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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Call It War, Mr. President |
| 2007-09-05 |
| By Kenneth R. Timmerman The Islamic Republic of Iran has been waging war against America in Iraq from the very first days of U.S. military operations against Saddam Hussein. And yet, until just recently, no one in the U.S. government has been willing to acknowledge this openly. Iran began planning operations to undermine an eventual U.S. invasion of Iraq many months before U.S. military forces arrived in the region in late 2002. As I will reveal in my upcoming book, Shadow Warriors, one aspect of this forward-looking Iranian planning became apparent as U.S. troops were rolling toward Baghdad. Whereas the United States was still relying on a Commando Solo aircraft to beam crude Arabic-language radio programming into Iraq, the Iranians unrolled a whole series of slick, Arabic language television stations that blanketed the entire country with anti-U.S. propaganda. The effect on Iraqi public opinion was devastating. At one point, Iran had 42 radio and TV stations in Arabic beaming into Iraq, whereas the U.S.-led coalition had just one. A new report jointly sponsored by the Weekly Standard and the Institute for the Study of War, released last week, provides extraordinary new details of Iran’s propaganda, intelligence, and military offensive against the U.S. presence in Iraq since those early days of the war. Kimberly Kagan has done yeoman’s work in pulling together information released in dribs and drabs in recent months by U.S. military spokesmen in Iraq. Here are just a few of the main points she covers in great detail in this dense 32 page report: • Iran is using Hezbollah to train Iraqi terrorists, sending top Hezbollah operatives into Iraq periodically to ensure hands-on management of their terror protégés; • Iran has set up training camps near Tehran where they regularly graduate classes of between 20-70 terrorists, who then return to Iraq as a self-contained network to carry out terrorist operations against U.S. military and Iraqi targets; • The Revolutionary Guards “Qods Force” is running operations in Iraq through a network of ‘secret cells” within Shia militias, whose agents assassinate key Iraqi leaders, run death squads, infiltrate government ministries, and distribute weaponry to other insurgents. • Iran is also working with Sunni terrorist groups, include al Qaeda in Iraq and an Ansar al Islam, and has been terrorists from both groups at special camps inside Iran. This deadly litany of Iranian actions leaves no doubt about the intentions of Iran’s leaders. They aim to defeat us in Iraq. It’s as simple as that. Rest at link. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #4 that decision will be made in as cold and calculating a manner as is possible. Fine and dandy, just so long as it gets made. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-09-05 18:52 |
| #3 It's a war all right, and it goes back to 1979. Some of us don't forget. |
| Posted by: Spot 2007-09-05 12:57 |
| #2 A strong military principle is that you should use the most effective tactic against your enemy, NOT the tactic that gives you the most emotional satisfaction. They are rarely the same. Emotional gratification, when war is concerned, is for civilians who at a safe enough distance from the fighting that they cannot interfere with it. In this case, only our experts in the field know how much Iran is bleeding, militarily and financially, by sending its personnel to Iraq to die. Every day they become weaker, and without any measurable gain. Certainly, at some point, if not already, we may decide to take the battle to them, but that decision will be made in as cold and calculating a manner as is possible. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-09-05 10:54 |
| #1 Call it a war and take it to the source. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-09-05 08:46 |