Remember when Condi Rice proclaimed that we would henceforth reach out to the peoples of Middle Eastern tyrannies? That we’d have diplomats all over those countries? I don’t believe it happened. At least she had the right words: we have to stand with people who want freedom, and we have to be able to sort out real freedom fighters from those who want to trick us or those who just want to take the money and live it up. That takes time. So our efforts to catch up will often fail, we’ll end up supporting the wrong people and turning our backs on some potential heroes.
Fourth, dithering makes things worse, and we dithered over Libya and Syria, and at best — at best — we are still dithering over Iran. You may recall that I wrote a blog post early on in the Libyan adventure in which I said we should bomb the Libyan Air Force. That would have shortened the war, don’t you think? And it would have saved a lot of lives, especially in the neighborhood of Benghazi. Remember that the fear of mass slaughter there was what produced the Obama Doctrine: Lead With the Behind.
Fifth, and finally, that doctrine is literally back-asswards. It’s great to work with friends and allies; every president knows that (indeed, when the real history of the Iraq War is written, most analysts will conclude that Bush waited too long because of the requests of allies, especially the Brits). But you’re more likely to put together a coalition if you lead, rather than pushing others into the front ranks.
Ask the Marines. Their officers lead from the front, and they’re the best we’ve got. If you’re looking for elite forces, just go to Quantico or Pendleton, or to the Special Forces folks at Bragg or down in Tampa.
Let’s hope we don’t need them in Syria or Iran.
You are quite right in this post and the previous one. I am a simple man who easily gets confused by platitudes, so I make things simple in my mind. As an example during the infamous Iran-Contra investigations I asked myself what had really happened? Bunch of bad guys (The Mullahs) pay well over MSRP for arms to fight another bad guy (Saddam) and the funds are given to the good guys (The Contras) to fight another bad guy (Ortega) with zero cost to the American taxpayers. So, to this day I don’t know what the beef is. It is the same situation today. Any observer will have to agree that the head of the snake is in the “Islamic” Republic of Iran, which is quite distinct from the innocent and enslaved people of Iran. So, if you really mean business and want to once and for all rid the world of the danger it is facing, you have to deal with the Mullahs. But then high priced and useless analysts jump in with reasons why that should not be done. Reasons such as if we do this then maybe the people of Iran will unite under the Mullahs. Or if we do that then the Mullahs will unleash a dirty bomb in Manhattan. Too many “Ifs”. I apologize for being vulgar, but if my aunt had a male member he would be my uncle (although when I look at her she does look more like an uncle than an aunt with the hair on her chin, poor woman). The value of all these “elite” forces plus 4 bucks may just be enough to buy me a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The only thing “elite” about the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary guards is their ability to convince their proxies to die for them while they garner the credit, if you can call it credit. The Islamic Republic is the easiert of all the terror states to dismantle. All you have to do is give meaningful moral and material support to the people of Iran and they will do the job readily. No need for bombs and troops and other military actions. And, once again you are quite right, the opposition is inside Iran. Those of us living abroad can only cheer them on and never ever take any credit should the regime fall.
Love you man, but it’s called ‘post’ not ‘blog’ (a blog is made of posts).
BTW, when are you coming over to Google+? Look forward to it!
Cheers
The mess in Syria is not new. It has been under observation for decades by many nations, ours included.
http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/08/syria.html
Only now does the US say something about it with a straw man executive order from an empty suit. Let’s block Syrian oil. It is not a major source of US oil and this executive order is meaningless.
http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/08/syrian-oil-banned.html
As I said, this family tradition of slaughtering based on the basis of religion is not unknown. The impotent UN has been watching this for decades.
http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2011/08/syrian-slaughter-is-family-tradition.html
dithering- maybe another word for incompetence ?
An old Yiddish saying ; ‘Man plans,God laughs’ is quite applicable to this extremely inept or extremely evil Obama administration.
Without Churchillian type leadership this unfolding bloodshed and mayhem in the Middle East will lead us into a conflagration even the U.S. is unprepared for.
China and Russia will not stand idly by as they did with Iraq and Afghanistan.
They’re going to get in on this game (Iran,Syria) so expect many surprises not unlike Pearl Harbor.
Who else but an arrogant,fool community organizer to lead U.S. to hell ?
“Consider Saddam’s EF: the vaunted Republican Guards, who disappeared in a nanosecond when General Mattis’s Marines advanced on Baghdad. Or consider the Iranian EF that were supposed to take on the Saudi military in Bahrain. They scampered back to mother as quickly as they could.”
The only forces that worry me are the Revolutionary Guards in Iran. They may not be “elite” in terms of a fighting force, but they will certainly kill a lot of people and take a lot of innocent victims down with them. These are not paid thugs like Hussein or Gaddafi’s body guards. Nope, these are religious fanatics, true believers, sort of like the Japanese Kamikaze pilots of World War II fame. They don’t really care if they live or die, as long as they “serve Allah” and die for the state. In any takeover of Iran, these are the people who have to be dealt with first, so we would need the support of the Army to help defeat them and eradicate them, because there will be no half-measures with the Revolutionary Guards. We saw in 2009 what half-measures got the people of Iran, a lot of dead protesters in the streets. Nope, they will have to be taken out quickly and violently if Iran is going to have any chance of survival. The question is, who will take them out?
America needs to get her priorities straight. The U.S. is running around waging wars whilst our borders are DELIBERATELY left unguarded. Evidence has shown that large numbers of Muslim terrorists (and weapons of mass destruction?) have easily crossed our borders. And Hizbullah terrorists who work with violent Mexican drug cartels, has set up shop very close to our border.
Iran and Venezuala are working closely together with the goal of America’s destruction. PROTECTING America should be our number one priority, NOT waging wars for enemies who HATE infidel America. In the Koran Jihad is an obligation for Muslims who are commanded by the Koran to conquer all nations and peoples and subjugate despised non-Muslims under excessively cruel Islamic sharia law were defenseless non-Muslims have no human rights.
Our military are needed in America and at our borders to PROTECT America.
We had no business getting involved in Libya or in Egypt – on either side. Both sides are Muslim and therefore bad, by definition. Yes, by definition – the Qur’an requires Muslims to be the eternal enemies of non-Muslims.
We should have a Constitutional amendment forbidding any aid to any predominantly Muslim country, military force, rebel group, organization, or individual anywhere in the world.
In principle, I agree with 1389AD. One of their own poets, Sa’di OF Shiraz,Iran says:
ZAMIYN-e SHOUREH SONBOL BAR-NAYAARAD
DAR-OU TOKHM-e AMAL ZAA-YE’ MAGARDAN
“Hyacinth, flowers, do not grow in a brackish ground;
Do not waste the seeds of your deeds in it.”
The civilized world, however, has to assure that none of them possesses lethal weapons of any kind. The most stupid thing my country, the US, and the Brits did was to look the other way, to say the least, while the first “Islamic ‘Republic’” of our time, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan developed nuclear weapons — obviously with the help of our billions of dollars Pakistan has been getting since 1949.
We should have terminated Qaddafi from the start and saved ourselves and the Libyans a lot of grief. Deployment is a numbers game and we lost time and money diverting to Libya at the expense of other things like the forgotten war: http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/082211tracer/2011-08-19-031847-3cc-1000.jpg
Turkey didn’t fire a single bullet or drop a single bomb in Libya or Afghanistan. What action will the world take over the STL? Egypt wants more US tanks as a major cleric calls for murdering an Zionist found on Egyptian soil. KSA prefers chaos in Syria than the rise of a secular regime. China helps Iran to manufacture clones of their weapons. It is more than just reaching out to the “people”. Powerful nations are working at cross-purposes as the world is no longer a bi-polar divide. The world has changed in certain Orwellian ways.
Yes, we must reach out to the “people”. Air dropping Ipads to Iranians and broadcasting wireless internet? China would really love that. I wonder if the first flash mobs will be in Tehran, Damascus or San Fransisco subways….
Get rid of Qaddafi so that far more cruel and dangerous Islamics can replace him? The US and NATO deliberately CHOSE the most extremist Islamic elements to wage war for.
The Al-Qaeda rebels who MURDER our soldiers in Iraq won the war. They won because US/NATO waged war for months for the violent Al-Qaeda rebels-considered allies by US/NATO.
World Net Daily, August 6, 2011:
He got bin Laden, so why can’t Obama take out this clown?
The Warfalla tribe – one of the largest in Libya – is being joined by other tribes to fight the rebels because of what is described as indiscriminate killing of civilians by Western alliance-backed troops.
The sources said that Qatari troops, tanks and helicopters “are openly killing these unarmed tribal members. They have their Qatari tanks in the streets of Benghazi. They are actively shooting on unarmed civilians.”
NATO bombing was being extended without authorization to attack non-military targets.
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=330341gET
Racist CRUEL MONSTERS-rebels in Libya are perpetrating genocide against Blacks and committing horrific atrocities against innocent children. US/NATO leaders who waged war for months for the rebel monsters are responsible for every evil act of the rebels.
Benghazi “Rebels” Lynching Blacks In Libya
Black Star News
July 23, 2011
Watch this linked video of an anti-Black lynch mob and you will understand why The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, the BBC and other major news organizations have never followed up on The Wall Street Journal’s June 21 article about ethnic cleansing of Black Libyans in Misurata by the “Brigade for the purging of slaves, Black Skin.”
That Brigade, of Libya’s so-called rebels, backed by NATO and the White House, eliminated the Black population of Misurata and promised to do the same to Black Libyans once they seized control of the city of Tawergha, 25 miles away.
Major news outlets are deliberately ignoring or downplaying the racialist-motivated atrocities against Black people being committed by the terroristic “rebels.”
blackstarnews.com/news/122/ARTICLE/7536/2011-07-23.html
Linda Rivera, you’ve posted this stuff in the past. it may be true, but we’ve heard it and eventually we will know what happened. or not, heh.
World Net Daily? So should we start posting DEBKA too? Linda, you miss an important reason why some sentiment towards Blacks in Libya exist. Perhaps you should explore Qaddafi’s mercenaries. It is unfortunate fact has spilled over into criminal acts against innocent people of any race or religion.
The lesson of Libya isn’t over. It is rather amazing Intel doesn’t know where Qaddafi is nor a significant number of troops, tanks and weapons.
Russia and China are both losers in Libya which explains Russia’s overtures to Kimmie and Ahmadinejad. China is more concerned with oil. Are they really interested in world consensus?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mi7k6fYD9Ts/Tk33izv0QYI/AAAAAAAAIfA/_qaXT7Gb72w/s1600/gtownbrawl.jpg
Obviously, I would suggest my idea for dealing with Qaddafi to be applied to Assad. The red lines are coming quickly. They would include more transfers of weapons from Iran through Assad to Hizb’Allah. Another red line would be Iranian overflights of Iraq to Latakia. More provocation from the Sinai and Gaza.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/08/24/world/africa/news-us-libya-nuclear-heinonen.html?_r=1&ref=world
Yep, that clock keeps a tickin…..
hmm so much fusss about the Rebels being that and that, cuz you know, Gadhafi was such a good guy since a couple of years, but for whom? you, the christian fellah Americans !!! such short a memory of his evil past is astonishing !
the young Libyans made it, these aren’t their grand fathers with tribal aims, but a youth educated all together in the womb of Libya !
Those that are sceptic about their ability to form a government were also sceptic about them winning their revolution a few months ago, facts prove them wrong !
and funnily these countries that didn’t vote the UN resolution are the first to hook the train now, ie Germany, China, Russia, Turkey, they all want to return quickly on the libyan ground… merchands mentality with no moral !
The fundamental error is assuming Islam (the Muslim world) will have a revolution in the absence of its external imposition. That assumption did not “work” with the Japanese or the Germans (nor would it have worked with the “Amerindians”). In the absence of foreign imposed unconditional “definitions of reality” the Muslim world, at best, will only have a reformation in the Western sense of Islam getting back to it seventh century roots. So far all NATO, and by extension the US, has accomplished since Clinton’s adventures (unauthorized by congress or the UN) in Kosovo is to defend or extend the borders for Muslim rulers while pretending otherwise in the name of multicultural verities peculiar to American liberal guilt trips.
a reformation in the Western sense of… getting back to it(s)… roots
The so-called Reformation wasn’t about getting back to Christianity’s roots. It was about looting the churches and monasteries, violent iconoclasm, seizing Church properties, and excusing moral licentiousness among royalty, lesser nobility, and their court favorites.
Mohammedism has already passed through a reformatory phase and its equivalent of Bible-thumping sola scriptura fundamentalists emerged victorious.
There’s an old and honorable U.S. military tradition that in combat, the leader leads from an {appropriate} position. The leader doesn’t “take point” when on patrol.
Lee to the rear.
The leader, if he’s any sort of leader worth following, is particularly valuable. He has to be far enough forward to be in close touch with what’s happening. But no further forward.
Colonel John Frost (hero of the British airborne stand at the Arnhem bridge, immortalized in the movie “A Bridge Too Far”) set the right example. He was in the thick of desperate fighting. He led in person, not from back in London. But the leader cannot lead if he’s killed. That may happen, but it’s silly to invite it with pointless shows of heroism. [Frost was wounded, and his battalion eventually forced to surrender. You can't hold off an SS tank division forever with one out of supply battalion of light infantry.]
Six: The Libyan army was defeated in a war with neighboring Chad. How bad do you have to be?
Seven: The US intelligence community has no idea what’s going on. The relationship building that puts our agents in touch with foreign collaborators was destroyed during the Carter purge of the CIA in the late 1970′s.
Eight: What about Gadaffi’s WMD arsenal? Did he give them all up? Did he save some? Will he use them against his own people in a last ditch defense to retain power? If I were a foreign correspondant in Tripoli, I’d get the hell out of Dodge before we find out the hard way.
Excellent piece; I will link to this from my Old Jarhead blog. Unfortunately, the media and the politicians are ever more focuses on the immediate, on the trees so much they cannot possibly not8ice the forest. Who controls Gaddafi’s compound this morning is not what is going to create danger for your kids.
Robert A. Hall
Author: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
(All royalties go to a charity to help wounded veterans)
The confusion of the American Media is due to lack of resources and deep knowledge of what really is going on. They give us pictures of the rabble with guns in their hands but walking randomly in different directions. Shameful reporting!
The real story should lie in the people behind the success story of an “unlikely army” of rebels. Robbing America did some digging and have a piece about “Who Is Really Behind the Success of the Libyan Rebels?” at http://www.robbingamerica.com
It is not what you expect or hear about it in the Main Stream Media, or from Democrats. But Republicans should become aware of this story because there lies the reply to when Obama makes the inevitable speech that claims “victory” in Libya.
War has become its own business in America. It employ’s, and consumes more of our resources, and wealth greater than any individual, or the population as a whole. History shows what happens to countries like ours who follow down this path of self destruction. I am a patriot who loves his country. I have served. I just wish we would bring every man, and every woman home. We have never left Japan, Britain, Germany, for that matter any place we have sent our loved ones. We need a reboot in this country and decide what is the best interests of the people and country. GOD BLESS AMERICA! RESTORE THE REPUBLIC!
“Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.” George Washington
While hardly a fair reading of Washington’s view on the military, such a quote out of context sound’s just like Press TV. Guess what? Japan and Germany are our allies and there has been no WW3 yet. The Pacific String of Pearls help defeat Japan. In fact our determination has lead to a situation where even Vietnam is asking for our assistance against Chinese hegemony.
As for the outcome of retreat and isolationism as championed by the Republican anti-war movement of the 30′s —– Hitler ring a bell?
Well, there is hope…In the end China, Russia and the US were on the same side against the fascist lunatic Hitler. Not sure however China and Russia see the same conflict map as we do. Russia is certainly better sports that China.
Also, if the lessons of Libya might someday be applied to Iran, isn’t one of those lessons military force? Is another that not targeting leadership prolonged the battle? Is another telling the world we are behind when in fact 70% of sorties and weapons were US? Is the lesson to wait until Europe acts as in the case of the 1930s?
Just wondering….
in a hurry, max…iran has been killing americans for 32 years; it’s time, already. and if we ignore the revolutionary option, we will surely find ourselves in a shooting war, alas.
Yep, with Iranian help, militants blew Reagan out of Lebanon. Democrats rejected the claim that Iran killed US soldiers in Iraq (as did Syrian-assisted terrorists). One cannot say Reagan’s policy made much sense in the ME. Reagan was worried about Communists in Latin America, but now there are Hizb’Allah, IRI and perhaps others.
I suppose if a missile was launched from cartel country in Mexico at Texas, we would bomb Mexico? It has been several years since “experts” noted the similarity in tactics between pipeline sabotage in Mexico and Iraq. FARC has been seeking nuclear material for dirty bombs for a decade. In the end, cutting the head off is more effective than cutting off arms that grow back.
PREPARE
FOR
THE
OBVIOUS
M
I agree with you, but I am pessimistic we will sufficiently stoke the revolution before things get out of hand. In the meantime, serious military options could pressure the Iranians to reconsider for no other reason than self-preservation. All I am saying is that not to reach the military grails we require would be a foolish mistake and leave us with no plan B.
We need to hear more from you how practically we can induce this revolution in time.
There is a material difference between pre WW2 Japan and Germany and today’s Iran. In the former, the overwhelming majority of the indigenous population, despite denials today, supported their respective governments in a paroxysm of nationalistic fervor. In such a scenario aiding dissidents to topple the central government is impossible as, but for a few, there are no dissidents. No such support exists in today’s Iran. In fact, quite the contrary. Given half a chance Iranians would be happy to harshly deal with today’s so called leaders. If there is such a golden opportunity to get rid of them without shedding American and, also, innocent Iranian lives devastated by the necessary initial aerial bombardment to pacify the theatre then why not avail ourselves of it?
“After 70 years of broken Western promises regarding Arab independence, it should not be surprising that the West is viewed with suspicion and hostility by the populations (as opposed to some of the political regimes) of the Middle East.[3] The United States, as the heir to British imperialism in the region, has been a frequent object of suspicion. Since the end of World War II, the United States, like the European colonial powers before it, has been unable to resist becoming entangled in the region’s political conflicts. Driven by a desire to keep the vast oil reserves in hands friendly to the United States, a wish to keep out potential rivals (such as the Soviet Union), opposition to neutrality in the cold war, and domestic political considerations, the United States has compiled a record of tragedy in the Middle East. The most recent part of that record, which includes U.S. alliances with Iraq to counter Iran and then with Iran and Syria to counter Iraq, illustrates a theme that has been played in Washington for the last 45 years.” — CATO Institute Study
Exactly Thomas.
There is a great book on the subject of middle east modern history from the ottomans forward and the role the British colonialism has played and continues to plays in the middle east and Africa and the web tangle US has gotten itself into every since world war II.
The book is called: “A Peace to end All Peace” written by “David Fromkin”.
It is a real education for all of us who want to know the underlying of the mayhem we are facing in our world today.
We Iranians specifically have been calling out Britain and Russia for all the ills they have caused upon our land and our citizens lives.
At least back in the 40′s we had a US President in Truman who had the guts and bravo to demand the Russians to pull out their troops from Iran and have them a short time line to do so. But now we do not have a President, but a sitting duck and a big joke troll at the helm of the power of a diminishing US.
God save Americans and Iranians!
pretty much since 1950, the big mistakes in Iran have been made by Iranians. yes, Carter was a doofus (i wrote a book about it), but the big mistakes were the shah’s, and the military’s, and the many millions who lined up behind Khomeini. let’s hope their next big decision will be a wise one.
Yes absolutely, there were many sold out Iranians paid out by KGB and a Shah totally paranoid not knowing who to trust, Americans or Brits while trying to defuse the communists trap in every corner of the country. Yes it was tough times for him and he had many opportunists so called friends, generals and ministers who lied to his face. Military had many good people and all it needed was a top corrupt general to sell him out to Khomeini. Of course the left of the world was all around cheering Khomeini and the masses of people saw what was in “Vogue” and followed the movement like sheep… the story goes on and it is kinda stories that goes on in many other parts of the world when it comes to any mass movement of any sort.
Here we in America went through it too. We had the hysteria of Obama back in 2008 and the left’s push for him and the masses of people who saw him as messiah like how Iranians saw Khomeini in the face of the moon in 1979. Unfortunately masses are just that masses and if get the bad push by the left and not led well, things go awry as we see it today everywhere…
Of course here in America we have a rule of law in our land nothing to compare with the terrorists who are now at the helm of power in Iran. My point is about the mass movements and the mistakes the masses make by their actions. The forces behind the movements supporting them are vital to the success of those movements for freedom.
In America 2008 the Obama hysteria was doomed to go awry and wrong, because it was meant as a backlash against Bush supported massively by the left and anti war groups which did a great job of pulling in many many neutrals and independents along. It had no real merits on its own. It was a reactionary choice and thus a failure. Same happened to Khomeini a reactionary man with big support from the left in Iran and world wide deep and wide which was also able to pull in masses of neutrals and independents and even more intellectuals in their camp, and thus failure was the result.
That’s been my point. Millions of people pay the price for the mistakes of our own miss guided ones.
Dictators all over the Middle East are fighting to preserve their regimes from Al Qaeda-sponsored insurgents. But only Libya was singled out for attack by NATO. Why? Because of the oil. England, France and Germany all own oil wells in Libya. When Gaddafi threatened to nationalize them, he had to be eliminated. But now that he’s gone, the short-sighted fools of the European Union will have to grovel at the feet of Al Qaeda just to gain access to the oil that they have already purchased.
There was nothing humanitarian about this war, and it certainly wasn’t to bring democracy to the area. These people have lived under Shariah Law for centuries. They have no concept of freedom. They are simply willing to accept a different boot on their necks. And once Al Qaeda is fully in charge, they will syphon off that nation’s oil wealth for their own purposes.
The media is trying to make Obama a hero in all this, but that will backfire. When this ill-conceived war comes back to bite us in the form of a stronger, wealthier Al Qaeda, this will be seen as yet another “Jimmy Carter moment” for Obama.
Obama is irrelevant in foreign Middle East relations. Only those who don’t have a clue of the long U.S./Middle East history along with those of a specific ‘One World Leader’ geopolitical ideology will try to implement Obama or any president in foreign relations involving the Middle East, Russia and Europe. The U.S. foreign policy of the Middle East was set in stone nearing 80 years ago and has NOT ventured off course since then.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=1019
Full report ‘link’ mid page under text.
Libya has a vulnerable stock pile of 10 tons of mustard gas which could start moving at any time through deep tunnels and then across the southern borders.
Of immediate concern is the location and status of Libyas 20,000 + man potable ground to air missiles.
According to reliable account many of these have already gone missing and those left are unsecured.
Thousand of MANPAD anti aircraft missiles at loose will change the calculus of MENA for many years to come.
They can take down helicopters and military and civilian planes.
AQ helps smuggle tons of cocaine from West Africa to North Africa and then to Spain.
They— and others can easily smuggle MANPADS and mustard gas south from Libya and then to anywhere in MENA.
Victor, that is a comment from you that I can agree with. Bravo.
Egyptians and Israelis note the infiltration of AQ into the Sinai and Gaza. Several “experts” have claimed there is a strategic agreement between AQ, the Taliban and Iran. The Sudanese also play their role.
One lesson regarding Libya may be that when chaos comes, we had better have the assets to recover the weapons and WMD materials that can come back and haunt us. The gravest example of this potential nightmare is Pakistan. Another is Syria.
As for doing something about Iran, a terrorist group fires weapons made in Iran and illegal shipped. If we were serious about tightening the grip, we would prevent any un-inspected shipping of Iran’s going through the Suez. I am also sure that the new Iranian subs can be sunk. Given the global reaction to NK’s activities, I doubt Iran will have much “proof” what happened when their subs don’t report home.
Another thing we can do to pressure Iran is sanction Lebanon if the STL isn’t honored.
Frightening and eye opening:
http://www.ilanberman.com/10180/hezbollah-inroads-into-the-western-hemisphere
Every American, indeed EVERY non-Muslim in the world should read the article on the link you gave: “Hezbollah may be the A-team of terrorists. With a presence in an estimated forty countries on five different continents, the Lebanese Shi’ite militia represents one of the very few terrorist groups active today that possess a truly global presence and reach.
The organization has also been accused of training Venezuelan militants in south Lebanon for possible attacks on American soil, and of operating training camps inside Venezuela itself, with the collusion of sympathetic government officials.” End of quote from Article.
Don’t think that because America has never been physically invaded by hostile countries/entities, that physical invasion cannot happen to America. It is also a very important reason that the American people should never be disarmed.
Dealing with Hezbollah a major, major threat to the U.S. and the Free World should be the top priority, NOT wasting intelligence and dollars we don’t have (our financial situation is extremely dire) on Libya and other countries.
Let the Muslims fight THEIR wars with THEIR money, THEIR military and THEIR weapons.
We must concentrate all our intelligence and dollars striving to deal with the HUGE Iran/Hezbollah threat. Infidel-hater Iran is also going to be armed with nuclear weapons-enabling Iran/Hezbollah to hold the non-Muslim world hostage.
Tragically, dealing with the Iran/Hezbollah threat is never going to happen with the present administration. Pro-Islam Homeland Security put out a warning that the people to watch out for were patriotic Americans: Tea Party attendees, pro-lifers and veterans returning from the wars.
The Rebels NTC are really getting on my nerves, first they kill their commander, then they rush into the capital, now they walk around like they are big shots, making all these decisions, putting out contracts on people, thumbing their nose at the ICC, limiting options, making demands. It makes you want to wipe the smile off their faces, give them a war they can’t believe to put them back in their place.
The allies walking around like big shots, you have just lost the Italian carrier and air bases.
“And it would have saved a lot of lives, especially in the neighborhood of Benghazi.”
How many lives? I missed the photos of a bombed out Benghazi.
Unfortunately, Dr. Ledeen this adventure goes beyond dumb, it is morally, and probably legally, criminal. As far as US intelligence and its allies are concerned it is a huge strategic failure and blunder which will no doubt be ignored by a smug satisfaction with the tactical victory of taking out Gaddafi. The use of the best western warriors in this affair is morally reprehensible.
Silly me, it appears that Qatari Special Forces are heading up the secret special forces troops who are ‘assisting’ the rebels’ conquest of Tripoli. I can just imagine the SAS and other SF outfits waiting for instructions from the Qatari commander on the ground. At least the Qataris are allowed to wear boots, word is that other special forces on the ground are being forced to carry their boots so that Western spokesmen don’t come off as silly in front of some sharp and aggressive media types in the West.
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/83509,news-comment,news-politics,qatari-special-forces-led-libyan-attack-on-colonel-gaddafis-tripoli-compound
Does Qatari involvement compromise the integrity of AlJazeera? Does integrity and AlJazeera in the same sentence compromise the integrity of a sentence?
Iran must wipe off the map of the world.
All the industrial sites, military concentrated centers, airports of all kinds’ military and non-military, factories, damns, warehouse cargos, bridges, must crush and destroy completely and flatten.
Iran must go under heavy bombardment by the NATO, U.S and Israel air force to cut and destroy all the hands and legs of this dangerous regime, this regime is real threat of global peace.
And at last if it need strategically, Tehran city, the main center of military Headquarters, targeted by strategic and heavy bombing. Victory is the main priority.
The war is imminent.
War, war, war, war, war,war,war,war,war,war
Faster please.
See, Mr. Ledeen? The way out of this mess between the sides of lunacy is mass x velocity. Effective weapons can target IRI and the leadership as Reza suggests is necessary and the people can revolt. I never said to do this now, but without the assets, a bloody expeditionary force and ineffective MOABS, create a bigger mess and kill innocents.
Wasn’t it Reagan that proposed a nuclear bunker buster? We can do much better than that today (remember the Sprint missile booster of the 70s was able to accelerate an enhanced warhead at 100gs to more than mach ten GOING AGAINST GRAVITY), but are we smart enough? Here is a complete reversal of Reagan Navy logic: http://www.informationdissemination.net/2011/08/crisis-time-for-us-seapower.html
Warmongers and fanatics….gees….left to these powerful forces, this will not end well. My suggestions are at least rational options. before you know it, there won’t be many left.
I think it is time to clean the face of earth from evil regimes through supporting of democracy revolutions, or even the use of Force…the USA with its close allies must resort to use of Hard-Power to crush entire evil regimes from Tehran to Damascus and to the mother of Islamic fundamentalism (Riyadh), and from Pyongyang to Caracas.” The World without Them and without the Fundamentalist Islam would be Happier and Safer. Yes, Faster, Please!
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/173025/reftab/73/t/Kuwait-port-plans-escalate-tension/Default.aspx
How about the lesson of Iraq? I have seen reports that Iranian-backs militants in Iraq fired three scuds at Kuwait as a warning signal.
Maxtrue
For loooong time Dr. Ledeen telling and tells you that both Syrians and Iranians are totally in cahoot of their support of terrorism. Both have backed terrorist groups in Iraq and Lebanon and in Palestine. iranians trained insurgents (Shiites & Sunnis, I mean “Al Qaeda”) to use explosives to do assaults and acts of war against the United States forces. Most likely there are reports by the US Intelligence Service prove the involvement of both Syrians and the Iranians in Iraq from arming, training, guiding and funding for terrorists. I add Saudis as well are a Great Supporters of Terrorism and its Ideological Source on a Global Scale.
the NATO and U.S and EU must declare War against the Iran regime and start the most effective destruction of facilities in Iran. Iranian regime must destroy bu any means and anyhow.
Well said Dragon, yes it’s very necessary to attack some Iranian nuclear facilities and the military facilities, as well as the Leaders’ headquarters directly by limited strikes together with smart precision-guided weapons, even if this would have to involve smart nuclear weapon. The same act with Syrian regime TOO!
The media now refers to supporters of Gaddafi as “loyalists”, and the rebels as “freedom fighters”. Talk about inappropriate and misleading… Not that long ago the “freedom fighters” murdered one of their own generals (Abd-al-Fattah Yunis), which is about par for the course. (I am also concerned about the number of westerners turning into mercenaries. A Canadian — born in Canada — but whose family comes from Libya, joined the fight, but is now dead. He was shot by a sniper, while carrying an RPG). Personally, I don’t want to see these mercenaries back in Canada. (I also don’t believe NATO should ever have gotten involved with this Libyan civil war. George Jonas calls NATO the new Janisaries, the only difference being that NATO troops aren’t getting paid by the Arab League which hired them.)
Michael,
The slogan and banner-sign of the heroic anti-Assad Syrian demonstrators I liked most was:
ALLAAHUMM-a FAKK-i ‘UQDAT-a LISAAN il-JAAMI’AT il-ARABIYYAT il-KHARSAA =
“O God, break open the knot of the tongue of the Arab League of the Dumb.”
It seems that the Almighty listened to the Syrians’ prayers: some countries of ‘the League of the Dumb, started murmuring something about the terrible situation in Syria.
After reading this and your previous piece, I will be praying as follows — using a part of the above-mentioned Syrian prayer:
ALLAAHUMM-a FAKK-i ‘UQDAT-a LISAAN-i SADIYQINAA, ad-DUKTOUR LEDEEN, FI-MAA YATA-’ALLAQ-u bi-BAAKISTAAN, AY’D-an = “O God, break open the knot of the tongue of our friend, Dr. Ledeen, about what concerns Pakistan too.
Love & Peace,
Abu Safiyyah
thanks abu safiyyah, but it’s not gonna happen. i don’t know enough about Pakistan to make my opinions worth anyone’s time or trouble.
Dear Sir Abu Safiyyah! I do not know whether if there is G-d!? Sir, G-d is Dead. HE did not listen to the prayers of MILLIONS OF INNOCET JEWS who were butchered in cold blood and for no reason in this cursed country “Poland”. I am sorry the reason was just because they were “Jews”. Yet the thugs such as Ahmadinejad and others of this sort deny all that horrible massacres in the right of millions of innocent Jews.
Don’t mean to be flip, but I can’t help myself. Reminds me of a graffiti I once saw in my fraternity urinal many many many moons ago. “God is Dead”, Nietzche. “Nietzche is Dead”, God.
May be Mordecai, Esther and, then, the founding fathers & mothers of modern Zionism had a better understanding of G-d’s will; they acted without bothering the Almighty! There was a similar great figure, Huyayy bin Akhtab (father of Safiyyah) among the early 7th century Jews of the Hijaz, Arabia.
Had the Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza Jews ACTED the way this Abu Safiyyah of Muhammad’s time had suggested, history of the world might have been different.
About a week before the declaration of war against the Banu Nadir, Muhammad had gone to the Banu Nadir township asking for donations as a ‘friend & ally’; The Banu Nadir promptly offered the donation Muhammad had asked for. Huyayy bin Akhtab who never trusted Muhammad’s promises of friendship and alliance suggested to kill Muhammad; Huayayy explained in detail that it will be effective. The rest of the Banu Nadir leaders refused, arguing that Muhammad was a guest, and that there was a ‘treaty of alliance with him to protect him against ‘foreign’ invaders. Obviously, these were moral concerns, thinking that God wants them to have. What a misunderstanding of God’s concerns, if any!
On both occasions of the siege of the Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza by Muhammad, Huyayy suggested a well-prepared surprise counter-attack on a Shabbat night. Knowing that the Jews would not engage in such activities on Shabbat, the besiegers were ‘taking a break’ and relaxed. They were right; on both occasions the majority of the Banu Nadir and Banu Quraza leaders rejected Abu Safiyyah Huyayy bin Akhtab’s proposal, saying loudly that it would be a violation of the Shabbat, G-d’s will. Huayy and his few supporters thought otherwise.