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On March 11, Admiral William Fallon resigned as head of the U.S. Central Command. Fallon opposed a military strike on Iran and the word in the halls of power is that his exit may indicate an intention on behalf of Bush and Co. to attack Iran sooner than later.

Just yesterday, General David Petraeus, head of U.S. forces in Iraq, blamed a deadly rocket attack in the Green Zone in Baghdad on Iran, saying the rockets were provided by Iran and those that fired them were trained by Iran.

True or not (and likely not, considering the recent track record of people like him) Petraeus's accusation may be an attempt to build justification for a strike on Iran, making an irreversible "fact on the ground" prior to the election of a new president in November.

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Reader comments:

AMERICA SHOULD BEAR IN THAT IRAN IS ONE OF HIS GREATEST ENEMIES.INASMUCHAS I DONT WANT AMERICA TO GO TO WAR NOW BUT IRAN SHOULD BE CAUTIONED.THEY ARE REALLY ACQIURING RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES.AMERICAN SHOULD ALSO BEAR IN MIND THAT PEOPLE THAT HAS NO REGARD FOR LIFE SHOULD HANDLE OR OWN THE ULTIMATE WEAPONS OF DEATH.AM NOT AMERICAN BUT I LOVE AND PRAY FOR AMERICA ALWAYS.THESE ISLAMIC RADICALS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO REST.SEPTEMBER 11 SHOULD BE A WARNING TO AMERICA.GREATER THINGS WILL HAPPEN IF THESE PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO DO ANYTHING AND GET AWAY WITH IT.GENERAL DAVID PETROUS IS A NOBLE,GENTLE AND BRAVE MAN HE SHOULD NOT BE REDICULED.BUSH IS A GIANT,A DAY WILL COME WHEN AMERICANS WILL KNOW WHAT BUSH HAS DONE FOR THEM BY SILENCING SADAM AND HIS COHORTS.THANK YOU

Posted by: uzoma nwachukwu at March 25, 2008 02:33 PM

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History repeats... US will attack Iran and it will be just like the one US coducted over in Yoguslovia... 77 days of none stop bombing..

Republican can win the election if there is a war against Iran.. American can't and won't say no to such war..

Macain will be the next president and "Here we go again"..!!!remember??!!

Posted by: Peter Walker at March 25, 2008 03:13 PM

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Perhaps I should remind you to who was the first ever to use the nuclear weapon of mass destruction. Don't run to your history book for the answer. It was your beloved country United States and also the master of all deceptions, England. I am sure with the limited knowledge of yours, people won't actually take your comments seriously. To prevent nuclear disaster one should think of disarming first. You can not dictate your will by having the arsenal of weapons of mass distruction or haven't you heard the saying "what goes around comes around".

Posted by: ARA at March 25, 2008 03:35 PM

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When proponents of the attack on Iraq, like Christopher Hitchens, write that the war made the world a safer place, they ignore precisely that the war announced, with all the subtlety of a 2,000lb bomb, that only those countries that armed themselves to the teeth would now have their sovereignty respected. I find it bewildering to lambast countries like Iran for adhering to this political reality, made so vulgar and explicit by none other than the United States.

Posted by: derek at March 25, 2008 04:05 PM

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People like the person who made the first comment are ruining this country.

Posted by: john at March 25, 2008 04:17 PM

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F14 Pilot,

My message was not intended for those with 90% dead brain cells like yours mastered during your college era smoking weeds. I am for certain that you did not read the whole content and if you have, then for sure you did not understand. I don't have the time and you don't have the brain to sustain such information. You don't have to reply. Let's see if you have the brain to understand this very simple thing.

Posted by: ARA at March 25, 2008 05:01 PM

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To clear up any confusion: ARA is responding to an extremely racist (and trolling) comment by 'F14 Pilot' which I have deleted.

Posted by: derek at March 25, 2008 05:18 PM

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The problem with all of your comments is that you have no context for your information. "DEREK", you have no concept of a "track record" due to your bias against a great patriot like Gen. Petraeus. he is not a puppet like you and your liberal bloggers who throw out propaganda left and right with no respect for the facts. the second point is that we were attacked first when we retaliated by bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirdly, how did we affect the political suicide that Amadinajead brought on his self? "adhering to this political reality"; He is the one that is talking about destroying Israel and all that Holy. I am sure there is a politically correct answer to that question. so please go ahead and spread your garbage and lay all facts aside. that is what the liberal media does all the time, why not follow in there foot steps.

Posted by: David Holmes at March 25, 2008 08:24 PM

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Killing
We scream that Saddam Hussein was a killer, the world believes Saddam Hussein was directly or indirectly responsibility for the deaths of 300,000 people over a span of 21 years. That’s approximately 14,000 deaths pre year. Because we did not find any weapons of mass destruction President Bush is justifying his war in Iraq by bring up Saddam Hussein’s death toll.
But he was a piker when it comes to killing,
In the last 4 years the world believes that approximately 600,000 people have died in Iraq directly or indirectly thanks to the U.S. invasion, but the Bush admiration says NO!! Only 300,000 have died in the last 4 years. And were only responsible for 150 to 160 thousand of these dead!! That means even by our own best estimates, we averaged 40,000 deaths per year. -
Pol Pot was another on of the worlds great killers he directly or indirectly caused the death of approximately 2 million Cambodians in 4 years that’s 500,000 thousand people a year. But he wasn’t able to maintain that level of death.
Not like we, of the red white and blue. We killed 500,000 people a year in Vietnam, every year, and were able to maintain that killing spree for 10 strait years.
The Vietnamese government hid these figures during the war. Finally releasing the actual number of dead in 1995…we killed 5.2 million Vietnamese. That’s a lot better then Pol Pot.
Idi Amin was another sick’o. The world credits him with killing 150 to 200 thousand people. Again, that’s nothing, compared to what we, have accomplished.
In violation of every law domestic and international we carpet bombed Cambodia and caused the deaths of approximately 600,000 Cambodians.
The little green men from outer-space land.
They take charge. They look at the record of Saddam Hussein and determine death was the right penalty.
They analyze the record of Pol Pot and Idi Amin, death by tourcher is what they deserve. But they both died of old age.
Now hears were the problem arises, who explains to them were the good guys, with the white hats and the death and destruction we cause is O.k.????.…

Posted by: Peter at March 25, 2008 09:16 PM

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David - First of all, I am not a liberal, though I assume this is some kind of diss used more in American political discourse. Fine. If you think I have written something non-factual, please point it out. Making the accusation without being able to expose an actual untruth is tepid and transparent.

I have no desire to revisit World War Two now, but a quick point on Ahmadinejad: I actually believe, that for their own reasons, the Iranians have been pushing a confrontation with the U.S., with little or no regard for the Iranian people. The reasons for this are complex, and I may deal with them in a future post. But that said, people should look carefully at what Ahmadinejad actually says about Israel, his comments are almost always taken out of context, making them essentially fabrications, something David has given us a good example of.

On Petraeus: I fully agree that he is a patriot. I also think that he is a mass murderer.

Posted by: derek at March 25, 2008 09:45 PM

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We,Iranians, don't agree with our government in opposing the US. You can not find any iranian who by himself ( not through a mission by the government) took part in terrorist attacks. We condemn radicalism and brutal behavior of people like Binladen.If you have a look at their profiles you will find out that the terrorists are not iranians but arabs and ...
Most of iranians admire the US people and would like to have friendly relationships with them( and they are the only pople in the middle east who like the US) But remember dictatorship doesn't allow people to speak.

Posted by: AB at March 26, 2008 12:18 AM

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All of this is nothing but political noise ..where is the big money?..big money is in weapons and oil..scare people around and they buy weapons..United States needs Iran as a bad guy in order to sell the weapons to every country they can..Exxon people are also happy with 4 bucks a gallon gas..If Iran as an example produces 10 0r more bombs by the time they manage to use 1 or 2 they will be destroyed..so what is the point in them hitting an enemy that will survive and they in turn be gone...no no no...no matter how illogical the leaders no one would take that chance...so once again all of this is pure politics and as usual the sheeps follow ...who are the sheeps?..conservative republicans who still like to see slaves clean after them..brain washed about an America that no longer exsists.

Posted by: vk at March 26, 2008 01:45 AM

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The islamic government of Iran has always been backed by the US whatever they say. Like Taliban when the D-date comes they should quit the ruling.
It was first made to be a solid wall against communism and then to fear Arabs from a state of terror and this rendering US capable to sell its out-dated arsenal to these desert people.

Posted by: John Shiraz at March 26, 2008 04:26 AM

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I miss F-14 postings..lol.. what happend to his right to speech..

LOL.>

Posted by: Obama at March 26, 2008 02:17 PM

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as for petraeus, how can he be a patriot and a mass murderer?.....by order or desire to annihilate culture of people. that is the psycho in Iran. I agree that the Iranians are not bad people and I do not support going in and making a skating rink out of their country, but allowing them to make Nuclear Weapons (if that is what they are doing and I have no reason to believe other wise) is unacceptable. How do you take out of context that someone wants to annihilate another country? trust me there is no answer for that which will suffice. I also cannot dismiss the comments that Iran would be annihilated if they did launch one or two warheads to Israel, but I will also say that his fascist mentality is to die for his cause not to live. so for him to be destroyed would make no never mid due to his desire for martyrdom(?) There is nothing that is tepid or transparent with what I said. I have pointed out what most people who do not read off of far-left websites can find out. Peter appears to know his history up in his posting, but fails to introduce fact into his argument. what do all those states have in common, they were communist countries killing hundreds or thousands of there people for genocide sake. I agree that the US as a police state is not my idea of spreading freedom, but defending those who are defenseless is a necessary evil in this world.

Posted by: david at March 26, 2008 03:26 PM

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David - I fail to see where you've exposed any untruth or "pointed out" anything. Here is the actual quotes from the Iranian president on Israel:

On the future of Israel: "The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom"

On who should participate in elections in Israel/Palestine: "Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner."

It's clear from these selections that he wants an end to the political entitity of Israel, and sees it ending in a political way, with the ideal being a democratic multi-religious government. Ahmedinejad is likely an anti-semite, and almost certainly a reactionary and a buffoon, but it's simply not true that he has advocated the military destruction of Israel, or of Jews as a people. If I'm wrong please present quotes to the contrary, I'll be glad to look into them.

Finally, on Petraeus being a patriot and a mass murderer, I can do little for you other than point you in the direction of a dictionary.

Posted by: derek at March 26, 2008 04:00 PM

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Simply defining a man and his respectful career by a sole definition is ridiculous. if you want to go by definition, then any doctor who performs abortions on a woman is a mass murderer. how does that fit your definition? Mass murderer gives a negative connotation of intentionality, no remorse, no duty or honor...in my opinion. you know what you are saying when you use that phrase in that context. that just sounds very irresponsible.
It is fine that you also want to take some statements that point to Amadinajead as a person who just wants Israel to be "politically" destroyed. Do you watch the news at all or do you believe that is all the government setting us up for war? (I happen to not believe much of what is on there, but...) You can continue to live in your fantasy land and believe that he means no real harm, but so did early 20th century Europe before Hitler decided to "politically" destroy Western civilization and democracy. The two are very similar and Ironically, we just don't mind repeating history due to our inability to learn from it.
And how does one go about "politically destroying a country"? Is it by giving Hezbollah rockets to fire upon innocent Israeli's or is collateral damage acceptable in "political destruction"? You cannot tell me that Iran is not intentionally trying to irradicate a group of people. Another thing, if Iran is so into having elections in a democratic manner, why is it they did not allow the opposing parties to have candidates in their elections? seems hardly democratic to me? what do you think? By the way, I do respect your opinion and our ability to disagree and not be shot, hung or dismembered...........by a dictator!

Posted by: David Holmes at March 27, 2008 05:37 PM

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Germany in the 1930s was a technologically advanced heavily industrialized country bent on carving out a much greater empire for itself through military means. I thinks the analogy applies today, but probably not towards Iran, if you catch my drift.

I am no defender of the Iranian theocrats(quite the opposite), who, from what can be gathered, want to hold on to power above all else. That said, I think we should investigate things carefully, rigorously, and not fall for the hype of well-exposed, documented, proven liars who want war for reasons that have nothing to do with their claims.

Posted by: derek at March 27, 2008 06:06 PM

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agree with gathering info to make sound decisions, but at what point do you take the info you have and act on it? what do you do? Talking does not work, and apparently neither do useless security council resolutions (which gave us Mr. Hussein with 17 resolutions later with no action). Trust me, I believe, less Government, the better, but their soul task is to protect us and our sovereignty. I can assume what you mean by saying, "hype of well-exposed, documented, proven liars who want war for reasons that have nothing to do with their claims", but how do we truly know what they say is false? I believe Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (and so do the democrat candidates before being corrupted by the daily Kos and other selfish desires to appease the far left) and were either buried in the desert or shipped to Syria. I do not believe that using the "boy who cried wolf" mentality is the best way to go; ignoring logical assumptions of Iran's intentions. so, if we went into Iraq for oil, why have we not seen the "fruits of our labor" appear? It's because it is not our oil. Don't get me wrong, Oil was part of the reason for the invasion, but we have not benefited from it, just kept it from Iran.......for now. Only time will tell

Posted by: David Holmes at March 27, 2008 10:50 PM

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March 25, 2008

High heat on Iran

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