We Are Already at War With Iran (Update)
John on April 24, 2007 at 12:25 am
Update 4/24: Eli Lake is back with more in the pages of the Sun today:
General Jalal says his 300-man outfit has arrested more than 100 jihadists who have crossed into his province from Iran since 2003. They include a husband and wife team, who he identified by their first names, Tooba and Khasraw, that tried to establish a safe house to recruit, fund, and equip suicide bombers; as well as an adolescent Iranian boy who was traveling through northern Iraq in order to detonate himself in Baghdad.
Here’s the money quote:
[F]or General Jalal, Iran is also a source of jihad. He said, “There are these jihadists in Iran. The Iranian authorities know about them. They have big capabilities and they are based close to our border. I ask, who can cross that border without the Iranians knowing? They can turn the dial up or down.”
[End update]
The first step in overcoming a problem is admitting you have one. So let’s just say it. We’re already at war with Iran; we just don’t want to admit it. In addition to Iran’s longstanding support for insurgents who are killing our soldiers in Iraq, they have now taken to paying off members of the Iraqi parliament:
Like most of the members of the Iraqi parliament, both Sunni and Shiite, Mithal al-Alusi has been offered cash by the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi. But unlike most of his colleagues in the parliament, Mr. al-Alusi has made the bribe public by telling the story to this journalist.
Sitting in his living room underneath a photo of his two sons who were slain by terrorists in 2005, Mr. al-Alusi says at first the offer of influence was conveyed by a local sheik he knew but declined to name. “They offered me anything I want,” he said.
Meanwhile, we learned last week that the Iranians are not only supporting insurgents in Iraq but in Afghanistan as well:
American forces recently intercepted Iranian-made weapons intended for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, the Pentagon’s top general said yesterday, suggesting wider Iranian war involvement in the region.
At what point do we stop pretending this isn’t happening? Let’s not forget that in the background Iran is still feverishly working to produce its first atomic weapon. It’s hard to miss the parallels to the situation prior to the invasion of Iraq. Everyone, from John Kerry and Bill Clinton to President Bush believes Saddam had WMD. Despite everything Hollywood Joe Wilson has said, there was some evidence that Saddam was trying to restart his own nuke program.
Were we wrong or did the WMDs head to Syria. I’d guess the latter, but I freely admit we may never know. What we do know is that we now face Iran, another Islamic tyranny run by a man who denies the holocaust and promises to wipe Israel off the map. And unlike Iraq, there’s no possible mistake about his intent to acquire WMDs. In fact, Iran is probably within a year of having a nuke and it won’t be long after that that they’ll be able to strike Tel Aviv by nuclear armed missile.
Unfortunately, Britain and America are paralyzed by failure. The Democrats have opened their own foreign policy with Syria and, de facto via the media, with Iran as well. Harry Reid says we’ve already lost the war in Iraq. If there’s any sense in which he’s right, it’s this: We’re losing the proxy war with Iran. We’re losing because we aren’t prepared to acknowledge it exists.
We’ve done this at least twice before. Once with Germany. Once again with Al Quaeda. Each time we do the moment of clarity, when it finally comes, is more costly. With a nuclear Iran, it may be very costly indeed.
Category: Islamic Jihad |
“Blair defends global terror fight” BBC – 24 / 04 / 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6586883.stm
I couldn’t AGREE with Tony Blair more, and all the people whom believe that “we’d be left alone” otherwise are mistaken.
These people wish to change the world in their own image. Our way of life is contrary to what they want…. so something needs to be done.
Sun Tzu – would not have approved the enemies moving whilst we remain static due to problems at home. It’s saddening to see the US tearing into each other all the time.
Did anyone notice how Iran tried to divide the UK through the media during the Sailor/Marine – hostage taking?
Well we (US/UK) need to tell the truth – be whiter than white. Then I know we will win! Admit mistakes happen in warfare (ref: Pat Tillman etc)…
But to maintain and encourage trust in our institutions (US Pentagon … UK MOD) … they need to be whiter than white.
Why weaken our positions doing anything else?
April 24, 2007 @ 12:24 pmBlair defends global terror fight
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6586883.stm
Tony Blair has warned that terrorism continues to be a “global” threat and needs to be fought whether it is in “Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else”.
“This is a very deep-rooted problem right round the world… if we don’t fight it it’s going to come after us,” the prime minister told the BBC.
He spoke before he and other ministers were briefed by the new head of MI5.
Jonathan Evans delivered his briefing at the first meeting of the new committee on security and terrorism, which brings together intelligence agency representatives, police and Whitehall officials and ministers.
“You have these outside terrorists coming in and linking up with internal extremists and causing this carnage.”
April 24, 2007 @ 12:28 pmTony Blair
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6580000/newsid_6586900/6586935.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm
Watch the video – at the 09:30 mark it would be very relevant to American readers, and relevant to the current post.
All the remainder is British geopolitics…. predominantly.
April 24, 2007 @ 12:41 pmReaders may also be interested in the recent attack on a Challenger 2 MBT in or around Basra:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6586401.stm
The British, like the Americans, have grown all too familiar with “explosively formed projectiles” (EFPs, also known as “shaped charges”) over the past two years.
Snatch Land Rovers, Warrior and Scimitar armoured vehicles have been hit and disabled in the past, but there has never been any doubt that, despite the highly sophisticated ceramic and steel Chobham armour, a tank crew can be vulnerable to a large enough EFP, striking with the right amount of force at the Challenger’s weakest points.
What does it tell us about insurgent tactics and weaponry?
They are constantly evolving. What appears to have been different about this bomb was not so much the sophistication, but the size. To inflict serious damage on a Challenger is no mean feat.
While EFPs have been used in Iraq for a couple of years, the way they are used – left by the side of a road or buried in the ground – and the methods employed to detonate them – by radio waves, infrared, or wire – have varied.
Each time a new method is used, the British military has to come up with new, more effective counter-measures. It is a race in which you are frequently in danger of being one step behind the insurgents.
How can coalition forces defend themselves?
The coalition is understandably coy about its counter-measures, not wanting to signal to its opponents what it knows and what it is doing to protect itself.
But as with all things in the military, it is not just about keeping pace with evolving technology.
It is also about understanding how the enemy works and adjusting your tactics and procedures accordingly.
Where are these bombs coming from?
The British and US have both, at various times, blamed Iran quite publicly for supplying the technology for EFPs and their detonators, in addition to much other military hardware.
It is believed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah fighters collaborated in coming up with designs in Lebanon during the 1980s and 90s.
Similar devices were used with sometimes devastating effect against Israeli tanks.
Elements of the Revolutionary Guard, notably the elite al-Quds brigade, are alleged to be involved in supplying the know-how and equipment to Iraqi insurgents.
Others say that the technology is now fairly familiar and could be manufactured inside Iraq without much difficulty, and the longer the insurgency goes on, the more credible such claims may become.
- it’s interesting to note that who these “others” are – is not mentioned.
I think it’s interesting to note that these EFPs have in the past two years INCREASED in lethality. Even as new exo-armour has been put on our machines.
I am hoping our scientists/engineers can come up with the next generation of Chobham armour – used by us and the Americans and new sensor technologies also……. asap.
April 24, 2007 @ 3:34 pm