Posted on 01/03/2007 5:05:16 AM PST by jeltz25
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
----------------------------
heh makes one wonder if the people fighting the drug war are in charge of IOF
Ping
Do you recall the leftist reaction to Oliver North's 1985 visit to Iran, when Ollie presented the Red Cardinal with a bible?
The leftist hive media lit into our great President, Ronald Reagan, and Oliver North, for suggesting that there were Iranian "moderates" in Teheran that we could do business with. I guess for the liberal/leftists Rafsanjani has "grown," just as Bob Dole did in their eyes.
No way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Iran is a peaceful nation pursuing peaceful goals and couldn't be responsible for instigating any violence in Iraq (or Afghanistan)!
What part of the State Department do you work in? :)
Yes, what exactly was he doing in Abdul Aziz Hakim's compound?
According to reports, Chizari was returned to Iran. (by order of the Iraqis)
However, I remember reading another report on this, saying that at least 4 Iranians were detained, but only 2 were returned.
Those folking Iranians............
Publically we wont respond, but we likely will use the information to round up more bad guys in Iraq. Nevertheless, the similarities of providing sanctuaries for the enemy in Cambodia and Laos is very similar to what we are doing now with Iran. The outcome of the conflict hangs in the balance too, just like then. Lets hope the ending is different.
Clearly you need to put up or shut up.
Iran just wants to keep the pot boiling. A stable, democratic Iraq represents a threat to the mullah's regime.
"Why does the administration let this stuff go unnoticed?
Not only this incident but, many others. It's as though this administration is too busy some where else and, that all Americans should know this information on their own."
This Administration has become almost totally disconnected from 'the american street', so it has no idea that we are interested in this. Second, even if it did know that we are interested in this, or that publically castigating Iran this would actually HELP WIN THE WAR, it will still ignore it because the White House communications people are in a coma. They have been for at least 3 years. Its incredible that one PR opportunity after another (like this one) goes utterly ignored by the White House. Complete imbeciles. Its obvious why they lost the last election.
Besides, even if every detail of this situation with these Iranians was spelled out to the president, point by point, it would make no difference whatsoever. The president is simply afraid to respond in any way to Iran. We haven't lifted a finger to punish Iran (in any tangible sense) for its interference in Iraq, nor has the president spoken in any substantial way about it. In other words, we now subscribe to the Democratic Party position vis a vis Iran. Its only a matter of time before Bush sends Condi to Tehran for tea and fruitcake.
Expect nothing, and I mean nothing, from our gov't with regard to punishing Iran. Compared to the Iranian gov't, our own gov't looks like a shivering 7 year old girl. It simply doesn't have the political or moral courage to do it.
if you were to remove Iran from the equation, success in Iraq would rise 150%. The issues of syria? Palestainians? They are the number one instigators, supporters and financiers. All the snowballs are made in tehran, exported and thrown by others.
"Why does the administration let this stuff go unnoticed? "
This is where I have to laugh. We are the wealthiest nation on the planet with the best military and I would think a pretty darn good global network of intelligence resources.
Yeah, we are sitting back doing absolutely nothing. No resources on the ground in Iran, nothing in Iraq, nothing in Syria... Nope, nada, zippo.
The only thing that we notice or don't is what the NY Times and the MSM reports. We are foolish to think the administration is sitting on their hands doing nothing. That is a media myth that we are supposed to buy into.
We have people on the ground all over this planet doing the things that the NY Times would decry as both intrusive to that nations soveriegnty and inhumane to our enemies.
It's like everyone thinks we are not allowed to have secrets.
Iran and he never got the planes back.
We have secrets, but we are doing precious little to stop Iran. My guess is we are supporting Iranian opposition groups, which is good. But Bush's rhetoric about not tolerating terrorist regimes is hollow (so far). Iran fits the profile to a "T" right down to directly targeting American troops and our allies. And we are not threatening a military response (so far).
Here is Arnaud de Borchgrave in yesterday's Washington Times: "There are signs( 'Netanyahu's public relations campaign to convince American officials and public that Iran is a threat to world peace') this is already happening in Washington. Before the invasion of Iraq, the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld troika decided the ousting of Saddam Hussein had to become an integral part of the "war on terror." Eventually 60 percent of Americans thought Saddam was behind 9/11, even though there was no link between the two. Today, the Bush-Cheney team faces the same spin scenario: how to weave the global war on terror and the Shiite powers that be in Iran. This one is relatively simple: Iran trains and funds Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories.
Anticipating the new line, Sen. Joe Lieberman (Independent-CT) referred to "Iran and al-Qaida" on Wolf Blitzer's Sunday program on CNN. That Iran is Shiite and al-Qaida Sunni becomes irrelevant in the new game plan that will most probably lead to U.S. air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities in 2007/08."
De Borchgrave tells us that the administration and the Likud opposition in Israel are going to have to have to engage in spin because "Iran is Shiite and al-Qaeda is Sunni." There is no spin required. All that is necessary is a full airing of the facts. Iran has been playing both sides of the radical muslim divide for years. Clinton's attorney general believed that Iran was behind the bombing of the Khobar Towers in the mid-nineties. How could that be unless the Persian Shia Clergy were working with Sunni radicals in Saudi Arabia where the bombing occured, or the Saudi Wahhabi Royal family. And now we have evidence that Shia Iran is supporting Sunni rejectionist in Iraq. We also have proof that binladen's son is in Iran along with Zawahiri's right-hand-man. Is it any wonder that binladen and Zawahiri were upset with zarqawi's attacks on the Shia?
The deBorchgrave thesis acknowledges that Iran supports both shia hezbollah and sunni hamas, so that is a contradiction is his basic argument that "Iran is Shiite and al-qaeda is Sunni."
Answer: Because Bush can't communicate his way out of a paper bag. I think he did the right thing in invading Iraq but we should have kept kicking A$$ and used them as an example to Iran. But Bush would have had to have had the communication skills to explain why this was necessary. Instead we were giving this "winning the hearts and minds" crap ... He's let somebody sell him on this loser of a strategy and his inability to articulate a firmer strategy is leaving us impotent.
His lack of communication skills has allowed others to fill the void with messages that weaken his presidency and our nation. This weakness undermines his ability to threaten any future military action against any of our enemies. And because of this, Iran will continue to supply arms and support to terrorists in Iraq without consequence. And Iran will be able to get their bomb ... Bush won't be able to mount an effective call to arms against Iran. Anything he says for the rest of his presidency will just be background noise.
I supported him because the alternative was much worse but for crying out loud, I've heard high school seniors give better speeches. I'm not looking for him to be a Churchill ... just someone that looks like they've attended at least one Toastmasters' meeting.
ummm...its possible that these guys got nabbed at a roadblock with smeared ink on their travel papers....and then again...its possible they were snagged by design...
trying to posit the US...position...regarding Iran's dirty hands...requires big picture context...
an important element in that context is the Chalabi saga...you have to factor in what the ears in the elephant cages pick up, for starters
there's much more happening here than meets the eye...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.