"Dear President@whitehouse.gov
Israel is getting desperate to sell this new war for Americans to be killed and crippled in.
Here is a recap of what they are trying to make you forget.
1. Last Spring, Rose Gottemoeller, an assistant secretary of state and Washington's chief nuclear arms negotiator, asked Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel refused.
2. The United Nations passed a resolution calling on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to submit to inspections. Israel refused.
3. The IAEA asked Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to submit to inspections. Israel refused.
4. Iran's formal notification to the IAEA of the planned construction of the backup fuel-rod facility underscores that Iran is playing by the rules of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which Iran has signed.
5. Iran allows IAEA inspections of all its facilities.
6. Contrary to face-saving claims, it appears that the US and Israel were both caught off guard by Iran's announcement. The reasoning is simple. Had the US or Israel announced the existence of he new facility before Iran's notified the IAEA, it would have put Iran on the defensive. As it is now, the US and Israel seem to be playing catch up, casting doubt on the veracity of Israel's claims to "know" that Iran is a nuclear threat.
7. The IAEA and all 16 United States Intelligence Agencies are unanimous in agreement that Iran is not building and does not possess nuclear weapons.
8. In 1986, Mordachai Vanunu blew the whistle and provided photographs showing Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons factory underneath the reactor at Dimona.
9. Israel made the same accusations against Iraq that it is making against Iran, leading up to Israel's bombing of the power station at Osirik. Following the invasion of 2003, international experts examined the ruins of the power station at Osirik and found no evidence of a clandestine weapons factory in the rubble.
10. The United Nations has just released the Goldstone Report, a scathing report which accuses Israel of 37 specific war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza earlier this year. Israel has denounced the report as "Anti-Semitic (even though Judge Goldstone is himself Jewish), and the United States will block the report from being referred to the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, thereby making the US Government an accessory after-the-fact.
We all need to be Joe Wilson right now. We need to stand up and scream, "LIAR!" at every politician and every talking media moron that is pushing this war in Iran. And we need to keep dong it until they get the message that we will not be deceived any more.
Israel wants to send your kids off to die in Iran, and YOU are the only one that can stop them.
Please forward this comment to your social networks" -- Wake the Flock Up
"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS STUFF?
The above image is a scan of a piece of Trinitite. This is desert sand that was underneath the explosion of the world's first Atomic bomb in New Mexico as part of project TRINITY, hence the name Trinitite. The heat from that blast melted the sand into a green glass, not unlike the Fulgurites that result when lightning hits sandy soil.
Now, imagine an entire nation looking like the above sample, melted into green glass. Buried in the green glass are the charred remains of the people of that nation. It's not an idle fantasy. The US spent $5 trillion dollars (back in the 1950s, when a trillion dollars was REALLY a lot of money!) building a nuclear deterrent capability that can actually do that; melt any nation and it's people into a giant slab of green glass. The USSR knew it, the world knows it, Saddam knew it. The government of Iran knows it.
Even if Iraq had possessed weapons of mass destruction (which we now know they did not), and even if Iraq had the long range ICBMs to reach across the Atlantic with (which we know they did not), Iraq would still not have been a threat to the US because any attack with a weapon of mass destruction would be national suicide.
Those that insist that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were a threat that justified invasion are in essence claiming that the US Government took $5 trillion of your money (over $17,000 from each of you alive today) in a gigantic swindle, because the $5 trillion nuclear deterrent isn't a deterrent after all, that it doesn't work, that nobody is really afraid of it, because they all know it was just a hoax to soak the American taxpayer for another several thousand dollars. Was it all a hoax, Mr. Obama? Did the American people foot a $5 trillion bill in 1950s dollars for a deterrent system that isn't really a deterrent?
Either the deterrent works or it does not. If it doesn't, then the American taxpayers have been defrauded on a grand scale. But if the nuclear deterrent does work, then Iraq or Iran can have all the weapons of mass destruction they want, they just won't dare use them. Maybe they can put them in a museum or something. But they won't dare use them against the United States because they don't want to end up like that piece of green glass at the top of this article. There is no need to invade over the issue of weapons of mass destruction. There never was.
Of course, the issue has shifted. The UN inspectors have found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. They found some documents ABOUT weapons of mass destruction, but documents are not a weapon of mass destruction (with the sole exception of the 1040 form). The UN inspectors found a bunch of old empty artillery warheads from 1988, but empty warheads are not a weapon of mass destruction, and tests show that these empties were never weapons. Soil samples have tested negative for chemicals or radioactivity indicating weapons development. Iraq and Iran have allowed the inspectors to pretty much go everywhere they want without hindrance, even into Saddam's home. Imagine the KGB demanding and getting permission to peek into every closet and drawer in the White House and you will get an idea of just how much Iraq and now Iran is cooperating. The CIA gave the UN inspectors a list of sites they were convinced had weapons of mass destruction. Nothing was found.
But Bush still got his invasion, and grabbed the oil wells.
Now the target has shifted to Iran. And once again, we are being warned that Iran, while it does not actually have nuclear weapons, might be close to building one, and this justifies another invasion. The theory is that if Iran has a nuclear power station, they will build bombs with it. Iran hasn't planned to build bombs with it, and invites inspections (and now tourists) to prove that they are not making bombs, but the theory is that Iran will make bombs with their reactor and fool the inspectors, because, well, to be blunt about it, that's what Israel did at Dimona while they clandestinely built the world's 6th largest nuclear arsenal.
Iran says they don't want a bomb. Personally, after Iraq proved to the world what the US does to oil-rich nations that do not have weapons of mass destruction I would rethink that position. But if Iran builds a bomb, so what? Maybe they can put it in a museum, or march it down the streets of Tehran in a parade like the Soviets used to do. But they won't use it against the United States. They won't dare.
Even if Iran has a weapon of mass destruction (which we know they do not), and even if Iran has long range ICBMs to reach across the Atlantic with (which we know they do not), Iran would still not be a threat to the US because any attack with a weapon of mass destruction would be national suicide.
You see, leaders of nations have huge egos. They are driven by that dream that future generations will admire their faces on statues and stamps and money. and that doesn't happen if you let your nation get destroyed.
Simply having a nuclear weapon does not mean the nation that owns it will use it. Many nations possess nuclear weapons. And contrary to all the dire warnings the historical truth is that one and only one country has actually used nuclear weapons against the citizens of another nation and that country is the United States of America. For all the talk about the threat from Iraq and now the threat from Iran, it is the USA which remains the only country to have actually used a nuclear weapon.
If Iran were to have a weapon of mass destruction and use it against the US, the US could just stand back and turn the entire nation into green glass just like that at the top of this article. That's what we all paid that $5 trillion for. And unless the US Government wants to admit that $5 trillion nuclear deterrent is a hoax, then we should use it as it was intended to be used, to deter an attack without having to invade a foreign attacker.
Why Iran's nuclear weapons don't matter (even if they did exist).
The [Ohio class] submarine has the capacity for 24 Trident missile tubes in two rows of 12. The dimensions of the Trident II missile are length 1,360cm x diameter 210cm and the weight is 59,000kg. The three-stage solid fuel rocket motor is built by ATK (Alliant Techsystems) Thiokol Propulsion. The US Navy gives the range as "greater than 7,360km" but this could be up to 12,000km depending on the payload mix. Missile guidance is provided by an inertial navigation system, supported by stellar navigation. Trident II is capable of carrying up to twelve MIRVs (multiple independent re-entry vehicles), each with a yield of 100 kilotons, although the SALT treaty limits this number to eight per missile. The circle of equal probability (the radius of the circle within which half the strikes will impact) is less than 150m. The Sperry Univac Mark 98 missile control system controls the 24 missiles.
The 14 Trident II SSBNs carry together around 50 percent of total U.S. strategic warheads. (The exact number varies in an unpredictable and highly classified manner below a maximum set by various strategic arms limitation treaties.) Although the missiles have no pre-set targets when the submarine goes on patrol, the SSBNs are capable of rapidly targeting their missiles should the need arise, using secure and constant at-sea communications links. The Ohio class are the largest submarines ever built for the U.S. Navy, and are second only to the Russian Typhoon class in mass and size. A single submarine carries the destructive power more than nine times greater than all Allied ordnance dropped in WWII.
Only the whales and dolphins know where these submarines are when they are out on patrol. Not even the president knows their exact location.
When the Soviet Union achieved nuclear parity with the United States, the Cold War had entered a new phase. The cold war became a conflict more dangerous and unmanageable than anything Americans had faced before. In the old cold war Americans had enjoyed superior nuclear force, an unchallenged economy, strong alliances, and a trusted Imperial President to direct his incredible power against the Soviets. In the new cold war, however, Russian forces achieved nuclear equality. Each side could destroy the other many times. This fact was officially accepted in a military doctrine known as Mutual Assured Destruction, a.k.a. MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction began to emerge at the end of the Kennedy administration. MAD reflects the idea that one's population could best be protected by leaving it vulnerable so long as the other side faced comparable vulnerabilities. In short: Whoever shoots first, dies second.
If Iran needs to be invaded, and occupied, to prevent them from ever developing and possibly using a nuclear weapon against the mainland United States, then our parents and grandparents wasted untold trillions in producing nuclear weapons and submarines to defend against just such a threat.
--MORE--"
Thank you.
Update (6:15 a.m. est, 2/11):
"Internal Server Error
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Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@whatreallyhappened.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
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Sort of an odd message to come up this morning, 'eh, readers?
He must be on to something over there.
Update (8:55 a.m.):
You really are an idiot.
Under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has a right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. This includes power stations and medical isotopes. Enrichment to 20% is consistent with medical usage. Therefore, Iran's actions are legal under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which Iran has signed right alongside the United States.
In demanding that Iran surrender their legal rights as specified in the NNPT, the United States is in violation of that treaty. Under Article IV, the United States is obligated to assist Iran in building their power stations and medical facilities. Clearly, if the United States were in compliance with the NNPT, we would know for an absolute certainty what Iran was and was not doing with their nuclear facilities.
I am not calling you an idiot on the assumption that you are not aware of these facts. I am sure that you are. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People are not aware of these facts. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People have forgotten the lies we were told about Iraq's 'nookular' bombs. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People have forgotten that there really were no enemy torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People do not understand that FDR not only knew the Japanese were coming to attack Pearl Harbor, but goaded Japan into the attack by following an 8-step plan crafted by ONI Lt. Cmmdr Arthur H. McCollum. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People cannot recall anything that happened prior to the last station break. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People fail to comprehend that 20% enrichment is really a far cry from the 98% enrichment required for a nuclear weapon. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People would actually believe that the trillions of dollars spent on the US nuclear deterrent was a total waste of money that would not deter Iran from using their single bomb on us. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People do not remember that Iran has not attacked another country without provocation in 200 years; a claim that cannot be shared by the US or by Israel.
I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People do not understand that Israel, a nuclear power with a not-so-clandestine weapons factory underneath Dimona, has never signed the NNPT despite requests to do so from both the US and UN. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People did not pick up on the very artful way you dodged Helen Thomas' question on the topic of which nations actually possess nuclear weapons in the mideast during your very first news conference as President. I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People do not remember that the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 was amended by the Symington Amendment (Section 669 of the FAA) in 1976. It bans U.S. economic, and military assistance, and export credits to countries that deliver or receive, acquire or transfer nuclear enrichment technology when they do not comply with IAEA regulations and inspections. This provision, as amended, is now also contained in Section 101 of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).
I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People do not understand that the Glenn Amendment (Section 670) was later adopted in 1977, and provided the same sanctions against countries that acquire or transfer nuclear reprocessing technology or explode or transfer a nuclear device. This provision, as amended, is now contained in Section 102 of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).
I am calling you an idiot because you seem to assume that We The People do not understand that you are in violation of the laws of the United States with every penny sent to Israel, and that this is WHY you dodged Helen Thomas' question on this very topic during your very first news conference as President.
And finally I am calling you an idiot because for all the rhetoric we hear about the threat of nuclear weapons, to date one and only one nation has actually been psychotic enough to use a nuclear weapon of mass destruction against the civilians of another country.
And you are standing on it right now.
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Feel free to forward and repost at will. -- Wake the Flock Up