Iranian Rockets Captured by Israel Identical to Rockets Fired At U.S. Bases in Iraq (Updated)
UPDATE: The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the MFA NewsFlash Newsletter today, Nov. 11 (free registration), with the article “Documented proof of Iranian complicity in arms smuggling to terrorists” as the top story, crediting Bob Owens’ Confederate Yankee blog for helping identify the source of Iranian rockets captured by American forces in Iraq that match those captured among the 500 tons of ordnance captured from the MV Francop.
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This morning, I was contacted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry about a photo I had blogged about on July 15, 2007, regarding a Shiite rocket attack on U.S. forces in Iraq.
The rockets recovered by the Israeli Navy last week, bound for terrorists in Lebanon, are identical to those Iran provided to Shiite militias targeting American soldiers in Iraq. There are numerous similar reports of Iranian weapons being shipped to the Taliban in Afghanistan, including one cache uncovered just two months ago.
During the summer of 2007, the escalation of violence from Shiite militias peaked in Iraq, and the government of Iran was implicated for supplying late-model weapons directly to these groups. Some of the most damning evidence came in July 2007, when 34 Iranian rockets were recovered by elements of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team on July 12 after an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) discovered 46 launchers. Twelve rockets from that location had been fired at Forward Operating Base Hammer one day before.
I asked for and obtained photos of the rockets and launchers from Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) Public Affairs, and subsequently published a post to my personal blog.
Among the photos published on Confederate Yankee was this close-up photo of an Iranian 107mm rocket on a crude launcher, its markings plainly visible:
It was manufactured in 2006 in Iran, and was thought to have been shipped to Shiite militias for use against American forces shortly before being captured.
This morning, the Israeli Foreign Ministry was attempting to verify the source of the photo, which I provided to them.
The reason they were interested in that photo: The night of November 3, the Israeli Navy intercepted the MV Francop, an Antigua and Barbuda flagged cargo ship rented by a a freight company from Cyprus. The ship carried 36 shipping containers filled with roughly 500 tons of heavy weapons and ammunition.
Those weapons were intended for the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Among the ordinance recovered were more than 570,000 rounds of small arms ammunition for sniper rifles and machine guns, 20,000 hand grenades, 3,000 recoilless rifle shells, thousands of mortar shells newly manufactured in Iran, and more than 2,700 rockets — including more than 2,000 Iranian-manufactured 107mm rockets:
For now, the Obama administration is continuing the Bush-era policy of downplaying and ignoring Iran’s arming of America’s enemies. One can only wonder how many American soldiers will be on the receiving end of Iranian weapons before the administration decides to take steps to stop their arming of terrorist groups.
Even though Iran does everything it can think of to attack, harrass and kill Americans, short of declaring war, not many want to pay it any serious attention. Even when the regime openly kills its own citizens in the streets of Tehran, there is not much outrage compared to Bush “running a gulag” in Guantanamo. I suppose one day the majority of Americans may suddenly wake up to the fact that the Islamikkk Rethuglikkk (hey it works for the left) has been at war with the USA ever since they seized the US embassy and for a year held a couple hundred Americans hostage in 1979. When that day comes, instead of brushing off pesty gnats, they will be dealt with like the fire ants nest they are. Somehow, I don’t see it happening under this president, however. You never know though, a couple thousand rockets or a few more Nidals might force even his hand.
I do not understand how the Bush administration could allow IED materials to come from Iran also. Both administrations have been derelict in standing up to this country led by insane leaders who everyday are doing much harm to our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I am not a military man and do not profess to know how all things should be handled. but I do know bullies…and the only language they understand is a punch in the nose. We have been derelict with strong action with Iran for a long time.
The question of why the US has downplayed the deadly Iranian attacks on US forces so far has long intrigued me. In the case of infiltration from Syria into Northern Iraq, the situation has been similar for a long time, but a few retributive incursions have taken place. They were late, but thta’s better than never.
Could it be that the higher echelons, all the way to the white house, fear that any robust response would trigger an escalation they would not know how to handle. If any of you out there has any insight, please share.
For a long time the option of using air power to neutralize both Iran and Syria has been available for us. It would be stupid to invade and occupy, but the longer we wait–and Bush is VERY guilty of this as well–the longer they have to prepare their air defenses and terrorist responses.
Perfect exit strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan. Afghanistan to the west. Iraq to the east. Meet in the middle.
That would solve lots and lots of problems. This has to be a punitive strike, no nation building allowed. Inflict maximum pain then exit.
Let the survivors figure it out.
“The Israeli Foreign Ministry contacts a Pajamas Media writer regarding his report on Iranian rockets fired at U.S. troops in Iraq two years ago. Why?”
Because Pajamas Media is the only one dumb enough to take the bait and swallow this nonsense.
I suggest you get your correspondent Joe The Plumber on this immediately.
@Thomas_L…..:
A repost from Dave M may elinghten:
All you people need to look up Eisenhower and operation AJAX. The CIA coordinated Persia’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh out of power in 1953 because Eisenhower said we needed to protect American Interests. He was succeded by Western supported Pahlavi, who suppression was brutal and total. Khomenei was exiled because he critized the government(to popular to kill). Right here, The US transformed Iran from republic into a suppressive monarchy. The people took back power and under Khomenei, were critical and angry at the US. The US put Hussein into power and armed him with chemical weapons which killed 100,000 Iranians. During the US backed Iran-Iraq war, up to 1,000,000 soldiers and civilians were killed. Iran uses carbombs and suicide bombers, successfully. They are fighting an enemy, namely the US, that has superior technology. They have low-tech vs. High tech. The Persians actually want to be our friends. They also want a certain amount of respect. Amindinajed doesn’t help and is in fact on his way out because he is considered a radical. He isn’t even the real seat of power. the Ayatollahs are. In Iran you have to be 18 years and a citizen to vote. That’s it. That sounds like a democracy to me, why are we against a democracy? Every thing I put down here is the truth. Read the book and look up the History of Iran in Wikipedia. If there is anyone who is calling for war after all this info, I would like to know the reasons.
Could have the Iranian mullacracy through it’s infinite proxies been subverting American efforts this entire time, I’m shocked!!! …how could have the Israeli’s let the truth leak like this? …let’s hope the MSM can still spin it, or bury it.
But, but, but; There is no war on terrorism since Prince Obama has declared it defunct.
Yes, because an Israeli government official has absolutely no interest in demonizing Iran. Idiots.
10. moho:
We should listen to Moho. Everyone should listen to Moho or she’ll start cutting herself again….
The trolls are out in force today, it seems they are working extra hard for their Christmas money.
I guess that is what the U.S. Army was doing with the rockets they recovered, too?
kovechnik and other trolls??? I CAN’T HEAR YOU! I’d rather read radioactive tealeaves than any crap you write.
#1 Hah, the only thing that Pharobama would declare if there was an epidemic of Hasan’s and rocket attacks INSIDE the US would be a Dhimmi tax on Crackers as reparations to appease the anger of Islamists for our “crimes”.
7. kochevnik: the description of events in Iran is not as described by Amir Taheri in his book The Persian Night. I am no expert in recent Iranian history but I doubt very much there was a democratically elected government in Iran in 1953. And I know the Pahlavi dynasty was in power long before that year. Furthermore by no stretch of the imagination did the US have anything to do with Saddam coming to power. As for Khomeini he was a Jew hating pro Nazi fascist from the get go. Nor did the US supply Saddam with chemical weapons.
In fact your post is so off the wall why am I wasting effort correcting it. It sounds like the same imaginative cliche ridden lefty twaddle our esteemed leader has adopted as a basis for his foreign and military policy. In short something no rational being could take seriously other than as a symptom of an underlying personality disorder.
I do recommend Taheri’s book The Persian Night, although the author omits the class warfare reality that I suspect is the basis of what support the islamofascists do have in Iran.
14. Thomas_L…..: “kovechnik and other trolls??? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”
Jeez, not only a stupid a-hole, but a deaf one. But fear not, Tommy; once the president’s health care bill passes, you’ll be able to afford treatment.
kochevnik, quoting Dave M, writes “The CIA coordinated Persia’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh out of power in 1953 because Eisenhower said we needed to protect American Interests. He was succeded by Western supported Pahlavi, who suppression was brutal and total. Khomenei was exiled because he critized the government(to popular to kill). Right here, The US transformed Iran from republic into a suppressive monarchy.”
You need to set aside the political tropes, because you seem to know little of Iran. The CIA concern was that the Soviet Union would take advantage of the weak Mossadegh to put Iran into its sphere. That was certainly a concern during the Cold War.
Khomeni and Shiite fundamentalists opposed the Shah because he wanted to modernize the country, including promoting reforms that would have taken land from the mullahs. They obviously hated that his wife, Empress Farah, was pushing women’s’ rights. I spent a brief time in Iran in 1976 and it was hardly “brutal and total”. The basic rule was “stay out of politics and you’ll be left alone”. The situation after the oil boom of 1974 was one of rapid modernization – roads, electrification, new universities and factories, and a growing middle class. And good relations with both the US and Israel.
You’d be hard pressed to find any outside the mullahs and the IRGC and Basji who think things improved after the overthrow, and today Iran threatens almost everyone.
This is easy to fix (the Iranians arming people who kill Americans). Bomb Iran back to the stone age, and kill all the mad mullahs.
We should have done that back in 1979. It’s never too late to do the right thing though.
Iran delenda est.
JHarp: Are you slow, or just stupid??
“A repost from Dave M may elinghten: All you people need to look up Eisenhower and operation AJAX. The CIA coordinated Persia’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh…”
Sure, it enlightens people as to what total liars and traitors left wingers are.
I stopped quoting after the first lie (which is an oft-used justification for leftoid America-hating, i.e. we’re bad guys because we supposedly overthrew a democrat), namely that Mossadeq was elected…which he wasn’t.
He was appointed by the shah of Iran after Mossadeq’s political allies had assassinated the opposition leadership (in particular, prime minister Haj-Ali Razmara who was murdered right before Mossadeq took over), once Mossadeq was in power, he then disbanded the Iranian parliament and ruled by decree, i.e. he was a dictator…or a wannabe dictator, since he was eventually thrown out.
There wasn’t anything the least bit democratic about Mossadeq.
Left wingers are born liars, that’s the only thing that post demonstrates.
Thanks, this was my best laugh for today. So far.
The Mad Dog Mullahs captured our Embassy! Anybody remember that? If that isn’t an act of war, Casus belli, nothing is. A few rockets here and there doesn’t matter.
Iran has been at war with America since 1979. They never declared War, but that is a liberal fantasy, since VERY few wars are declared. Only a liberal would be foolish enough to not understand when another country sends people out to kill your people, that is a War, declared or not.
Or, to put it another way, most of the time a ‘declaration of War’ is the enemie’s army crossing your border with intent to do harm. Doesn’t fit the Liberal world view so it is ignored.
Meanwhile, I have seen Chinese 107mm rockets and Russian 107mm rockets but that was my first from Iran. Why did they use English for the label?
I ask because the Chinese rockets were labeled in Chinese, the Russian rockets in Russian (Cyrillic alphabet). I haven’t been in Iran since the early 70′s so I’m a little curious about when they started teaching their people to read English. When I was there written English wasn’t all that common.
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/row/type-63-F5433P01.JPG
IIRC, Most former Soviet block nations can manufacture these weapons. The design is around 60 years old ( mid-30′s, part of the co-operation efforts between Germany and the Soviet Union).
No way to really know where they were made. It would be difficult enough just finding out who stenciled what on the side.
Doesn’t matter anyway. There is no Statute of Limitations on a Causus Belli. Just because it’s been 30 years since the Mad Dog Mullahs captured the US Embassy doesn’t mean it wasn’t an act of war. No reason under International Law the USA cannot declare war tomorrow. It won’t happen because Presodent Carter was a coward. No POTUS since Carter has been any braver.
One day America will get a POTUS with a little Moxie and we will step on Iran. Like a roach.
Go Sara!
I think it was a World War 1 general who said that the best way to clear a minefield is to have a corp
of soldiers march where it is thought the mines are. That lack of empathy for life just goes to show that the Chief Deformed Soul in the Oval Office, and his hordes of deformed souls, zombies and other assorted ilk with their paws on the levers of power inside the Beltway, has an exceptionally cold eye. For one of the “experts” which is approved said in so many words, “don’t be afraid to break a few eggs to make an omlette”.
So, I put it to those holders of American passports, wherever they are: if you are willing
to bust your butts so that the United States regains the trust of those who wrote, “United we
stand” http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110002994 , then declare a US government in
exile.
Breaking up the United states is frankly not the answer to deal with the blight afflicting the US
from its Capital, and its minions elsewhere in the MSM and institutes of post secondary education, and elsewhere. So, either do that, or reduce the amount of credibility the US has.
Back before the US entered WWII it was said the country knew that we were SLIDING on a slippery slope to war …I could not understand if it was a known fact why it could not be avoided…History repeats itself often…Fellow Americans we ARE BACK ON THAT SLIPPERY SLOPE TO WAR; this time with Iran…Stock up on home heating Oil cause its comming!!
Once again, Israel will do the heavy lifting for the West, at least in part because it has little choice but to protect itself.
A morally and financially bankrupt West will cower in fear and equivocate away their opportunity to act.
It is a shame, America is better than this and deserves better leadership.
RE: 7. kochevnik:
Incomplete description of Iran after WWII. It goes much deeper, and totally leaves out the fact that Iran was was invaded by the UK & the USSR in 1941, and was partitioned, in similar fashion to Germany, after WWII.
“Blame America Firsters” often leave out the role of the USSR in their historical revisions in order to attack American Foreign Policy. I guess, in their opinion, the fact that the USSR was eagerly pursuing it’s own interests in Iran, is not relevant to the discussion of the history of Iran.
Funny- could these rockets be the very same rockets that Oliver North sold to the Iranian mullash back in the 1980′s?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Well Bob, I am very interested as to why the Israeli government wanted verification of your blogged images for their use. I wonder what they know about, and what they have, what information they processing right now. Perhaps the government of Israel is preparing the justification PR announcement for a strike against Iran?
“Incomplete description of Iran after WWII.”
No, it’s not incomplete. The post is simply a pack of lies.
For example, Khomeni was exiled not because he “opposed” the Iranian government, but because his associates and followers were constantly killing opposition politicians (among other things). The proximate cause for Khomeni’s exile was the assassination of Prime Minister Hasan Ali Mansur in 1964 (after Mansur had a confrontation with Khomeni and slapped his pig face…which was a mistake, Mansur should have just shot the son of a bitch, and had done with it, that would have saved a lot of lives in the long run).
Pretty much everything America-hating lefties (or muslims) say is a total complete, and utter lie. And, post #7 is a perfect example. There’s basically no truth to it…just lie, after lie, after lie….it’s a lefty thing.
26@neverquit:
Iran and Russia are on friendly terms. While the USA betrayed pro-western democratically elected Prime Minister Mosaddeq simply to steal Iranian oil, and form British Petrolium. USSR desperately need ocean access via Iran during WW2. Are you comparing the very survival of Soviet people to your brazen christofascist oil theft and warmongering to support your worthless dollar? You have blood on your hands and you wonder why world opinion paints you in a dim light. It’s perfectly obvious you desperately hope to instigate WW3 with these pathetic false-flag operations. At least ten disinformation pieces leaked out from the Fort Hood event, and the vapid 911 link appeared on a Pajamas article.
“Furthermore by no stretch of the imagination did the US have anything to do with Saddam coming to power…Nor did the US supply Saddam with chemical weapons.”
Yeah, that’s the truth.
Not only did we not supply Iraq with chemical weapons, despite the oft-told lie that we did, we didn’t supply Iraq with ANY weapons whatsoever. We’re about the only country on planet earth that had a total arms embargo against Iraq (I’m sure the Israelis probably did too).
I heard once that we supposedly let them some missiles, but as far as I can tell that’s not true.
Iraq’s weaponry came from three main sources: The Soviet bloc, the Chinese bloc and the French.
Nothing came from the U.S. (though the Baathists did have some older American made weaponry that they got from places like Jordan).
The claim that the U.S. put Hussein into power or that we armed Baathist Iraq is the usual lefty stuff…i.e. total and complete lies.
Like everything else that comes out of the mouths of lefty scum.
Reason 60, the USA doesn’t make any Rockets that size. Mortars, yes, but no 4.2″ rockets, IIRC, there were some 4.5″ HVAR’s made in ’42, but they didn’t work so well, so they were re-designed as 5″ (127mm) rockets. They were not used as ground weapons. The 4.5″ rockets were.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T34_Calliope
kochevnik, did today’s bottle of Vodka have a worm in it? I can’t remember the last time I read anything so delusional. I’m surprised. Normally Russians are good at propaganda. It’s all they are good at, so you need to work harder to keep up the Russian reputation.
After all, if Russia can’t even do propaganda anymore, What reason does Russia have to exist?
You do realize that once Iran builds their bomb, they will use it on Moscow. That is because the Russians will think the USA did it and launch their ICBM’s at America. Then America will launch back and The Mad Dog Mullahs will have killed two birds with one stone. Or that is what they will think.
They are wrong, of course. America is an idea ( ALL men are created equal and have certain rights) and ideas cannot be destroyed with weapons.
Nuke Moscow and Russia is finished. Nuke Washington D.C. and America becomes a much better place.
30. kochevnik:
26@neverquit:
Iran and Russia are on friendly terms. While the USA betrayed pro-western democratically elected Prime Minister Mosaddeq simply to steal Iranian oil, and form British Petrolium. USSR desperately need ocean access via Iran during WW2. Are you comparing the very survival of Soviet people to your brazen christofascist oil theft and warmongering to support your worthless dollar? You have blood on your hands and you wonder why world opinion paints you in a dim light. It’s perfectly obvious you desperately hope to instigate WW3 with these pathetic false-flag operations. At least ten disinformation pieces leaked out from the Fort Hood event, and the vapid 911 link appeared on a Pajamas article.
______________________________________________________________
What exactly is a christifascist? I asked in another thread and never got an answer. So I ask again. Given that fascism is a laftist/statist/socialist political and economic model only even seen once in Italy what exactly makes these christians fascists so you can label them christofascists?
Then maybe you can explain exactly how the oil was stolen, how many gallons was stolen and who stole them. Would this include the several tankers of Iranian oil sitting in port full of oil? Or is it pumped out in a hidden pipeline?
I hope you will have the integrity to answer my simple and direct questions unlike last time I asked. And please only answer with honset fact based statements.
kochevnik #30:
Heeeere it comes, Fort Hood trutherism! It ain’t tin foil they’re wearing, it’s plutonium foil.
In my opinion I think we as a the american people have played enough of the profiling games with iran and need to step up with some severe and debilatating military action against the iranian government for its blatant attacks and backing of terrorist attacks on americans.lets just blanket the country with low grade nukes and get it over with in just a few short hours……Iran casualties -all american casualities -0 ,I like those odds
Re: 30. Kochevnik:
Thanks for that last post – whacko leftoid trolls like yourself are much more enjoyed in their full-fledged, foaming-at-the-mouth, paranoid delusional natural state. When you make pretenses of intellectual coherence with transparent attempts at Stalinist historical revisionism, it’s just boring.
33@Phranc:
Ok you acknowledge facism emerged in Rome. And who carries the torch for Rome? Communism didn’t emerge in a vacuum. The connection with christianity is watertight. Communism was, after all, invented by the Jesuits in Paraguay. It’s a secular version of the priest and nun lifestyle.
BP was initially registered on April 14, 1909, as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ltd. It was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Ltd. Do you know how much oil BP sells, Phranc? Now you have your homework assignment!
30. kochevnik:USSR
We have blood on our hands?!?
Who invaded Afghanistan back in 1979?
Who raped and murdered innocent 4-5 year old male and female children and blew them up with explosive Iranian
toys,
killed pregnant women because they thought the Mujaheddin was just an ignorant peasant army…
Got your ass kicked on that one, didn’t you?
America helped shoot down hundreds of Russian gunships and blow up Soviet tanks.
Not too mention the thousands we destroyed in Kuwait.
Grow up little boy-
Hell-
We even killed Russian advisers and pilots in Vietnam and Laos and kicked your ass back beyond the Berlin wall.
I have a plaque and ribbon for winning the Cold War-
1946-1989 signed by Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfield.
Hope that pisses you off?
Happy Veterans Day!
It is about time we fight fire with fire and start arming anti-government factions within Iran with weapons. Why not? This is standard procedure for the government in Iran, so why can’t we do the same thing to send a message to the Iranian government? We armed the anti-government forces in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets and we got excellent results (although our total abandonment of these factions by the United States led to the rise of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban inside Afghanistan). But the theory of the United States backing anti-government forces does work, just as it did by arming the Contras to fight the Communists in Nicaragua. If we do the same thing in Iran, it would certainly cause major problems for the mullahs and it could even (if we’re lucky) destabilize their government. If we are going to defeat the Iranians we have to start thinking like the Iranians, and the way to do that is to level the playing field and get other proxy forces that do not like them to fight for us. We can use all the help we can get in stopping these Iranian fanatics and I’m sure there are plenty of opposition groups out there that would be willing to give us a hand.
No answer on the markings yet? I too am used to seeing russian markings on russian arms, chinese on chinese etc. the numbers would be the same but the rest ?
Also we put the shah in power as a favor to britain because iran had reneged on their oil deal after the infrastructure was built.
we armed sadam by allowing him to cash in wheat at a bank in georgia and he used that cash to build his armies. bush senior while CIA played the iranians against the iraqis with ammo and spare parts in order to get the iranians to release hostages in lebanon.
I don’t think that’s lefty BS but….
one more thing
Kick their ass and take their gas!
Why aren’t the rockets labeled in Arabic? It seems a bit odd that they used English…
37. kochevnik:
33@Phranc:
Ok you acknowledge facism emerged in Rome. And who carries the torch for Rome? Communism didn’t emerge in a vacuum. The connection with christianity is watertight. Communism was, after all, invented by the Jesuits in Paraguay. It’s a secular version of the priest and nun lifestyle.
BP was initially registered on April 14, 1909, as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ltd. It was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Ltd. Do you know how much oil BP sells, Phranc? Now you have your homework assignment!
_____________________________________________________________
You failed to give exact answers to exact questions. What you think is water tight isn’t. You in no way linked what you claim as christians to fascists as fascists. And BP oil sells for the same as every one else on the market since oil is fungible and set by market forces with tweeking from OPEC. And if oil is being sold out of Iran by BP the government knows about it. In a despotic nation like that the oil isn’t being stolen like you claim for if it was the islamic tyrants would kill the people stealing from them.
In the light of reason and logic your assertions fail. I would only take home work assignments from teachers not underclassmen.
As it is for air travel and other industries, English a the preferred language of the export arms trade, and is commonly featured on Iranian weapons exports, as featured on the Iranian export web site dubbed “terror dot com” in 2007:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/terrorcom/
Also, Iranians do not use Arabic… they are Persians, not Arabs.
27. Reason60: Funny- could these rockets be the very same rockets that Oliver North sold to the Iranian mullash back in the 1980’s?
Inquiring minds want to know.
You Lie! (to quote a now famous congressman. You really don’t want to know, but I’ll expalin it anyway. You must have thought yourself clever with this line, but you really have no clue. Here’s your history lesson, please take notes.
During the Shah years the US sold Iran the Hawk air defense system. These missiles were fairly hard to upkeep and the Islamic regime could not buy spare parts after we placed them under embargo following the 1979 embassy invasion (which yes, was an act of war). By the late 1980s we considered them obsolete so North got the great idea to sell a very old version of the Hawk to Iran in order to fund the Contras. The missiles sold were as unreliable as those already in Iranian inventory and probably cost them a fortune trying to cannibalize parts that appeared compatible but were slightly different (think trying to put a 2000 Mustang bumper on a 2006 Mustang when there was a model change/upgrade in 2005 – it looks the same but won’t fit).
And thanks 45. Mr Owens. I love it when lefties try to pass them self off as superior intellects and then make basic mistakes showing they couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel.
Yes they speak Farsi, but I couldn’t remember if they had adopted Arabic as their alphabet as many non-Arab people who were conquered by early Muslims were also Arabacized, and the Farsi alphabet appears somewhat similar to Arabic.
RE: 30. kochevnik –
What are you really crying about that the communists lost…..
You made it all too easy……
To 38. viet vet:
>We even killed Russian advisers and pilots in Vietnam and Laos.
It was not even close to enough still lots of work is coming along
http://www.iranchamber.com/scripts/persian_alphabet.php
While Iran IS NOT an Arabic nation, they do use Arabic writing and as their ‘formal’ language. Or a version of it.
Persia has been on both sides of the conquer thingie many times. One of the very first Empires was Persian. Arabic as the ‘official’ language was the result of Persia being on the losing side many centuries ago.
My theory is that it’s time to knock some sense into Iran. The USA sorta wants Israel to do it. Sorta because the DoS ( Department of State AKA State Department/Foggy Bottom) hasn’t faced the fact that negotiations with a nation that routinely breaks treaties is both delusional and futile. If State is so optimistic about Iran, why haven’t they re-opened their embassy?
Israel wants the US Air Force to do it because for the US, it’s an easy mission. Nothing on this planet can target a B-2. It’s operating altitude it about 5 Km’s above the max altitude of any fighter the Russian build. So even a visual sighting won’t do any good, since the B-2 is still out of gun range and IR and Radar guided weapons won’t get a lock. The IAF can do the mission, but it would be dangerous.
So Mossad has an interest in nudging the USA toward doing the mission. They have to be careful about it. Uncle Sam doesn’t like being nudged.
The bad part of bombing Iran for either nation is the political fallout, or at least what is feared to be the political fallout.
I don’t thing it would be so bad. Nothing that wouldn’t be forgotten within a few months. I see it as a help to negotiations. Bomb by night, negotiate by day. We’ll see if the negotiations get finished before all the targets are gone.
Once the targets are gone, the negotiations are sorta pointless.
Iran has ICBM, BM-25, KH-55, Shahab (Comet) 3 and Shahab 3-ER missiles.
MESI’s interactive map shows Iran’s missile arsenal and the range to reach New York and London.
But what can you do? You have the power to stop them.
Here’s how you can help stop Iran.
DoubleTapper
DoubleTapper@gmail.com
DoubleTapper, blogging on Guns Politics Defense from Israel
Here is an exercise for anyone with a brain:
Get an atlas.
Copy the countries of the world onto a blank sheet of paper.
Color in all the countries who have a significant population of Muslim followers or who have Islam as the state religion.
Observe, if Islam/Muslims are the problem, then the world should be at war significantly worse than World War II, which it isn’t. We have been in relative peace for more than 50 years.
Crosshatch all the countries who are known as “Axis of Terror” or are known to harbor terrorists.
Observe, with only a few exceptions (looking at you, N.Korea), all the worlds violence is centered and immediately surrounding one specific country.
That country is not the USA…. But it is a country that we do sell billions of dollars of weapons every year.
That is the cause of the world’s violence.
(of course, if we stopped selling them weapons, they would probably just buy the weapons from somewhere else, like China. So not selling them the weapons wouldn’t solve the problem).
53. kochevnik:
Aha…..The Israel/Jew Hatred slowly oozes to the surface……
kochevnik: “That is the cause of the world’s violence.”
So when they come for the Jews again, as they have been for centuries spewing similar cries mirrored in your content, does this mean you won’t speak up, forever sealing your fate in unoriginality?
“Observe, with only a few exceptions (looking at you, N.Korea), all the worlds violence is centered and immediately surrounding one specific country.”
Yeah, sure it is. As long as you ignore all the violence that has taken place in Colombia, Uganda, Chechnya, the Congo, Sri Lanka, Georgia, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Yugoslavia, the Sudan, Burma and about a hundred other places I could mention.