Article

2006-04-19 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Dan Darling 2006-04-19 01:20|| || Front Page|| [11125 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 It also motivates the Basiji to realize that iff he didn't go into the minefield or attack the enemy's guns, etc, the adult Iranian soldier behind him would kill him anyways. Perhaps the most glaring example of this was captured Iranian footage showing adults in IRGC or reg Army uniforms using heavy machine guns and individual weapons, includ grenades, to shoot or explode the ground next to tweeny, prob scared shitless/scared straight Iranian youths in order to get them to use their tweeny bodies to clear minefields for follow-on Iranian forces. WILLFUL MARTYRS - I DON'T THINK SO.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2006-04-19 02:00|| 2006-04-19 02:00|| Front Page Top

#2 This is the best summary of what we are facing that I have read to dat. Excellent article.

Posted by 2b 2006-04-19 06:26|| 2006-04-19 06:26|| Front Page Top

#3 Yup, good read, though the level of indoctrination of iranian society described here is not always consistent with what one can read elsewhere, especially when it comes to the large young population.

"The terrorists have no fear of dying, let's not be afraid of killing them". Works for Basiji too, I guess.

Posted by anonymous5089 2006-04-19 06:37|| 2006-04-19 06:37|| Front Page Top

#4 This was published in the liberal, but hawkish, New Republic magazine.

Posted by liberalhawk 2006-04-19 09:24|| 2006-04-19 09:24|| Front Page Top

#5 Liberal you say? That explains why I feel sorry for the children.

Posted by Mike N. 2006-04-19 11:36|| 2006-04-19 11:36|| Front Page Top

#6 Notice how the logic to solve the problem evolves.
Have a problem sir, good men will die.
Then, send bad men.
Yes sir.
Have a problem sir, no more bad men to send.
Send bad women. Then, send bad children.
How can I tell a bad child from a good one sir ?
The good ones will come back alive. Allan wills it.

We probably should tie one arm behind our backs for this coming war in Iran. But, naaaa.

Posted by wxjames 2006-04-19 14:54|| 2006-04-19 14:54|| Front Page Top

#7 The sacrifice of the Basiji was ghastly. And yet, today, it is a source not of national shame, but of growing pride.

This alone stands as a perpetual indictment against the Iranians.

The Basiji's cult of self-destruction would be chilling in any country. In the context of the Iranian nuclear program, however, its obsession with martyrdom amounts to a lit fuse.

Too bad the rest of the world doesn't grasp this simple concept.

Consider that, in December 2001, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani explained that "the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything." On the other hand, if Israel responded with its own nuclear weapons, it "will only harm the Islamic world. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality." Rafsanjani thus spelled out a macabre cost-benefit analysis. It might not be possible to destroy Israel without suffering retaliation. But, for Islam, the level of damage Israel could inflict is bearable--only 100,000 or so additional martyrs for Islam.

Combine this with Ahmadinejad's similarly psycho-lunatic war-mongering and the dire nature of this threat is undenaiable. That most of the world refuses to acknowledge this is a profound form of mass cognitive dissonance.

Posted by Zenster 2006-04-19 15:52|| 2006-04-19 15:52|| Front Page Top

#8 I remember reading at the time that those young boys had another reason for being ready to blow themselves up--that many of them were being homosexually abused by older soldiers and that even death was preferable to continuing to live like that.

Posted by mac 2006-04-19 17:22|| 2006-04-19 17:22|| Front Page Top

#9 The chief combat tactic employed by the Basiji was the human wave attack, whereby barely armed children and teenagers would move continuously toward the enemy in perfectly straight rows.

The most common counter-tactic used by the Iraqis was mustard gas, especially in the marshes. Nerve agents were rumored to have been used, but I don't remember seeing any reports.

Posted by Pappy 2006-04-19 18:50|| 2006-04-19 18:50|| Front Page Top

23:53 JosephMendiola
23:25 JosephMendiola
23:25 DMFD
23:21 DMFD
23:21 twobyfour
23:20 JosephMendiola
23:18 RD
23:11 Alaska Paul
22:58 JosephMendiola
22:54 Skidmark
22:54 Matt
22:49 IT Insider
22:49 SPoD
22:44 Alaska Paul
22:40 3dc
22:38 SPoD
22:33 SPoD
22:32 Frank G
22:31 3dc
22:30 SPoD
22:24 phil_b
22:23 JosephMendiola
22:08 Alaska Paul
22:05 Alaska Paul