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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran |
| 2004-07-22 |
| A significant barrier was crossed when President George W. Bush spoke aloud, Monday, about the possibility of an Iranian role in the 9/11 attacks on the United States. By doing so, he was responding -- in a language that the ayatollahs would understand -- to escalating threats and provocative behaviour from Iran. No matter who is President after November, it appears the U.S. and Iran are now on course for another history-making collision. The movement of known Afghan-Arab Jihadis through Iranian territory from Afghanistan, both before and after the U.S. invasion, is now so well established in fact that even the CIA has acknowledged it. But as ever, it is nearly impossible for the CIA or any other Western intelligence service -- who do not have their own agents in the field, and thus rely entirely on second-hand information -- to confirm much beyond that. I fear Mr. Bush is about to repeat a mistake he made in his approach to war in Iraq. This is to develop a case for war, based on narrow, legalistic arguments. As we discovered before, during, and after the invasion of Iraq, this concedes most of the debate to nitpickers in the media and the political opposition: an especially hard course when we remember that agencies like the CIA have proved entirely incompetent in establishing the facts upon which legalistic arguments can be based. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 #7 Nazis by another name. Thank you, borgboy. I say this same thing here a bit too often myself and it's nice to see someone else feel obliged to draw the comparison. I don't care how many people Islamists think they're fooling, it's the exact same sort of sick f&%ked up über-meme™. Anyone who seeks violent jihad must die, now, preferrably. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-22 11:46:56 PM |
| #7 Nazis by another name. IRAN = ARYAN. Mutatis Muntandis... ____________borgboy sez WWCELD? (What Would Curtis E. Lemay Do?) |
| Posted by: borgboy 2004-07-22 10:02:18 PM |
| #6 Recent announcements include: the recruitment and training of thousands of Iranian volunteers for suicide attacks against U.S. and other targets in Iraq; the resumption of work on Iran’s long-range Shihab 4 and 5 missiles, capable of reaching targets in Europe and the U.S.; and references to a "master plan" to eliminate "Anglo-Saxon civilization" with missiles and martyrdom, mentioning "29 sensitive targets". These threats are not uttered from a cave in the Hindu Kush. They are official Iranian state announcements. The ability of the Western media to ignore them is astounding. The only thing "astounding" about any of this is that Iran is still able to utter such nonsense. The mullahs are merely sealing their collective doom with such belligerent swaggering. I hope America, and not Israel, is the one who shows these puffed up theocratic bullies the way to hell's door. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-22 4:55:21 PM |
| #5 The Iranian conflict has a life of its own. With large scale Iranian insurgents in Iraq, and the Iraqi prime minister threatening action, this thing could explode any day now, irrespective of the presidential election. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-07-22 3:09:44 PM |
| #4 DPA - very interesting take on this and I believe very plausible. One thing is sure - sooner or later we will have to deal with iran..and the sooner the better lest we have to waste a few dozen of our nukes.... |
| Posted by: Dan 2004-07-22 11:37:01 AM |
| #3 I've said it before and I'll say it again ;) If GW loses in november than Israel gets the green light for a november or december strike before Kerry takes over... then we provoke them on the border and war is inevitable by the time Kerry arrives in January. If GW wins then we attack in late '05 early '06. |
| Posted by: Damn_Proud_American 2004-07-22 10:14:15 AM |
| #2 I always thought twenty or so well placed TLAMs would be sufficient to take down the Iranian facilities. Also, I wouldn't place the Israelis off the table quite yet. They may reach the conclusion that they cannot wait for the American elections to conclude. |
| Posted by: Douglas De Bono 2004-07-22 9:26:06 AM |
| #1 Tipper, there has been continual speculation about when we aer going to "green light" an Israeli tactical strike. I don't think that's going to happen. GW doesn't strike me as a guy who would use a surrogate. Eventually, we will whack the facilities and it will be stealth aircarft doign the job. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-07-22 3:33:11 AM |