VIENNA — Late in August, Mohamed ElBaradei put the finishing touches on a nuclear accord negotiated in secret with Iran.

The deal would be divisive and risky, one of the biggest gambles of his 10 years as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran would answer questions about its clandestine nuclear past in exchange for a series of concessions. With no advance notice or media strategy, Dr. ElBaradei ordered the plan released in the evening. And then he waited.

The next day, diplomats from the United States, France, Britain and Germany marched into his office atop a Vienna skyscraper to deliver a joint protest. The deal, they said, amounted to irresponsible meddling that threatened to undermine a United Nations Security Council strategy to punish, not reward, Tehran.

Dr. ElBaradei, an Egyptian-born lawyer, was polite but firm. “If Iran wants to answer questions, what am I supposed to do, tell them it can’t?” he asked.

Iran sends message of peace to US

Mark Tran and agencies
Monday September 17, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today said he wanted peace and friendship with Washington, despite mounting speculation over possible US strikes against Tehran.

"Our message to the American nation is a message of peace, friendship, brotherhood and respect for humans," the agency quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying on the state-owned Jame Jam television network yesterday.

Mr Ahmadinejad also called on the US to leave Iraq, saying its presence was proof that Washington wanted to plunder Iraqi resources.

President Bush has been "diligently" listening to the agenda of Norman Podhoretz - the "patriarch of neoconservatism" who has repeatedly called for war against Iran - & recently enlisted Podhoretz to discuss his views on Iran.

In a meeting that "was not on the president's public schedule," bushit & his machiavellian handler, Karl Rove, "sat listening to Norman Podhoretz for roughly 45 minutes at the White House."

Turd blossom has loyally supported Podhoretz's agenda in the past. In 2004, he bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Podhoretz, calling him a "fierce intellectual man" with "fine writing" & a "great love for our country."

Today, Podhoretz's calls for bombing Iran are being echoed in the administration. Vice criminal, “dead-eye-dick” Cheney reportedly considered a plan to allow Israel to conduct missile strikes against Iran "in an effort to draw a military response from Iran, which could in turn spark a US offensive against targets in the Islamic Republic."

Podhoretz has argued that "if we were to bomb the Iranians as I hope and pray we will, we'll unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make the anti-Americanism we've experienced so far look like a lovefest." By enlisting Podhoretz's advice, Bush is demonstrating that there isn't any idea too radical for him to consider.

 U.S. builds military base in Iraq-Iran border
www.chinaview.cn 2007-09-27 03:26:36

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military is building a base "within shouting distance" of Iran in the border areas of Iraq, ABC News reported Wednesday.

    U.S. officials described the move as "an extraordinary step" to curb the smuggling of Iranian weapons into Iraq, but the media sphere already smelled the "odor of war."

    Namely Combat Outpost Shocker, the base hardly comes as a pleasant surprise to Iran that the United States will have a new base just 8 km from their border.

    Col. Mark Mueller, of the 3rd U.S. Army Infantry Division, said it is the first time the U.S. military will be that close to Iran.

    "Obviously, they probably won't be very happy about it," Mueller told ABC News.

Yes Gus.

Our hypocritical yankee carpetbaggers strike again .... remember when Kennedy threatened nuclear confrontation with the soviets because of their military build-up in Cuba? It's OK for the yanks but god help any other sovereign nation that threatens their mighty sense of insecurity.

The neo-con tom toms are running hot on the Potomac as the US Senate debates an amendment to the appropriations bill introduced by Sens. Jo Lieberman (I-CT) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), that seeks to escalate the possibility of armed conflict with Iran.

The amendment states that the US should support "the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq," including "military instruments" against alleged Iranian agents in Iraq.

Senator Jim Webb called the amendment "Dick Cheney's fondest pipe dream," as "it could be read as a backdoor method of gaining Congressional validation for military action, without one hearing & without serious debate." "Iran is a threat...but it needs to be dealt with strategically and diplomatically," said Senator Chuck Hagel. Senate Minority Whip, Senator Dick Durbin, called the amendment's language "dangerous" & called it an "effort to put us on the record for the use of military force in Iran."