With every other pundit weighing in on the significance of David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker testifying in front of Congress it only makes sense that NPI would put their two cents worth in. In a word it is all about Iran. As always, short of the smoking gun (in this case bombs falling over Persia) it is impossible to predict with certainty something that may or may not happen. The best one can do is to look at the probabilities based on previous events and real time events that are in process. So I'll skip the claptrap and go to sources I have been collecting for some time.
Regarding their testimony there seems to be only three possibilities. One is that they really know what is going on in the region and are lying, two is that they don't have a clue and they actually believe what they are saying, and three is that they are correct. If anyone has any good information to add to the discussion please do. To keep it shorter I'll try to avoid editorial comment.
Please take note of these two upcoming events. Sami Rasouli will be in Wisconsin soon sharing his eyewitness accounts of events on the ground in Iraq. Go see him if you have the chance. He will challenge everything you think you know about Iraq. My brain hurts (and my heart) every time I hear him. He risks his life to bring us the truth (as he sees it) and that is why I think he is a credible witness.
There are still a few places available for the Alternatives to Violence Project workshop that we are doing Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27--just two weeks away. First developed in 1975 in New York State, this all-volunteer effort is now in over 50 states and about 30 countries. Originally created by the Quakers, people of all faiths have contributed to expand the range and versatility of these workshops. This is an intensive, fun-filled opportunity to learn about yourself and others as you participate in exercises. The cost is $25- $45 depending on what you can afford. No one will be turned away. In urban areas the cost is usually $85. Anathoth Community Farm, Luck and Friends for a Non-Violent World, St. Paul, are co-sponsoring this workshop. Jon Shafer, who has 22 years experience in facilitating these workshops, is one of the organizers of this workshop. Please reply as soon as possible to confirm your registration. The cost includes both food and lodging at Anathoth.
April 21-22 LaCrosse. Contact: Guy Wolf; Guy Wolf <
April 23 Winona Senior High School. World Geography Class: 2:20 - 3:30 pm Winona State University. Science Lab Auditorium, 8th and Winona Streets (one block east of Huff Street).- 7:00 pm. Winona Area Peacemakers Contact: Joe Morse; 507.452.8232. Coordinator in Winona: Mike Munson (Phone: 507-454-8094) April 24 Whitewater, UW, 2:15 pm. Lynn. UWM Student Center, 7:00 pm. Milwaukee - Peace Action. April 25 Madison. Campus during the day? WNPJ, Grand Hall Meriter, 8:00 pm April 26 Dodgeville. Lunch event. Kent Mayfield April 27 Janesville, UCC Church, 54 Jackson t., 6:00 pm. Sue Nelson April 28 Fond du Lac. Marian College April 29 Rhinelander. Nicolet Technical College. David Kast April 30 Merrill Middle School Library, 7:00 pm. Paul and Susanna Gilk May 1 Wausau: WPR interview, 5:00 pm. St. Anne Partish, 700 W. Bridge Street "In the years after 9/11, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann worked at the highest levels of the Bush administration as Middle East policy experts for the National Security Council. Mann conducted secret negotiations with Iran. Leverett traveled with Colin Powell and advised Condoleezza Rice. They each played crucial roles in formulating policy for the region leading up to the war in Iraq. But when they left the White House, they left with a growing sense of alarm -- not only was the Bush administration headed straight for war with Iran, it had been set on this course for years. That was what people didn't realize. It was just like Iraq, when the White House was so eager for war it couldn't wait for the UN inspectors to leave. The steps have been many and steady and all in the same direction. And now things are getting much worse. We are getting closer and closer to the tripline, they say."
'And Fallon is in no hurry to call Iran's hand on the nuclear question. He is as patient as the White House is impatient, as methodical as President Bush is mercurial, and simply has, as one aide put it, "other bright ideas about the region." Fallon is even more direct: In a part of the world with "five or six pots boiling over, our nation can't afford to be mesmerized by one problem." And if it comes to war? "Get serious," the admiral says. "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them." '
"The most senior US general in Iraq has said he has evidence that Iran was behind Sunday's bombardment of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. Gen David Petraeus told the BBC he thought Tehran had trained, equipped and funded insurgents who fired the barrage of mortars and rockets."
"Iran, however, will become another Gaza or Iraq under the economic sanctions of the 1990s, with devastating impact on economy and society. That Iran’s complete financial and economic destruction is the goal of US policy was spelled out by the State Department the day before the FinCEN announcement." The US Declaration of War on Iran. Japan Focus. March 22, 2008. John McGlynn.
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"Iran is behind the violence raging in Iraq by providing training to those firing rockets in Baghdad and by not doing enough to rein in lawless gunmen in Basra, the U.S. military charged Wednesday. 'There is no question that the government of Iran has significant influence in Basra, in the province and in southeastern Iraq in general,' said U.S. military spokesman Major General Kevin Bergner." US Military Says Iran Behind Latest Violence In Iraq - AFP. March 26,2008
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"British officials gave warning yesterday that America's commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government.A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran's intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment. In closely watched testimony in Washington next week, Gen Petraeus will state that the Iranian threat has risen as Tehran has supplied and directed attacks by militia fighters against the Iraqi state and its US allies."
'Shiite militia groups backed by Iran are the greatest long-term threat to Iraq's stability, according to Army General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. The so-called ``special groups,'' which are funded, trained and armed by Iran, played a ``destructive role'' in the recent clashes between extremist militias and Iraqi government forces in Basra and Baghdad, Petraeus said. ``Iran has fueled the violence in a particularly damaging way,'' he told the House Armed Services Committee today in Washington, his second day of testimony to lawmakers. ``Unchecked, the `special groups' pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq.'' '
'He also warned, “We should all watch Iranian actions closely in the weeks and months ahead.” They could, he said, “stoke violence." One reason we need to stay in Iraq, he said, is to “resist Iranian encroachment” on Iraqi’s sovereignty—yet another in the shifting rationales for the ongoing, open-ended, and seemingly never-ending occupation. Ambassador Crocker picked up on Petraeus’s claims. “Iran plays a harmful role in Iraq,” he said. “Iran has actively undermined [Iraq] by providing lethal capabilities to the enemies of the Iraqi state.” (The word of the day is “lethal.”)'
"It is through the unlikely medium of U.S. News and World Report that Cassandra speaks. The March 12 issue gives us “6 signs the U.S. may be headed for war in Iran.” The first tip the magazine highlights is the firing of Admiral William Fallon. While Fallon is hardly a “dove,” he apparently – to judge by hints he gave in an interview with Thomas Barnett published in the March issue of Esquire – had argued that an attack on Iran made no military sense. If this really was his judgment, he obviously was not the man to be “CINC [Commander-in-chief] Centcom.” That is, if the Bush administration really is intent on an attack."
"The Saudi Shura council will secretly discuss national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts’ warnings of possible attacks on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactors, media reports said Saturday."
