Slog - Comments on Iraq, Iran, Syria http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1 At the Washington Note, Steven C. Clemons writes: Washington intelligence, military and foreign policy circles are abuzz today with speculation that the President, yesterday or in recent days, sent a secret Executive Order to the Secretary of Defense and to the Director of the CIA to launch military operations against Syria and Iran. The President may have started a new secret, informal war against Syria and Iran without the consent of Congress or any broad discussion with the country. From Bush’s speech last night: ”We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran... Copyright 2008 Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:14:49 -0800 Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:40:01 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Will in Seattle Personally, I was more amused that they finally admitted that al-Qaeda is alive and well and Osama too and all are in Pakistan.

DUH!

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587912 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587912 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:07:22 -0800 Comment by Pack I'm waiting for the "Iranians and Syrians will welcome our forces with open arms and flowers" speech.

]]> Pack http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587916 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587916 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:08:39 -0800 Comment by John "The Iranian population, most of which is young..."

hahahaha

Most intelligent quote of the day.

]]> John http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587928 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587928 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:18:09 -0800 Comment by treacle "The United States exhausted all diplomatic options before going into Iraq" ... That lying sack of s***.
I guess we couldn't expect better out of someone with codename "SnowJob".

]]> treacle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587934 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587934 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:37:33 -0800 Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me When we went into Afghanistan, my thoughts were that the only way to make real and lasting change in the region would be if we were able to redraw the map to something more like the pre-colonial map. Not sure how we do this now, but knocking over Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria would certainly be the first step.

]]> You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587964 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587964 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:59:25 -0800 Comment by Gitai If Iran attacks us, they're within their rights. We invaded sovereign Irani territory. We've provided them with a casus belli.

]]> Gitai http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587967 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c587967 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:08:20 -0800 Comment by you_gotta_be_kidding_me Gitai - When? How?

]]> you_gotta_be_kidding_me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588035 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588035 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:38:50 -0800 Comment by Cascadian Gitai is referring to the US attack on the Iranian consulate in Kurdish Iraq. However, only full embassies and not consulates are considered sovereign territory. While it was a stupid provocation, it was not an act of war as an attack on an embassy would have been. It's a subtle point that many are overlooking.

]]> Cascadian http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588164 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588164 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:08:14 -0800 Comment by you_gotta_be_kidding_me Oh, I see... the Consulate. (Cascadian, your understanding is mine as well, thus my confusion.) Either way, I don't recall an peace treaty concluding the war they started when they invaded our Embassy. I'd just call this a continuation of hostilities.

]]> you_gotta_be_kidding_me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588239 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588239 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:33:47 -0800 Comment by treacle Perhaps Gitai is talking about the Special Forces secret missions in Iran, revealed by Seymour Hersh in Jan 2005.
Can you clarify Gitai?

]]> treacle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588492 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588492 Politics Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:54:16 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle It's not secret. It's ILLEGAL. Congress has NOT authorized military operations outside of Iraq, no matter how many drugs the Bushies are on.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588503 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588503 Politics Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:43:18 -0800 Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me Is that "ILLEGAL" in the same way that Clinton's unauthorized missel attacks were?

]]> You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588565 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588565 Politics Fri, 12 Jan 2007 09:17:49 -0800 Comment by Gitai I am referring to the attacks on the consulate in Irbil. According the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Article 31, "Consular premises shall be inviolable to the extent provided in this article." The same article provides that, "The authorities of the receiving State shall not enter that part of the consular premises which is used exclusively for the purpose of the work of the consular post except with the consent of the head of the consular post," and regarding our seizure of computers and records, "The consular premises, the property of the consular post, and its means of transport shall be immune from any form of requisition for purposes of national defence or public utility," and Article 33 states, "The consular archives and documents shall be inviolable at all times and wherever they may be." Article 41 outlines the diplomatic immunity of consular officers. Article 43 denies the receiving state jurisdiction. Article 45 outlines the procedure for the sending state to waive that immunity. Honorary consular members do not have such immunity.

The special forces stuff is pretty awful too, though.

]]> Gitai http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588606 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588606 Politics Fri, 12 Jan 2007 10:38:03 -0800 Comment by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me Thankfully the Iranians don't recognize these conventions themselves, or we might have had a problem.

]]> You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588655 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/war_crimes_1#c588655 Politics Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:40:01 -0800