Here’s some more Phil Giraldi at Antiwar today… Creating American Terrorists… Folks, it’s f*cking spooky what he points out about the NDAA…

…So let us accept that the government now has the power to send a team of military police to anyone’s home in any state in the Union and can demand that that person surrender without any recourse to a lawyer or judicial due process. The military can then detain the individual incommunicado for any length of time and can presumably send him to Guantanamo for special confinement, claiming that the reason for the detention is support of terrorism, which can be almost anything, including a letter to the editor of the local paper complaining about the goonery of the Transportation Security Administration. Once in detention, the suspect only has such options as are granted to him by the military. He cannot see a lawyer, cannot invoke habeas corpus or other constitutional privileges, cannot confront any witnesses against him, and cannot challenge any information prejudicial to him even if it is hearsay or fabricated. In other words, the accused can be arrested for no reason and held indefinitely without any protections that enable him to push back against being detained. Most people would consider a criminal justice system that permits such detention ipso facto a police state.

Now let us accept for a moment that the White House and Justice Department are well-intentioned and will not use their newfound authority to detain anyone in a questionable fashion. The expanded powers will only be used to detain foreign terrorists who are caught in flagrante, more or less. That would be fine, perhaps, but for one small problem. Because the definition of a terrorism supporter has become enormously elastic, it can be stretched to include anything. If the whole world has become a battlefield, speaking out or acting against powerful vested interests can be dangerous because those interests can turn around and exploit the system to label one a terrorist. And once you are labeled a terrorist, your constitutional rights vanish and you might as well sit around and wait for that knock on the door — or, rather, for the door to be kicked in…

Read the whole article…! And, today, Emptywheel revealed this particularly obnoxious provision in the NDAA… The OTHER Assault on the Fourth Amendment in the NDAA? Drones at Your Airport?

Now, onto Iran…

A point that I’ve raised a few times before was that most of the assassinated Iranian Nuclear Scientists had met earlier with IAEA officials, just prior to their subsequent demises…! So what could possibly motivate the Iranian Officials to participate in any future IAEA meet-ups…?

Interestingly…

…Indignant

The attacks are making some in the West uncomfortable.

Hans Blix, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1981-97 and a former Swedish foreign minister, told Reuters: “When it comes to the murder … What is the effectiveness of it?”

“I think people will be indignant, and in fact not only in Iran. I think people everywhere are indignant.”

The result of more frequent and public attacks could be increased tension, analysts say, raising risks of a clash between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Gulf or of a unilateral Israeli air strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, either one of which might result in temporary closure of the strategic waterway…

{snip}

…Speculation has lingered about a possible divergence of views between the United States and Israel on tactics. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded to the Jan. 11 killing by saying the United States had nothing to do with any “violent acts inside Iran” and condemning such actions.

US Iran expert Sick wrote: “The US government had made no such intervention in previous assassination cases. If the perpetrator was, as widely suspected, Israel, this was a serious warning not to interfere in US diplomatic efforts.”

He wrote that while the Israeli government distrusted the diplomatic track, the Obama administration had looked hard at the potential effects of a war with Iran and “has decided that a return to the negotiating track is essential”.

Asked where the Iran standoff was heading, Blix replied: “For the moment the decibel level is fairly high. But it is clear to me that the Obama administration … does not want war and bombing. That is quite clear.”

“The American public is clearly somewhat war-fatigued.”

Anyways, some interesting questions abound… Who’s Running Covert OPS In Iran? Coupled with this little tidbit… New U.S. Commando Team Operating Near Iran…

Drawing Careful Conclusions from the Iran Assassination…

Here’s a great working timeline on Iran…

Here’s another great primer…

…Intensifying the drums of war with over-the-top statements that Iran, with an inferior set of missiles and a vastly inadequate Navy, represents “the greatest threat to world peace” and that “the actions and policies of Iran threaten the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States” ignore the inconvenient reality that US intelligence has found no evidence of a nuclear weapons capacity in Iran…

The Iranian Navy might not be as inadequate as first thought…

…Amiri underlined that significance of submarines are not just indebted to their arms and equipment, “rather the tactical issues are very important”, given the geographical specifications of the waters surrounding the county.

“For example,” he stated, “if an ordinary submarines can sit in the Persian Gulf’s bed it would be the worst threat to the enemy.”

“That is one of the US concerns since Iranian submarines are noiseless and can easily evade detection as they are equipped with the sonar-evading technology” and can fire missiles and torpedoes simultaneously, he added.

“When the submarine sits on the seabed it can easily target and hit an aircraft carrier traversing in the nearby regions,” Amiri reiterated…

Funny that Ehud Barak is now saying… Israel says ‘very far’ from decision to attack Iran…

…Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday any decision about an attack on Iran was “very far off”. {snip}

…Asked if the United States has asked Israel to tell them before any assault against Iran, Barak said, “We haven’t made any decision to do this. This entire thing is very far off.”

Barak also hinted that Israel — presumed to have the only nuclear warheads in the region — was coordinating with Washington its plans to deal with Tehran’s nuclear project.

“I don’t think our ties with the United States are such that they have no idea what we are talking about,” he said.

When asked whether “very far off” meant weeks or months, Barak said, “I wouldn’t want to provide any estimates. It’s certainly not urgent.” The March leadership election in Israel’s main opposition Kadima party “will happen sooner,” he said…

Nothing to see here folks, move along…!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch Beltway… House Foreign Affairs Chair: Iran Talks ‘A Foolish Waste of Time’ Opposes Any Theoretical Talks With Iran…

Wtf…?

*gah*