Dems seek to bar U.S. attacks on Iran

NF Reporter · 01-19-2007, 03:14 PM

AP - Democratic leaders in Congress lobbed a warning shot Friday at the White House not to launch an attack against Iran without first seeking approval from lawmakers.

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waltky · 10-08-2007, 01:02 AM

Brit support changing...

U.K report - Avoid war with Iran at all costs
Sunday 7th October, 2007 - A U.K report presented by an Oxford Research Group says major changes to U.K military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan must be made to defeat al-Qaeda.

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The report says the so-called war on terror has been a disaster and Iraq has become a jihadist training ground.

It also said al-Qaeda had benefited from the removal of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan by getting a propaganda boost from the extraordinary rendition and unlawful detention of terrorism suspects and the loss of civilian life.

The authors of the War on Terror report say every aspect of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan had been counterproductive and whatever the problems with Iran, war should be avoided at all costs.

U.K report - Avoid war with Iran at all costs

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Is the U.S. planning to strike Iran?
Oct 2, 2007 - Jacobs: Iran is behind many of the casualties we sustain in Iraq

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It has been said before: from any standpoint, Iran is among the most dangerous countries on the face of the earth. Now, in the October 8 edition of The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh reports that the Defense Department is preparing plans for a bombing campaign, principally targeting Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities. The article is a bit breathless and hyperbolic, and not surprisingly, it has generated some hysteria about a potential war with Iran. Nevertheless, Hersh isn’t the only one thinking about a strike on Iran.

Most people outside the Pentagon don’t realize that the Defense Department makes plans for every conceivable national security contingency — and quite a few that are almost inconceivable. And by law these plans are reviewed and re-certified every year. There are plans to defend the island of Taiwan if China attacks it. There are plans to attack North Korea in a wide variety of scenarios. What happens if Russia attacks Western Europe? Well, we have a plan for that. So, it should come as no surprise that we have plans for Iran too.

Part of any plan is the use of combat aircraft. Extensive target lists are always developed and refined. So there is a menu of targets to attack in Iran, and there has been such a list since at least 1979. For quite a while, Iran’s nuclear facilities at ab-Ali, Natanz and al-Beshir were targeted, but after we went to Iraq, Iran’s nuclear development was geographically scattered and sited in underground facilities. These days, as Hersh reported, our intelligence about this is not very good, and in my judgment we missed our chance several years ago to slow Iran’s nuclear research. So a plan to hit Iran is not about nuclear proliferation.

More Is the U.S. planning to strike Iran? - MSNBC TV Experts - MSNBC.com

waltky · 10-14-2007, 07:20 PM

Does this mean we have to pull the special ops teams out?...

U.S. House Speaker: No military action in Iran without Congress approval
Oct. 14, 2007 -- President George W. Bush's government should not take military actions in Iran without Congress approval unless Iran attacks the United States first, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday.

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In an interview with ABC News, Pelosi said that if the United States and its people are attacked, the president has "very strong powers to go after the country," otherwise, "he must come to the Congress." "We don't believe that any authorities that the president has would give him the ability to go in without an act of Congress," she said.

Despite U.S. concerns over Iran's nuclear programs and suspects on its relations with Iraqi militants, Bush said earlier this month that the United States will still resort to diplomatic methods to resolve the nuclear issues with Iran while keep all its options open.

Pelosi said that Bush's government had not requested any congressional authority to take military actions in the country. The Senate passed a resolution last month to urge the government to "combat, contain, and roll back" Iran's "violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq," which was followed by passage of a similar measure in the House.

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