The Iranian War

Iran has declared war on Iraq, the US, and Britain even if no one wants to admit it. Sadr’s rebellion was financed by Iran. Spies have been caught and confessed on videotape. Arms have been stopped at the border including timers, detonators, and sophisticated explosives. Four American soldiers were killed in Iraq Sunday before last by a roadside bomb in Baijifour by one of the new shaped charges. Iran’s been killing Americans since at least 1983 when Iranian funded Hezbollah carried out the Beirut bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines. Iran supported another terror cell that in 1996 truck bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. 19 Americans were killed and 372 wounded. Terrorists are being trained in Iran and allowed to use it’s border to cross into Iraq. Michael Ledeen points out:

The centrality of Iran in the terror network is the dirty secret that most everyone knows, but will not pronounce. Our military people in both Iraq and Afghanistan have copious evidence of the Iranian role in the terror war against us and our allies. Every now and then Rumsfeld makes a passing reference to it. But we have known about Iranian assassination teams in Afghanistan ever since the fall of the Taliban, and we know that Iranians continue to fund, arm, and guide the forces of such terrorists as Gulbadin Hekmatyar. We know that Zarqawi operated out of Tehran for several years, and that one of his early successes — the creation of Ansar al Islam in northern Iraq, well before the arrival of Coalition forces — had Iranian approval and support. We also know that Zarqawi created a European terror network, again while in Tehran, and therefore the “news” that he has been recycled into the European theater is not news at all. It is testimony to his, and the Iranians, central role in the terrorist enterprise. And we know — from documents and photographs captured in Iraq during military operations against the terrorists — that the jihad in Iraq is powerfully supported by Damascus, Tehran, and Riyadh.

Iran knows it's at war, and may be planing to step that war up a notch. Amir Taheri writes that back in May registered presidential candidate Abrahim Asgharzadeh warned:

A coalition of military commanders and mullahs is in the making with the aim of provoking "a direct confrontation" between the Islamic Republic and the United States in the Middle East, especially Afghanistan and Iraq.

"If these schemes go through the nation will be led into dangerous waters," Asgharzadeh warned. "There are people who want to push Iran into a war against the rest of the world, especially the United States."

Mr Taheri also reports:

Defense Minister Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani has said his ministry had "comprehensive plans" to make "life like hell" for the US and its allies throughout the region. "Wherever they [i.e. the Americans] are, we are also," he said. "And wherever they can hit us we can hit them, and harder."

Khamenei has claimed that the Middle East and the Muslim world at large were now faced with a choice between "American-imposed" democracy and "revolutionary Islam" offered by Iran.

There can no longer be any doubt that the purpose of Iran’s nuclear program is to build a bomb. Iran has said they will resume uranium conversion and are not afraid of UN sanctions. That is because China or Russia will veto any sanctions. Russia may not but China most likely would. Memri TV watched as Hosein Musavian explained why Iran entered into negotiations with the EU in the first place. Mr. Musavian is Iran’s chief negotiator on the nuclear issue.

The negotiations with Europe bought us time to complete the Esfahan UCF Project and the work on the centrifuges in Natanz.

When the Taliban refused to give up the 911 masterminds who killed thousands of Americans we considered it a an act of war. We invaded when they refused to surrender those monsters to our justice. The Mullahs refuse not just to give up the terrorist who are very much involved in the violence in Iraq but also supply, train, and allow them free access to Iran and it‘s borders. How is that different from the Taliban? Yet we do NOTHING. President Bush and the State Department have stated a “No regime change” policy towards Iran. Iranian Kurds currently being butchered in the streets get no support. Iranian dissidents get nothing but lip service. A military option is only being discussed in relation to the nuclear facilities and not to the greater problem of massive terrorists efforts operating out of Tehran. We need to do more or our troops and our Iraqi friends will continue to be killed daily and support for Iraqi Freedom will continue to erode. Unless Iran cease to be a base for the terrorists winning in Iraq will not be possible.

This post submitted to Basil's Breakfast.

The Gaza pullout.

Honest Reporting has a quiz out on the Gaza pullout.

The Gaza Quiz Do you know the facts behind Israel's pullout from the region?

Our friends the Kurds.

President Bush in his last State of the Union speech had this to say:

And to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you.

I can’t tell! Do not the Kurds in Iran count as Iranian people? Civil demonstrations and protests in Iran’s north-west Kurdish regions has Iranian troops and Islamic vigilantes cracking down with brutal force resulting in scores dead. What, you haven’t heard this? The MSM for whatever reason really haven’t given this much coverage. While media access to Iran is limited by the Mullahs, Kurdish and Iranian opposition sources are available but ignored. Shahin B. Sorekli at KurdishMedia asks:

Why is it that the shooting of an Israeli or Palestinian (although unfortunate and sad) is shown over and over by TV channels such as BBC and CNN, leave Al Jazira TV aside, while the shooting of at least 13 Kurds and several large demonstrations in the Kurdish regions of Iran remain unmentioned?

That question answers itself, you can't blame Jews, Bush, the military, or even America for this. If those factors don't apply then expect more coverage of the latest Abu Grahaib allegations than on what is actually happening to the Kurds.

We expect as much from the MSM. But the Bush administration hasn’t had much to say either. For a little background Gerald A. Honigman gives an historical account of how Britain, whose Navy was switching from coal to oil, gave in to it’s WWI Arab allies, abandoning Jewish, Kurdish, and Sudanese national aspirations. The resulting Balkanization of these Middle Eastern countries leaves us with large ethnic minorities in those Arab countries and the resulting atrocities used to subjugate and suppress those minorities. In the case of the Kurds, we’re talking about Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Turkey is allegedly an ally, although when we needed them they told us to kick rocks. We don't want to anger Turkey by supporting Kurds, they are a persecuted minority in Turkey and support of Kurds elsewhere might encourage Turkish Kurds to fight for their basic human rights. Can’t have that. Likewise Iraq. The U.S. and Britain are pressuring the Kurds to compromise on Kirkuk and federalism. Basically we are asking the Kurds to give up the autonomy they have had since GWI and hope a Shi'ite controlled government later gives it back. Same with the historic capital of Southern Kurdistan, the oil rich region of Kirkuk. The Kurds recognize that they need constitutional protection from Shi'ite majority tyranny. But Bush doesn't want to rock the boat, hoping that this region that has never seen Democracy will eventually put national interests ahead of religious and tribal loyalties. He's hoping the Democrats will do the same. A hopeless hope on both accounts.

Along with Israel the Kurds are our greatest allies in the Middle East. But just as we expect Israel to bend over backwards in dealing with their enemies we expect the Kurds to do the same. It's time instead to support our allies and tell our enemies to kick rocks. Iraq doesn't stand much of a chance as long as Syria, Iran, and Iran's favorite terrorist organization Hammas continue as they are. Support for the Kurds in all of the countries that are trying to keep them down is in our best interest, and no more so than in Iran.

Update:

Michael Ledeen gives us some insight on why politicians will turn a deaf ear on information that they don’t want to have to act on. Mr. Ledeen was present at a meeting in 2001 in Rome with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian expatriate who provided information to the Pentagon. "That meeting produced very high-quality information that we did not have, which, according to American armed forces in Afghanistan, saved American lives," Mr. Ledeen has said. However, the CIA and State Department took steps to shut down the information channel. Later Rumsfeld gave orders that Pentagon officials were forbidden to talk to Iranians, period.

This is similar to the “Able Danger” affair where the 911 hijackers were identified in 1999 by a classified military intelligence unit. Ledeen says:

We have two cases where life-saving information was available, but the system refused to accept it, because the political considerations were more important. In the Weldon story, the administration didn't want to know about terrorist groups operating inside the United States. In the Rome story, they didn't want to know about Iranian groups killing Americans. In the first case, we'd have had to act against sleeper cells, which is a very nasty business. In the second case, we'd have had to act against the biggest terror sponsor in the Middle East, another can of worms. Better to pretend we didn't know, hope that nothing terrible would happen, and concentrate on career advancement.

Atlas Shrugs has some graphic pictures of the atrocities the Mullahs are inflicting on Kurdish children!

Ganji is dying.

Massoumeh Shafieh, the wife of Akbar Ganji, is risking her freedom and probably her life in an effort to save her imprisoned husband from death. Akbar Ganji is on his 54th day of a hunger strike protesting his and other dissident’s brutal captivity. He will continue until he is released or dead. His crime is being a journalist, or rather a journalist that has criticized the regime, which in Iran is seen by the Mullahs as criticizing Islam. Despite being ordered by the regime not to talk to foreign reporters, Ms. Shafieh told the N.Y. Sun

We are appealing to the United Nations, human rights groups, and other nations to pressure our government to release my husband. Our struggle must reach out past the borders of Iran now. Our leaders will not listen to their people, they will only respond to external pressure

She is right to be concerned, the regime has killed many journalist, the most notable being Zahra Kazemi. Ms. Kazemi was a Canadian-Iranian who was arrested for photographing regime thugs beating young Iranians who were demonstrating for freedom. After being beaten and raped she turned up dead in a local military hospital. We will not see a Turquoise Revolution in Iran until the fear such human rights violations instill in Iranians is muted.

Make no mistake, Iran is a powder keg waiting for a spark. From an article by Slater Bakhtavar:

In Iran, pro-democracy students have taken to the streets several times during the past couple of years. A poll conducted this month by student activists at Amir Kabir University the countries second largest university provided a discomfiting message for the reigning Ayatollahs. The University poll chronicled a mere five to ten percent support for the mullahs and eighty-five percent support for a secular democratic government. President Bush has consistently reached out to this nation that Michael Rubin of the Washington Enterprise Institute dubbed the "most pro-American in the entire region, if not the world", and Thomas Friedman of the New York Times called "the ultimate red state. . ."

Because the world is watching Mr. Ganji, hopefully the government won’t let him die and become such a spark. But then the Mullahs have not always shown good judgement.

We all have a stake in Iran. The State Department reports:

Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2004. Its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security were involved in the planning and support of terrorist acts and continued to exhort a variety of groups to use terrorism in pursuit of their goals.

Specifically regarding al Qa’ida:

Iran continued to be unwilling to bring to justice senior al-Qa'ida members it detained in 2003. Iran has refused to identify publicly these senior members in its custody on "security grounds." Iran has also resisted numerous calls to transfer custody of its al-Qa'ida detainees to their countries of origin or third countries for interrogation and/or trial. Iranian judiciary officials claimed to have tried and convicted some Iranian supporters of al-Qa'ida during 2004, but refused to provide details. Iran also continued to fail to control the activities of some al-Qa'ida members who fled to Iran following the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Hamas, Hizballah, and others:

During 2004, Iran maintained a high-profile role in encouraging anti-Israeli terrorist activity, both rhetorically and operationally. Supreme Leader Khamenei praised Palestinian terrorist operations, and Iran provided Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups -- notably HAMAS, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command -- with funding, safe haven, training, and weapons. Iran provided an unmanned aerial vehicle that Lebanese Hizballah sent into Israeli airspace on November 7, 2004.

And as pertains to the greatest threat facing Fascist Islamists, a successful Democratic Iraq:

Iran pursued a variety of policies in Iraq during 2004, some of which appeared to be inconsistent with Iran's stated objectives regarding stability in Iraq as well as those of the Iraqi Interim Government (IIG) and the Coalition. Senior IIG officials have publicly expressed concern over Iranian interference in Iraq, and there were reports that Iran provided funding, safe transit, and arms to insurgent elements, including Muqtada al-Sadr's forces.

Oh, and don’t forget the Nukes.

What can we as bloggers do to support Ganji and the freedom movement in Iran? Join and support Blog Iran and Regime Change Iran. Go to the Release Ganji web site and scroll down to the activities section. Above all, don’t stay silent. We are the Blogs and are a loud voice in the world. Ask CBS and Dan Rather. As Regime Change Iran states:

Those of us in the blogosphere need to publish the news on Iran in order to help Iranians searching for news know that we support their efforts to replace the existing regime with a real democracy. This is why we ask you to publish our campaign logo on your blog.

Why republish the news? Because the regime is blocking access to most major news sites and the blogosphere is a means to frustrate their efforts. It is also important for the people of Iran to know that people around the world are standing with them in their struggle. This support has proved invaluable to others that successfully overthrew their oppressive regimes in other places around the world, such as Georgia, the Ukraine, Lebanon and elsewhere.

The choosing of assassin and torturer Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by the Mullahs to be the President of Iran shows that they are not going to reform. As Peter Ackerman has said:

When the people realize they have the power to expose the deceit underlying a government prone to repression, it is the beginning of that regime's end.

We can be that power.

Update: 17 March 2006 Ganji is released.