Iran: Bolton caught on both sides of tennis net

"Obviously". That's how Bolton concluded Iran was up to no good.

That's not evidence. It's another American war crime in the making.

We've seen the same in Iraq: The Bush regime shows up, makes claims, and then the facts prove otherwise.

Bolton asserts before the UN that Iran is "obviously" doing something wrong.

Strange, "obvious" has yet to be proven. It's one thing to assert, it's another to distract attention from a Fitzgerald grand jury indictment and impeachment.

Iran and the NSA are good friends. They share a common confidant. In the 1970s Dick Cheney, then a staffer on the Ford Administration knew well of the efforts to nuclearize -- yes, nuclearize -- Iran. Cheney and the other staffers were being efforts to bring nuclear power to Iran.

Yet, in 2006 Cheney's "good friend" Mr. "I like to read illegally intercepted without a FISA-warrant, NSA transcripts of Americans"-Bolton, claims that Iran is up to no good.

How do we explain the transformation from the 1970s to 2006? Clearly, Cheney is silent on Iran's civilian nuclear program efforts because it might distract Congress from -- the distraction.

Also problematic with Bolton's assertions about Iran is the inexplicable lap-top asserted to have "proven" and "obviously" showing Iran was "involved" in a nuclear program. Small problem: The lap top, as was the Nigerian Yellow Cake, has been discredited as a fabrication.

So where's the FBI in this ruse? And why can't the NSA come clean on the "lack of information" -- as was the case in Iran -- yet the continued enthusiasm for pressure on Iran?

Cheney has yet to explain the transformation on the nuclear program in Iran. Rather, it's reasonable to accept the Iranian claims as true: That despite no NSA information and bogus laptops, the Iranians -- as were the Iraqis -- are doing exactly what they say are doing -- peacefully developing commercial nuclear power. That's it.

Whether the Americans agree to disagree with public assertions is an issue Americans have to wrestle with.

It is not new for countries with natural gas to have energy problems. The United Kingdom has essentially depleted the North Seal oil reserves. Had they used nuclear power as the Indians and Iranians proposed, the British might not soon face an energy crunch.

This White House needs to explain the reversal. Again, this White House is quick to misstate previous administrations on issues related to the NSA and FISA; why the reluctance to cite their own Dick Cheney on the Iranian commercial, non-military nuclear programs?

At this juncture, Bolton’s assertions that the Iranian program is "obviously" a problem is obviously a replay of the Iraq non-sense.

But don't wait for lazy Americans or the media to wake up. They're too busy ignoring important things like the violation of their 4th Amendment and failure of the Federal Government and lazy American legal system to check this abuse of power.

We're sitting in 2006 on the same -- "obvious" -- pile of non-sense. Do we need another round of Downing Street Memos to say, "Boo hoo, it was all such a lie"?

Nothing adds up. It's more likely than not Iran is doing exactly what it is saying, and that Iran is well justified -- in the face of the Bush threat to use pre-emptive force -- to pre-emptively do the same.

Why are Americans hypocrites? Because they get away with it, as they have done in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and the NSA: "We stand for principles, but we do not practice them."

Raw power is simply raw. It does not win allies. It simply emboldens your citizens to do what you fail to do: Prevent the abuse of power.

America's Bolton cannot figure out how to reach the floor of the tennis court. May I suggest he get off the net, that is unless you enjoy the ride. Your argument isn't going anywhere Bolton and neither is America.

Get off the tennis net Bolton, you’re offending the world.