Atomic Bomb Code Name Baker, Bikini Atoll, Height Minus 90 Feet Underwater,
Burst 21 kilotons Yield. July 23, 1946 0835 local time. photo US Military.
Breaking: CentCom CO Admiral William Fallon Resigns
The Iranians will take this as a sign the U.S.A. is going to war.
With nukes.
Against Iranian nuclear facilities, waving the Flag of Christ.
Think ProgressFallon was recently the subject of an article in Esquire, which suggested he would be relieved of command before his tour was up, over his policy differences with The White House. (READ THE ESQUIRE ARTICLE.)
CentCom Commander Fallon: Attack On Iran ‘Will Not Happen On My Watch’
Earlier this year, the Bush administration deployed a second Navy group carrier into the Persian Gulf. Vice President Cheney referred to the move as an attempt to send a “strong signal” about the administration’s commitment to confronting Iran.In February, Newsweek reported that the Bush administration was planning to ratchet up the pressure even further by deploying a third carrier group into the Gulf. Hillary Mann, the administration’s former National Security Council director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs, warned that some Bush advisers secretly wanted an excuse to attack Iran. “They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something [America] would be forced to retaliate for,” she told Newsweek.
IPS reported yesterday that the administration’s attempt to send the third carrier group was vetoed by the new head of the U.S. Central Command Admiral William Fallon:
Admiral William Fallon, then President George W. Bush’s nominee to head the Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in February to an administration plan to increase the number of carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM.
Fallon’s resistance to the proposed deployment of a third aircraft carrier was followed by a shift in the Bush administration’s Iran policy in February and March away from increased military threats and toward diplomatic engagement with Iran. That shift, for which no credible explanation has been offered by administration officials, suggests that Fallon’s resistance to a crucial deployment was a major factor in the intra-administration struggle over policy toward Iran.
One source said Fallon sent a memo that “insisted there was no military requirement for” for an additional carrier. Fallon private conveyed around the time of his confirmation hearing that an attack on Iran “will not happen on my watch.” IPS notes, “Fallon’s refusal to support a further naval buildup in the Gulf reflected his firm opposition to an attack on Iran and an apparent readiness to put his career on the line to prevent it.”
In announcing Fallon's resignation, Secretary of Defense Gates said:
Think ProgressThe Bush Administration said recently:
Fallon resigned because the fall-out from the article. Gates said Fallon told him: “The current embarrassing situation, public perception of differences between my views and administration policy, and the distraction this causes from the mission make this the right thing to do.” Gates said he approved Fallon’s request to retire with “reluctance and regret.”
[Video available at Think Progress.]Last week, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino downplayed Fallon’s possible retirement, decrying “rumor mills that don’t turn out to be true.”
Fallon opposed the “surge” in Iraq and has consistently battled the Bush administration to avoid a confrontation with Iran, calling officials’ warmongering rhetoric “not helpful.” He rejected the praise in the Esquire piece, calling it “poison pen stuff.”
A reporter noted to Gates there was a “line in that Esquire story that said basically if Fallon gets fired, it means we’re going to war with Iran. Can you just address that?” Gates responded, “Well that’s just ridiculous.”
UPDATE: Sources at the Pentagon said that Fallon was worried the White House would “perceive the magazine piece as a challenge to the president’s authority, and insisted that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
UPDATE II: Last year, Fallon vowed that an attack on Iran “will not happen on my watch.”
UPDATE III: TPM has Fallon’s statement here. The Agonist also has more.
UPDATE IV: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has issued this statement:
I am concerned that the resignation of Admiral William J. Fallon, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and a military leader with more than three decades of command experience, is yet another example that independence and the frank, open airing of experts’ views are not welcomed in this Administration.
A reporter noted to Gates there was a “line in that Esquire story that said basically if Fallon gets fired, it means we’re going to war with Iran. Can you just address that?” Gates responded, “Well that’s just ridiculous.”
In other words, yes, we're going to war.
The Bush/Cheney administration lies. Always. About everything.
They won the off-Presidential (2002) election with the Afghanistan War. They won the Presidential (2004) election (okay, they cheated in Ohio, but got close enough the cheating worked) on the blood of the Iraq war and OBL conveniently doing 60 second TV commercials for Bush.
Then the Bush/Cheney administration got their ass kicked in 2006... over the WAR. They didn't have a new product. No fresh blood. People had time to think.
They will not make that mistake again.
"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." —George W. Bush, June 18, 2002 (Bushisms - 2002)
"I became totally inebriated with hitting the big one." --George W. Bush, on his oil drilling days, Texas Monthly, May 1994 (Bushisms - 2000.)
We are nuking Iran this summer (peak driving time; lots of opportunity for gas prices to blow SKY HIGH for their oil tycoon friends) or just after Labor Day, when everyone is paying attention, can freak out, and go rushing to the polls for McCain.
LISTEN UP: AIN'T NO ONE GIVING CONTROL OF THE NUCLEAR FOOTBALL TO A BLACK DUDE OR A WOMAN DURING A NUC-LEAR WAR.
The Football is going to the Fighter Jock ex-POW, high-temper and all. Frightened white people will NEVER vote control of launch codes to a nig**r or a gi*l.
“If Bush/Cheney nukes Iran (or starts a war), initially, can a black or woman win?”
No.
Another edition of Short Answers to Foolish Questions:
McCain would win by 10-15%.
Assuming there even is an election, and we're not under martial law due to either radiation, riots, or retribution. (If Bush is stupid enough to cause a State of War to exist between Iran and the United States, for the first time since World War II, the war will end up being fought for DECADES on American soil. Our children's children will be legitimate targets of war, in the viewpoint of the Iranians.)
This entire idea is insanity.
Yet to make certain Dubya lives on through McCain...
If 6.66 million camel-jockeys (and their wives and children) must burn alive in explosions bringing nuclear winter to the world (fuck you, Al Gore and Global Warming) in order to scare shit pouring down the legs of every soccer-mom in America, cause testosterone poisoning in every man 8-80 in the U.S. of A., and put a goddamn yellow ribbon back on the rear window of every SUV on every highway just as Jesus intended (plus $10 gasoline), well by Gawd then we'll nuke the little fuckers into glass like Bush 41 lacked the balls to do.
(“Look Daddy, I'm more of a man than you!”)
Ain't nobody stopping this here permanent Republican revolution, no Sir. More importantly, ain't nobody nailing Dick Cheney or George W. Bush for war crimes. Nobody named President John McCain, that is. That's the deal. [Video at the link.] McCain already said clearly and publicly he won't be going after them: “I do not agree with your sentiment that there has been widespread corruption. I just don't accept that.” So no justice for what's happened, and how would he have time? Not when he's busy fighting a Global War on Terror with weekly attacks in huge LIBERAL cities all across the United States by actual terrorists major league pissed 'cause we fucking turned Iran into a glass parking lot.
Nothing like a weekly 9/11 attack to cause Americans to Rally Round the Flag, Boys, Rally Round the Flag like nothing else on earth. The flag of Jesus Christ, the United States of America, Purity Balls for Daddy's Little Girls to keep her sacred [you know] safe from everyone but Daddy, and the triumph of Republican Party for 1,000 years, Amen and Amen.
And if you think Bush/Cheney won't nuke anyone, remember...
No one including their parents and the Draft Board has ever told these folks "NO" and made it stick.
They are going to set the Middle East on fire.
- Get your passports ready.
- Prepare to get your families out of the United States. Fast.
- We are about to become targets.
2. Russia upgraded its ballistic weapons systems in support of Iran.
3. Admiral Fallon had vowed an attack on Iran "will not happen on my watch".
With Fallon gone, nothing stands between Iran and Cheney but water.
(Except Chairman of the JCS Mike Mullen.)
Boom Chicka Boom.
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