I think the most important thing the U.S. can do to help the Iraqis protect their oil infrastructure is to end the military occupation of Iraq...
So that the terrorists will stop blowing shit up...
...and so that Iran can easily take over
US withdrawal will happen eventually. I predict Obama will win and begin to withdraw troops immediately. I do hope the insurgents stop sabotaging, and I hope AQ is vanquished from the earth, and hopefully Iran will not impose its style of Islamic justice in Iraq. I pray for Iraq's well being and independence, without US help.
Iran has already had too much influence in Iraq, and I hope the US stays around long enough for the elections next year, at least.
"Iran has already had too much influence in Iraq, and I hope the US stays around long enough for the elections next year, at least."--Iraqi Mojo
Would you prefer the moderate U.S. ally Sunni dictatorship's influence in Iraq Mojo, the same Sunni countries in which AlQaeda members come from...?
Or maybe you are hoping that the U.S. will find an excuse to stick around for another 100 years in Iraq like McCain once predicted and appeared to be planning for with all of the construction that has been going on for U.S. bases and the largest U.S. embassy in Iraq...
I wonder if Al Qaeda that came from the moderate U.S. friendly Sunni dictatorship countries even attempted to attack any of this infrastructure?
"Would you prefer the moderate U.S. ally Sunni dictatorship's influence in Iraq Mojo, the same Sunni countries in which AlQaeda members come from...?"
NO! Yes, ok, give me Iran.
LOL
It's true though. I'd take Iran over KSA, if I had to choose. Tough call though.
"Or maybe you are hoping that the U.S. will find an excuse to stick around for another 100 years in Iraq like McCain once predicted"
I don't think McCain predicted that the US would be in Iraq for 100 years - he said he doesn't care if the US is in Iraq for another 100 years. Big difference.
I am hoping the US withdraws from Iraq as soon as Iraq is secure, as soon as elections are over and the next govt is in place. The US may have a long term presence in Iraq, but the US has permanent bases all over the Gulf, and AQ hasn't been able to attack those, nor are our Arab brothers blowing up markets in Doha and Kuwait City. But I can see them continuing to blow up Iraqi markets and police recruits, cuz you should know by now they don't care about Iraqis. Iraqis are already sick of the violence, and they will do anything to make it go away. As an Iraqi American, I think the US should stay until after next year's elections, and make sure the current govt allows elections to happen fairly. Iran is a democracy between the clerics. I can see the same thing happening in Iraq, if we are not careful. We must not allow that to happen.
You might find the following report an interesting read Mojo:
'Policy on Iran threatens US security'
"More than 80 percent of US foreign policy experts say the Bush administration policy on Iran has 'negatively impacted national security'.
The experts took part in a recent survey by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy which found that the US policy toward Iran during the presidency of George W. Bush to be a failure.
Three quarters of the experts believe President Bush is incapable of adequately dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue.
The US accuses Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of pursuing a military nuclear program.
This is while according to the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran enriches uranium-235 to a level of 3.7 percent. Nuclear arms production requires enrichment level of above 90 percent. ..."
To be continued......
"...The Bush administration has long sought to portray Iran's nuclear program, which is subject to the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as a threat to the international community.
The White House has also threatened to wage war on Iran - by striking its nuclear facilities - should Tehran continue its enrichment activities.
Iran says dialogue is the only acceptable means to clarify the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. However, it has warned that should the country come under attack it would target not hesitate to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty - including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The strategically vital strait, between Iran and Oman, is an essential conduit for energy supplies and connects the oil-rich region to free sea. As much as 40 percent of the world's sea-transited crude oil passes through the waterway.
Almost half of the experts who took part in the survey believe that the most important outcome of ongoing US military activities in Iraq has been the emergence of Iran as the most powerful country in the Middle East.
The US military alleges that Iran is fueling violence in neighboring Iraq. This is while the intelligence services within the army have yet to provide any concrete proof to support such accusations.
Pundits believe that by blaming Iran for the violence in Iraq, the Bush administration seeks to prolong its military presence in the oil-rich country and pave the way for a potential US strike on Iran."
http://www.presstv.ir/
detail.asp...ctionid=3510203
"and pave the way for a potential US strike on Iran."
The US could strike Iran from anywhere, including from Qatar and Kuwait, from Bahrain or from Oman. They could do it from Afghanistan. They could do it from the sea. The US military could strike Iran from Detroit if they wanted to, Marion.
"Iran is a democracy between the clerics. I can see the same thing happening in Iraq, if we are not careful. We must not allow that to happen."--Iraqi Mojo
And the U.S. is a democracy between corporate interests and powerful lobbies such as the Zionist oriented AIPAC and Christians United for Israel, Mojo...
It is ultimately up to the Iraqi people as a whole to choose their own destiny free from occupation, just like it is up to the American people as a whole to choose their own destiny free from corporate interests and powerful lobbies...
I do believe that Bush messed up by not supporting Khatami. I posted this last October: http://iraqimojo.blogspot.com/20...-with-
iran.html
Article excerpt:
"...Pundits believe that by blaming Iran for the violence in Iraq, the Bush administration seeks to prolong its military presence in the oil-rich country and pave the way for a potential US strike on Iran."
Mojo's response:
"The US could strike Iran from anywhere, including from Qatar and Kuwait, from Bahrain or from Oman. They could do it from Afghanistan. They could do it from the sea. The US military could strike Iran from Detroit if they wanted to, Marion."--Iraqi Mojo
So what exactly is your point Mojo...?
"So what exactly is your point Mojo...?"
My point is the US does not have to be in Iraq in order to strike Iran, Miss Einstein.
The point of the article was that "by blaming Iran for the violence in Iraq, the Bush administration seeks to prolong its military presence in the oil-rich country and pave the way for a potential US strike on Iran", it never said from where....
"And the U.S. is a democracy between corporate interests and powerful lobbies such as the Zionist oriented AIPAC and Christians United for Israel, Mojo..."
Arabs can have powerful lobbies too, Marion, and they do. AIPAC does have too much influence, imo, and the US media has written about it. Things are changing in the US, and it's happening non violently - Americans don't hang people for slamming the US govt. We aren't jailed for speaking the truth.
In Iran, the people cannot complain about the govt hanging gay people. The Iranian people cannot hold the govt accountable for this: http://iraqimojo.blogspot.com/20...s-are-
evil.html
Iranians cannot protest against this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5217424.stm
Iran is not a democracy. Comparing Iranian govt to American govt is kinda laughable.
Although some Salafists in Lebanon are opposed to this:
Hezbollah, Salafists sign unity accord
"Lebanon's Shia Hezbollah and Sunni Salafist groups have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at defusing tension in the country.
The deal was inked by Sheikh Ibrahim Amin Al-Sayyed, head of the Hazebollah Political Council and Sheikh Hassan al-Chahhal from the Salafist side at the Safir Metropolitan Hotel in Beirut on Monday.
According to Sheikh Shahhal, the signing of the agreement was approved by the Future Movement, the main Lebanese Sunni party.
The accord prohibits any Muslim group from attacking fellow Muslims and advises against incitements which serve the purpose of enemies seeking to foment discord among different Muslim sects.
Both groups pledged to help preserve natioal unity and defend each other against third party assaults."
http://www.presstv.ir/
detail.asp...ionid=351020203
Marion, some Iraqi bloggers - many Iraqis - believe that Iran has been responsible for terrorist attacks in Iraq. What do you think of these Iraqis?
Sorry Marion, I do not completely trust the Iranian government. I dislike Khomeinism.
"Hezbollah, Salafists sign unity accord"
Can't you just picture Nasrullah and bin Laden in the same room? You're the infidel! No,YOU'RE the infidel! Of course,they'd have to bitch slap each other when emphasizing the infidel part. Then,they can wink,hug and agree that THEY'RE the infidels! I think I'll call SNL.
While their is a food crisis going on in Ethiopia:
Ethiopia faces a new food crisis
"Between a drought and the global rise in food prices, starvation threatens many in the Horn of Africa nation. The government says the emergency is occurring even as agriculture flourishes...."
http://www.latimes.com/news/
nati...0,1993870.story
The Ethiopian government continues their military invasion and occupation of their next door neighbor Somalia in coordination with the U.S. that has been killing innocent civilians caught in the cross fire:
Ethiopian mortar shells kill 28 civilians
"At least 28 civilians have been killed in Mogadishu after Ethiopian forces began shelling the city stadium and the surrounding districts.
Towfiikh, Gupta, Laba Dhagah, Ali Kamiin, and Hamar Bile were engulfed in heavy fighting as the Ethiopian soldiers used mortar shell against Somali insurgents who were said to bring in more than 3000 forces.
About 29 houses were flattened by heavy mortar shells, reported Press TV correspondent from Mogadishu.
Meanwhile, the Bakara Market which is usually the site of bloody fighting was targeted by 13 Ethiopian shells, with no injuries or damages reported so far.
In another development, heavy clashes in Harayale District between government-backed militia men and the Somali insurgents claimed 21 lives including 6 civilians.
The fighting began when the government-affiliated militia men began looting the houses in the area.
A UN-sponsored peace deal signed between the Somali government and a number of opposition figures in Djibouti has apparently failed to reduce the level of violence in Mogadishu."
http://www.presstv.ir/
detail.asp...ionid=351020501
You know Mojo, the U.S. is a preferable Democracy to Iran as far as the freedom to voice your opinion and speak out against the government, I won't deny that...
But if you were to ask the people of the world whose foreign policy they would prefer, the U.S.'s foreign policy of interventionism, preemptive attacks, and invasions based on their interests, or Iran's foreign policy of of dealing with other countries according to their mutual interests; I think that most countries in the world would prefer Iran's foreign policies over the U.S.'s foreign policies ...
"or Iran's foreign policy of of dealing with other countries according to their mutual interests; I think that most countries in the world would prefer Iran's foreign policies over the U.S.'s foreign policies ..."
Perfect example of why Craig and I think you're a crackhead Marion. Hezbollah isn't in Lebanon's best interest. Sadrists aren't in Iraq's best interest. Iran could give a flying phuck about anyone's interest besides Khameini and associates.
For my Muslim and my Arab brothers and sisters: a smart video about Sadr's hypocrisy, Arab hypocrisy, Iraqi orphans and US troops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u...h?
v=uE0qSuMIpqo
...or Iran's foreign policy of of dealing with other countries according to their mutual interests; I think that most countries in the world would prefer Iran's foreign policies over the U.S.'s foreign policies ... Marion
So I take this to mean that the US should deal with countries like KSA, despite their rather oppressive government?
Btw, have you read "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi, Marion? I'm almost finished with it. You might find it rather interesting. Or if you have read it, what did you think?
"even if these prisoners just happen to be mass murdering jihadi phuckheads"
Okay,THAT was funny.
I've linked to clips of Persepolis on Youtube in an effort to show Marion what Iranian women are suffering through Lynnette. I don't remember Marion being very impressed.
"In dealing with Musharraf, Sharif seems bent on revenge, calling for the former leader to be tried for treason for imposing emergency rule and ousting the judges — a charge punishable by death.
On Tuesday, an aide to Musharraf said he planned to travel to Saudi Arabia on a religious pilgrimage and then return. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not Musharraf's official spokesman.
He said Musharraf also wanted to visit his brother, who lives in the United States."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
20080...QZPTafwoR1n.3QA
Yeah,I'm sure he'll hurry back...LOL.
"Sorry Marion, I do not completely trust the Iranian government. I dislike Khomeinism."--
Iraqi Mojo
Who ever said you should completely trust the Iranian government Mojo?
And the same goes for the U.S. government which doesn't exactly have a good foreign policy track record concerning the Middle East region.
"Marion, some Iraqi bloggers - many Iraqis - believe that Iran has been responsible for terrorist attacks in Iraq. What do you think of these Iraqis?"--Iraqi Mojo
Are you talking about the pro-Baathist and pro-U.S. occupation Iraqis Mojo?
And at the same time many Iraqi bloggers - many Iraqis also happen to think that the U.S. has been responsible for terrorist attacks in Iraq.
So how can we get to the truth of the matter?
While the U.S. continues to occupy Iraq it is very difficult to tell who is responsible for all of the terrorist attacks in Iraq.
The best way to get to the truth of the matter is through the process of elimination. Removing one possible source, the occupation to see if that helps, and if not we can than focus on the other possible sources...
++
just popping in with some more good news for Iraq..
bad news for Iranian puppet Sadr..
==
++
The al-Ameriki Tribe
The big news on the streets today is that the people of Baqubah are generally ecstatic, although many hold in reserve a serious concern that we will abandon them again. For many Iraqis, we have morphed from being invaders to occupiers to members of a tribe. I call it the "al Ameriki tribe,"
or "tribe America."
I've seen this kind of progression in Mosul, out in Anbar and other places, and when I ask our military leaders if they have sensed any shift, many have said, yes, they too sense that Iraqis view us differently. In the context of sectarian and tribal strife, we are the tribe that people can--more or less and with giant caveats--rely on.
Most Iraqis I talk with acknowledge that if it was ever about the oil, it's not now. Not mostly anyway. It clearly would have been cheaper just to buy the oil or invade somewhere easier that has more. Similarly, most Iraqis seem now to realize that we really don't want to stay here, and that many of us can't wait to get back home. They realize that we are not resolved to stay, but are impatient to drive down to Kuwait and sail away. And when they consider the Americans who actually deal with Iraqis every day, the Iraqis can no longer deny that we really do want them to succeed. But we want them to succeed without us. We want to see their streets are clean and safe, their grass is green, and their birds are singing. We want to see that on television. Not in person. We don't want to be here. We tell them that every day. It finally has settled in that we are telling the truth.
Now that all those realizations and more have settled in, the dynamics here are changing in palpable ways.]
btw: the COTW are considered "welcomed guests" by the Iraqi Government..
==
++
via MNF
Leaders in Tarmiyah Reaffirm Their
Stand Against Extremists, Militants
excerpt:
[“The people of Tarmiyah, after four years of torture, kidnappings and public slaughters, just really want to live out their lives in peace,” said Otu, an Arabic interpreter for Coaliton forces. “They can’t tolerate terrorist activity anymore and face the risk of publicly condemning al-Qaida.”
Those attending said the public denunciation of the cowardly terrorist attacks would send a clear message that Tarmiyah and other regions throughout the nation are fed up with the killing of their loved ones.
“This oath will show the media savvy al-Qieda operatives a crystal clear picture that there is no terrorist sanctuary in Tarmiyah, and the people will not bend to terrorists any longer,” said Boccardi. “The significance of this event was the reaffirmation of the locals to stand up against terrorism. Senior leaders of tribes, local governments and Iraqi security forces all stood up and said: ‘We will not fear, and we’ll stand up against al-Qaida.’”]
Godspeed Iraq/is!! 
==
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada's Newfoundland province will sign a final deal Wednesday with a consortium led by US giant Chevron to develop its fourth offshore oil field, worth billions of dollars, the government said Tuesday.
The final agreement will come one year after Williams prodded oil companies in a fierce public battle to cough up a bigger share of revenues from the project; the firms eventually agreed to give Newfoundland a 4.9-percent stake in the field for 110 million dollars,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
2008...5yOyX0Bxh1H2ocA
Didn't I say that war was for oil? HA!
++
Saudi Columnist
A Nuclear Iran is Like a Nuclear Bin Laden
"'One cannot avoid the inevitable' - this adage came to mind when I read the pronouncement by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Mohammad 'Ali Ja'fari, who said: 'My country is easily capable of closing the Straits of Hormuz, the main passageway for oil freighters, if the country is attacked due to its nuclear program.'
"In my estimation, confronting this country, which is trying to gain the time necessary to acquire nuclear weapons, is unavoidable. The possession of nuclear weapons by a state like Iran, which is ideological to the core, is more or less like Osama bin Laden having a nuclear bomb. They are two of a kind. Despite the difference in their turbans and in their religious beliefs, the end result is the same.
"Perhaps it is our bad luck that we [i.e. Saudi Arabia] and the Gulf states would be the first to suffer from a military confrontation with Iran and from its response, and the problem would become even more grave if Iran succeeded in closing the Straits of Hormuz, as the IRGC commander threatened. But our situation with Iran is like that of the sick man who refuses to have his illness treated with cauterization. Yes, the pain of the burning is horrible, but this malady can only be treated through this military confrontation -cauterization.
"History has taught us that ideological countries only pay heed to victory over their ideology… They never accept any halfway situation, even when they find themselves on the brink of disaster."]
WoW..
Egypt: Iran should reassure West on nuclear issue
[Speaking after a meeting between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdallah in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, spokesman Suleiman Awwad defended Iran's right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes but said the Islamic Republic should give more assurances to the international community.
Iran has refused to comply with repeated international demands to halt nuclear enrichment, a process that can be used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons or nuclear energy.
"Iran should not present on a silver platter the justifications and the pretexts for those who want to drag the region down a dangerous slope," he said, noting the case of Saddam Hussein who didn't adequately refute claims over Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.
"Iran owes the international community transparency and flexibility," he said. "The Gulf is extremely worried and the Middle East is watching the standoff."]
glad to hear neighboring countries speaking out.. (thumbsup)
==
Me: "Marion, some Iraqi bloggers - many Iraqis - believe that Iran has been responsible for terrorist attacks in Iraq. What do you think of these Iraqis?"--Iraqi Mojo
Marion: "Are you talking about the pro-Baathist and pro-U.S. occupation Iraqis Mojo?"
I was thinking of Abbas Hawazin. See this: http://abbashawazin.blogspot.com...tle-
attack.html
re: bg | 08.20.08 - 1:15 am | 
excerpt:
[The horrific scene at this southwestern Baghdad mosque is what officials say was the work of a Shiite militia known as the Mehdi Army. Residents
who live near the mosque say they could hear the victims' screams.]
Iraqi Mojo | Homepage | 08.19.08 - 5:16 pm |
Sadr's Ministry..
==
"So how can we get to the truth of the matter?"
For some reason I trust the US more than Iran, more than our Arab "brothers"
Thanks bg for all the info!
I was thinking of Abbas Hawazin.
But he is a totally non-sectarian atheist Sunni Arab Iraqi who has completely valid and non-sectarian reasons for disliking Iraqi Kurds and Shiites, Mojo. How could this be?
"But if you were to ask the people of the world whose foreign policy they would prefer, the U.S.'s foreign policy of interventionism, preemptive attacks, and invasions based on their interests, or Iran's foreign policy of of dealing with other countries according to their mutual interests; I think that most countries in the world would prefer Iran's foreign policies over the U.S.'s foreign policies ..." -Marion
If you ask free people in the world, and not just the tyrant leaders representing countries, I think you would find the opposite. America's successful interventionism leads to more democracy, more prosperity and more popularity. Just ask anyone from a country liberated by American interventionism. Go to France, Germany, Poland, Japan or South Korea and ask 100 people. "Do you prefer America's foreign policy or Iran's potential nuclear weapons program"?
I do this when I go to France. Their answers would surprise any American who thinks all French hate the U.S.
"While the U.S. continues to occupy Iraq it is very difficult to tell who is responsible for all of the terrorist attacks in Iraq." -Marion
Yeah, sooooo difficult!
It's like Tower 7. How did that thing fall?
LOL K!
Marion might not find it so funny, Maury.
Why do I feel a "So why do you ask how did Tower 7 fall resorting to using hyperbolic accusations to argue your points rather than using logic to support your Neocon/Zionist illegal preemptive wars and occupations foreign policy which I disagree with" coming on?
Marion, read this:
'Obeidi was a man who believed in the right to "resist the occupation," he told me a few days before he was killed. But he said he realized that there were two occupations in Iraq. One by the U.S. and another by Iran, he said. He believed, as many Iraqis do, that Shiite Iran gives money to al Qaida in Iraq, a Sunni extremist groups that consider Shiite unbelievers, to cause unrest in Iraq.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," he said. "We put our hands with the American hands to get rid of these people."
Now the U.S. backed militias are targets of al Qaida in Iraq and al Obeidi believed they were also targeted by Iran.'
http://washingtonbureau.typepad....id-the-
pri.html
Marion, have you read other Iraqi blogs?
Al Qaeda in Iran?
http://www.google.com/search?
q=a...FA_enUS245US245
From Mojo's link...
"The senior official also told TIME that the report will note that Iranian officials approached the al-Qaeda leadership after the bombing of the USS Cole and proposed a collaborative relationship in future attacks on the U.S., but the offer was turned down by bin Laden because he did not want to alienate his supporters in Saudi Arabia."
Our bad luck. Saudi Arabia might be off limits,but we'd have fried Khameini's ass if he'd been in on 9/11.
"A U.S. indictment of bin Laden filed in 1998 for the bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa said al-Qaeda "forged alliances . . . with the government of Iran and its associated terrorist group Hezbollah for the purpose of working together against their perceived common enemies in the West"
We KNEW Iran was up to its eyeballs in embassy bombings and did NOTHING? Man,we were just begging for 9/11.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/
...,664967,00.html
I think I have been naive about Iran the last few years. I never thought Iran would support Al Qaeda.
It made more sense back in 2000 Mojo. Al Qaeda hadn't declared jihad on Shiites,and Khameini and Asswad supported all the other terrorist groups in the Mideast. It would be discrimination not to support Al Qaeda. Politically incorrect....LOL.
Then again,Nasrullah is smooching on Al Qaeda in Lebanon. I guess Khameini is still up to his old tricks.
"The Lebanon "understanding" between some Salafis and Hezbollah is the first open joint declaration between followers of Tehran's jihadism and the followers of Salafist jihadism. It is a "premiere" with significant consequences."
http://counterterrorismblog.org/
...t_with_sala.php
Gunmen ambush electoral workers in southern Iraq
Official resisting extremists one of two people killed
By Sameer N. Yacoub
Associated Press / August 19, 2008
BAGHDAD - Masked gunmen ambushed a bus carrying election workers in southern Iraq yesterday, killing two of them, including an official known for resisting interference by Shi'ite religious extremists, authorities said.
Also yesterday, a suicide car bomber blasted a police checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi, killing seven policemen, an official said.
The two incidents in widely separated parts of the country illustrate the dangers still facing Iraq despite a sharp decline in violence over the past year.
The attack on the bus occurred when gunmen opened fire as their car passed it in the Abu al-Khasib area south of Basra, police and election officials said. A third election employee was wounded.
The dead included the head of a local government committee preparing for provincial elections, Maath Wahab, and his deputy, Jassim Mohammed, according to Hazim al-Rubaie, director of the Basra electoral committee.
No group claimed responsibility and no arrests have been made. But local officials said Wahab was known for resisting interference in the electoral process by Shi'ite religious extremists.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared for their own safety.
Provincial elections are expected late this year and will probably redistribute power among Iraq's political and ethnic groups. No date has been set, with legislation stalled in the national parliament, but preparations have begun nationwide.
Control of polling places could enable parties to manipulate the results.
Voters will select members of the councils in Iraq's 18 provinces. Under the 2005 constitution, those councils will wield considerable power over security and resources, including Basra's vast oil wealth.
Basra had been under the control of rival Shi'ite militias until Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched a military operation in March that wrested control from the gunmen.
http://www.boston.com/news/world..._southern_iraq/
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- "There are the bloodstains on the wall, and here it is dried on the floor," Abu Muhanad said as he walked through a torture chamber in a Baghdad mosque where more than two dozen bodies have been found.
The horrific scene at this southwestern Baghdad mosque is what officials say was the work of a Shiite militia known as the Mehdi Army. Residents who live near the mosque say they could hear the victims' screams.
The militia had been in control of the mosque, called Adib al-Jumaili, from at least January 2007 until May of this year. Residents say coalition forces weren't in the region and the torture and killings went unchecked.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/
me...=rss_topstories
Just more hewoic actions by Bruno's hewoic resistance...
haloscan is screwed up AGAIN. I'm thinking about switching to blogger comments.
"Perfect example of why Craig and I think you're a crackhead Marion. Hezbollah isn't in Lebanon's best interest. Sadrists aren't in Iraq's best interest. Iran could give a flying phuck about anyone's interest besides Khameini and associates."--Maury
In other words Hezbollah is not in the U.S and Israel's interests in Lebanon, Sadrists are not in the U.S. interests in Iraq, and Iran is not in the U.S./Israel's interests in the region....
I would say that they help balance out U.S./Israel's over reaching interests in the region...
"Then again,Nasrullah is smooching on Al Qaeda in Lebanon. I guess Khameini is still up to his old tricks.
"The Lebanon "understanding" between some Salafis and Hezbollah is the first open joint declaration between followers of Tehran's jihadism and the followers of Salafist jihadism. It is a "premiere" with significant consequences."
http://counterterrorismblog.org/...g.org/\"--
Maury
Maury did you know that Walid Fares the so-called "Terrorism Expert" was a former comander of the Lebanese Forces militia, which worked with Israel in Lebanon?
And coincidentally he is also pro-Neocon...
So Mojo you believe traders who have a record of working for the enemy of their own countries...? Walid Fares is a Lebanese trader who was once armed by Israel against his own Lebanese people...
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/20...omander-
of.html
Marion, we must fight the Zionist and US interest before they make us slaves with their ‘Jewish’ and ‘Mason’ capitalism.
Democracy and human liberty is a Jewish conspiracy.
Marion, who perpetrated the 9-11 attacks on America?
who's interest do the Sadrists fight for, Marion? God?
"The senior official also told TIME that the report will note that Iranian officials approached the al-Qaeda leadership after the bombing of the USS Cole and proposed a collaborative relationship in future attacks on the U.S., but the offer was turned down by bin Laden because he did not want to alienate his supporters in Saudi Arabia."
Our bad luck. Saudi Arabia might be off limits,but we'd have fried Khameini's ass if he'd been in on 9/11.
"A U.S. indictment of bin Laden filed in 1998 for the bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa said al-Qaeda "forged alliances . . . with the government of Iran and its associated terrorist group Hezbollah for the purpose of working together against their perceived common enemies in the West"
We KNEW Iran was up to its eyeballs in embassy bombings and did NOTHING? Man,we were just begging for 9/11.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/ ...,664967,00.html"--Maury
It appears that this link dated back in 2004, after the successful illegal preemptive attack on Iraq based on false evidence, was focusing on preparing for an illegal attack on Iran that was equally based on false evidence...
July 16, 2007
Al Qaeda in Iran
By Noah Pollak
It is long past time that one important piece of fantastical rubbish be finally sent on its way: this is the idea that Islamists maintain some kind of fastidious ethnic and theological separatism when it comes to who they're willing to work with on killing people. The co-option of Hamas and Islamic Jihad (Sunni Arab) by Iran (Shia Persian) is one piece of reality that intrudes on this comforting notion; so is the Iran-Syria alliance, along with the reality of Iranian support for both Shia and Sunni insurgents in Iraq.
A final nail in the coffin comes today from Eli Lake, the New York Sun's talented national security reporter (and good friend). Eli's scoop is about the National Intelligence Estimate, an unclassified summary of which will be released today, but whose classified final working draft concludes that:
One of two known Al Qaeda leadership councils meets regularly in eastern Iran, where the American intelligence community believes dozens of senior Al Qaeda leaders have reconstituted a good part of the terror conglomerate's senior leadership structure.
Iranian hospitality toward Al Qaeda is not a new story -- but what is new is the apparent fact that one of two Qaeda leadership councils meets in Iran, and with the complicity of the regime. As Eli notes:
An intelligence official sympathetic to the view that it is a matter of Iranian policy to cooperate with Al Qaeda disputed the CIA and State Department view that the Quds Force is operating as a rogue force. "It is just impossible to believe that what the Quds Force does with Al Qaeda does not represent a decision of the government," the official, who asked not to be identified, said. "It's a bit like saying the directorate of operations for the CIA is not really carrying out U.S. policy."
Stories like these reinforce another very basic idea: terrorism has a return address.
http://www.michaeltotten.com/arc...ves/ 001492.html
Pro-Neocon Walid Fares's connections:
"Saqr was shuttled around New York by an Israeli named Sir Moshe Barr Nea. Barr-Nea, once editor of New YorkÕs Jewish Post, identifies himself as International Coordinator of United Captive Nations-Free Middle East International, and a member of the Conference of National Jewish Organizations (CONJO). Walid Phares, President of the Miami-based World Lebanese Organization attended the meetings with Saqr. He describes Barr-Nea as "a pro-Zionist activist, very pro-Israel, very pro-Lebanese Christian."
"In New York [Saqr] met with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and then he met with another coalition of mostly nationalist Jewish organizations, to the right."
Barr-Nea brought Saqr and "Colonel" Sharbel Baraket, another Lebanese militiaman to the New York office of Human Rights Watch. They urged the rights group to intervene in what Barr-Nea characterized as an impending "extermination" of "about 80,000...Christians, men, women, and children, in South Lebanon" should the Israeli army withdraw, according to Human Rights Watch.
Baraket is the former deputy commander of the Southern Lebanese Army (IsraelÕs proxy militia in the area of South Lebanon it illegally occupies). The Independent of London reported in 1998 that Baraket was once the second-in-command of the "ruthless Lebanese renegade Major Saad Haddad, whose militiamen, operating in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon, murdered two Irish UN soldiers in April 1980." (
.."
http://www.iviews.com/articles/A...?ref=IV9909-
635
Marion and Bruno, our two little local Nazi’s are getting out of hand. Mojo, your blog is starting to look like a Nazi recruiting site being Marion spews her putrid hate filled hart here hour after hour each and every day.
Marion, I guess you don't want to share your thoughts about how Khomeini worked closely with the west several times in the past.
Iran went out of its way to encourage the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In fact the CIA agents that found evidence of WMD were in many (maybe even most) cases fed that data by Iranian agents or allies. The reason the CIA hated Ahmed Chalabi and his INC so much is that they thought they were Iranian assets.
Iran helped overthrow the Taliban in 2001, as well as select Karzai and Afghanistan's government in Bonn 2001. Iran again worked closely with the US (through the INC, Chalabi's Sadrist allies, Dawa, Badr, SCIRI, Talabani) to overthrow Saddam in 2003 and build the new Iraqi order that followed the fall of Saddam.
Were Khomeini and his senior Quom clerical allies right to help the Shah overthrow Mossedegh in 1953? Was Khomeini right to accept western help in overthrowing the Shah in 1979? Marion is silent on these questions.
Was Khomeini correct to accept substantial Israeli help 1980-1988 to fight Saddam? How much does Iran owe Israel for that help?
Good questions, Anand.
Al-Qaeda linked to operations from Iran
By Stephen Fidler in London
Published: July 6 2007 22:04
Evidence that Iranian territory is being used as a base by al-Qaeda to help in terrorist operations in Iraq and elsewhere is growing, say western officials.
It is not clear how much the al-Qaeda operation, described by one official as a money and communications hub, is being tolerated or encouraged by the Iranian government, they said.
The group’s operatives, who link the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan with their disciples in Iraq, the Levant and North Africa, move with relative freedom in the country, they said.
The officials said the creation of some kind of al-Qaeda hub in Iran appears to be separate from the group of seven senior al-Qaeda figures, including Saad bin Laden, son of the group’s figurehead, that Iran is said to have detained since 2002.
A senior US official said the information had produced different assessments. “The most conservative, cautious intelligence assessment is that [the Iranian authorities] are turning a blind eye. But there are a lot of doubts about that,” he said.
“They are benefiting from the mayhem that AQ is carrying out. They don’t have to deal with al-Qaeda to benefit.”
Yet while Tehran might be content with the pressure al-Qaeda is placing on the US occupation in Iraq, Iran, as a state based on Shia Islam surrounded by mainly Sunni countries, has long been wary of al-Qaeda’s fierce brand of Sunni Islam.
A former Iranian official said Iran feared al-Qaeda and did not want to distract it from Iraq, dismissing any idea that Iran was supplying it with weapons. “Our relationship with al-Qaeda, at an intelligence level, can be said to be successful as long as they are at a distance,” he said.
Analysts say several Sunni extremist groups, some presumed linked to al-Qaeda and from various ethnic groups including Kurds, are in Iran. US-led military action in Iraq has led some to seek refuge over the border.
In the past, Tehran has also been a target of al-Qaeda attacks. A militant Sunni group based in Pakistan and possibly linked to al-Qaeda was suspected of the 1994 bombing of the shrine of the seventh Shia Imam, Reza, in Mashhad, killing 26 people.
Iran has also shown growing concern over Jundullah, a radical Sunni group from the restive south-east area of Balucestan that has carried out violent attacks in recent years.
Three years ago, Pakistani officials said members of al-Qaeda had begun leaving Pakistan’s border region close to Afghanistan and heading for Iraq. Of the routes used, going overland via Iran was the easiest. That traffic might have increased as links between al-Qaeda and its Iraq offshoot intensify.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
9cc4d5...0b5df10621.html
Who believes Neocons anymore except Neocons and their obvious supporters?
I used to believe that no way Iran would even think of supporting the Al Qaeda scum of earth. I'm not so sure anymore.
anand,
What do the allegations that Iran allegedly worked with the U.S. and Israel have to do with Mojo and others allegations that Iran has also allegedly been working with AlQaeda...? Other than trying to confuse the issues...
Maybe you should be pointing these allegations out to pro-Baathist Layla Anwar who would eat them right up, instead of me....
And from here on in could you please list all of your sources of information when you make claims so that I can decide for myself the truth of your allegations?
Most of your sources of information wouldn't be Neocon or pro-Neocon would they..?
"I used to believe that no way Iran would even think of supporting the Al Qaeda scum of earth. I'm not so sure anymore."--Iraqi Mojo
The only thing you are sure of is the Neocon orchestrated U.S. occupation of Iraq Mojo...LOL!
Do the Neocons pay you well Mojo?
I wish the neocons would pay me well!
But they probably don't like my posts about Palestine, sadly.
"I wish the neocons would pay me well!"--Mojo
So they don't pay you well, that is too bad since you are so loyal to them in regards to their orchestrated plans for Iraq and Iran ...
”Who believes Neocons anymore except Neocons and their obvious supporters?”
Marion”
God your brilliant.
Well at least you made a bunch of pro-Neocon friends with your pro-Neocon blog Mojo, so that you won't be lonely supporting the illegal war on Iraq...
Does your father bother to read from your blog, and have you introduced any of your pro-Neocon friends to him and the rest of your family?
I wonder how much the neocons would pay me if I stop supporting an independent contiguous Palestinian state based on UNSCR 242.
Marion, are you afraid the US will strike Iran? If the US does strike Iran, I hope they kill all the bad guys, all the guys who hang gay Iranians. I'd like to see all the Iranians who were involved in the murder of 16 year old Atefeh Sahaaleh arrested and jailed. That I would definitely support.
My father doesn't read my blog unless I send him a link to a specific post, and no I haven't introduced any of my pro-neocon friends to him, lol!
Marion, do you have a daughter?
I had no idea some people would consider this pro-neocon: http://iraqimojo.blogspot.com/20...pation-
101.html
Maury,
I've linked to clips of Persepolis on Youtube in an effort to show Marion what Iranian women are suffering through Lynnette. I don't remember Marion being very impressed.
Why am I not surprised? I've not seen the movie, yet. Don't know if I will or not. The movie usually doesn't live up to the book.
Ms. Satrapi's account of life in Iran matches quite closely others I've read. Sad. I can't imagine being sent to live in a foreign country at such a young age, with the possibility of not seeing your parents for years.
Mojo,
It seems that Haloscan ate my Sadr link. But I see BG has posted it as well. (Thanks BG)
I don't know, there are pros and cons to both blogger and haloscan. I do like haloscan's smiley capability. 
Marion, I did give you a bunch of sources:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...9784345/
#301255
Many of the sources are senior Iranian regime leaders. You seem to be the only person surprised by any of this.
I don't tell Layla Anwar these things because she is anti Shia and pro Saddam. I disagree with with Layla. I am pro Shia, pro Kurd, and actually like Iraqis and Iranians. I don't support bombing Iran. (I think Mojo agrees with me on this.)
I don't support bombing Iran either. I do support killing or arresting the backward clerics who order the murder of gay Iranians and 16 year old victims of rape.
Do the Neocons pay you well Mojo? Marion
Does Iran pay you well, Marion?
I didn't know I could make many from my blog. Who do I call?
Marion, do you approve of this?
News > January 4, 2006
Irans Anti-Gay Pogrom
American gay rights groups are ignoring systematic persecution in the Islamic Republic
By Doug Ireland
The Islamic Republic of Iran—under the new government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—is engaged in a major anti-homosexual pogrom targeting gays and gay sex. This campaign includes Internet entrapment, blackmail to force arrested gays to inform on others, torture and executions of those found guilty of engaging in “homosexual acts.”
Homosexual acts have been considered a capital crime in Iran since the 1979 revolution that brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power. Iranians found guilty of gay lovemaking are given a choice of four death styles: being hanged, stoned, halved by a sword or dropped from the highest perch. According to Article 152 of Iran’s penal law, if two men not related by blood are found naked under one cover without good reason, both will be punished at a judge’s discretion.
Iran’s crackdown on gays drew worldwide protests (except in the United States) after the hanging for “homosexual acts” of two teenagers—one 18, the other believed to be 16 or 17—on July 19 in the city of Mashad. Charges against the two teens included the alleged rape of another youth. But three independent gay sources inside Mashad told Afdhere Jama, editor of Huriyah (an Internet zine for gay Muslims), that the teens were well known in the city’s underground gay community as lovers who lived together, and that the rape charge was fabricated. The editors of an underground Persian-language zine in Iran (who requested anonymity out of fear) also confirm that their own Mashad sources said that the rape charge was trumped up—a view now generally accepted. In any case, the hangings were illegal under international law because Iran is a signatory to two treaties that forbid executing minors. Since then, there have been reports of at least a dozen more gay victims who have been executed.
“Under Islamic law, which has been adopted by Iran’s legal system, it takes four witnesses to prove an act of homosexuality, which is a capital crime. That’s why it’s much easier for the Islamic government to invent other criminal charges against gay people to get rid of them,” Jama told me. The Iranian gay zine’s editors said the same, urging Westerners to be “very careful” before accepting such criminal charges at face value, as they are “most likely false.”
http://www.inthesetimes.com/arti...m/article/2458/
Mojo, I support a fair trial and a probable sentence of life imprisonment for those Iranian clerics. I think killing should be avoided wherever possible. {I suspect you agree with this.} Marion, do you agree?
Yeah maybe jailing them would be worse for them than killing them.
Many Iraqis argued they should have kept Saddam alive, in an Iraqi jail for the rest of his life.
An article of interest to Marion, no doubt:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world...ast/
7571984.stm
Lebanon PM visits Iraq for talks
Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora
Lebanon's prime minister has met his Iraqi counterpart in the first visit to Baghdad by a Lebanese leader since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
It seems Syria and Hezbollah(Iran) have sent their Lebanese puppet to Iraq to talk to the American puppet Maliki. What do you think of that, Marion? Does this mean you have to change your opinion about the GoI now? :P
Cheeze Wiz Marion and bruno....
I have had some bad days in my
life...
You 2 really need to get out
and have a little fun...Get out
and see the sun
If i lived with"dooms day""everyone
is bad"all day and night like ya
do,i could be there....But I Ain't!!
It takes more to be "negative"...
which ya are......
Lynnette,
the convention should be interesting..
Lets hope the protestors don't
destroy
Mojo,
keep your blog going...like
i said before,i enjoy reading it!
Andrea,
Lets hope the protestors don't
destroy
Sounds like they have been plotting hot and heavy to get their licks in (they already started with the graffiti). Hope they've got all the "hatches battened down" in the Cities.
the convention should be interesting..
Yup. Especially for those people renting out their houses...
Thanks for your warm comments Andrea. 
You bring a good light hearted laugh.
Craig, Maliki lead the Dawa party in Syria in the anti-Saddam resistance. He worked closely with Hezbollah and Iran's syrian allies in this effort. He and Nasrallah are long time friends and allies.
I think there are close similarities between the interests of America and Lebanese Shia that should be explored. I support negotiations with Hezbollah to see where they go. If they don't go any where, then they don't go anywhere. I don't support unconditional engagement with Hezbollah. America cannot hold itself completely hostage to (legitimate) Israeli concerns.
I also think we should give Iranian civil society $2 billion a year for as long as it takes them to transform Iran into a free plural democracy. We should discourage violence as much as possible, and simultaneously be willing to tactically cooperate with Iran against AQ linked networks, the Taliban and Baathists. But our engagement with Iran should be conditions based as well. We and the world more generally has "MANY" things that the Iranian people and the Iranian government want.
Hezbollah and Iran's actions and responses to us will determine where our engagement with them leads.
Thank you Andrea!
Anand,
Craig, Maliki lead...
That might be of interest to me if I was Iraqi. But, I'm not
I think there are close similarities between the interests of America and Lebanese Shia that should be explored.
I have nothing against Lebanese Shia. But as long as they are represented by an international terror organization, the US should not be "working" with them. That would be every bit as bad as the US working with the Taliban in Afghanistan, anand.
I support negotiations with Hezbollah to see where they go.
For what purpose? To get them to extradite mass murderers, kidnappers, and hijackers to teh US for trial? I would support such negotiations. As long as they were prefaced with an unambiguous denouncement of terrorism by HA. And none of this "military wing" and "political wing" shell game, either.
America cannot hold itself completely hostage to (legitimate) Israeli concerns.
I said earlier I am not Iraqi. I am also not Israeli. It was Israel's foolish and reckless actions in Lebanon in 1982 and 1983 that gave HA the opportunity to come into existence in the first place.
I also think we should give Iranian civil society $2 billion a year for as long as it takes them to transform Iran into a free plural democracy.
Sure. That's a cheap price. How would you suggest going about this? Seems like everyone the US tries to support financially in Iran ends up in Evin prison.
We should discourage violence as much as possible, and simultaneously be willing to tactically cooperate with Iran against AQ linked networks, the Taliban and Baathists.
The old "divide and conquer" strategy, eh? You think they'll fall for it?
But our engagement with Iran should be conditions based as well.
Can you name some of the "conditions" that the IRI has agreed to in the past? Not just with the US, but with any adversary?
We and the world more generally has "MANY" things that the Iranian people and the Iranian government want.
Such as?
Hezbollah and Iran's actions and responses to us will determine where our engagement with them leads.
What evidence do you have that their actions and responses will be any different than they have been in the past? Every time anyone makes a concession to HA or their IRI masters, it is declared to be a divine victory, and the gloating about the weakness of the West begins. Do you think that has changed? If not, do you think it ever will?
By the way, anand, does this sound familiar?
http://www.mhric.org/fdr/chat20.html
The Axis propagandists have tried in various evil ways to destroy our determination and our morale. Failing in that, they are now trying to destroy our confidence in our own allies. They say that the British are finished -- that the Russians and the Chinese are about to quit. Patriotic and sensible Americans will reject these absurdities. And instead of listening to any of this crude propaganda, they will recall some of the things that Nazis and Japanese have said and are still saying about us. Ever since this nation became the arsenal of democracy -- ever since enactment of Lend-Lease -- there has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda.
This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, (and) that Americans have considerable industrial power -- but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight.
From Berlin, Rome and Tokyo we have been described as a nation of weaklings -- "playboys" -- who would hire British soldiers, or Russian soldiers, or Chinese soldiers to do our fighting for us.
Let them repeat that now!
Let them tell that to General MacArthur and his men.
Let them tell that to the sailors who today are hitting hard in the far waters of the Pacific.
Let them tell that to the boys in the Flying Fortresses.
Let them tell that to the Marines!
Lynnette,
I live on the Hopkins and Minnetonka
border..so i is close
Lets hope this does not destoy
"MN NICE"...What i grew up with...
and our police do not have work
tripple time...
This city does not need more since
the brigde collaspe....
Thanks Anand,
Sometimes you have got to smile and
it has not been easy for me....
and thanks!!!
.
Your Welcome Mojo!!!!
Sometimes when i get bummbed
or stessed. i Listen to"A Hard
Days Night".....CD......OR
watch the video....
These little 2 trolls are
laughable....
On American empire
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/per...k/
m9T96ZU74R9W3
On American empire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L...h?
v=LgthakFtZQY
What they DO teach in schools!
The Limits of Power: Andrew Bacevich on the End of American Exceptionalism
Andrew Bacevich is a conservative historian who spent twenty-three years serving in the US Army. He also lost his son in Iraq last year. In a new book titled The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, Bacevich argues that although many in this country are paying a heavy price for US domestic and foreign policy decisions, millions of Americans simply continue to shop, spend and satisfy their appetite for cheap oil, credit and the promise of freedom at home. Bacevich writes, “As the American appetite for freedom has grown, so too has our penchant for empire.”
http://www.democracynow.org/
2008...andrew_bacevich
Humanity’s Greatest Enemy?
That such evil people have control over the United States government and media damns the American public for eternity.
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
The success of the Bush Regime’s propaganda, lies, and deception with gullible and inattentive Americans since 9/11 has made it difficult for intelligent, aware people to be optimistic about the future of the United States. For almost 8 years the US media has served as Ministry of Propaganda for a war criminal regime. Americans incapable of thinking for themselves, reading between the lines, or accessing foreign media on the Internet have been brainwashed.As the Nazi propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, said, it is easy to deceive a people. You just tell them they have been attacked and wave the flag.
It certainly worked with Americans.
http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMAS...MASPAINE/?
p=847
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.
Humanity’s Greatest Enemy?
That such evil people have control over the United States government and media damns the American public for eternity.
Yeah. Right. *yawn*
Xoid, did you watch that video I linked, of Roosevelt's speech before congress the day after Pearl Harbor?
The US was not a superpower, then. And, the US wasn't even the close to being the most powerful country in the world. Two great powers emerged from World War II... the Soviets and the united States. Now the Soviets are gone. And everyone wants the US to be gone too. Well, fine... that will restore the status quo as it was prior to World War II. When everything was golden. Right?
You should be careful what you wish for. The good guys may not win the next time around.