May 03 2008
Using Evidence Of Proxy War Iraq Calls Iran’s Bluff
Here were I think things stand behind the diplomacy scenes between Iran, Iraq and the US. It has become clear from the Iraqi crackdown on the militant Mahdi Army, led somewhat by anti-American, anti-democracy Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, that Iran has been also a key force behind the Mahdi Army in terms of weapons, training and sanctuary. These weapons and forces are targeted at the US forces in Iraq – according to statements by Sadr himself, and have been responsible for too many US deaths and casualties. The proxy war Iran has been fighting against the US (and the West in general since it is under pressure to abandon its nuclear program) as become more and more exposed as US and Iraqi forces gather intelligence from their actions at rolling back the Mahdi Army from Basra, the Sadr City slum in Baghdad and other Mahdi cells across southern Iraq.
As the evidence mounts concerning Iranian efforts behind the deaths of US soldiers the US has been readying a military response of its own – to remind Iran that the US can and will hit back with extreme power and precision. A little reminder of American fire power is now on display in the Persian Gulf:
The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said yesterday the deployment of a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf could serve as a “reminder” to Iran of American resolve to defend its interests in the region.
Gates denied the arrival of a new carrier represented an escalation, pointing out that US naval strength in the Gulf rises and falls constantly with routine naval deployments, but it comes at a time of heightened rhetoric from Washington about Iran’s role in the Iraqi insurgency.
In the next few days US officers in Baghdad are expected to mount a display of recently-made Iranian arms alleged to have been seized from insurgents.
CBS News reported the Pentagon has ordered commanders to explore new options for attacking Iran and that the state department was formulating an ultimatum calling on Iran to stop arms smuggling into Iraq. The reports were denied by US officials.
The pentagon doesn’t need to explore ‘new options’ for a counter attack on Iran. They have hundreds of military plans already simulated and ready to go. They just need to select the kind of message they want to send. And anyone naive enough to harbor doubts that we have the ability to send Iran is sadly mistaken. For Iran’s actions a wave of pounding surgical strikes is all that is needed, we will not be invading or establishing a government in Iran in the near future. We can do what we need without ground forces.
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What has stayed our hand to this date is a request by Iraq to give them a chance to deal with the problem. To that end Iraq gathered up a pile of evidence and went to Iran to confront them late this last week, which has riveted the attention of the region to see how this plays out. But the evidence seems quite clear from all reports:
Out of this complication and diplomatic stalling, the Iraqi delegation in Tehran has presented evidence to Iran that it is supporting militias in Iraq to battle Iraqi national forces and smuggling Iranian made weapons as well as training gunmen on its territories before crossing into Iraq.
Haydar Al Ibaidi, a member of Dawa Party, noted that the delegation including deputy speaker Khaled Al Attiye and Dawa Party MP Ali Al Adib as well as Iraqi Islamic Party member Hadi Al Amari presented a list of names, training camps and cells linked to Iran.“The Iranians did not confess or admit anything. They claim they are not intervening in Iraq and they feel they are being unfairly blamed for everything going on Iraq,†he said. Al Ibadi added that the delegation had presented evidence showing that Mehdi Army leaders in Basra had escaped to Iran to avoid the assault by government troops.
Arab traitors running to their Persian master for cover is not going to go over well in Arab Iraq or the Arab Muslim community. In many ways culture still trumps religion in that part of the world. In fact the Shiite community which Sadr and Iran had hoped would line up behind them is split, and therefore not providing the popular support needed to make the proxy war catch fire in Iraq:
Shiite clerics offered sharply different visions Friday in the showdown between government forces and Shiite militias — one predicting that armed groups will be crushed in Baghdad and another calling for the prime minister to be prosecuted for crimes against his people.
The contrasting views — given during weekly sermons — showed the complexities and risks in the five-week-old crackdown on Shiite militia factions. The clashes have brought deep rifts among Iraq’s Shiite majority and have pulled U.S. troops into difficult urban combat in the main militia stronghold in Baghdad.
But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, shows no indication of easing the pressure on groups including the powerful Mahdi Army led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Iraqi and U.S. forces are pressing deeper into Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people that serves as the Mahdi Army’s base in Baghdad.
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Al-Maliki, in turn, has accused the militias of using civilians as human shields.
“The government will liberate Sadr City and clear it from gunmen,” prominent Shiite cleric and lawmaker Jalaleddin Sagheer said during prayers at the Buratha mosque in Baghdad. “Those criminals have stocks of ammunitions but they will run out of ammunition within days.”
Sagheer also predicted the government would root out militias controlling other Baghdad neighborhoods.
Prime Minister Maliki is the to sectarian Shiite leader in the country, so he has blunted the claim this is somehow against Shiites. Maliki could be right that weapons supplies are dwindling for the Mahdi thugs. Basra was the life line between the Mahdi and their Iranian masters, but that is now in the hands of the Iraqi government and the US has a tight grip on much (but not all) of the border. The Mahdis will not win this fight, they don’t have the training or punch. More here on the background of events now playing out.
I found this article to be very enlightening regarding the mood of the Muslim Street to all this. It seems the Iraqi Muslim Street is not harboring these terrorists but hunting them down:
A parked car bomb aimed at a US patrol in Baghdad on Thursday killed one US soldier and at least nine Iraqi civilians, police said, as violence continued in the capital.
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They confirmed that the nine Iraqi civilians killed included three women and a child.
The US military said the soldier died later in the day of wounds sustained in the blast.
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Iraqi citizens chased and captured a militant who was seen detonating the car bomb with a mobile phone and turned him over to Iraqi police, the US military said.
Two other accomplices were also detained, it said.
The killers did not find sanctuary among the people rising up – they found a instant-posse which has sent the killers on a journey to meet the hangman for killing innocent Arab-Muslim woman and children. More here on the fighting recently. Finally, here is a common view to my own that Iran is getting its last chance to end its war on America through Mahdi proxies:
April was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since last September and a bad month for Iraqi civilian casualties as well. Iran clearly bears considerable blame for providing the weapons needed to carry out those attacks. An Iraqi delegation went to Tehran on Thursday to seek a peaceful solution to this problem. Iran’s leadership should understand that if such a solution isn’t found, it risks a justified military response by the United States.
This proxy war must end and must end soon. Iran better hope the evidence we have gathered in Iraq proving their crimes against US soldiers never sees the light of day or a news conference. Because if this evidence does start to become public it will be as a precursor to overt action from the US. Personally, I am ready to see the evidence and move on to sending a clear, loud and deadly message to Tehran.
This is very interesting found at the “Freerepublic” read it in full.
CTA Symposium: Iraq v. Mahdi Army
05/03/2008 6:31:45 AM PDT · by moderatewolverine · 1 replies · 114+ views
Center for Threats Awareness ^ | April 7, 2008 | Ralph Peters, Bill Roggio, Michael Ledeen, and Omar Fadhil
The recent offensive operations taken by the Iraqi government against the Mahdi Army (Jaish al-Mahdi – JAM) of Muqtada al-Sadr have received much analysis and commentary since the onset. Each of the ensuing analysis and commentary offerings have agreed that the Maliki government’s military actions and the Mahdi Army response are revelatory in nature. But that is where the agreement seems to end, as there appears a divergence regarding precisely what has been revealed: Who has operated and enjoys the position of strength, Maliki and the Iraqi government and military forces, or the Mahdi Army forces of Muqtada al-Sadr, which…
The ‘Fog of war’ allows us all to see what we want to see. We have an additional complication because so many politicans have a vested interest in seeing the war in a certain light. Political careers ARE on the line. As they should be. Although warfare and politics do not mix well, it is important to hold our leadership responsible.
It seems to me, AJ, that Iran is not liking some of the deals in our negotiations with them as all this seems to be aimed at tweaking the President…
An attack might end the negotiations, no? Just thinking that one never knows who’s doing what to whom…and for what agenda….
As I understand it, Iran doesn’t want a strong Iraq that will attack them. The US wants Iran to butt out of Iraq’s strengthening it’s government/rebuilding. Iran doesn’t want the US leaving and leaving all it’s machine, weapons, artillary to the Iraqi’s to use on them. The Arab street wants the US to succeed in Iraq as they want to shut out Iran.
All that said, I am ready to smack the little man in tehran hard.
G_d bless America and G_d bless George W. Bush. Praying for them daily…
Electing a Democrat now will imperil this country , in additional to all the other threats.
Chinese nuclear submarine base
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/majornews/1917167/Chinese-build-secret-nuclear-submarine-base.html
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 5:28PM BST 02/05/2008
China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, it can be disclosed.
Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, shows that a substantial harbour has been built which could house a score of nuclear ballistic missile submarines and a host of aircraft carriers.
In what will be a significant challenge to US Navy dominance and to countries ringing the South China Sea, one photograph shows China’s latest 094 nuclear submarine at the base just a few hundred miles from its neighbours.
Other images show numerous warships moored to long jettys and a network of underground tunnels at the Sanya base on the southern tip of Hainan island.
Of even greater concern to the Pentagon are massive tunnel entrances, estimated to be 60ft high, built into hillsides around the base. Sources fear they could lead to caverns capable of hiding up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites.
The US Department of Defence has estimated that China will have five 094 nuclear submarines operational by 2010 with each capable of carrying 12 JL-2 nuclear missiles.
Military analysts believe that China’s substantial build up of its forces is gaining pace put has remained hidden from the world in the build-up to the Olympics.
China has diverted much of its resources from the huge Peoples Liberation Army to the navy, air force and missile development.
An old Russian aircraft carrier, bought by Beijing for “leisure activities” has been picked over by naval architects who hope to “reverse engineer” the ship.
Within the next five to 10 years the People’s Liberation Navy is expected to build up to six carriers which will also coincide with the Royal Navy’s construction of two major carriers.
This article is warning about the very thing I have been screaming about all year.
This idiocy in Washington is going to ruin everything our troops are acheiving.
Strategic Collapse in the War on Terror
By Joseph Myers
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/05/strategic_collapse_in_the_war.html
Words matter, and in the global war on terror we are losing the battle of words, in a self-inflicted defeat. The consequences could not be more profound.
Recent government policy memoranda, circulating through the national counter-terrorism and diplomatic community, establishes a new “speech code” for the lexicon in the war on terror, as reported by the Associated Press and now available in the public domain .
These new “speech codes” recommended that analysts and policy makers avoid the terms jihad or jihadist or mujhadid or “al-Qaida movement” and replace them with “extremists” and by extension other non-specific terms.
The use of these “new words” and rejection of the “old words” is ostensibly designed to avoid legitimating al-Qaida and its followers while mollifying the sensitivities of the larger Muslim community.
This culmination of previous trends does not surprise me at all.
This is more than simply dancing on the pinhead of cultural sensitivity-words have meaning, ideas have consequences.
This policy is a strategic collapse.
[snip see link for the rest of the article]
Vince,
Your silly hand-wringing is as bad as a surrendercrat’s. So what if diplomats have been asked to use less inflammatory language? It could be for a lot of good reasons.
This is the kind of naive right-wing Bush bashing that gave Congress to the Dems. It is such a silly distraction from the real news on the streets in the ME.
Name me one war where we couldn’t even name who the enemy is?
You think we can fight an ideological war and speak honsestly about what we’re fighting? You’re stupid if you think so… especially considering the fact that the enemy is deliberately infilitrating all our institutions so that they could continue to obfuscate what is it that we’re fighting.
Naive? No. I’m not naive, I know where this leads… where is the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzathium today?
Vince, I don’ t think that’s a fair comparison. The Muslim world is unique, imho. The *radicals* have absconded with the religion to act out their desires for a caliphate which are not the desires for the whole Arab world, again imho. We have to thread a fine needle with this war, imho, because of that.
The speaker from Stratfor Intelligence which I heard, stated very clearly that the terrorists WANTED to make Arabs mad at the US…which is why they attacked us on our soil. They knew we would respond which they thought would anger the Arab world against us. Hasn’t worked. The President and his team have done an outstanding job in this war, imho, keeping many of the Arab countries on board to fight the radicals, no?
The war extends well beyond Iraq. It involves the colonizataion of Europe. It involves the inflitatration into our FBI, DHS, CIA , State Department. It involves corrupting our Universities so that the truth of Jihad is obscured.
It involves the destablization of South America.
The fact that no one talks about any of these things is proof enough to me that we’re losing.
Vince, I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill here. Any strategic edge, regardless of how insignificant it may seem to us Americans, that can drive a wedge between moderate Muslims and their radical elements is worth attempting. A case could have been made during WWII that our wartime strategy didn’t do enough to endorse anti-nazi elements in Germany and aid any rift between moderate Germans and their radical elements. The “Unconditional surrender” mentality (for lack of a better example) is a sure way to force and unite any people to fight to the end. Just my opinion.
I dont come to my opinion uninformed. Almost all the people who have been repeating the truth about Islam , who have identified the trends whereas everyone else has failed.. All of the people who clearly recognize the agenda, history and motivation of elements inside Islam all are critical of these new policies.
You think calling a someone a jihadi is going to aliennate a Muslim? As if Muslims dont know what a jihadi? IT’s politically correct nonsense probably advocated for and designed by CAIR to blind us.
You do know that CAIR is involved in many federal agencies .. being used for educational and cultural awareness purposes.
You do know that CAIR is affiated with the Muslim Brotherhood , whose mission is to Islamize the world
These policies are a direct result of that work and you folks are supporting it.
unbelievable.
Yes, Vince, I know all that. I wouldn’t say that I support political correctness or the policy. I’d say I support any attempt at clearly defining the line between benign or moderate and radical elements. It seems to me that this is a bigger problem for CAIR than for us. CAIR likes to play both sides of the fence and the wider, higher, and sharper that fence is, the more difficult it will be for CAIR to sit on it. Look at it this way…it’s an appeasement to the already appeased. But to CAIR, having brokered the distinction, now they are on notice to condemn Jihadi behavior. Personally, I don’t think it costs us anything.
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