Archived material Access restricted Article
Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Wed 09/03/2003 View Tue 09/02/2003 View Mon 09/01/2003 View Sun 08/31/2003 View Sat 08/30/2003 View Fri 08/29/2003 View Thu 08/28/2003
1
2003-09-03 Iran
IPS: Why Iran Protects Al-Qa’eda
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 .com 2003-09-03 4:43:13 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 The US has its hands full with Iraq/Al-Qaeda for the time being. Iran will continue to be the same old story up until it is within arms length of the bomb. Then it will become priority numero uno, and it won't involve just the US. Any military action taken will be a joint Israeli/American effort, with my guess being that we won't know that the Israelis were involved 'til after the fact. As for Iran's support of terrorists, they have to take a number: SaudiLand, Syria & friends, Pakistan, are all in the same queue. The only difference is, if you want to get ahead in the queue, you have to go for something ambitious like making your very own A-bomb.
Posted by Rafael 2003-9-3 5:13:51 AM||   2003-9-3 5:13:51 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 The Taliban seems like it is now based in Pahkistan with its primary aim being flipping the coin again and rolling up the Northern Alliance. Iran is certainly providing convenient basing for some of the Taliban units.

I see much greater correllation between Iran Intelligence Community and the Middle East operation for AQ. The damage we have caused to AQ in that area of the world has left them on OBL organization on a simular footing with other terrorist groups that are dependent on Iraq and Syria. They are now playing minor league ball.

I am not an army type but the terrain doesn't look promising for military activity. The best chance for an overthrow of the reginem would be through massive simultaneaous civilian revolution. It hard to guess whether this can happen, but the internet coordinated "flash" demonstrations we have seen lately make me believe that anything can happen. It would be helpful if the organizers provided appropriate GPS coordnates to Donald Rumsfeld in a timely fashion.
Posted by Super Hose  2003-9-3 9:10:25 AM||   2003-9-3 9:10:25 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Rafael, the US does have our hands full with Iraq/Al-Queda but there is reason to believe it is Iranian assistance to the bad guys that have made our problems worse.

I would like to see VOA and other alternates blaring out for the Iranians to hear. I would like to hear Pres Bush supporting true democracy in Iran and meeting with those that have been abused, and making it difficult for the Europeans to deal with the Iranian Mullahs by showing the European people what their business is supporting.

I would like to see the US promote another day of strikes. And in the weeks before the strikes happen we announce that we are negotiating exile deals with some of the Mullahs (but don't say which ones) and that we will let the rest be torn apart by the crowds (this will create lots of fun distrust amung the Mullahs) and then perhaps a knife, poisons or a carbomb to take out a few Mullahs and make the rest twitchy.

I think the Mullahs can be brought down before the knifes, poisons and carbombs part of the plan but a plan has to be semi-complete.
Posted by Yank 2003-9-3 11:34:05 AM||   2003-9-3 11:34:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Blink blink.... .... blink blink... I must think...can't think!
Posted by Lucky 2003-9-3 12:51:15 PM||   2003-9-3 12:51:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 

The US doesn't have to do anything except wait for implosion, from both Iran and Saudi Arabia.

We have already set this in motion by our actions in Iraq. One of the reason’s we had to go it alone was the fact that the removal of the Bath party in Iraq would cause massive instability in the whole region.

It’s interesting to see how the fall of the Bath Party (a secular party) is causing rifts between Iran and the Saudi’s. Iran used to be the center of the Shiite religion, but that has now shifted to Iraq now that Shiite’s have regained there freedom, thanks to the USA.

Because Iraq is Arab and not Persian, a rift has developed between the extremist in the Shiite and Sunni camps. The 'Baths' used to counter this because they where secular and Arab. But now that they are gone the rift is about Islam, where it used to be about race.

The attack on the Jordanian Embassy and the recent car bomb attack that killed the Iranian’s proxy Ayatollah are proof that a civil war has started in Iraq, at least between the religious whacko's. We all heard how at Friday prayers in Saudi Arabia, the Iman's professed Jihad and holy war and about how hundreds of Saudi's went missing. It was the very next Friday that a car bomb exploded in Najaf. The fact that the 'Ali' shrine was damaged shows what is happening.

You can see signs of it with the recent closing of the Libyan Embassy in Lebanonand the visit of the Jordanian King to Iran, the first time this has happened since the fall of the Shah of Iran. Its very strange how the Jordanian Embassy gets bombed and shortly there after, the King of Jordan decides to go pay a visit to regime that his father dispised.

I am not convinced that all the recent terrorism in Iraq is directed at the USA. Its funny how attacks where being carried out daily by Bath loyalist, blowing up pipelines, targeted assassinations of US troops; then this all stopped right after the Hussein Brothers where killed. Since then a noticeable shift has occurred in the targets of terrorism in Iraq, and those targets are no longer American. This could be because they are soft targets but I think its about the power and control that is still emerging.

These attacks are being controlled by the religious leaders in Iran and Saudi Arabia, each trying to gain power and influence in the new Iraq. These leaders are our real enemy because in their rightous view of the world, everyone who does not share their beliefs are infedels and need to be converted or killed.

Posted by ZoGg 2003-9-3 2:25:06 PM|| [http://www.americanintelligence.us/]  2003-9-3 2:25:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 ZoGg, fascinating take on events. It goes against the way I've been reading things but it all fits so logically I'll have to consider this angle from now on. Well done.
Posted by Yank 2003-9-3 3:35:01 PM||   2003-9-3 3:35:01 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Nice take ZoGg!
Posted by Flaming Sword 2003-9-3 5:37:36 PM||   2003-9-3 5:37:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 *Blinks* You may be right, ZoGg, but a big factor to proving your thesis is the absence of attacks against infrastructure. Have you checked this against Centcom briefs/press releases?

At first blush, you appear to be right: I don't recall any infrastructure attacks after the H. Bros got ventilated, but am wondering if this isn't a function of press selectivity, emphasizing dead bodies over busted equipment.
And there are still attacks against US soldiers (however, if the relative frequency is down, then I'll grant your point.)

An avenue worth pursuing, tho.
Posted by Ptah  2003-9-3 7:36:52 PM|| [http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org]  2003-9-3 7:36:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 There was one infrastructure attack that I recall: Baghdad water main ruptured with RPG - remember geysering / flooding footage? About 10 days ago, IIRC.
Posted by .com 2003-9-3 9:27:25 PM||   2003-9-3 9:27:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 I don't think o0ne attack spoils the thesis as a terrorist attack once arranged might happen through inertia.
Posted by Super Hose  2003-9-3 10:08:52 PM||   2003-9-3 10:08:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Took me a while to snap out of my trance but I did think about this all day. It's those smil'n faces that will change the Iran equation. The faces of the next generation of Iraqies that gave thumbs up to American forces; may god bless them. They are the ones who saw their parents totally traumatized before their own eyes. We must win their hearts and minds through what we do best, which is leading public opinion. Iranians will ask, what the damn hell is going on, those stooges in Iraq are free. The modern world is much more powerful than the shitheads. Was that "democracy, whiskey and sexy"? Iranian mullas are racing to put the noose around their necks. But let's be clear, that we, the US can not win freedom for the Iranians. That is a bridge to far. No, it will be Iranians, John Barley corn and pretty women. As to the bomb. That's a hair shirt that they may wish they had never come upon, The ring if you will. I have heard reports that some of the opposition groups use the lack of devololping the bomb as a reason to oppose the mullas. We all know that this is a sick society, as sick as anything Hollywood could ever imagine, and Hollywood is pretty sick. But Hollywood can help win this war. Hell, Hollywood could win this war.
Posted by Lucky 2003-9-3 11:52:48 PM||   2003-9-3 11:52:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 

A good post from a very Anti-American/Anti-Isreal website showing that a sectarian civil war has indeed begun in Iraq. Read between the lines....

This site had earlier tried to blame the Mossad for the Najaf bombing, but as the days pass even the most biased Arabs are understanding something very different is occurring.

Posted by ZoGg 2003-9-4 12:45:22 AM|| [http://www.americanintelligence.us/]  2003-9-4 12:45:22 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 Some background on the Iraq-Iran War and its religious overtones.
Posted by ZoGg 2003-9-4 1:32:31 AM|| [http://www.americanintelligence.us/]  2003-9-4 1:32:31 AM|| Front Page Top

22:47 stageleft
08:56 raptor
01:32 ZoGg
00:45 ZoGg
00:27 Anonymous
00:24 Lucky
00:12 Lucky
23:52 Lucky
23:40 Zhang Fei
23:38 Baba Yaga
23:35 Laurence of the Rats
23:12 steveerossa
23:11 Baba Yaga
23:04 Lucky
23:00 Lucky
22:54 Baba Yaga
22:52 Anonymous
22:45 Baba Yaga
22:32 tu3031
22:21 tu3031
22:08 Super Hose
21:59 .com
21:55 .com
21:43 john









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com