A Phony Crisis -- and a Real One

Dear Brigade,

See PJB's column below. Then if you are still scratching your head
and wondering why the Democrats, including Obama, Hillary, and
Pelosi are beating the war drums just as frantically as the Neocons
in the GOP...

Visit our website at www.buchanan.org to view these outstanding
videos:
1. What is AIPAC?
2. The Israeli Connection to 911

For the Cause, Linda

PS -- Please forward this one to all across the USA.
PPS --
Contact Congress at http://www.congress.org -- No to war
with Iran!

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A Phony Crisis -- and a Real One
by Patrick J. Buchanan
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Last week, the front pages of the world press blossomed with photos
of four Iranian rockets, fired in salvo, heading skyward.

The image was powerful, and the message reinforced by the head of
the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Should Israel attack Iran, said
Ali Shira, Tel Aviv will be "set on fire."

U.S. reaction was swift and bristling. "Rice Says U.S. Will Defend
Gulf," declared the headline over the AP story that began:

"Condoleezza Rice flexed America's muscles in the Middle East
Thursday, forcefully warning Iran the U.S. won't ignore threats and
will take any action necessary to defend friends and interests in
the Persian Gulf. ...

"Rice said Iran's leaders should understand that Washington won't
dismiss
provocations from Tehran and has the ability to counter
them. 'I don't think the Iranians are too confused, either, about
the capability and the power of the United States to do exactly
that.'"

And what were the results of last week's missile crisis in the
Gulf? Tensions rose, strengthening Tehran's embattled Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. And oil prices shot from $136 a barrel to a record $147.

That $11-a-barrel spike alone translates into $25 million a day in
fresh revenue for Ahmadinejad and Co. And as the United States
imports 13 million of the 20 million barrels we daily consume, that
$11 spike in price translates into $143 million more sucked out of
the U.S. economy every day -- into the coffers of Canada, Mexico,
Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and OPEC.

Can we not see who benefits and who pays for this war talk?

Every day the war drums beat, the mullahs get richer and we get
poorer. Which raises the
question. Was this mini-missile crisis
cooked up by the mullahs to rip off Uncle Sam? For by week's end it
appeared the Americans had been had, big-time.

Saturday's New York Times reported that that photo of the four
Iranian missiles fired in salvo had been doctored.

One rocket appears twice in the same photo. The large missile, on
inspection, was not the new Shahab-3b, which has a range of 1,200
miles, but a Shahab-3a, with a range of 900 miles. It is no longer
in production.

The missiles fired with the Shahab-3a turned out to be Scuds, a
short-range missile that is no threat to Israel.

The second day's firing turns out to have been of a single
anti-ship missile. Iranian TV showed one firing from three angles,
making it appear as though three missiles had been fired in
succession.

"The bottom line is that the Iranians are tweaking our noses," said
Charles Vick, an expert on Iran's
missile forces.

Under Secretary of State Nick Burns then splashed cold water on
Iran's alleged crash program to acquire nuclear weapons.

"Iran has not yet perfected (uranium) enrichment," said Burns,
"and, as a direct result of U.N. sanctions, Iran's ability to
procure technology or items of significance to its missile
programs, even dual-use items, is being impaired."

Though the ex-head of Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, says Iran may be one
year away from a bomb -- and will use it on Israel -- according to
the latest U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, Iran shut down its
nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Iran, says Burns, has not yet mastered the technology of converting
uranium gas into fuel for use in power plants, let alone the stuff
of bombs. And even if Iran is one day able to enrich to weapons
grade, she would still have to build and test a nuclear device,
then weaponize it to fit atop a
missile and deploy a missile force.
All in all, says Burns, Iran's progress with uranium enrichment has
been "modest."

There is thus no imminent crisis to justify war on Iran.

Yet, what is Nancy Pelosi's Democratic House doing?

Some 220 members, a majority, have endorsed House Concurrent
Resolution 362. This virtual war resolution "demands" that
President Bush initiate a blockade to halt all Iranian imports of
refined petroleum products and impose "stringent inspection
requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and
cargo entering or departing Iran."

A Democratic House that came to power denouncing the rush to war on
Iraq is about to vote to demand that Bush commit an act of war
against Iran.

The front men for 362 are liberal Gary Ackerman of New York and
conservative Mike Pence of Indiana. But the juice behind them is
that of the Israeli lobby AIPAC, which is marching
in step with
Israel.

Last week, Mossad's chief, Meir Dagan, was here to make the case
for war on Iran. This week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visits Dick
Cheney and maybe Bush. Next week, it is the head of Israel's armed
forces.

Israel and its Fifth Column in this city seek to stampede us into
war with Iran. Bush should rebuff them, and the American people
should tell their congressmen: You vote for 362, we don't vote for
you.

SOURCE:
http://buchanan.org/blog/2008/07/pjb-a-phony-crisis-and-a-real-one/


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