Breaking News: Is Exposure of a Direct Iranian Plot to Launch Terror Attacks in Washington DC A Turning Point?
It should be, but will it be?
ABC News has broken a story about the disruption of a major Iran-backed terrorist plot to stage an attack on U.S. soil. According to U.S. officials, the plan was to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and to attack the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington D.C. Parallel attacks were planned for these two countries’ embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The case is still being developed, and it isn’t clear whether the origin of this plot goes back to Tehran. According to ABC’s sources, Manssor Arbabsiar — an Iranian American living in Texas — approached an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, thinking he was speaking with a member of a Mexican drug gang for help in the proposed attacks. He said he was acting on behalf of a cousin, Gholam Shakuri, who might be a Revolutionary Guard official involved in terrorist operations.
He offered $1.5 million for the killing, with a $100,000 down payment in two installments being paid by Arbabsiar while on a visit to Iran.
These two men have been charged with conspiracy to kill, among other charges. Arbabsiar, who is now cooperating with the prosecution, also offered to provide opium in large quantities for the Mexican drug cartels. Apparently, the FBI has a lot of evidence, including recordings of meetings and telephone calls with Arbabsiar.
Let’s assume that this story is accurate. What’s most important here is not the innate sensationalism of this dramatic story, but its political implications. An Iranian official — perhaps two according to the indictment — is directly linked with a plan to stage terrorist attacks on American soil in which Americans would certainly have been killed or injured. This amounts to an act of war.
Indeed, it is the first time in modern history that a foreign government has been caught planning a major terrorist attack on American soil.
President Barack Obama, Homeland Security, and other top agencies and officials have the evidence and full briefings into this matter if they choose to access them. What effect would this have on U.S. foreign policy?
Already, they have had high-quality intelligence. We know this from the congressional testimony of Defense and State Department officials:
– Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism.
– Iran is harboring al-Qaeda leaders on its soil and letting them plan attacks on America from that safe haven.
– Iran is training and supplying the Taliban with weapons and training to attack and kill Americans.
– Iran is deeply involved in attacking and killing U.S. personnel and citizens in Iraq.
And that’s not all. Is this sufficient evidence to persuade Obama that Iran regards itself as being at war with the United States? That the top priority of U.S. Middle East policy — and very possibly the number-one priority of U.S. foreign policy generally — should be to counter Iran and revolutionary Islamism? And I don’t mean by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezballah as moderates!
Government agency working with Mexican Drug Cartel to circumvent law to cause harm to America, gee that seems familiar, wasn’t there something in the news recently along the same line, oh yea, Fast and Furious.
It has been reported that the WH was aware of this back in June. Seems to me that we are seeing the tail wag the dog.
I dunno… Since when has Iran been waging an aggressive campaign of assassination against the Saudis? To what end? And couldn’t it possibly be that Eric Holder needs a high-profile success to polish his public image? I’m strangely inclined to agree with I’maNutJob on this; it stinks of false flag fabrication. =’[.]‘=
“Since when has Iran been waging an aggressive campaign of assassination against the Saudis? To what end?”
uhh … How about intimidating and embarrassing the Saudis for interfering in the Iranian campaign to dominate the Persian Gulf and its oil? The Iranians did show a bit of interest in Bahrain a few months ago, until the Saudis gave them the boot.
Embarrassing and intimidating the Saudis is a far cry from political assassination on foreign soil. It just doesn’t seem to fit with Iran’s pretense toward civil membership in the greater world, particularly as represented by their activities at the UN. =’[.]‘=
Obviously “pretense” is not the real thing
The point of “pretense (your word)” is that it’s a fake, a cover which allows the Iranians to get benefits from those who want to be fooled while still using terrorism to achieve their objectives. The history of Iranian sponsored terrorism against the U.S. in Iran shows this has been a successful technique.
Actually, Iranians have been doing this kind of thing for quite a long time. In the early 1980s, the Iranians were the chief suspects in the killings of two Saudis at the embassy in Bangkok – the Saudis later were outed as intelligence agencies posted temporarily to the embassy. There were several other killings at the time of Saudi citizens, businessmen, that the US government of the day laid at the Iranians’ feet. Of course nothing was proved, but Iranians killing Saudis, or trying to, is pretty natural. Shiites never did like those Sunni dogs.
Amen brother…
I watched the press conference…it seemed very odd, as were the ‘facts’ disclosed. As if they were very nervous about the claim they were making. Holder walked out immediately after the question of Fast and Furious subpoenas. Something doesn’t feel right here.
I too am baffled, despite having studied it… Why all of this? I’ve been tearing my brains out trying to understand the lies, but it still doesn’t make any sense. Iran is all ours from what I can tell. But why?
Excellent questions. Considering the accused has been in custody since Sept.28th, and the agencies involved are those complicit in the gun running fiasco, why announce today just hours before a Republican nationwide debate? Any political motivation? Naahhh.
Holder had a deer in headlights look on his face… why?
Ahh… maybe he’s guilty and felt he was on the spot!?
“Let’s assume that this story is accurate”
Iran managed one of the most successful intelligence accomplishments in modern history ; leveraging its spy’s in the Pentagon and eventually the White House ( Mr. Chalabi among others) to influence the invasion of Iraq and overthrow of its arch enemy in the region, Saddam Hussein.
The US government was willfully ignorant and swallowed Iranian intelligence hook line and sinker, a well planned and executed infiltration of Pentagon war planning and US foreign Policy. From a purely intelligence perspective, Iranian intelligence ran a brilliant operation and influenced American Military decisions.
We are supposed to believe they went from infiltrating the US government to a badly written episode of Miami Vice..??? thanks, but no thanks.
There’s not a single sentence there that doesn’t sound completely insane.
Chalabi being an Iranian agent was widely reported in 2004.
I’d always assumed that this information was more CIA and State nastiness,
and part of their attempt to derail the President’s agenda and the GWoT.
***
CNN May 2004:
“The United States has evidence a Chalabi associate is an agent of Iranian intelligence, according to senior U.S. officials.
Chalabi is a Shiite political figure who has maintained longtime ties with the leadership in Shia Iran.
Officials have said for some weeks now that they had evidence Chalabi passed intelligence to Iran about U.S. operations in Iraq — information that, as one official puts it, “could get Americans killed.”
Chalabi has strongly denied that allegation.”
Guardian May 2004:
“According to a US intelligence official, the CIA has hard evidence that Mr Chalabi and his intelligence chief, Aras Karim Habib, passed US secrets to Tehran, and that Mr Habib has been a paid Iranian agent for several years, involved in passing intelligence in both directions.
The CIA has asked the FBI to investigate Mr Chalabi’s contacts in the Pentagon to discover how the INC acquired sensitive information that ended up in Iranian hands.
The implications are far-reaching. Mr Chalabi and Mr Habib were the channels for much of the intelligence on Iraqi weapons on which Washington built its case for war.”
News flash kiddo, there were multiple reasons why the US went to war,
WMD, Saddam’s support for terrorism, the recognition that the war against terror is a war against the political culture of the Mideast. Wars are not launched on the basis of single suppliers of information.
BTW, misinformation and disinformation are constants.
I know that. Anyone who has read the documents knows that.
And Iraq did have WMD — from Russia with love.
—
Re Chalabi, though. The CIA and State waged war on him.
The allegation that he was an Iranian spy was part of that war.
Senate intelligence committee showed that it was a lie.
Yea, and it’s called taqiya!
The “wide reporting” about Chalabi and an Iranian connection was anti-war disinformation by hard leftists who did not have US best interests in mind. Is that you ?
Please reread my second sentence: this claim is “CIA and State nastiness”,
and an “attempt to derail the President’s agenda and the GWoT”.
That is to say, it’s a lie.
Chalabi is an honorable man.
Isn’t Iran also sending its submarines to troll US waters? This was reported ealier last month, before this terrorist’s arrest. I think Iran is up to something.
I suspect it is a plot to have the US Navy laugh itself to death.
Speaking as an Anti-Submarine Warfare expert who has studied the matter of Iranian submarine capabilities, let me say that any idea of Iranian submarines “trolling US waters” is pure bunk. Don’t get me wrong, while they may certainly not be on a par with our forces, Iranian submarines are a credible regional threat that are always taken seriously. However, the idea of them transiting from the Arabian Gulf, around the Cape of Good Hope, and across the Atlantic is far beyond any demonstrated capabilites, much less executing such an endeavor undetected.
It just takes 1 sub with 1 nuclear warhead within range of the US East Coast.
I thought I read that Iran wanted to use the Suez Canal. As far as Africa – they might just make it around the Cape. Underwater can be calmer then the surface. The damn Germans in WWII, made it here…. and that was 60 years ago.
laughable as it seems an iranian sub in American waters can happen.
Mothership, hollow hull, sub attached in hollow hull for transit, released when near enough to sail on it’s own.
See Pearl Harbor, Midget subs.
Though more plausable would be simply a missle launch system or mine layer on a freighter or tanker.
Ahh. Holder is in hot water, Napolitano next…wag the dog.
Breathlessly announcing this story is ABC, CBS, CNN, …and burying the other one so there is an excuse not to cover it.
Amazing coincidences every time a Democrat gets in really deep…something pops up in the Middle East that knocks it right out of the mass propaganda machine’s headlines. Spooky.
Holder’s only comment stated with authority was that he disclosed thousands of documents already prior to the subpoenas…he seemed a bit timid about this plot. I watch the eyes and upper lip when folks answer questions…there are tells there.
The report may be true, or it may be an attempt to take the heat off of Holder for FnF.
Or it may be an attempt to exagerate another big national security ‘win’
If this is a wag the dog scenario, people should be impeached/jailed (as if Fast & Furious isn’t enough), it it’s true, Qom should be leveled. I say Qom, because that’s where the ayatollah’s live. And everyone knows that’ where the power in Iran is located.
If I had to guess, I’d say check out the whitehouse smoke screen department first.
What, deal firmly with an act of war by an unfirendly foreign power when there’s guns to be walked in order to justify gun control?!
And working with a Mexican drug gang? Are the Iranians hooking up with Mexican drug cartels, the ones Holder et al. have been shipping weapons to? Was ATF/DEA still selling weapons to the Zetas after learning about this attempted plot?
Because one would think it safe to assume, if this is coming from Iran, that it’s not an isolated incident, prudence would dictate that there may be other plots with actual gang members. And yet we’ve sold them weapons.
Iran and its proxies have their dirty little fingers
in a lot of Latin and South American pies:
money, weapons, technology, drugs, smuggling, crime.
It’s nasty business — and it doesn’t stay south of the border.
Todd Bensman’s written some great work on the subject.
http://www.toddbensman.com/
Douglas Farah’s also important.
http://www.douglasfarah.com/
Good summary here: Avi Jorisch, It’s Time to Get Serious about the Tri-Border Region,
Buenos Aires Herald, May 8, 2011 [ http://goo.gl/i4x5r ]
Just exactly who is this “Prudence” chick and what does she have to do with it?
The USG doesn’t need to fabricate acts of war against the U.S. Prof. Rubin has summarized them above.
In 1993, evidence was uncovered that Iraqi intelligence had planned to assassinate former President George H W Bush. Clinton’s response was to send a few cruise missiles to hit an Iraqi intelligence building. Anyone believe Obama will carry out any aggressive action against Iran in retaliation? Heck, even George W Bush failed to do so, even though everyone knew Iran was helping kill US soldiers in Iraq. (Bush also knew of Syria’s role in those attacks, but let that pass as well.)
We were still at war with Iraq when Clinton struck back. We are not at war with Iran, even though Iran has been at war with the US since 1979. The Iranians have had agents of influence influencing US policy makers for many years.
Seems an appropriate time to invoke the “trust but verify” paradigm. Say they let this percolate and foam around for 9 to 12 months, then, lo and behold, there is an American in Iran who need “rescuing” via a “spy/terrorist” swap. Voila, the problem goes away and FnF has been buried. Just in time for back patting in the pre-election period. Call me both cynical and unconvinced. Iran, of course, has just accused the Administration of fabricating the whole thing. Surpise!!
About the Federal DA on the case: Preet Bharara (DA for southern district of NY) was an undergrad classmate of mine from Harvard. He hails from NJ originally, and prior to his current DA gig he spent 5 years on Capitol Hill with NY senior senator Chuck Schumer.
I think Bharara is looking to run for US Senate (i.e., inherit Frank Lautenberg’s seat) — and I have a strong hunch that this Iranian plot case is going to turn out to be little other than embarrassing political PR overreach on Bharara’s part.
In other words, I think this “plot foiling” is probably just a tricked-out vehicle for Bharara to “prove” his national-security bona fides ahead of a near-term Senate run. He already grabbed headlines on the white-collar criminal prosecution front this past Spring/Summer, with his quarterbacking of the Galleon (Rajaratnam hedge fund) insider-trading case. Bharara’s team won a conviction there — but the supposedly vast wider web of co-conspirator hedge-fund villains doesn’t seem to have come through for Bharara since.
(One hedge fund has settled but at nowhere near the cost one might have anticipated given the Feds’ previous heavy breathing; look for that phenomenon to repeat itself in this “Iranian plot-foiling” case.)
In sum, I predict nothing will connect this alleged plot to the raft of Obama White House/DOJ misdeeds in the “Fast & Furious” gunwalker scandal, in all probability — because there’s probably “no there there” with the actual case. (“Dude, where’s my evidence?”)
I am fully confident that the “Fast & Furious” scandal, simply on its own, is even worse (in terms of White House/DOJ malfeasance) than has been uncovered thus far. And I am all for the heaviest possible US military action against Iran, post haste, in order to decapitate the regime there and derail Iran’s nuclear program.
But in this specific instance, ultimately I am certain that this “plot-foiling” — and its supposed Iranian angle — may well prove to be merely political-ambition overreach by the NY southern-district Fed DA. Nothing more.
“About the Federal DA on the case … an undergrad classmate of mine from Harvard”
The principal federal prosecutor in a federal court district holds the title (by Presidential appointment), “United States Attorney”. The term, “District Attorney (DA)” is frequently used for the chief local prosecutor in a jurisdiction. Preet Bharara is not a DA. He is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. If you will look at the criminal complaint you will see that there are Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are actually “on the case”.
I guess you were out the day they covered the U.S. criminal justice system at Harvard.
It’s depressing to see all the pettiness and conspiracy mongering from the Right on this case. I am grateful to the federal law enforcement agents and attorneys who put this great case together.
You’re nitpicking, and it’s not petty to question someone that has a track record of being evasive if not an outright liar. I deal in likelihoods, which demands that you actually pay attention to possibilities. It’s depressing to me when intelligent folks are dismissive because of their credulity.
I don’t think I was “nitpicking”. If a commenter wants to be taken as someone with some expertise on the U.S. criminal justice system, as opposed to someone who just has a strong opinion, I would expect him to know the difference between a distict attorney and a U.S. Attorney. It’s a basic distinction for anyone even slightly familiar with the field.
I think one could make a good, detailed critique of Bharara’s term as US Attorney for SDNY, but from what I read in the complaint, this was a difficult and succesful investigation. The FBI and DEA Special Agents and the AUSAs who worked this case should have the thanks of all Americans, not snorts from the sidelines that the case will probably amount to nothing.
If it is true, it is an act of war. Shouldn’t we be a bit nit-picky about that?
I am puzzled that CNN spent so much news time on this plot today while it seems Fast and Furious has received such short shrift. I would have thought both posed serious threats. Am I correct in viewing the way CNN is deliberately selective as in fact both being dishonest and undermining those calling for responsible governance in the USA?
What?! Surprise because the media is doing exactly what they always do by controlling our focus and our knowledge? *GASP* This is what the media does. This is what they have been doing for years and years now. It is biased reporting, sensationalism, and telling us what is important to us. If this is what it takes to wake everyone up to the joke that is our “news” reporting, then so be it!
“Indeed, it is the first time in modern history that a foreign government has been caught planning a major terrorist attack on American soil.”
Not so; google “Operation Pastorius” (of course, we were actively at war with Nazi Germany at the time). But then there was Castro and Che’s planned 1962 Black Friday bomb plot in New York, which could have killed more people than 9/11 had the FBI not foiled it.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=10612
The Black Tom dock bombing and the Zimmermann Cable come also to mind.
So far these operations have been foiled only because the principals are so dumb. I wonder, do some cultures produce more people with flat line learning curves then others? I wonder how many snitches the DEA has on retainer? ATF? FBI? DOJ? And no one in charge really knew about all those guns going south of the border to Mexico?
Lotta inbreeding in the Middle East.
It’s sad to acknowledge that many of us are sceptical about the veracity of this report; that we wonder if the Obama administration is trying to divert attention from its other problems: Fast and Furious, Solyndra, jobs, the economy.
A president overseeing a nation-under-attack is more often re-elected than rejected.
In my view, there is nothing that the Obama Gang will not stoop to ensure their control and power.
I agree with you 100%. My first thought yesterday was that this reeks of fabrication. The timing, the players, the story, all of it feels contrived. Holder showed almost no emotion announcing it which struck me as very very odd. He sure was animated lying to congress. Where was that animation when announcing that a major terrorist plot on US soil was thwarted?? You know what they say, if it looks like a politician and talks like a politician, it must be lying to you :0)
Hard to say about a particular incident, but a pattern seems to be developing in the latter half of little lenin’s term. The first half was all about denying that any foreign affairs problems exist at all, other than ones the US directly caused. We apologized to the world for America’s evilness, declared that terrorism doesn’t exist, that Gitmo would be closed, that a guy who some people might consider a terrorist would be tried in civilian court in NYC, that the hated war in Iraq was ended, that the just war in Afghanistan would end by 2012, etc., that torture was ended and the perps would be prosecuted, etc. etc.
Interestingly, while words fanned out as rapidly as machine gun bullets, the Bush anti-terrorism protocols remained in place. NOTHING was actually done to dismantle them. The trial has not been held. The perveyors of torture still walk free. But now, in the latter half of the reich, big things begin to happen in the War on not-Terrorism. OBL was offed; Stuxnet emerged; drone warfare achieves a certain cachet with the smart set; Qaddafi Duck is spanked, in the right way of course; assassinations are suddenly en vogue; several plots by people who aren’t Terrorists have been broken up; and now, Iran is outed while performing not-Terrorism deeds.
As has happpened so frequently in Obama’s life, good fortune seems to fall his way in the most unlikely settings. Why, it turns out he is a terror warrior as casually and effectively as if he was bounding and flapping down the AF-1 stairway. A true leader is revealing himself to his country. Just in time.
“In other words, is this case going to be the smoking gun — or, perhaps, the smoking bomb — that gets U.S. policy on the right course? It should be, though I suspect it isn’t.”
Talk about answering your own question, indeed why did you even ask it as we all know the answer?
Nice to dream though, about an America that fights back against the people who are at war with it, about an America whose people would rise up and demand action against a government that has been killing US serviceman and woman for years with impunity. Alas, America is way too good for most Americans.
As the great Frank said in the Godfather, Part II, “Let’s hit them now while we still have the muscle.”
There are SO many ways we can ruin Iran’s day, from isolated bombing to selective killings of some of their agents around the world. Both the CIA and the Pentagon would have what is called a “target-rich environment” when it came to hitting the Iranians. The big question is, will Obama want to fight back since he wants to leave Iraq this year? He may not want to do anything, since he would be afraid that the Iranians would retaliate in Iraq, thereby prolonging our involvement there. It would be terrible if Obama did nothing about this, proving that we really are the weak power the Iranians say we are. Obama must hit them hard and make a statement. Because, if he doesn’t, the Iranians will certainly NOT worry about getting hit while they go the final few yards to getting a nuclear weapon.
Does anyone believe Obama would hurt a flea if he thought the flea could hit back? Double if the the flea is anti-American.
There is a far greater chance that Obama would order an airstrike on the FBI so that the Iranians could see that we really want their love.
If we do anything at all it will be some made for TV bombing of an aspirin factory, the compensation for which will have already been delivered by some Soros funded bagman. There will be visually appropriate wailing and knashig of teeth and chants of Death to AmeriKKKA, but nothing will interfere with Iran’s progress towards developing its nuke which will eliminate the Zionist entity and restore the Caliphate. Comrade Obama will make a speech lamenting the passing of Israel.
Wag the Dog moment. It’s all very convenient timing for Obama, Holder and DoJ. Of course, it might be 100% true but I’m going to resist rushing to judgment and believing that the clowns who currently have control of our government and justice system A) know what they’re doing and B) can be trusted at all.
An act of War. Now, that is a laugh. We have been at war with Iran for over 30 years folks. It just hasn’t been in the open like the global government invasion of Libya.
Sometimes, you will see a short read on a Iran individual working with their Nukes being wacked, other times a truck with guards will be blown up, or a factory ect… Who do you think supplies all the IED’s to the warriors for the god of the Kaaba in Afganistan, and Iraq?
Keep you eye on the gun walking. That is an act of war on the American Bill of Rights by the CFR contoled government. DaOne, Billery, the Bull Dike at Homeland, and Holder all on in on the agenda to weaken these United States to form a North American Union in the name of security.
I’m surprised PJ didn’t ban you. And you know exactly what I mean.
I don’t.
This is not Faux news where only the news fit to print is allowed. You do not have to like my freedom of speech, but you better support it. If you think I am wrong, prove it.
Assuming that all is as it appears,
The US now has all the pretext it needs to obliterate Iran’s nuke program.
What are they waiting for?
A plan? And certainly the Iranian people didn’t do this. Trillions wasted over the years in corruption and fraud fighting two wars and we can’t deliver mass x velocity to Fordo. Go figure.
What are they waiting for?
Obama will wait for the one thing that would compel him to stand up to America’s enemies. He will wait until he’s sure that going to war with Iran will help him win reelection.
I have been saying since the start of the Iraq War that it was a mistake PRECISELY because it exhausted our political capital to go to war with the country we REALLY NEEDED to go to war against, Iran.
There is no way Barack Obama will do anything but wag his finger at Iran. But even if we had John McCain in the Oval Office, the political will to go to war with Iran would simply not be there. Iraq squandered that capital.
I’m not buying this story yet. Way too convenient (timing wise) for Holder.
Could be a modern day “Zimmerman telegraph”.
Want to speculate on what percentage of Americans have a clue what the Zimmerman Telegram was, Hell, what a telegram is?
LOL
Ambassador Zimmerman please contact your embassy.
A Mexican drug lord would have turned them in also:
a) You never know when you will need goodwill from the FBI
b) Why mess with the stability of your main customers ?
I have a tough time with that part of the story
a) might have some validity. b) isn’t their problem.
I imagine they are real busy trying to determine whether a military action would boost Obama’s election chances or not. Their conclusions will determine what if anything will happen.
Barry, some of this by Holder who needed the help of Mexico (Iran was trying to use the drug cartels) is WAG THE DOG. I think Bibi has Iran in its sights because of the unreported movement of the Iranian nuclear program. If Obama can’t stop Bibi in the next few months, why not join the right side?
Much is going on. Cyber attack on US drone fleet. Syrian terrorism threats to the West. Iran prepares to overfly Iraq to resupply Latikia exposing Obama’s weakness in dealing with Iraq. Hamas pressured to deal with soldier release as Egypt is on the verge along with Pakistan of having US funding cut.
Obama here is acting out of political self-interest as mobs occupy East side of NYC claiming the “wealthy hoard money from the 99%”. Nothing like a foreign conflict to divert attention from the meltdown of the Left’s narrative…..
Interesting sequence of events…since 911 I thought the s…would hit the fan by the end of 2011 (ten years after). I never would have imagined we’d have an Obama in the WH to deal with it though.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2011/1011/How-will-US-retaliate-against-Iran-for-alleged-assassination-plot
Yes, who thought in 2011, Democrats would be encouraging an Arab Spring in the US as a partisan tactic while Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Libya all stagger under the pretense of some kind of “people’s revolt”. Add to that a complete failure of the Iranian policy.
Is this sufficient evidence to persuade Obama that Iran regards itself as being at war with the United States?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA. You’re kidding, right Barry? There would never be enough evidence for Obama, even if Ahmadinejad himself carried out the dastardly deed with his own two hands and was caught, literally, red-handed.
Right. Obama himself is at war with the United States.
My feelings exactly.
Iran has been at war with us directly in Iraq (recently) and by proxy throughout the Middle East since the Shah was removed. They will have nukes shortly and President Chauncey Gardner gave up our missile defense early on in his presidency so that he could prove how sorry we were for everything that had happened in the past.
It sounds to me that in this case the Iranians were just doing what the ATF and DEA were doing..l. arming our enemies in the hopes of gaining some political advantage from the deaths that would inevitably occur. Obama wanted to drum up support for gun control so he sent arms to the drug cartels. I don’t see a whole lot of difference between him and the Iranians.
The Mexican drug cartels must think the world is crazy. Everyone is throwing weapons at them.
Perhaps Ledeen can get back in touch with James Angleton and shine some light here.
It doesn’t matter to me whether its true or not. regime change is the only strategy but up to now we’ve always had the wrong target. Iran declared war on the US 32 years ago.
You know, this story is so cheesy, there has to be a rat around somewhere.
Yeah, according to Holder, he is something, he can trace the conspiracy to kill the Saudi Ambassador through the Kuds force to the highest Iranian government officials, but he can’t find his ass and who authorized the smuggling of two thousand firearms to Mexico and the several hundred deaths that resulted. That boy’s a work of art.
Plausible retardability?
Looks like Obambi, blabbermouth Biden, and Ahmadinejad need a beer summit.
I’ll bet they use Iranian beer, too!
You know, I’m not sure Cain would be my first choice as the GOP nominee, but I’ll tell you this – if he were President, we wouldn’t be wondering what the President would do.
Every major government building in Iran would already be a crater, and Ahmedinnerjacket and the mullahs would be having sex with their 72 mules.
Actually instead of virgins these guys get 6 dozen chicken eggs!
Case clear or not, the temptation to make Qum, with surroundings, a wasteland is too overwhelming. But see to it, if Obambi and his lost father have the guts?
Iran has been waging war against the US since 1979. Now that we caught an Iranian assassin, we can thank our Attorney General for Mirandizing him so that he shuts up, asks for a lawyer, and we get no intelligence from him. When the idiots in the Obama administration start acting like we are at war, things may go better.
If Clinton were still president he would lob a few cruise missiles at Iran.
Valerie Jarrett, born in Iran, kept President Obama from taking out Osama bin Laden for weeks before Robert Gates and Leon Panetta manned up and did it within their standing authority and informed the President instead of asking his permission. Valerie Jarrett is one of President Obama’s closest advisers along with political flack David Axelrod.
Is Valerie Jarrett, along with Eric Holder, arming Mexican drug cartels so they can strike into the U.S.? Are those cartels planning assassinations of U.S. officials, including Congress? Is there a direct link? One wonders.
One must be very careful with assertions. I don’t see how an Iranian-born advising the President would be naturally inclined against striking OBL. I also don’t see any rational argument why Holder or Obama would want the Cartels armed as further violence across the border bodes poorly for Amnesty advocates. Are you suggesting Obama wants assassinations of Congressional leaders? These ideas are unfounded unless you care to offer credible evidence. In fact, this event shows the cartel is the natural ally of Iran, Hizb’Allah and other anti-gringo groups. Iran threatens to send their “fleet” into the Atlantic and Gulf. Of course Holder didn’t mention Hamas in South America or the threats made by Assad. Iran is Shia. Holder wants to find “Iranians” not the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas.
The Wag the Dog with a Sunni v Shia holds some weight as the secret truth is that Israel and KSA have reason to prepare for war with Iran. Not so sympathetic to KSA who pay-rolled Khan, but they have oil and are NOT Iran. Iraq is about to wavier and let Iran overfly them to Syria. Obama will be blamed so he does have a clock to consider in the way for any re-election. Now he has a set up, but would lose his base. He needs a military “incident” to tell his base he had no choice. Would Republicans oppose US strikes on Iran if Obama gave the order? Ron Paul would be screaming.
The difficulty for the US is that leaders in the ME don’t believe Obama is going to use force against Iran. Second, Obama doesn’t have the money to buy out those that dislike us. Pakistan is on the verge of going completely rogue despite our money and Obama is right in considering a move towards Uzbekistan. Egypt isn’t improving despite our money. So in addition to looking weak, our thinking has not proven very effective. That makes us look weak and stupid. Just a month ago, Erdogan threatened to attack Noble drilling rig in block 12. Why should we place our X-band in Turkey? Seems like Turkey is leading the US around.
Last, this situation we face is exactly what was predicted would happen if we put forward the signals Obama had in mind. The Arab Spring in the ME and now here in the US is a convenient tool for leadership to alter policy and principles, commitments and alliances that would otherwise be impossible to change directly without the wrath of American voters.
Community activists helped get Obama elected and now they scramble to start as many occupies as they can. Chase Bank is the new Mubarak and Murdock the new Assad. It is quite amazing when you consider it. Though this was a possible scenario going back to Obama’s primary run, the reality is quite a screwed up perfect storm. The irony is as clear as Cain.
The spam filter will not print anything that includes a link to anything not on some short list at PJM HQ, but if you search ‘deep capture chapter 21 how a small gang wrecked the world’ you can learn more about Iran’s activities re other events, including the September 08 bank panic.
Mark Mitchell, the author, has poured himself into this online book –chapter 21, the latest posting, is not the end, he says, ‘by far’.
Mitchell by the way is ex- a Time Magazine correspondent and editor of the media affairs section of the Columbia Journalism Review. Not exactly a ignernt troglodyte right-winger like say me for instance.
If this comment ‘prints’ i’ll be a monkey’s uncle. I like PJM but the affection is unrequited in combat boots –
Contra Barry Rubin, this is not the first time a foreign nation attempted a terrorist attack on the US. The Germans tried it in 1942 (I think). They dropped off some saboteurs on eastern Long Island whose mission was to blow up things in the US. They were interedicted by the FBI.
yes i know all about that and had it in mind but i don’t mean the Zimmerman message to Mexico or the German saboteurs (one of them turned the rest in) but during the period since then. remember that was almost 70 years ago!
If I remember correctly, the Mafia, (which doesn’t really exist- just ask anyone who belongs…) though crooks, were during WWII patriotic crooks.
Wonder if teh cartels recognize us as the lesser of 2 evils as did the mob?
Well if the Mafia took out JFK, that would be a terror attack, or just a “hit”?
I must admit I thought Obama’s move on Libya was a distraction designed to shut up conservatives and it worked to some extent. We had conservatives falling over themselves to support Obama and get him to commit more troops.
This is why I worry about the old faithfull wag the dog. We could well end up in another war because of the need to distract conservatives.
“Making things up as we go along” Exhibit #5,724.
Imagine had this happened with an adult administration: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Reagan. They’d just have nuked Iran – especially Truman or Eisenhower, men who had lived through, and commanded men in war. What did these men have in common? They were NOT part of the Worst Generation: The Baby Boomers. Let’s hope they die BEFORE they destroy America.
They would have nuked Iran? Nixon couldn’t even nuke Hanoi Gees…
Truman had a struggle over nuking Japan. And of course, anyone suggesting the hostage Iranian people were behind this plot? And Stratfor again continues its “brilliant” analysis of the Iranian situation. And I say this with sarcasm.
“A brief analysis from Stratfor Global Intelligence cautioned against any claims of high-up Iranian involvement. The analysis said the plot as described “seems far-fetched” considering “its ramifications would involve substantial political risk.”
“Iran has been known to carry out preoperational surveillance in the United States, but it has not yet used this intelligence to carry out a high-profile attack,” the analysis said, suggesting the Tehran links were “exaggerated.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/11/alleged-plot-to-kill-saudi-ambassador-drives-us-push-to-isolate-iran/#ixzz1aXDpVIVy
It would have been odd however for Iran to kill the Saudi ambassador and blow up two embassies without them being targeted as the likely culprits. Had the leads trailed back to the cartel, what logic would they have had? The most important fact here would be the third party contract using the cartel.
Child, you are painfully ignorant, something you can’t say about most ‘Boomers. Paraphrasing President Reagan, unfortunately for some ‘Boomers who went straight from college to academia, government, entertainment, a lot of what they know is wrong, but they’re not ignorant
Of your list of Presidents, only one had unilateral nuclear power, Truman. While I don’t think Truman was troubled by his decision, the Left has decried it ever since, principally because it enabled the US to end the Pacific War without Soviet “help” and, thus, the Soviets had only a limited abilty to carve up Asia for themselves as they had in Europe.
The rest of those presidents faced the likelihood if not the certainty of a Soviet retaliation should the US have used nuclear weapons against the USSR or one of its clients. Kennedy probably pushed a nuclear confrontation closest to the brink but there remains much we don’t know about that and we now know that the US had operational missles on the Soviet border and the Soviets had little capability to strike the US with missles in ’62, so while Kennedy wasn’t holding as good a hand as Truman, he still had a pretty good hand. All the rest were very circumspect about provoking situations that might lead to a resort to nuclear weapons. Nixon made Haiphong Harbor off limits to US bombing for fear of bombing a Soviet or Chinese ship, even though we could see them off-loading the SAMs that were shooting down our aircraft over North Vietnam. The only one of the post-WWII Presidents prior to Clinton to show genuine fecklessness in the face of international threats was President carter, b. 1924, so actually old enough to have served in WWII making him a member of the so-called “Greatest Generation.” Those are of course the people who fought WWII, but also brought you the New Deal, the Square Deal, and the Great Society. They also brought you Playboy magazine and its progeny, legalized abortion, the birth control pill, no-fault divorce, and flouridated water, to name a few of their accomplishments. The first election that ANY ‘Boomers could vote in was ’64 and only in GA and KY, so you can’t lay The Great Society and Guns and Butter on ‘Boomers. The first election that any significant number of ‘Boomers could vote in was ’68 and as I recall Mr. Nixon won that one, and the next. It doesn’t fit the mythology but the Billboard #1 song of ’66 was Sgt. Barry Sadler’s “Ballad of the Green Berets.” The Jefferson Airplane never had hits with any of their protest or psychedelia and only made it to the top when they started doing horny pop as the Starship in the late ’70s. The same is true of most of the ’60s “protest” and psychelic bands. For real people the soundtrack of the ’60s was a lot closer to The Big Chill than to Woodstock. So, in other words, most of what you “know” about ‘Boomers is wrong.
Why do the very intelligent people who post here insist on using apostrophes for plurals? The plural of spy is spies, not spy’s. IEDs, not IED’s. Please.
The single word ‘please’ is a sentence fragment. You need to step it up.
You mean you would frown upon something like this: Plea’se?
If this really is “wag the dog” why would link it to Iran and expose themselves to criticism on their foreign policy? Or is that just typical ineptitude?
Wag the dog – Obviously it is the drug cartels looking to expand while ensuring the Iranians get most of the blame.
Mind you, what will Holder do when we discover the US Department of Mine Safety was illegally shipping explosives to Mexico to track whether any fell into the hands of car bombers.
There will be sternly worded letters, serious grumpy faces, and scary sounding resolutions! This is something up with which we will not put.
Don’t worry. B Rock is on this like Michelle on a plate of chili fries.
I don’t believe there was a terror threat. This is to make Holder look competent and unlike the Pelosi democrats during Bush’s last 4 years who didn’t have clearance but demanded to see intel anyway [then leaked it], even republicans with clearance don’t ask for proof. This WH & AG that couldn’t even say the word terrorist 2 yrs ago except when speaking about the Teaparty, are now acting like the Bush WH. If Obama has known about this for months, why was Ahmadinejad allowed to enter this country and speak/dine with kids at Columbia, just 2 weeks ago? When has Obama EVER let anyone else take credit? If they had stopped a HUGE terror attack he would have broken the news NOT Holder! Eric Holder is seeing jail flash before his eyes because of Fast and Furious and needs a distraction and Obama needs Eric Holder so the Black Panthers can maul and intimidate in the upcoming election. They are going to be bagging a lot of “terrorists” over the next year, hopefully republicans and media will start doing their jobs [Issa is exempt from this rant]… Mexico will not be so easily distracted with all the dead there.
Q from SCM: “If Obama has known about this for months, why was Ahmadinejad allowed to enter this country and speak/dine with kids at Columbia, just 2 weeks ago?”
A: So as not to blow a very important investigation.
It’s depressing that so many commenters on the Right see this as some sort of “Wag the Dog conspiracy”. I have no idea how this case will affect U.S. policy towards Iran (I hope that we remove the threat of the Iranian regime by the most efficacious means), but I wonder why it is that so many commenters are viewing this as some sort of government fraud instead of as a tremendously difficult and sensitive investigation for which the assigned Special Agents and AUSAs deserve our thanks.
Well, I personally look at past behavior of Obama/Holder and their belief system, oh, and I worked for Clinton so understand them up close and personal – and what I know is they have an agenda they have been instituting for years. That is why there was such an outcry from the left about Bush firing and placing his own people [presidential prerogative]and then demanding that Bush replace the members of his loyal cabinet with dem friendly persons [Bernake] in his 2nd term., who weirdly betrayed Bush… and Obama kept in place. hummmm??? Again where is the proof, why should we believe repetitive liars?
DID US BACKED SAUDI INTERVENTION IN BEHRAIN UNDERLIE FOILED DC IRAN TERROR PLOT?
The genocidal terror masters of Islamofacist Iran warned the Saudis that their military intervention in Behrain (“with the underhanded support of America*”) to suppress a massive Shiite led Arab Spring rebellion to topple the Sunni monarchy would have consequences and “boomerang.” And this foiled plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US in a Washington mass causality attack at a packed DC restaurant is what Iran likely had in mind.
Click my name to continue reading.
I am agreeing with a lot of you, this is a showboat moment for holder. Also, the mexican government has been asking about F and F, and are getting the same run around Issa’s getting. So this puts some onus on them. I read where the hamas or hellozab’s (sp) were coming through the southern borders. Is there any room for the plain old illegal mexicans? Personally, and just my opinion, the saudi’s are as big a threat to us as iran. After all, didn’t the saudi’s fund this mistake in the WH through his “college years”?
The US knows that Iran is a threat and has failed to do anything about it. Israel has said time and time again that Iran is a threat and now we have them on our borders. When Iran made an alliance with Chavez of Venezuela, Obama did nothing. What has become of the Monroe doctrine? Iran is our enemy and Obama fails to see this.
53. Saba …. Iran is our enemy and Obama fails to see this ….
Obama is our way deadlier enemy, though.
And neither Iran nor any of evil’s other manifestations have missed a trick!
Obama will do nothing serious involving the US military to chasten Iran for this misstep. Obama will do very little diplomatically either, except maybe to bitterly criticize Israel and Netanyahu for making the Iranians mad at the US. I bet in a couple of days it will all be forgotten by the US administration.
I can only imagine how Obama would have reacted to the 9/11 attacks had he been President at that time. Given his Milquetoast approach to most everything apart from hammering Israel, he almost certainly would have assigned the FBI to track down the attackers handlers and arrest them. He most assuredly would not have waged war against the Taliban and Al Quaida, just as he will do nothing to punish or deter Iran.
I still think Obama will find a way to tie Israel into this.
Are you saying that The Mouse That Roared story wasn’t true? I thought I’d recognized the similar motivations, as there were that America’s an easy mark, reparations will be of mouth-watering magnitude, great local press to keep the people at home quiet. Remember, that attempt failed because of the invaders’ ineptitude: history repeating itself here, too?
…. it’s easy to catch a terrorist when he walks in and involves an undercover agent but what if he had contacted a regular Mexican drug gangster …?
Which my meager exposure to the ways of the “discrete” and of the covert, tells me the Iranians already very likely already did.
The “undercover” agent having been served a sacrificial nobody or two. In much the same way the execrable Jamie Gorelick and the rest of the as-corrupt builders of the recidivist, treasonous, lying, looting, thieving, mass-murdering, co-serial-rapist Cli’tons’ serial-treasons-and China-campaign-cash-sheltering Wall, delivered Kenneth Starr the big fat red herring: Monica Lewinsky.
You keep thinking the Iranean Agenda is one of power politics. The Ultimate end is an Islamic World. It would be nice if it were a Persian Islamic world,but a Sheite Islamic world is the goal. NOBODY has mentioned the attack on the Mosque in Mecca during Ramadam 10 years ago. If Sheites controlled Mecca maybe Ali would return.
Is this sufficient evidence to persuade Obama that Iran regards itself as being at war with the United States?
The pattern so far has been Obama giving Iran the benefit of the doubt and continuing to insist that his personal charm offensive will eventually be enough to turn the Iranian regime away from perfidy and a$$holery.
While Hillary babbles about more sanctions and the “international community” coming on board with the US vis à vis Iran.
I would guess that China (oil deals) and Russia (sundry economic deals) won’t turn on their Iranian benefactor no matter what.
And they likely applaud the grief Iran gives the US.
A weapon of mass destruction in a DC restaurant frequented by Congresscritters is a scenario straight out of one of Vince Flynn’s novels.
My question is, Why now? why is the administration suddenly squawking about iran attempting to murder people after iranians have been murdering Americans since 1979?
Why the sudden info that iran is an enemy?
Hey guys when are you going to wake up?
You liberated the world from nazism and comunism.
Now liberate the world from islamism by bombing Iran.
Israelies can’t do it by their own.
Thank you for the article…more interesting is how the regime lobbyist are hard at work to blame Israel and the United States for the attack and cover for Iran. Regime handlers such a Trita Parsi are already claiming it as an “isolated” incident. I guess Parsi knows a lot more than the FBI. Also pay attention to the dynamic duo, yes : Levrettes. Indeed these are hard times for lobbyists and regime apologists working for a regime out of control. As usual, Obama does not have the spine… and not much is expected from him…but IRI crossed the red line with the Saudi’s and that could spell trouble for the mullah’s. As bugs bunny once said: hmm, of course you realize, this means war!
What think ye all? Will this be the reason for obumble to impose martial law?
I see I’m not the only person who had cynical thoughts on hearing this news. When the Iranian government spokesman denounced the US government announcement as being nothing but a “Hollywood plot,” my first thought was that he was wrong: in Hollywood plots, Iranians, Arabs, and other Moslems are never the real villains; they may be incorrectly fingered initially by ignorant cops, but eventually the real villain will turn out to be an American with connections with the defense industry, or if foreigners have to be involved, a blond eastern European reminiscent of old Nazi movie villains.
As to the actual bust of the plotters, I hope the government has some solid evidence to corroborate the confession of this apparently hapless would-be bomber.
Of course it’s a turning point, remember “never let a crises go to waste”. Obama is even now diligently working on his apology/surrender speech and demanding a one trillion dollar gift from congress for Iran so they can build nuclear bombs to protect themselves from unbelievers.
I reckon it is a bit odd to imagine of for my part — an important person who has given his energy to idea and radical politics — as a big cheese who is “content” not questioning authority. This seems to be the poser — you require to uncertainty say-so with no any training, expertise, or appreciation for come again? in point of fact counts as indication in the world of precise investigation and for the authentic authorities. In short, you look like to be depressed on pardon? you are not up on — the guile and back up for evolution.
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