"... This may bolster the SNC’s standing with Mr Assad’s enemies abroad, especially those in the United States who see in Syria’s conflict a chance to isolate Iran and tilt the regional balance of power against it. But Mr Ghalioun’s comments did not go down well with some colleagues, who think he jumped the diplomatic gun. Nor did some rude remarks he made about the Kurds, an important minority in Syria. Ghalioun has yet to win the avuncular mediating status of his Libyan counterpart, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, now the interim president...Barely two months old, the SNC is still fragile. Many of its members, both in exile and within Syria, grumble that policies are often conjured up on the spur of the moment and are sometimes naive. Views differ within the SNC on whether to seek foreign intervention. And some SNC members think Islamists are over-represented. The enthusiasm of Turkey’s Islamist government for the SNC may account for the Islamists’ disproportionate presence in it.The Free Syrian Army is also causing problems for the SNC. It is probably smaller and less united than its leader, Colonel Riad Asaad, says ... But the SNC is trying to keep the uprising peaceful and wants to bring the Free Syrian Army under tighter political control. Representatives of the council and the army recently met in Turkey and agreed to co-ordinate, with the soldiers promising to scale back their attacks. But a few days later defectors killed seven pro-government soldiers at a checkpoint in the north-western province of Idleb.The defectors think the SNC too timid. Borderlands close to Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon are becoming more violent; some opposition people want outsiders to create buffer zones and humanitarian corridors...Wary Western diplomats describe the SNC, whether or not it can contain the Free Syrian Army, as “the best we have”, though it is far from achieving the recognition given to the National Transitional Council in Libya..."
Saturday, December 17, 2011
This is "the best we have!"
"In Washington, the attitude is one of ‘moving on’......"
Both President Obama and Secretary of Defense Panetta attended ceremonies this week to mark the withdrawal of the last US combat forces from Iraq and thus the end of a nearly decade-long war. Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki was in attendance. The rest of the United States barely noticed. The Congress was absorbed with internal wrangling over last-minute budgetary fixes and popular opinion has long lost interest in the war. For Obama, however, ending the war represents the eventual fulfillment of a campaign pledge which, his advisers believe, will stand him in good stead in forthcoming foreign policy debates with Republican challengers. While some conservative commentators criticize the Administration for failing to maintain a larger residual force in Iraq, this does not enjoy any resonance with wider political opinion. Here, the attitude is one of ‘moving on’. A similar psychology is in active play with regard to Afghanistan. Even though most expert opinion holds deep concerns about the viability of a pro-western government following the coalition’s withdrawal in two years, there is little appetite for extended engagement in the country as a whole. A Republican president, were one elected in 2012, would have to pay heed to this fact, even if his campaign rhetoric suggested a more robust policy of delaying the departure of US troops. Of more immediate concern is the rising role of the Egyptian military in confronting democratic change. There are few friends of the Muslim Brotherhood in Washington. Nonetheless, there is growing alarm that heavy-handedness by the army may play into the hands of extremists. US officials recognize that their influence in Egypt is limited, but they are seeking to moderate the actions of the Egyptian military leadership. With the situation in Syria continuing to drift, as US analysts see it, toward civil war, the exhilaration over the “Arab Spring” with which the year begun has turned to profound trepidation that the region may be on the brink of new instability. The intelligence community is keeping a watchful eye on Iranian activities. As before, however, we see no evidence that the Administration is minded to confront Tehran militarily.
US Official: 'Contrary to what the NYTimes reported, we are returning to the lowest troop level in the Middle East!'
"... Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, told a group of supporters on a private conference call Wednesday that the entire idea of deploying large numbers of troops in the region, which has been U.S. policy since the Gulf War in 1990, is now over.
"The tide of war is receding around the world," said Rhodes. "It's certainly going to be the lowest level, in terms of number of troops, that we've seen in 20 years. There are not really plans to have any substantial increases in any other parts of the Gulf as this war winds down."
Just after the administration announced it was not able to reach a deal with Iraq to extend the U.S. troop presence there in October, the New York Times reported the administration was planning to increase troop levels in nearby countries, such as Kuwait, to account for the risk of Iraq backsliding into violence. But Rhodes said Wednesday that's just not the case.
"I don't think we're looking to reallocate our military footprint in any significant way from Iraq. They won't be reallocated to other countries in the region in any substantial numbers," he said.
Rhodes explained that the scaling back of the U.S. military presence in the Gulf was part of the administration's strategy to "demilitarize" U.S. foreign policy and shift to an approach that favored counter-terrorism tactics. He also said the end of the war in Iraq -- and eventually the war in Afghanistan -- proved that large military deployments are not necessary to deny terrorists safe haven in foreign countries...
One terrorist who will remain "over there" is Ali Musa Daqduq, who U.S. military officials claim is a Hezbollah commander... 21 senators had drafted a letter urging the administration not to hand him over out of concern that the Iraqi government might release him..."
Friday, December 16, 2011
'Jurisdictional limitations on the STL “were included at the behest of the US to ensure that the 'Tribunal' could not take jurisdiction over the conduct of Israel..."i
"Speaking to a full lecture hall Friday, John Cerone, the director of the New England School of Law's Center for International Law and Policy, gave an insider's view of how an evolving US policy toward international criminal courts provides context to the development of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
The talk a the American University of Beirut was the first in a series of lectures held by Al-Akhbar's Research Unit, in collaboration with the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs. Cerone’s lecture was title “The Politics of International Justice.”
“The STL fit within a lot of the policy priorities for the US,” said Cerone, who served as special adviser for the first US delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in 2009.
From the Bush administration's blatant attempts to thwart international justice during its war on Iraq to the Obama administration's policy of “principled engagement,” US interaction with international courts reflects a blend of foreign policy goals and historical precedents. The US engagement with the STL was no different.
In comparison with other international hybrid tribunals, the STL possesses, “the narrowest scope we’ve seen,” Cerone said.
The STL's jurisdiction is limited to investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and related crimes.
“If everyone agrees it’s a crime, having selective justice is problematic, but it doesn't undermine the legitimacy of that prosecution,” Cerone said... One attendee asked, “Was this not a court established to try only one crime?” Several also asked how Israel is not being tried for crimes against humanity in the 2006 July War or in its devastating strikes on Gaza. Cerone provided insight into this query in a 2007 essay.
Cerone wrote that, in 2005, a UN official involved in STL negotiations said that jurisdictional limitations on the tribunal “were included at the behest of the United States to ensure that the Tribunal could not take jurisdiction over the conduct of Israeli forces during the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon.”
“The key issue for me is the fairness of the trial,” said Cerone. “The discomfort comes from the STL’s ad hoc nature. Why are we creating tribunals to prosecute criminals here and not there?”
Though it is subject to controversy, the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC) is the world's premier justice mechanism. Established in 1998 with the Rome Statute, the US was hesitant to sign the statute from the beginning.Though the US did eventually sign the treaty, it has failed to ratify it over the years.“The US was concerned that rules of international criminal law contained in the statute might constrain its ability to project its power,” said Cerone.
'No, no, no and .... no!'
"On Friday, U.S forces transferred the last prisoner they had been holding in Iraq over to Iraqi officials, CNN reports.
Ali Mussa Daqduq, a senior Lebanese militant suspected of helping plot a 2007 ambush in Karbala that killed five U.S troops, was transferred into Iraqi custody ... "We did so because we felt that was the fastest possible way to bring him to justice," Vietor told CNN's Adam Levine...The United States has previously sought Daqduq's extradition in order to try him before a military commission...But ultimately, American military authorities gave up and handed him over to the Iraqis after "it became clear the Iraqis would not be able to" extradite him, Levine wrote.
President Obama met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the White House this week to discuss the future of American-Iraqi relations after the withdrawal of the last U.S. forces from Iraq. Both leaders emphasized Iraq's independence from Iran--but Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has rejected several recent American requests that also drew opposition from Iran as politically untenable. Among the American proposals Iran has rejected were the plan to preserve a small follow-on force in Iraq in the wake of this month's withdrawal plan and the maintenance of a small U.S. training mission in Iraq...
Iraqi authorities in 2009 released two militant Iraqi Shiite brothers, Laith and Qais al-Khazali, who also allegedly took part in the highly sophisticated Karbala attack. During that action, gunmen "wearing 'American-looking uniforms' and carrying 'U.S.-type weapons,' drove through checkpoints before opening fire on U.S. soldiers..."
Administration Official: 'Free Syrian Army deserters total 1000 to 3500 ... We're not too sure about their alledged 'coordinated attacks!'
...when only yesterday, Syrians 'activists' residents of the Washington metro area & pretending to be knowledgable of the 'street pulse', said that Col. Assa'd commanded over 20,000 defectors from his encampment in Turkey!
"... Though the Free Syrian Army — a group of mainly army defectors whose commanders are based in Turkey — claimed to have staged most of the recent attacks, some activists and American officials disagree over the degree of coordination.
Estimates of the numbers of defectors vary wildly. An Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, estimated their total at 1,000 to 3,500. The official said that armed civilians had apparently joined some of the defectors..."
As Turks, "I wish we had not crossed the sectarian rubicon in Syria!"
(Reuters) - Turkey, with strong backing from its Arab and Western allies, very much wants Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down -- but not just yet.... across the region and in Western capitals there are fears that Assad's opponents are not ready to take power, and that Syria's ethnic and sectarian mosaic could disintegrate...
The main worry, Syria watchers say, is that what began nine months ago as a civic uprising is turning into a shooting war capable of spilling into a lethal sectarian conflict...This deadly cocktail could then be exported to Syria's fragile multi-confessional neighbours, particularly Lebanon and Iraq where Damascus has fanned and exploited sectarian divisions in the past -- and Turkey itself, where Ankara suspects Syria has already resumed support for Kurdish insurgents in the southeast....
Senior foreign ministry officials say they fear Syria could become a new front line in the regional contest between Saudi Arabia and Syria's last significant ally, Iran, or, put in sectarian terms, between Sunnis and Shi'ites of which the Alawites who form the backbone of the Assad establishment are an arcane offshoot...
Soli Ozel, a prominent commentator and academic, said: "All the skeletons of sectarian strife have come out of the closet. Once the regime falls I don't see how we avoid a major sectarian conflict if not a bloodbath."
He believes Turkey, which has its own unresolved ethnic divisions with its big Kurdish minority, will not remain untouched by this. "A country which has sectarian and ethnic faultlines of its own should be more circumspect about where it deploys its forces. I wish we had not crossed the sectarian rubicon in Syria," he said.
Turki al Faisal & Ehud Barak: "Assad's regime is a killing machine ... It's going to disappear in a few weeks!"
Assad’s government “has become a killing machine,” says Turki bin Faisal of Saudi Arabia, "Change in Syria is now inevitable.”...Speaking a day after Turki at the Vienna meeting, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak echoed the prince’s prediction about the Assad regime: “It is doomed. . . . It is going to disappear, in a few weeks.”
“Iran is a paper tiger, but it has steel claws,” Turki added. The Saudi prince was referring not only to Syria but also to the heavily armed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Palestinian movement Hamas...
They as well as Damascus are now the targets of a Sunni counterrevolution that has reached critical mass as Iran continues to be accused of working on a nuclear weapon and as U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq, a Shiite-majority nation that will increasingly be subject to Iranian influence and ambition.
Russia, too, appears to invest larger meaning in the Syrian conflict. “Vladimir Putin scores the Libya result as a win for the West and thus a defeat for Russia,” says a European ambassador who monitors intelligence reporting on the Kremlin. “He is determined that Syria will not make this a trend, and Russia will oppose collective action against Assad wherever it can.”
Putin’s return to a zero-sum calculus reminiscent of the Cold War has cast a heavy shadow over secret, informal talks among the United States, Britain and France and those with the leading Sunni countries on hastening Assad’s downfall. So out of deference to Russian sensitivities, these talks have steered clear of any discussion of the kind of coordinated NATO intervention that occurred in Libya. But diplomatic sources report that there is an active exchange of intelligence and tentative discussion of some form of joint operations, as well as an intensifying common effort to help Syria’s emerging opposition forces become more organized and effective...
I doubt that Assad pays much attention to this gathering consensus. Certainly his father, Hafez, whom I interviewed three times, would have dismissed it..."
Thursday, December 15, 2011
US Official: "On Syria, the Russians are `tone deaf’, & the Iranian are scared s---less.”"
All the talk about the unrestrained Israelis boils down to this maneuver! MEPGS, Excerpts;
"With Congress on the verge of passing legislation that will, in effect, produce a secondary boycott against Iran’s Central Bank (“CBI”), it now seems clear that the US is finally prepared to implement the one major non-military action, “The big sanction’ has always been the CBI,” says one Administration insider. “The questions that remain are how it is implemented and, of course, whether it will work.”As passed by the Senate 100-0, it would prohibit commercial banks after 60 days and central or state run banks after 180 days from doing business with the CBI, unless they are willing to forego all transactions with US banks. “It’s a simple `us’ or `them’” explains one Congressional source. This is the case particularly for countries like Japan and South Korea which represent about 25% of Iran’s oil market [Iran exports about 2 million barrels per day) and use the CBI for most transactions. Also hard hit will be European countries, notably Greece, Spain and Italy account of an equivalent amount of Iranian exports; while China comes in next at about 20%.For all these countries, the Congressional action represents potential significant economic hardship. It will have no direct impact on the US, since direct Iranian oil imports have been banned here for years. But these other countries, some, like Greece, have only recently begun buying Iranian oil – at a discount -- as Teheran has scrambled to find new buyers. Moreover, all trade with Iran will be effectively halted as nations decide whether it is more important to maintain corresponding accounts with US banks or continuing to do business with Iran.
Central to the success of this US effort is the ability of the international oil market to make up for the loss of Iranian crude. Thoughts immediately turn to Saudi Arabia, which has excess capacity. But all crude is not the same and the kind of crude provided by Iran may not be easily replaced by Saudi Arabia, nor for that matter, as some argue, by the return of Libyan oil to the market and the ramping up of Iraqi crude. Perhaps even more important is the political calculus for Saudi Arabia. As one Administration insider put it somewhat rhetorically this week, “Are the Saudis prepared for this kind of confrontation with Iran?” An answer was provided by one European diplomat, “The Saudis are in the right place. The real question is whether the Administration is, as well. The Saudis will act only if they believe they have the full backing of the US.” Other diplomatic critics insist that only the US can, as one said this week, “… `put the fear of God’ into the Iranians.” As this diplomat explains, “As the US invasion of Iraq caused Iran to put its nuclear weaponization program on hold in 2003, now the US must force the leadership in Teheran to fear for its own future.” The reasoning here is that with the sanctioning of the CBI, the US, if it pursues the issue vigorously (a big “if” for many observers), it will represent a big shift in economic and psychological warfare against Iran. If additional proof of this “game changing” approach is necessary, one need only look at the reaction of the Treasury Department to the legislation. Long in the forefront of the battle to enforce various economic sanctions against Iran, Treasury Secretary Geithner and his team fought against this legislation. They warned that US friends and allies, not to mention the fragile international economy could hurt more than Iran by sanctioning the CBI. For example, some major purchasers such as China, will simply employ banks that do not work with the US to deal with the CBI (Plus it is not in China’s interest to become increasingly dependent on Saudi Arabia, a US ally, for a grater share of its oil supply). Proponents of the legislation retort that whatever the imagined negative consequences of oil disruption resulting from Iranian crude being effectively reduced in the international market, pale in comparison to the effects of military action taken by Israel or perhaps, less likely the US.... ... “What is the Administration waiting for?” asks one well-placed diplomat.
Besides the above mentioned political caution, it could well be that the Administration has its hands full dealing with crises across the Middle East. Syria continues to slip into civil war, note US officials. Although the consensus continues that Bashar al- Assad’ s regime is doomed, few argue with one official’s assessment that “The old guard will not crack.” Meanwhile, Assad continues to get backing from Russia and Iran. Russian diplomatic support is key to blocking any United Nations action and according to informed sources, Iran has stepped up financial aid to the increasingly financially strapped regime. [“The Russians are `tone deaf’, comments one State Department official. The Iranian are scared s__less.”] Meanwhile, most observers see Turkey as by far the most important regional actor... Next moves could include Turkish establishment of a “humanitarian corridor” and a “safety zone” within Syria. (Yawn)Bahrain is where the US holds the most sway. But here, too, there are cross currents of opinion within the Administration. The Pentagon is reluctant to see the State Department or White House put any pressure on the ruling Khalifa family. ... ... Meanwhile, neighbor Qatar has been, in the words of on US official “filling empty space.” In other words, this tiny sheikhdom of 250,000 citizens has been proactive from Libya to Syria to Sudan and Yemen. “They are fearless,” says one US official. They are also extremely wealthy but, for many here and in Europe they also now seem to be backing Islamists across the region."
UN's Pillay loves numbers!
December 1: Syria now in a civil war with 4,000 dead: United Nations
'... Syria has entered a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people dead and an increasing number of soldiers defecting from the army to fight President Bashar Assad's regime, the U.N.'s top human rights official said Thursday....'
December 13: Syria crackdown has killed 5,000 people, UN says
'... The death toll from Syria's crackdown on a 9-month-old uprising has exceeded 5,000 people, the top U.N. rights official said Monday, as Syrians closed their businesses and kept children home from school as part of a general strike to pressure President Bashar Assad to end the bloodshed....'So in the eleven days between Thursday the first December and yesterday 1,000 people, over 90 per day, died in Syria through civil war like violence?.... (more, here)
US leaves Iraqi airspace clear for Israeli route to Iran
"... The U.S. military’s fast-approaching Dec. 31 exit from Iraq, which has no way to defend its airspace, puts Israel in a better place strategically to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the top U.S. military spokesman inIraq, said the Iraqi military will maintain radars to monitor the country’s airspace, but it has not taken possession of American F-16s to guard that space...."
Chirac: 'Guilty; Two years in prison; loses the 'Legion D'Honneur ...'
'I am not a crook'"L'ancien président de la République Jacques Chirac a été condamné jeudi à deux ans de prison avec sursis par le tribunal correctionnel dans l'affaire des emplois fictifs de la mairie de Paris. Il a été reconnu coupable de «détournement de fonds public», «abus de confiance» et «prise illégale d'intérêt» dans les deux volets de l'affaire, instruits par les parquets de Paris et de Nanterre. Seuls deux des neufs autres prévenus ont été relaxés.... Dans le premier volet de l'affaire, instruit à Paris, l'ancien maire de la capitale a été reconnu coupable d'avoir complaisamment embauché 21 chargés de mission, rémunérés par la ville de Paris, au bénéfice de structures extérieures à la ville. Certains de ces chargés de mission n'ont jamais travaillé...Dans le second volet de l'affaire, instruit à Nanterre, Jacques Chirac a été reconnu coupable d'avoir fait rémunérer par la Ville de Paris entre 1990 et 1994 sept employés qui travaillaient en réalité pour son parti politique ...C'est la première fois qu'un ancien président de la République française est condamné par un tribunal correctionnel..."
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Making Repression Our Business: The Pentagon’s Secret Training Missions in the Middle East
"As the Arab Spring blossomed and President Obama hesitated about whether to speak out in favor of protesters seeking democratic change in the Greater Middle East, the Pentagon acted decisively. It forged ever deeper ties with some of the most repressive regimes in the region, building up military bases and brokering weapons sales and transfers to despots from Bahrain to Yemen.As state security forces across the region cracked down on democratic dissent, the Pentagon also repeatedly dispatched American troops on training missions to allied militaries there. During more than 40 such operations with names like Eager Lion and Friendship Two that sometimes lasted for weeks or months at a time, they taught Middle Eastern security forces the finer points of counterinsurgency, small unit tactics, intelligence gathering, and information operations -- skills crucial to defeating popular uprisings.These recurrent joint-training exercises, seldom reported in the media and rarely mentioned outside the military, constitute the core of an elaborate, longstanding system that binds the Pentagon to the militaries of repressive regimes across the Middle East. Although the Pentagon shrouds these exercises in secrecy, refusing to answer basic questions about their scale, scope, or cost, an investigation by TomDispatch reveals the outlines of a region-wide training program whose ambitions are large and wholly at odds with Washington’s professed aims of supporting democratic reforms in the Greater Middle East... ... ...U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), the Pentagon’s regional military headquarters that oversees operations in Africa, has planned 13 such major joint-training exercises in 2011 alone from Uganda to South Africa, Senegal to Ghana, including African Lion. Most U.S. training missions in the Greater Middle East are, however, carried out by Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees wars and other military activities in 20 countries in the Greater Middle East.“Annually, USCENTCOM executes more than 40 exercises with a wide range of partner nations in the region,” a military spokesman told TomDispatch. “Due to host-nation sensitivities, USCENTCOM does not discuss the nature of many of our exercises outside our bilateral relationships.”Of the dozens of joint-training exercises it sponsored these last years, CENTCOM would only acknowledge two by name: Leading Edge, a 30-nation exercise focused on counter-proliferation last held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in late 2010; and Eager Resolve, an annual exercise to simulate a coordinated response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high yield explosive attack, involving the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.However, military documents, open-source reports, and other data analyzed by TomDispatch offer a window into the training relationships that CENTCOM refused to acknowledge. While details of these missions remain sparse at best, the results are clear: during 2011, U.S. troops regularly partnered with and trained the security forces of numerous regimes that were actively beating back democratic protests and stifling dissent within their borders... ... ...In January, for example, the government of Saudi Arabia curtailed what little freedom of expression existed in the kingdom...
On February 19th, U.S. and Saudi forces launched Friendship Two, a training exercise in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. For the next 10 days, 4,100 American and Saudi troops practiced combat maneuvers and counterinsurgency tactics... ...
As the Arab Spring brought down U.S.-allied autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt, the Kingdom of Jordan, where criticizing King Abdullah or even peacefully protesting government policies is a crime, continued to stifle dissent. ... in March, U.S. troops joined Jordanian forces in Eager Light 2011, a training exercise in Amman, the country’s capital, that focused on counterinsurgency training. Then, from June 11th to June 30th, thousands of Jordanian security forces and U.S. troops undertook Eager Lion, focusing on special operations missions and irregular warfare as well as counterinsurgency....At around the same time, U.S. troops were wrapping up Operation Flexible Saif. For about four months, American troops had engaged in basic mentoring of the Jordanian military, according to Americans who took part, focusing on subjects ranging from the fundamentals of soldiering to the essentials of intelligence gathering.Earlier this year, Kuwaiti security forces assaulted and arrested “Bidun” protesters,... More recently, Kuwait has been cracking down on online activists... This spring, U.S. troops took part in Lucky Warrior, a four-day training exercise in Kuwait designed to hone U.S. war fighting skills particular to the region....TomDispatch has identified other regional training operations that CENTCOM failed to acknowledge, including Steppe Eagle, an annual multilateral exercise carried out in repressive Kazakhstan from July 31st to August 23rd which trained Kazakh troops in everything from convoy missions to conducting cordon and search operations. Then there was the Falcon Air Meet, an exercise focusing on close air-support tactics that even included a bombing contest, carried out in October by U.S., Jordanian, and Turkish air forces at Shaheed Mwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.The U.S. military also conducted a seminar on public affairs and information operations with members of the Lebanese armed forces including, according to an American in attendance, a discussion of “the use of propaganda in regards to military information support operations.” In addition, there was a biannual joint underwater demolitions exercise, Operation Eager Mace, carried out with Kuwaiti forces... ...The U.S. military ignored TomDispatch’s requests for information about whether any joint operations were postponed, rescheduled, or canceled as a result of Arab Spring protests. In August, however, Agence France Presse reported that Bright Star, a biannual training exercise involving U.S. and Egyptian forces, had been canceled as a result of the popular revolt that overthrew president ally Hosni Mubarak, a Washington ally...This spring, as Operation African Lion proceeded and battered Moroccan protesters nursed their wounds, President Obama asserted that the “United States opposes the use of violence and repression against the people of the region” and supports basic human rights for citizens throughout the Greater Middle East. “And these rights,” he added, “include free speech, the freedom of peaceful assembly, the freedom of religion, equality for men and women under the rule of law, and the right to choose your own leaders -- whether you live in Baghdad or Damascus, Sanaa or Tehran.”The question remains, does the United States believe the same is true for those who live in Amman, Kuwait City, Rabat, or Riyadh? And if so, why is the Pentagon strengthening the hands of repressive rulers in those capitals?"
This is what I use to tell Obama: "If Iran has Nukes, the chances of a nuclear war would increase dramatically!"
"... According to Ross, should Iran manage to obtain nuclear weapons, the chances of a nuclear war would increase dramatically. He continued to say that while the White House would like to see a regime change in Iran, it is currently focusing on ways to stop Iran's nuclear program.Addressing Washington's opposition to an immediate embargo on Iranian oil, Ross explained that the US prefers to operate in a gradual manner in order to avoid a sharp increase in the price of oil. Ross said such a price hike would hurt the world's economy, adding that the Obama Administration hopes that as a first step the Europeans would begin importing Libyan and Iraqi oil instead of Iranian oil. Such a development, according to Ross, would not lead to an increase in the price of oil.The US and France agree that it is important to diminish Iran's ability to influence the price of oil before imposing an oil embargo, Ross stated...."
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