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In Iraq, Coordination With Iran Not Impossible, Gen. Dempsey Says
[KALW Radio] Originally published on September 3, 2014 1:26 pm Yes, Sept 4th of last year. Impossible to un-say things already said, the challenge is finding them. In an interview with All Things Considered, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined to rule out coordination with Iran and Iranian-backed forces in Iraq. Dempsey also told NPR that one option in Iraq might involve U.S. air assets going after "high-value" individuals within the main Sunni insurgent group. "One of the things we need to find out is whether Iran is embedded in and advising and supporting the Iraqi security forces," Dempsey said. "It is really about understanding facts on the ground before we make a decision on how to address them." "We will look at Iran with a cold eye on where and when we may need to operate in the same space and toward what is potentially the same goal of countering" the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. "But I can state with some assurance that their goals in Iraq are not going to be completely aligned with ours, and we're very clear about that," he told NPR's Melissa Block. "I'm not predicting that it's entirely impossible that we would at any point act collaboratively with Iran," he said. "But there's a long way to go between here and there, in my judgment." Dempsey's remarks were more nuanced than an earlier statement from the White House that seemed to rule out any possibility of coordination with Iran, which has long backed Shiite militias inside Iraq. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on June 16, press secretary Josh Earnest said: "Any conversation with the Iranian regime will not include military coordination." The original statement is dated Sept 2014. Dempsey reportedly made a similar statement last week (which I have been unable to locate). My comment the other day regarding Iran as a "regional U.S. proxy" [Posted article - Iran 'has the upper hand' in final round of nuclear talks Ex-CIA chief] is based in part on the Dempsey statements. As you may recall, Dempsey also recently stated that the "U.S. has no strategy regarding ISIS" ...or ISIS Iraqi city conquests. This parallels the recent Obama statement of a "strategy under development" etc, etc. Please forgive the clumsy paraphrasing. Yes, of course they have a strategy. Only a fool would fail in this regard. But how can they openly discuss it without looking the greater fool? I would wager there are two parallel dialogues underway between Iran and the U.S. One involves the fiction or cover of restricting Iranian nuclear capabilities, the other, a regional strategy which facilities Iranian regional hegemony. Just my unvarnished assessment, tin foil hat firmly in hand. Posted by: Besoeker 2015-07-01 |
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