Iranian Alert - January 17, 2005 - US Special forces 'on the ground' in Iran

From His Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's last will and testament, written shortly before his death :

"I will trust the faith of my nation to its Constitution. This sacred document is a priceless grant, passed on to our nation as a graceful aftermath of the 1906 Constitutional Revolution. For that very reason, safeguarding it - respecting its principles which signify the territorial integrity, the independence of our nation, along with the foundation of the national will based upon our historical heritage and spiritual beliefs - is a collective duty for every Iranian including my own son.

In the like manner that the essence of every young Iranian is filled with sentiments of national pride, I hope that my son by focusing on the truth, heeds the lessons of this painful and arduous experience in history - a lesson which my nation has paid a very dear price for - and with his sincere faith in the Almighty God and the support of the kind hearted people of Iran, regains the integrity of his nation's sacred tri-color flag. I trust the faith of my young successor to the Creator and the noble people of Iran. That, is my last wish."

I agree that Seymour Hersh is not necessarily a credible news source. In fact, the report that American special forces are in Iran is old news to me. I remember reading in the summer of 2004 that American and Israeli covert operations teams were being sent in to Iran. I think I read that in several news sources at the time, not the least of which was the Jerusalem Post, which is my favorite Israeli newspaper (and a credible news source, IMHO). It's my hope that now that Hersh has reported it, that it's a large-scale operation. Best-case scenario is that we establish the capability of doing some sabotage in the near future. Say, attempt to simultaneously (meaning within a 24-hr period) sabotage every target we know of, but don't say a word about it. Should Iran retaliate (say, on American forces in Iraq, or in Israel), it would give us the international advantage of not appearing to be warmongers. But I hope we couldn't care less what the rest of the world (read: Europe) thinks of us.

In my opinion, we have to do something. Helping along regime change would be ideal. By all accounts, Iran will have the bomb by the end of 2007. Other reports, probably more accurate, suggest they may have it by the end of 2005. Irsaeli intelligence suggests they might have it by early summer. But the truth is, we really don't know. Which means we need to get going. If the White House has a real Iran policy, the public hasn't been informed. They don't need to tell us details (and it's probably best that they don't, as much as we would like to know them!), but we (and the Iranian people, most of all!) need to be made aware of it. I'll be mighty disappointed if the State of the Union doesn't talk about Iran more than one sentence, if that much. Iraq received a paragraph, maybe two, in 2002. Iraq deserves the foreign-policy spotlight, but know this - Iran is next. Either regime change happens in Iran, or Iran tries to effect regime change somewhere else.

Finally, take note of the White House and the Pentagon's response to Hersh's story. They didn't quite say that the story is flat-out wrong and total nonsense. They blasted the story for sure. But they didn't quite deny it.

Reading the CNN account, at least they do the favor of making Hersh's biases crystal-clear. Suffice it to say, he's not a neocon.

But surely no one here thinks that we don't have any assets inside Iran!

Recounts of an Italian tourist who recently visited Iran

I think tourists are so important for changing the world point of view about Iran..because we only can report exact news of Iran. Often television, newspaper and also internet say only that Iran is a terrorist country, without democracy and supporting Al-Qaeda, the big ghost... But the reality is a bit different... they don't say that Iranian people are also kind and hospitable or Iran has millenary history and culture (that you can find out in its many archaeological places) or the majority of population is against the regime and is waiting for an American invasion (!). I know that for you it's a bit different because you was born there, had grown there, are living there and maybe you'll die there but we are not talking about living in Iran but going there only for tourism. That's make the difference.

Peace. Leida

You're surprised about Iranian awating for an American invasion? It's the reality..Last summer I spoke with a lot of people, young and old, students, taxi drivers, commerciants, ecc. and when I asked them why they don't do anything against the government, they answered me that they don't have any leader (because the regime killed them) and without a leader any revolution isn't possible and most of them said me that they hope in an American invasion like the Iraqi one..I was so...incredoulus because I've seen what the Iraqi invasion produced, but they were so convinced..they say that only America can help them to destroy the regime. I said them that in my opinion it's fundamental an internal popolar rebellion to drive away the Ayatollahs and American invasion is not the solution, but they didn't hear me. In my opinion is because of the insucces of the Islamic revolution: Khomeini promised a lot of things to Iranians but then he didn't work to help his people. Now the way of life in Iran is changed in better from 10-15 years ago and is still changing (very slowly) without any other bloody revolution, so they think the situation could be changed gradually or only with an American invasion, but without another revolution...It's terrible but it's the reality. And I can't judge them because I've never lived in a dictatorship.

Peace, Leida

source: orkut.com

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