Hey, at least this time it’s not another one of those earmarks for a Republican politician’s “Bridge To Nowhere” — it’s an earmark, courtesy of President Bush, to fund the opening shots to kick off WW-III…
From ABC News:
Bomb Iran? U.S. Requests Bunker-Buster Bombs
White House Bomber Request Leaves Some Wondering if U.S. Is Preparing Action in IranBy JONATHAN KARL
Tucked inside the White House’s $196 billion emergency funding request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is an item that has some people wondering whether the administration is preparing for military action against Iran.
The item: $88 million to modify B-2 stealth bombers so they can carry a newly developed 30,000-pound bomb called the massive ordnance penetrator, or, in military-speak, the MOP.
The MOP is the the military’s largest conventional bomb, a super “bunker-buster” capable of destroying hardened targets deep underground. The one-line explanation for the request said it is in response to “an urgent operational need from theater commanders.”
What urgent need? The Pentagon referred questions on this to Central Command.
ABC News called CENTCOM to ask what the “urgent operational need” is. CENTCOM spokesman Maj. Todd White said he would look into it, but, so far, no answer.
There doesn’t appear to be any potential targets for a bomb like that in Iraq. It could potentially be used on Taliban or al Qaeda hideouts in the caves along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but there would be no need to use a stealth bomber there.
So where would the military use a stealth bomber armed with a 30,000-pound bomb like this? Defense analysts say the most likely target for this bomb would be Iran’s flagship nuclear facility in Natanz, which is both heavily fortified and deeply buried.
“You’d use it on Natanz,” said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. “And you’d use it on a stealth bomber because you want it to be a surprise. And you put in an emergency funding request because you want to bomb quickly.” …
“No proof of any ill intentions”, you say? I might tend to agree if it weren’t for the fact the Bush Administration is, and has been, frothing at the mouth for some time over the notion of heading into Iran, who just ALSO happens to have vast oil fields (coincidence, I know). As was the case in the big Bush Administration “OOPS” known as the civil war in Iraq, the saber rattling is ratcheting up a notch publicly as well; the latest rhetoric out of Washington now escalating to the point where President Bush has us standing alone against the rest of the world again. This time, new “U.S. only” sanctions against Iran’s military are about to be announced — “They’re a bunch of terr’ists“, says President Bush:
U.S. to Impose New Sanctions Targeting Iran’s Military
By Robin Wright
The Bush administration plans to roll out an unprecedented package of unilateral sanctions against Iran today, including the long-awaited designations of its Revolutionary Guard Corps as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and of the elite Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism, according to senior administration officials.
The package, scheduled to be announced jointly by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., marks the first time that the United States has tried to isolate or punish another country’s military. It is the broadest set of punitive measures imposed on Tehran since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy, the officials said.
“This is a very powerful set of measures designed to send a message to Iran that there will be a cost to what they do. We decided on them because we have seen no change in Iranian behavior,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the measures have not yet been announced. “Our diplomacy needs to be stronger and more effective.” …
(Snip!)
“… Administration officials say that they are imposing new sanctions to demonstrate a commitment to diplomacy, even amid increasing rumblings from neoconservatives outside the administration about possible military action.
In a speech Sunday, Vice President Cheney warned Tehran of “serious consequences” if it continues on its present course. “Our country and the entire international community cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its most aggressive ambitions,” he said. …” – The Washington Post
WOO-HOO!!! Diplomacy — Bush-Cheney style — gotta love it, friends!
The last time we saw the Bush-Cheney duo get so fired up over an oil-rich nation, I stood by them for some time, thinking “there MUST be WMD’s… they can’t be lying us into a war just for the Big Oil and Nation Buildin’ Bidness” — BZZT! I think Senator Joe Lieberman and myself were the only libs in the entire U.S. of A. who stood by these dangerous clowns and defended their decision to send our troops into Baghdad; the difference between myself and Mr. Lieberman being the fact that I begun to detect a nauseating STENCH coming out of the White House after so many months of “no WMD’s”, whereas; Mr. Lieberman is STILL drinking the kool-aid. I suppose my support of the mission at that point would have been normal since I was actually serving in the U.S. military at the time, unbeknownst to this blog’s readership. That, coupled with the fact that our troops have already WON the war they were sent into Iraq to win ANYWAY. I’m PROUD of what our military had accomplished in record time, but ashamed of what this President has used them for ever since — pawns for his twisted thirst for Middle Eastern oil.
The moment they handed Saddam Hussein over to the people of Iraq was the moment their jobs were done. They should have been brought back home and congratulated at that point for their swift enforcement of U.N. Article 1441, but THIS oil-hungry President and Vice President have revealed their TRUE intent all along — huge corporate profits, courtesy of their stinking, privatized miltary, nation building, and Big Oil scam — ALL based upon lies. As you can tell, I’ve long since abandoned the President’s “go get Saddam’s WMD’s” bandwagon — and HERE WE GO AGAIN…
Sound familiar? Seriously — are you connecting the dots? How many times are we going to allow these two-bit CROOKS to lie our country and its brave troops into wars for their personal, financial gain? These people are DANGEROUS and should be removed from office, courtesy of a lawful impeachment for their “high crimes and misdemeanors”, yet the so-called “New Democratic Congress” bitches and moans and continues to cave in to the neoconservative, “big bidness” fantasies of President Bush and his Administration. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? What’s REALLY in it for them behind the scenes as it appears more and more likely Her Royal Thighness, Queen Hillary Rodham Clinton, will be the successor to the Throne of the Oval Office.
It sure is lonely these days being an American, isn’t it? We went alone into Iraq and now it appears we are going to be going it alone again into Iran and what in the hell can we do about it? Nothing when it appears we have no less than 535 legislators and other crooks on Capitol Hill who’ve decided to use our military forces to finance their beach houses no matter what they say in public. Follow the votes, THEN follow the money trail, folks. The rest of the world is standing up and saying “no, NO, you guys are jumping to conclusions” and our so-called leaders are ignoring them, just as they did when the rest of the world said the same thing about Saddam Hussein and his so-called intent to attack the United States with WMD’s. And we’re so damned STUPID as a Citizenry, we are GUARANTEED to fall for this one again.
SAD. Please THINK, people… THINK. Here we go again. Impeach the Bush-Cheney Cartel before it’s too late.
***
Thanks to our good friend Kyle of Comments From Left Field for linking in…
Other bloggers air their opinions, courtesy of MemeOrandum: Hullabaloo; Think Progress; Prairie WeatherThe Newshoggers; Shakesville
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10:47 am on October 25th, 2007 1
[...] Mine Pork Barrel Bunker Busters For Iran Tucked Inside Of Bush Administration War Funding Request » This Summary is from an article posted at The Gun Toting Liberal™ — Slightly left of center… [...]
11:31 am on October 25th, 2007 2
[...] From the GTL: “No proof of any ill intentions”, you say? I might tend to agree if it weren’t for the fact th… [...]
5:01 pm on October 25th, 2007 3
Follow the votes, THEN follow the money trail, folks.
exactly…and you’ll find the $ ends up in posh homes protected by the Homestead Act.
6:07 pm on October 25th, 2007 4
Some of the reports found here are likely true, despite the ignorant interpretation. I applaude President Bush’s announcement of the Quds as terrorists! Why? I am in Iraq, and have been subjected to a rocket attack (publicly announced but quickly forgotten) that was masterminded by an Iranian Quds forces specialist. That attack killed 2 soldiers and wounded 16. Would you have this go unanswered? If so, get out of America!! Your troops died providing you with air to breath without being on your knees praying to Allah. If you choose to do so, good for you. But I will not be forced to.
Sometimes extreme measures have to be taken to get things done. If you really still believe this fight is about oil, enlist, strap on armor, and come over here and find out for yourself! Quit letting others do all the thinking for you, and find out what is actually happening in Iraq!!
8:25 am on October 26th, 2007 5
Well Informed yada yada yada-
No, how ’bout you STAY out of america, such typical nonsense.
‘masterminded’? i love how everythings always ‘masterminded’ by our ‘evildoing’ ‘enemies’.
sorry, those troops, whatever story you’re talking about, didn’t die for my air or to save me from Allah.
and, yeah, hold on, let me get my ‘armor’ on, i’ll be right over…
extreme measures, you mean like mercilessly shelling Baghdad on TV, or like this?
http://peacework.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/Abu%
20Ghraib%20Torture-715244.jpg
http://www.sott.net/image/image/709/abu_ghraib.jpg
http://watch.windsofchange.net/pics/I5628-2004May05.JPG
oh, and my all-time fave, makes me sorta wish i enlisted when i was younger:
http://www.paintitblack.com/lyndie.jpg
she’s so cool!!
911 TRUTH
China-Mart: better start up the ‘i support our troops’ bumper magnet factories again…and we’re gunna need lotsa flags too, hold the lead this time.
2:00 pm on October 26th, 2007 6
Since the liberals so completely freaked out over the “phony soldiers” (people who claim to be enlisted but are not enlisted nor ever were enlisted) comments made by Rush Limbaugh, I wonder how they would react if the conservatives started producing their own “phony soldiers” who presented the view that things in Iraq are going great, etc. and that all the people saying things to the contrary are lying or misinformed?
Hmmmm… might be interesting to see.
2:20 pm on October 26th, 2007 7
Hmmm… I wouldn’t call this guy a “phony Soldier”, he just sees things differently from behind a conservative, neocon set of eyeballs, but he’s SERVING and I admire him for that and I respect his differing opinion from my own and according to polls, over 70 percent of my fellow troops who’ve served in the desert… He just obviously didn’t read the whole post or he’d have caught the fact that I did my stint in the desert
3:36 pm on October 26th, 2007 8
I’m not talking about “Well_Informed_in_Iraq “, I’m just talking in general. I know I’m a little jaded but I think it would be a hoot.
I just like to see the look on the dem’s faces when the republicans start using the dem’s own tactics against them.
I would never refer to someone who actually enlisted and served as a phony soldier or a phony anything else.
4:22 pm on October 26th, 2007 9
you must mean like when the swiftboat people came forward to tarnish john kerry’s service record in Vietnam. like that, right?
9:18 pm on October 26th, 2007 10
Exactly DaveM. Paybacks are hell.
10:14 pm on October 26th, 2007 11
none of it really matters though.
it’s all political theatre. it’s the same lesser of two evils popularity contest every 4 years, when you get down to it they’re all corporatists.
i have no respect for the DNC or GOP.
2 fascist criminal syndicates is what they are actually.
and it’s time they get lost.
10:25 pm on October 26th, 2007 12
What DaveM just said.
6:35 pm on October 30th, 2007 13
GWB was a phony soldier. As was Dan Quayle. Dick “deferrment wait, let me make another baby” Cheney- a non-soldier.
The average joe who’s sweating in 120 degree heat so I can type my opinion here and all those who marched before so I can voice my opinion and exercise my free speech ( such as it is without being collated and data-mined by the Telcos) :priceless.