Administration Frustration

The White House has faced several setbacks in its attempts to extradite Iranians accused of illegally seeking arms and military equipment for Tehran.

By Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Oct 8, 2008

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  • Posted By: mrhardtimes222 @ 12/02/2008 5:21:40 AM

    my god, they must be out of news. this article is 2 months old.

  • Posted By: mrhardtimes222 @ 12/02/2008 5:17:33 AM

    read this good you dumb a$$ people. it's coming. you better invest in more guns and ammo.

  • Posted By: nawawimohamad @ 10/09/2008 10:47:04 PM

    It is rather baffling to understand why the US still continue to persue the arms dealers since Iran has the money to buy new weapons and military aircrafts. There are several countries eager to sell to Iran at a right price. The US mentality has reached the stage of paranoia where common sense no more prevails. In this borderless and global world the best thing to do is talk and persuade. Good diplomacy is the ultimate power; not brute force.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/14/2008 8:08:35 PM

      The people who are doing this do not have a good strategic sense of what is best for the United States.

  • Posted By: comradeyap @ 10/08/2008 10:24:30 PM

    This is an excellent illustration of the saying that "those who live in glass houses should not throw stones" I think Confucious said that ! Maybe ! I had just five minutes commented on www.chinadaily.com.cn on the same subject, when a US Superior Court refused extradition of 2 Uigur terrorists who were detained in Guantanamoe for terrorist activities on the application of the PRC. What is good for the goose is good for the ganda.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/14/2008 8:06:56 PM

      I would not aruge our human rights record, or our obvious hypocrisy. I'll keep the Uighurs, the King of Thailand may have the arms trader.

  • Posted By: Iconoblaster @ 10/09/2008 12:15:14 PM

    The Bush regime's torture policies and record of dishonesty are backfiring on the United States. Those of us who criticized those policies were called 'disloyal' by short-sighted Bush apologists, but here is evidence that we were right, and the "harsh interrogation techniques" crowd was dead wrong. But this argument doesn't end here.

    I've been arguing for years that US government policies toward Iran were misguided and counter-productive, that Iran has many interests in common with the legitimate interests of the United States in the Middle East, and that Iran's geographic position SHOULD have made it a natural ally of the US. Our government, and many of our citizens, cling to a belligerent policy toward Iran which resulted from a perfectly understandable Iranian reaction to US misbehavior in the past (as in the CIA-backed coup in 1953, and our support of the despotic regime of the Shah for decades thereafter)... in 1979, when they finally overthrew that regime, Iranians took over the US Embassy...the same one from which the 1953 coup had been plotted... to prevent a repeat of that episode. Americans, were we ever in that same position (emerging from rule by a despot placed in power by some foreign regime...which we feared might try to reassert that despotic rule) would probably be at LEAST as violent as the Iranians were. And remember, the people Iran took hostage were not tortured or killed, and were eventually released.

    Now we persist in a hostile policy toward Iran, mostly based on Neocon falsehoods (example: "They have threatened to wipe Israel off the map"... something Ahmadinejad never even said... if you think otherwise, review the discussion here: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/260107offthemap.htm ).

    I'm an American, Republican, former Marine (voluntary enlistment, not draftee). I pay my taxes and vote, and participate in my community. I have no hidden agenda... I just want my country back... the United States of America that was a symbol and agent of liberty and justice in the world, that abhorred torture, that did not spy on its own citizens without warrant, and that kept its promises (including especially its international treaties).

    I won't be voting for John McCain.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/14/2008 7:55:34 PM

      I got to live with Marines on Okinawa. I worked on Kadena on the SAC side. I thank you.
      Iran does not now, nor will it have for some time, any credible threat to Israel. Another fine Marine, Mr. Ritter who is smarter than me, figures they need years.
      I can hardly see how opening up Iran with bunker-buster nukes would enhance anyones security. Unless we somehow plan on dispatching nearly a bilion muslims...

  • Posted By: Omnius @ 10/09/2008 11:16:39 AM

    No surprise that the incompetent Bush misadministration can't do anything to halt arms shipments to Iran. They're the Keystone Kops who can never catch the bad guy, like they've never been able to catch and dispose of Osama bin Laden. We have had stupid government intervention in Iran ever since we put up that dictator Shah who helped bring about the Islamic revolution there. Nixon and Kissinger manufactured the first oil crisis back in the 70's to ensure that with higher oil prices the crooked Shah could buy huge arms deals from us and then look who got hold of them. Same thing will happen in Iraq if we don't get out soon. The only reason that warmongers Bush and McCain want to keep lots of troops in Iraq is to be ready to attack Iran. That is most likely the October surprise that the repugnant ones are hoping for.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/14/2008 7:49:49 PM

      I am willing to bet that Osama is sitting in a nice Villa in Pakistan, as a guest of the ISI. He is more valuable to that government 'on-the-loose' for the aid we send them than their nuclear stockpile.

  • Posted By: Don't Tread on Me @ 10/09/2008 10:44:00 AM

    You know what - forget Iran. The greatest threats we face are located in Washington, Langley, and New York. These nuts have been toying with Iran since they overthrew a democratically-elected leader to install the despotic shah, and they just can't let it go. Both McCain and Obama are open to war with Iran. Forget the "Tehran regime", we need to get the weapons out of the hands of our own government before they send even more of our sons and daughters off to die. Enough!

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/14/2008 7:45:11 PM

      I think that a scrap with Iran will cause 1000 years of hate.

  • Posted By: comradeyap @ 10/09/2008 7:23:23 AM

    The United States of America is better off to borrow the Chinese Communist Party's Socialism with Chinese characteristics. To accuse Barack Obama of gay practice is like what is happening in Malaysia where the Malaysian government is hell bent to bring down our leader of the opposition who has the numbers to toppel the Malaysian government. This was the same sodomy charge made against an innocent man.

    How do you defend such nonsense, but in the USA such nonsense sticks because Barack is black; the whites just cannot accept a black for President. The so called democratic in the USA is skewed against the innocent. You are better off borrowing from China. We do not have elections and therefore is much fairer than that of the USA. Come and join China. USA democracy is old stick in the mud; does not work anymore.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/14/2008 7:43:30 PM

      Our racial record has flaws, but I would suspect that Mr.Obama will win a majority of the White vote.
      I am white as far as statistics go, and will vote Obama.
      You are right about the slander though Comrade. The fascists will say just about anything once they get desperate. Thank you for a nice olympics.

  • Posted By: SanMarcosTxMan @ 10/13/2008 12:09:12 PM

    Calling someone "human sewage" and continuing the lies about Obama's birth certificate are wrong and hurtful. We can agree to disagree about the issues, but namecalling and lies are the lowest form of argument. No one should be referred to as trash, particularly a war hero. How about discussing this article? I would hope the majority of you would agree that the Bush adminstration's willingness to torture is a national disgrace and must be stopped, and people should be held accountable. We need a distinct change in Washington and must reestablish our integrity in the world.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/14/2008 7:38:47 PM

      I think his sewage remark was concerning Mr. Bush, not Mr. McCain.
      I doubt you are referring to Mr. Bush as a hero.

  • Posted By: sergem @ 10/10/2008 10:46:39 AM

    It is not clear if there any legal ground for extradition of suspected arm dealers. Selling weapons to Iran is illegal under the US law but it may be perfectly legal under the law of other country. If it is not prohibited in that other country ??? arm dealer cannot be arrested there because he did nothing illegal according to local law.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/14/2008 7:33:49 PM

      Some Americans think they can dictate terms and conditions to anyone. This is foolish and not realpolitik. The torture allegations have made us a paraiah, and I am ashamed of it. As for Persia, I miss the pistachios. I wonder why our Department of Justice chases an Iranian all over the world, but does not ask for all of the spies in the Lawrence Franklin case.

  • Posted By: hoosierplowboy @ 10/12/2008 9:41:29 AM

    Just as an added comment: We would not be in this position in the world if we had Ron Paul for our president. If Obama wanted a solid ticket for success he would dump Biden and beg Ron Paul to be his running mate. Iran "CAN" be a friend and their wonderful population a willing partner for peace and cooperation---if you could just get rid of the "Zionist stench" in Washington. Think "Incumbent" when you go to vote people---"Dump the trash"!!

  • Posted By: hoosierplowboy @ 10/12/2008 9:31:34 AM

    It all boils down to the human sewage we have for a president in America and the Zionist stench that surrounds him. America is losing ground on all fronts, being looted by the people on the top and you want to elect more sewage like John McCain and "Troopergate" Palin??? Give me a break people. America and the world desearve lots better. "LOTS LOTS" Better !!

  • Posted By: erikrosey @ 10/09/2008 3:32:26 PM

    Just a little fyi for you, McCain nor Obama have selected a sec. of Tres., they both mentioned Warren Buffet as a possible candidate, as well as Meg White (ebay fame) and a few others. Neither of these folks get what it is we need in this economy, in the 70's they came up with a 'government sponsor ship to force banks in to risky loans' that turned into Freddie/Fannie Sub Prime mess we are in. That bill from the 70's was given more power by Bill Clinton. Obama wants to tax the very thing that is keeping this country a float, small Business, we have lost 480k jobs this year, small business has added 300k. Now all of this during our worst economic times in a 100 years with the highest prices of oil we have ever seen. Nuclear energy is our future, its clean, and we have created many ways to utilize spent nuclear fuel to recreate more energy. Simple as that, Obama is wanting the Government to spend more money than before, and if the Gov gets more, we have less. Simple as that, no one can argue with the more decision the Gov. makes for us the less freedoms we have.

  • Posted By: erikrosey @ 10/09/2008 3:31:40 PM

    Just a little fyi for you, McCain nor Obama have selected a sec. of Tres., they both mentioned Warren Buffet as a possible candidate, as well as Meg White (ebay fame) and a few others. Neither of these folks get what it is we need in this economy, in the 70's they came up with a 'government sponsor ship to force banks in to risky loans' that turned into Freddie/Fannie Sub Prime mess we are in. That bill from the 70's was given more power by Bill Clinton. Obama wants to tax the very thing that is keeping this country a float, small Business, we have lost 480k jobs this year, small business has added 300k. Now all of this during our worst economic times in a 100 years with the highest prices of oil we have ever seen. Nuclear energy is our future, its clean, and we have created many ways to utilize spent nuclear fuel to recreate more energy. Simple as that, Obama is wanting the Government to spend more money than before, and if the Gov gets more, we have less. Simple as that, no one can argue with the more decision the Gov. makes for us the less freedoms we have.

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/09/2008 2:26:53 PM

    In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything in the last 80 years.
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He didnt realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
    Elect Obama Biden 2008


    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/09/2008 2:26:44 PM

    In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything in the last 80 years.
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He didnt realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
    Elect Obama Biden 2008


    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/09/2008 2:26:34 PM

    In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything in the last 80 years.
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He didnt realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
    Elect Obama Biden 2008


    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 10/09/2008 1:44:14 PM

    Theres your OBAMA/LUGAR Act in action. Of course,it is as stupid now as it was in the Age of Carter to blame ''Bush''. These kneejerk critics are ignorant of the long history of how arms move to regimes in American administrations Republican [ Iran/Contra] and Democrat [Indonesia, The nuclear AQ Khan Network]. Indeed,Clinton was forced to consider his options with Boris Yeltsin after discovering that Russian nuclear scientists were working with the Iranian regime even before the rise of Ahmedijezad, [let alone Bush] and that thousands of Russian small arms and missle platforms were being sold to the Iranians,including diesel -driven submarines.
    The Cold War never really ended,at least for the arms merchants. The UNs Treaty on Small Arms,embraced by Obama,has been sneered at for as long as it has been a UN platform. Chinese arms to Sudan,Lebanon,North Korea,Syria,Pakistan,Venezuela,Bolivia, Russian to Iran [Russia made a record 8.7 billion in arms sales this year,largely from Iran], American/French to Israel,Saudi Arabia and Colombia.
    Nobodies got clean hands here. It was not ''neo-cons''[who were not even a portion of the world stage yet] ,but Carter Doctrine policy enhanced by Brzheninski[who is now an informal Obama foreign policy adviser],which began Iranian isolation,a core American foreign policy recipe since that time,again,in administrations and congresses Democrat and Republican.
    Those of us who warned of the 2007s NIE fatal flaws are now vindicated. I took Hirsh of NEWSWEAK [Isikoff as well] to task for ignoring how strides made in the acquisition of conventional arms made by the Iranians would lead to improvements in a nuclear-armed capability. Neither candidate has adressed with any convincing detail how they would deal with such a quickly oncoming reality.

  • Posted By: ee12345 @ 10/09/2008 12:22:09 PM

    Thailand's refusal to extracte the Iranian to US was based on the same ground as US's refusal to extract several Chinese Musline held in Gitmo to China. Everyone is equal, and why complain?

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/09/2008 9:55:33 AM

    In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything in the last 80 years.
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He didnt realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
    Elect Obama Biden 2008


    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

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