MSM, we are only now seeing that it is part and parcel in the stretching out of negotiations to allow Iran to achieve its ends during the farce of “negotiations.” After all Iran, “‘invited the IAEA to send a team to Tehran to develop an action plan for resolving outstanding issues related to Iran's past nuclear program,'” which is only a promise to continue the same.

Reid and the Rosies rant while Hussain Shariatmadari, an adviser to the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, claimed Iranian ownership of the Gulf Arab state of Bahrain stating:

"The public demand in Bahrain is the reunification of this province with its motherland, the Islamic Iran."

The statement made sometime around July 13^th has not been “formally disavowed” by Tehran, which adds further insult to injury to those that continue to believe that Iranian proxies in Iraq are not participating under the orders of the government in Tehran and the Mullahcracy. To Shariatmadari, “it goes without saying that such an indisputable right for Iran and the people of this province should not and cannot be overlooked.”

Does this speak kindly to the “peaceful” use of nuclear technology? How about the fact that “Iran has marked 600 targets in Israel for missile strikes if it is attacked, the Qatari newspaper Al Watan quoted Sunday diplomatic sources in Damascus as saying. The report said the targets are within reach of Iranian missiles and would be completely destroyed if Israel should attack Iran or participate in an American attack on it.” This threat also includes attacks against Syria within its protective umbrella.

This is not the “peace” we think of, but “peace” has a very wide ranging definition when practiced by the likes of the Iranian regime.

During the Cold War peace between the major powers was maintained via proxy and the promise of mutual assured destruction. Today and over the past 30 years this has been the practice of Tehran with an almost light speed increase in these efforts recently. Assuming history will repeat itself to the tee that some feel it has or does, i.e. Iraq is Vietnam; dangerously disregards the danger inherent in a new Cold War, this one with an nuclear armed enemy that reveres martyrdom in death.

So, to Reid and the Rosies, the UN, and the MSM thanks for making the assured destruction of many a possibility with your lack of seriousness in these grave issues.

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