Assessing Iran: Michael Ledeen Speaks Up
Michael Ledeen, longtime columnist for National Review, is now blogging over at Pajamas Media and his newest assessment is up there today. And he makes a valid point which should be a wake-up call to us here in the States, as well as those in the UK, and across Europe.
I’ve been wondering what accounts for the sudden change in tone regarding Iran from London and Washington. Both Bush and Blair had been playing the mullahs’ game, taking military options off the board, talking with feigned optimism about the diplomatic strategy, patiently working for UN sanctions, and so forth. Then, all of a sudden, we started hearing very tough talk about Iran (and Syria) from the two leaders, and over here from Secretary Rice and National Security Adviser Hadley. Blair even delivered a very strong speech in Dubai, which is virtually an Iranian protectorate. How come? Had something happened?
Copley News Service reported a few weeks ago that we and the Jordanians had uncovered an Iranian-backed plot to assassinate Bush when he was in Amman. Copley told me the evidence is very good, even though the plot never came to anything, and nobody tried to kill the president. If the story is true, it would be a virtual replay of Saddam’s efforts to kill W’s father on a trip to the region while Clinton was president. Now, the London Telegraph reports the possible cause of Blair’s ire:
A military aide to the commander of British forces in Afghanistan appeared in court yesterday accused of spying. Cpl Daniel James, 44, is charged under the 1911 Official Secrets Act with “prejudicing the safety of the state” by passing information “calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy”.
It was said he had communicated with a “foreign power” in the incident on Nov 2, believed to be Iran…The Daily Telegraph has learned that he acts as an interpreter for Gen David Richards, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan and one of the most senior officers in the Army.
That might well do it, don’t you think? Here the Brits have been appeasing the mullahs, and all the gratitude they get is–if the story checks out–an Iranian spy getting information that would be used to kill Her Majesty’s soldiers. And notice the suppressed premise in this story: Iran is working with the (Taliban) terrorists in Afghanistan.
Leaders take these things very personally, as well they should.
More recent developments can only fuel this fire. On Wednesday, a politically bloodied but totally unbowed Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nezhad told a crowd in Western Iran “The Islamic Republic of Iran is now a nuclear power, thanks to the hard work of the Iranian people and authorities.” Iran, he said, had “gained access to the nuclear fuel cycle.” He then trotted out the ritual language about “peaceful nuclear technology,” but few take this seriously. A nuclear power plant does not a “nuclear power” make, especially when the president adds, “the Iranian nation will continue in its nuclear path powerfully and will celebrate a nuclear victory soon.”
And on Monday, according to Haaretz, Israeli intelligence officials said that “dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Hamas militants recently left the Gaza strip to receive advanced military training in Iran.” They were set to get the same training course as that given to Hizbollah forces in Lebanon.
Not to belabor a point that should be obvious by now (but all too often isn’t): here we have Iranian Shi’ites working hand in glove with Afghan and Palestinian Sunnis, just as those Iranian Shi’ites have long worked with Fatah and al Qaeda. The presumed unbridgeable chasm between the two worlds of Islam is bridged most every day, Saudi princes to the contrary notwithstanding.
There are so-called "experts" who shout down reports like this, claiming that Sunni and Shi'a have too much a divide between them to be working together. Of course, the same was said of Saddam and al-Qaeda, and yet the two worked together well in the late nineties and up through the early part of 2001. After all, do we not see different sects fighting us in Iraq? Once they get done engaging ours, and colaition forces, do they suddenly turn on one another? In rare circumstances, maybe, but not often enough to note it.
The fact of the matter is that the Islamic extremists are putting aside their centuries-old feuds to deal with the infidel West, and her assorted allies around the world. And the reason why Tony Blair is upset, as Michael Ledeen points out, is that Europe is bending over backwards to appease the Muslims across the continent. And yet they are still trying to destroy their modern society. In France, Muslims attack police going into "their" neighborhoods to enforce the law. In Scandanavia, shari'a law is being introduced to the culture there. Tony Blair, and his wife, have defended Muslims in Britain; encouraging citizens to give up their "Islamophobia." And yet, the Muslims continue on their path, unhindered.
Here in America, the case of the flying imams is a prime example of what they are doing in Europe. By screaming racism, they are trying to browbeat the public into leaving them alone, no matter how outrageuous their behavior is. What they did on that plane is pretty telling. It was purposeful to attack our efforts to stop terrorists from using airplanes as weapons again. The problem is that we're not profiling them, but we do take note of activities that are more than suspicious. That's why they were removed form the flight, and with good reason.
Iran is as much a part of this war as al-Qaeda in Iraq is, and the Taliban and al-Qaeda are in Afghanistan. It's time we wake up and face this fact. We have been in a state of de facto war with Iran for twenty-seven years, and we still have foolish people who want us to make nice with them. How can we do something like that when the people they want us to make peace with are ready to drive a knife between our shoulder blades. Tolerance and moderation can't be given unless BOTH siodes are willing to do it, and abide by what is negotiated. We can't trust Iran to do that. Look at Iraq closely, and understand that Iran still denies thay are doing anything wrong there. They deny they're sending weapons and munitions over the border. They deny they're providing training for the fighters in Iraq. They're lying, and we know it, yet we still have people demanding we should talk with them.
The time for talk is over. The time for action is now. If we continue to let Iran fester, we're going to be in a world of hurt. We can't afford to make a mistake that could be that costly. Iran isn't our friend. They don't want to be our friend. They want the same thing al-Qaeda does. They want the United States destroyed. And they are taking every step possible to accomplish that goal.
Sabrina McKinney
Michael Ledeen, longtime columnist for National Review, is now blogging over at Pajamas Media and his newest assessment is up there today. And he makes a valid point which should be a wake-up call to us here in the States, as well as those in the UK, and across Europe.
I’ve been wondering what accounts for the sudden change in tone regarding Iran from London and Washington. Both Bush and Blair had been playing the mullahs’ game, taking military options off the board, talking with feigned optimism about the diplomatic strategy, patiently working for UN sanctions, and so forth. Then, all of a sudden, we started hearing very tough talk about Iran (and Syria) from the two leaders, and over here from Secretary Rice and National Security Adviser Hadley. Blair even delivered a very strong speech in Dubai, which is virtually an Iranian protectorate. How come? Had something happened?
Copley News Service reported a few weeks ago that we and the Jordanians had uncovered an Iranian-backed plot to assassinate Bush when he was in Amman. Copley told me the evidence is very good, even though the plot never came to anything, and nobody tried to kill the president. If the story is true, it would be a virtual replay of Saddam’s efforts to kill W’s father on a trip to the region while Clinton was president. Now, the London Telegraph reports the possible cause of Blair’s ire:
A military aide to the commander of British forces in Afghanistan appeared in court yesterday accused of spying. Cpl Daniel James, 44, is charged under the 1911 Official Secrets Act with “prejudicing the safety of the state” by passing information “calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy”.
It was said he had communicated with a “foreign power” in the incident on Nov 2, believed to be Iran…The Daily Telegraph has learned that he acts as an interpreter for Gen David Richards, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan and one of the most senior officers in the Army.
That might well do it, don’t you think? Here the Brits have been appeasing the mullahs, and all the gratitude they get is–if the story checks out–an Iranian spy getting information that would be used to kill Her Majesty’s soldiers. And notice the suppressed premise in this story: Iran is working with the (Taliban) terrorists in Afghanistan.
Leaders take these things very personally, as well they should.
More recent developments can only fuel this fire. On Wednesday, a politically bloodied but totally unbowed Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nezhad told a crowd in Western Iran “The Islamic Republic of Iran is now a nuclear power, thanks to the hard work of the Iranian people and authorities.” Iran, he said, had “gained access to the nuclear fuel cycle.” He then trotted out the ritual language about “peaceful nuclear technology,” but few take this seriously. A nuclear power plant does not a “nuclear power” make, especially when the president adds, “the Iranian nation will continue in its nuclear path powerfully and will celebrate a nuclear victory soon.”
And on Monday, according to Haaretz, Israeli intelligence officials said that “dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Hamas militants recently left the Gaza strip to receive advanced military training in Iran.” They were set to get the same training course as that given to Hizbollah forces in Lebanon.
Not to belabor a point that should be obvious by now (but all too often isn’t): here we have Iranian Shi’ites working hand in glove with Afghan and Palestinian Sunnis, just as those Iranian Shi’ites have long worked with Fatah and al Qaeda. The presumed unbridgeable chasm between the two worlds of Islam is bridged most every day, Saudi princes to the contrary notwithstanding.
There are so-called "experts" who shout down reports like this, claiming that Sunni and Shi'a have too much a divide between them to be working together. Of course, the same was said of Saddam and al-Qaeda, and yet the two worked together well in the late nineties and up through the early part of 2001. After all, do we not see different sects fighting us in Iraq? Once they get done engaging ours, and colaition forces, do they suddenly turn on one another? In rare circumstances, maybe, but not often enough to note it.
The fact of the matter is that the Islamic extremists are putting aside their centuries-old feuds to deal with the infidel West, and her assorted allies around the world. And the reason why Tony Blair is upset, as Michael Ledeen points out, is that Europe is bending over backwards to appease the Muslims across the continent. And yet they are still trying to destroy their modern society. In France, Muslims attack police going into "their" neighborhoods to enforce the law. In Scandanavia, shari'a law is being introduced to the culture there. Tony Blair, and his wife, have defended Muslims in Britain; encouraging citizens to give up their "Islamophobia." And yet, the Muslims continue on their path, unhindered.
Here in America, the case of the flying imams is a prime example of what they are doing in Europe. By screaming racism, they are trying to browbeat the public into leaving them alone, no matter how outrageuous their behavior is. What they did on that plane is pretty telling. It was purposeful to attack our efforts to stop terrorists from using airplanes as weapons again. The problem is that we're not profiling them, but we do take note of activities that are more than suspicious. That's why they were removed form the flight, and with good reason.
Iran is as much a part of this war as al-Qaeda in Iraq is, and the Taliban and al-Qaeda are in Afghanistan. It's time we wake up and face this fact. We have been in a state of de facto war with Iran for twenty-seven years, and we still have foolish people who want us to make nice with them. How can we do something like that when the people they want us to make peace with are ready to drive a knife between our shoulder blades. Tolerance and moderation can't be given unless BOTH siodes are willing to do it, and abide by what is negotiated. We can't trust Iran to do that. Look at Iraq closely, and understand that Iran still denies thay are doing anything wrong there. They deny they're sending weapons and munitions over the border. They deny they're providing training for the fighters in Iraq. They're lying, and we know it, yet we still have people demanding we should talk with them.
The time for talk is over. The time for action is now. If we continue to let Iran fester, we're going to be in a world of hurt. We can't afford to make a mistake that could be that costly. Iran isn't our friend. They don't want to be our friend. They want the same thing al-Qaeda does. They want the United States destroyed. And they are taking every step possible to accomplish that goal.
Sabrina McKinney
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 10:31 AM
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