What? There was nothing surprising, let alone “brazen,” about the Iranian attempt to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, or to blow up the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington. It is, after all, what they do. No new “red line” has been crossed. This is simply business as usual for the Tehran regime, you know, the one with which president Obama was so confident he could reach a good working relationship.
If you thought — as so many of the overnight experts have declared — that there was anything new about Iranian terrorists operating on American soil, forget it. Iranian agents have been busy in this country for quite some time. Just ask the FBI, who within the past few years broke up a very worrisome group of radical Muslims in Washington, D.C., who were receiving weapons from the Iranians. We have been aware of Iranian sleeper cells in the United States, often working in tandem with narcotics traffickers (Iran, after all, is very busy at the Afghan source of the global opium supply), for many years, and it’s not surprising that DEA had such a strong grip on the investigation. Surely the Bureau and the Agency were not surprised to find Iran in cahoots with (what the Iranians thought was) drug runners in the United States.
And for those who have scratched their heads and asked out loud how such smart people in Tehran could have done such a “stupid” thing, just think about the monumental mess these stupid people have made of their own country. Iran has lots of advantages, from natural resources to an educational system that was once one of the region’s finest, but the mullahs have wrecked the place. This by you is smart? Not by me. I think they’re fanatical buffoons, who are working feverishly to make their country even worse by enforcing gender segregation on a scale even a Saudi morals policeman could envy.
Most of the important lessons to be learned from this event have not been mentioned so far. Here are a few of them:
First, even if the assassination had taken place, it would not have been an act of war against the United States. It would have been a crime, to be sure, and if we had caught the assassin we would have prosecuted him, but not for attacking the United States of America. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia might have considered that an act of war against them.
Two points. Firstly, it is smart for them to dismantle the progress that Iran had achieved under the Pahlavis and its high standards of education because the last thing they need is an educated/enlightened population who is living comfortably. That is surely a recipe for disaster for their morbid theocracy. I was told by my father, an old hand in all matters Iranian, that the British had come to the conclusion that in order to keep the Arabs from revolting one should keep their bellies full. On the other hand to keep Iranians from going into the streets, keep them hungry. I suppose the revolt of 1979 somewhat validated that assesment.
Secondly, what I do not understand is why the Iranian regime would want to weaken Comrade Obama and his peeps? Don’t they know that they have a kindred soul in the WH? Don’t they understand that by further weakening him they are actually helping the American people elect (god willing, god willing, god willing) someone who may very well expedite the date of their reunion with the 72 virgins? While my first point speaks to their intelligence, surely my second point cancels that out.
they hate him, radish. you know, he’s both black and american…
Y, I don’t know if the Iranians know or care all that much about US politics but they DO know a doofus when they see one. They smell the stink of ineffectuality on Obama just like they did on Carter.
How can you possibly call Obama ineffectual??? Single handedly he has transformed our ecnomic landscape by the introduction of a disastrous health care “plan”, forced friendly rulers such as Ben Ali and Mubarak out of office to be probably replaced by savage Islamic fundamentalists. Purposefully ignored the build up of potential military launching pads by Islamists in our hemisphere in places such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba while preparing the Middle East region for the destruction of Israel by clearly siding with Hammas and other extremists while throwing Israel under the bus. Pumped an astronomical amount of liquidity into our banking system through QE1 and 2, which, if left unchecked, will inevitably lead to an hyperinflation on par with that of pre WW2 Germany and, if confronted aggresively through a needed tight monetary policy will, by necessity, lead to untold economic pain. How can you in all candor call this intentional destruction of the USA and the values associated with it ineffectual?
Most probably they reason that he is the biggest scam pulled on Americans and are aiding and abetting, from the sidelines for the moment.
Yeah, and Carter wasn’t even Muslim.
Check where all his cash came from! Starting with $10 million from Muslims when he was losing his peanut farm…. He is a bought and paid for mouthpiece for the Muslims! The total disgrace of an American President. Jimmy Carter, the smartest man ever in the White House, and at the same time, the most stupid. He is a disgrace to Georgia, the office he held, and the United States of America.
While I know it goes hand in hand with the United States of America, he is also a disgrace to the US Navy. I was mortified that a sub bearing his name, though I shouldn’t have been surprised, was commissioned. A former submarine commander a shill for Islam, is nothing sacred?
Wouldn’t it be smile inducing if history unfolded as it did in ’80?
Out with the ineffectual leftist goof, in with a dangerous, determined cowboy?
The war has been raging in the shadows for all participants. The United States, not Israel, was the brains behind the virus damaging Iran’s nuke program. Israel has been assassinating Iranian scientists almost brazenly. Targeting the Saudi ambassador is interesting. It’s a big hint how much the House of Saud is involved alongside the U.S. and Israel in the shadow war with Iran.
it isn’t a hint at all, dagger, it’s just more of the same. the mullahs have staged operations in saudi arabia for yrs.
Hey! We all have day jobs. How else can we afford internet, laptops and electricity to power everything. Oh I forgot – Obama is currently bankrolling America’s bums. Well unfortunately for me I dont live in America so I have to work. Thank God. Most of us would go nuts if we had nothing to do all day. Look at all those crazy goons in Hollywood. Look at whats happened to poor Morgan Freeman. ..
I have waited all day for your response. I hope and pray every day that those “in power” will listen to you.
Faster, please!!!
andrea, remember i have a day job…often away from computers, even. that’s probably a heresy at Pajamas but there you have it…
You may be right, Mr Ledeen, that for an American President to resort to full-blown military retaliation will be indicative of a failure of US foreign policy, but that ship sailed long ago. Every time the mullahs and their agents are unpunished for acts of war against the West (and not merely blatant acts, but flagrant ones, like this latest attempt) they are emboldened. The history is lengthy and shameful. What sanction, if any, was laid against Iran for the 1994 bombing of the AMIA building in Buenos Aires (the grotesque mishandling of the case notwithstanding)? Why, after the fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie in the wake of the publication of The Satanic Verses does even a single member of the Vilayat-e faqih still have his head on his shoulders? The Beirut barracks bombs? The EFP weapons in Iraq? The support for the Mehdi Army? What do they have to DO, before we take the gloves off? If this plot had been successful and, say, a hundred innocent Americans having lunch had been flayed alive, would THAT have been enough to shift the US and European stance from its current position of utter torpor? Or do they have to kill the entire population of a major metropolitan area before we finally get some steel in our spines?
The Iranians have been at war with America since 1979. I have maintained that the actual shooting war began in earnest when the Yemeni Shiite Houthi rebels crossed the Saudi Arabian border in late 2009 to test the kingdom’s resolve. I believe the intensity of their recent efforts has as much to do with the weakness of Barack Obama as anything else, who I’m sure has expressed “grave concern,” while putting his best team of men on it. If action is not taken, the next American President will have to deal with, not only a nuclear armed Iran, also an Iranian nuclear missile base in Venezuela.
The ineptitude of the Iranian rulers is easily matched by that of our own rulers. Could it be that Obama and his crew seek to avert electoral disaster by inducing a provocation from the Iranians, to which he can then intrepidly respond as Commander-in-Chief, thus uniting the electorate patriotically behind him? It’s the old Wag the Dog concept again, and this present incident seems poorly timed and conceived, unless it is just an opening gambit in a plan of progressive escalation. Is this too cynically paranoid, or a reasonable speculation based upon the Chicago way?
*shrug* It’s no more paranoid than the fact that two weeks after Obama gave a speech about how he’s opening up the Gulf for more drilling we had the BP oil rig disaster.
There is no such thing as coincidence.
This action is right in line with the recent determination of the Iranian Quds Forces and others to export Jihad to wherever they can and step up the action and increase the chaos in the world, in order to hasten the coming of the Mahdi. This may sound crazy … and it is; but high-ranking Iranian military guys have been gathered and briefed for that very purpose. The U.S.A. is not the only target of this kind of action.
These people are fatalists – they do NOT believe in appealing to the will. They believe in changing the environment in order to ‘convert’ people and fulfill that of that which they are absolutely convinced is the condition of the world that would hasten the coming of the Mahdi.
Yes Obama’s weak but he too is a fatalist by definition… but Islam doesn’t give a rats ass about that, other than being opportunistic in their efforts at making sure chaos reigns. Obama though; as our ‘leader’ has set the tone for our whole nation (that’s us); resulting in a each of us having a big bulls-eye imprinted upon our foreheads for any would be assassin.
Iran – like all of Islam – easily dismiss people as human beings when it serves their ‘higher purposes’; a global Caliphate. Life means NOTHING to them.
Bottom line – SOMEBODY with gravitas needs to take Obama to the woodshed for a spanking and tell him to get real; go hard or go home. This stuff is so sickening because all we do is sit around and talk, rub our hands together and listen to DUFUS say “no options for Iran” – wow … now that’s really scary!! NOT!!!!!!!
Robert Baer expressed skepticism about this whole thing. If this was really the case, there would be an immediate response from the U.S. and Saudia Governments. Saudia could easily jack up the Iranian Revolutionary Guards; after all they are pimps right? What kind of an elite military force murders civilians, involves themselves in legal and illegal business actvities, and is truly unable to defend the country against its enemies e.g Iran Iraq War. The IRGC Pimps could not do anything against Saddam’s third class army so no, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are not elite nor are they military. They are street corner pimps who are PIMPING the Iranian nation to the Western nations who buy its oil and gas and then they get there money back when Iran buys inferior goods for top dollar. The Iranian people hate the IRGC pimps and know that they are at the core weak and cowardly.
If the European nations care about the plight of Iranians,why don’t they boycott purchasing Iranian petroleum products? The Iranian people have no friends; not in Europe and not in the U.S apart from a few individuals. It sucks!
“We have been aware of Iranian sleeper cells in the United States, often working in tandem with narcotics traffickers”
My question is, do WE have sleeper cells in Iran? Are we capable of ruining their day by sbotaging their oil pipelines, by starting major fires at their oil depots, or having the head of the Quds Force assasinated in Iran? If we are not capable of such things, then we have a terrible CIA and an even worse State Department. There are hundreds of ways we can hurt Iran without actually bombing it, let alone invading it. Iran has proven time and time again that invading a country is NOT what is needed to get a point across. But the best way to really send a message to Iran is to openly arm, equip, and assist the Kurds. That would REALLY send a message that the gloves are off and that we mean business. The next step would the actual bombing of Iran, but we are far from that point. It is high time we start using Middle Eastern tactics against countries that hate us in the Middle East. My guess is that they will back off once they know we mean business, because they would have way too much to lose in an open war with us. But will Obama do any of this? I doubt it.
The problem is that Europe would be hurt badly by the cutoff of oil and gas from Iran.
The European Union is in enough trouble as it is. An “oil shock” caused by our destroying Iranian oil facilities might collapse the European economies.
That’s no way to treat our NATO allies.
So we allow Iran to blow up an American city just so our NATO “allies” get to keep their supply of oil? And people wonder why Americans now don’t seem to want or need NATO, especially after that recent “stellar” performance of theirs in Libya. No, this was a direct attack on the United States. If Obama ignores it, Iran will feel (and rightfully so) that it can get away with anything against us. Time for us, as well as the Europeans, to be brave and stand up to these animals.
Am I the only one who thinks this is yet another trumped up FBI event? And that the timing is oh so convenient?
Oh, no, you’re not the only one.
Conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists are a dime a dozen these days.
If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
No, you aren’t the only one. This scenario makes no sense to me. Assassinating the Saudi ambassador to the USA while in the US, and killing the Saudi ambassador in Argentina while using Los Zetas as accomplices sounds like a scheme developed by the same person/group that came up with Fast & Furious. If it turns out that this is another DOJ/FBI scam, I couldn’t be less surprised.
Doesn’t anybody remember that Iraneans tried to takeover the Grand Mosque in Medda years ago?
There was once an interesting Brit produced TV program about Alexander the Great’s career from Macedonia to India and most of the way back again, in the process defeating the Persian king Darius III at Gaugamela and conquering the Persian Empire, among others. Well, while the narrator-host was passing through modern day Iran—this program aired over a decade ago, Iranians he talked to about Alexander expressed considerable bitterness toward the Macedonian and referred to him in very disparaging terms–still holding a grudge against Alexander the Great more than two thousand years later! Will the Iranians of two thousand years hence still be bitter toward the US of the present day for thwarting a communist coup against their country in 1953 and for supporting the Shah? We could bomb them, but they already have enough loose screws as it is.
You just have to wonder if the FBI hasn’t built a case around some idiot who was running his yap. The feds have locked up a few terror cells where the terrorists may have been all talk until the FBI provided the means they needed to make a case. Just because this guy knows the name of a quds commander doesn’t mean he actuially spoke to him. If the feds can prove that he did in fact communicate with the quds then we’ll have something. Remember the cell in Miami that was all talk until they pledged allegiance to an FBI agent pretending to be al qaeda. Also, although it wasn’t a terror plot you can’t forget Delorean.
Michael, can you make sure Stephen Green drunk blogs the ongoing trial of the “Underwear” bomber and this new episode of the “Used Car Salesman Bomber” brought to you by the Three Stooges (Holder, Mueller, Obama)!
Iran is a true menace and I have steamed for years that Bush and Obama have allowed Iran to IED our people in Iraq and now Afghanistan with nary a peep. I take Iran seriously but how in the world can we take our government seriously when they do nothing about the Border and seem to want to wage war against everyone…Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya.
And coming to a theater near you…Pakistan, Syria, Iran etc. etc. etc.
Michael, when does it stop? My idea of full employment is not to have Millions of our young people in some far away land fighting a battle, or here at home, manufacturing million dollar uranium tipped cruise missles. For what exactly?
I am not a peacenik, or ever was a Hippie but my “Lets Go To War” switch has turned itself off because of too darn many wars!
I say we give Israel the state of New Mexico which they will turn into a Garden inside of ten years. Drill, mine and let god’s wondrous gift of natural gas fuel our country for the next two hundred years and let the Middle East do what they do best which is fight incessantly with each other.
My best friends Dad always told us “nothing good happens in a bar after midnight”. He was right. And nothing good is happening in the Middle East with us in the middle of it…And it is way after Midnight there.
We need to make America a Garden of Eden again, use our wealth and generosity to spread the story of freedom (after we get it back from a swollen and deaf government), use technology to spread our story among countries throughout the world etc. Oh, and have a kick butt military who will protect our borders and sea lanes!
happy thoughts, but our enemies won’t let us cultivate our gardens. they want us dead or dominated. the war is on, it’s been on for decades, and we will either win or lose. there is no way out of it.
Mike, I appreciate that you take part in your comments sections. And I won’t carry this on forever because I am sure both of us have to make a living today while we try to Save The Republic!
I don’t think we should not be out there at all but does our universal bombing, droning, assassinating not bother you just a little bit?
Are there people out there who hate us? Sure. But decades after the Korean War we have tens of thousands of soldiers in a country, lost 30+ thousand soldiers long ago and spent trillions and they don’t even want to sign a free trade agreement with us.
This Big Government policy of War, hate, maiming and killing is our best option, our first choice?
Does it not bother you just a little bit? We are absolutely pummeling Libya….24,000+ bombing runs? How many little kids have been hurt and killed by “We’re from NATO and we’re here to help!”
And then we have KT McFarland and all of the other MSM talking security experts describe this as an ‘Act of War’? Did they all just come to this same solution two hours after it was reported using the exact same words.
And today our government is describing the Used Car Salesman Bomber and the Quds from Iran as inept because they haven’t done this much. They are already changing their words from our government because the majority of Americans who are awake are questioning, wanting facts and are rightly skeptical after all of the incompetent to evil leadership we have experienced in the last ten years.
I don’t know you nor do you know me. We come to our philosophies from our life experiences and the seriousness as to how we plan to lead our lives in our last 20-25 years of human productivity (we hope my friend).
Take this seriously, investigate the facts, pray earnestly and often…But war, at the drop of a hat because an Attorney General who is very suspect, uncovers a Used Car Salesman terrorist plot that involves every group of people (Saudis, Israel, Mexican government, used car salesmen) that he can throw in there to muddy up the water? I think not.
Protect our people overseas, protect our borders, concentrate on how we make ourselves better, pay down our debts, pray earnestly and often. But war against every country that happens to have a couple of thousand bad guys?
No, my good friend, it is time to take a long, hard look at all of this and allow the American people to weigh in. We will always need rough men who stand guard against our enemies but we are over the line, out of control and have lost touch with our purpose which is why so many like myself are now gravitating towards a conservative, well thought out approach to peace….and war.
All Things Are Possible
I too think that something smells about this. If the Iranians wanted to kill a Saudi, why go to such great length on American soil and do so in such a high-risk, non-professional way?
I’m more inclined to believe this was Wag The Dog. Any port in a storm, right? Holder was looking for something, ANYTHING, to distract the public about F&F.
what is unprofessional? they are said to have used a well known mafia of proven “quality” to carry out an assassination.
I find it odd that this used car nobody has operational and political power to add some US senators and 80-150 US citizens to the list as the conversation goes on. I find it odd they pick an organization which US regularly penetrates, for whom 1.5 mil is not really that much money to go to war with US, that has no real experience with that kind of explosives and more into brazen gang-style drives, that they just wire 100k when they could send someone with a suitcase to Mexico, or mail the cash in a concealed package, that they would pick all kinds of idiots who could easily turn informant.
My theory: Some moran going rouge. or
A third party intel operation, who wanted tension but not for it to actually succeed, a friendly state; any state could pull this off. Who is to gain most from all this? Saudi Arabia, Bahrain even Pakistan or Israel.
It does not fit with what was known about the methods and practices of the supposed perpetrators, the Quds force of the Revolutionary Guards. The Quds force has previously gone to great lengths to ensure its fingerprints are not found on attacks abroad.
The Quds force was purported to be working with the Zetas, with an Iranian-American used-car salesman as middleman. The car salesman was allegedly a cousin of a “big general” in the Quds force and a friend of the aunt of a Texas associate of the Zetas. You think a professional intelligence organization conducting such a high-profile, high-risk operation would rely upon such a tenuous and unproven connection?
Besides all that, the timing just smells.
the whole thing smells, I agree with you and Peter.
Sorry I did not capitalize “God” in my last post. I get in too much of a hurry sometimes!
All things Are Possible!
I’m sure the most high and powerful won’t mind, lower case, all caps, whatever man, I-Ching, Zen, just go with it.
ISLAMO-NAZI KHAMENIE ENDORSES ANTI-CAPITALIST MOVEMENT
Perhaps it’s Islamo-Nazi, nuclear Iran’s answer to Barack Obama’s Moslem outreach initiative. As part of an ongoing campaign to partner with “extremist groups, drug traffickers and other outlaws based in the Western hemisphere*” Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenie, in a jesture of friendship and solidarity with the national anti-US movement to overthrow democratic capitalism said yesterday that it “reflects a serious crisis that exposes America’s corrupt foundation that will ultimately topple American capitalism.” Confident that America is finished as a great world power and that Iran will replace it as the dominate global hegemon Khamemie predicted that attempts to crackdown on the US movement would fail, and that it would “ultimately grow and soar and bring down the unjust capitalist system and the West.”
In other words, Iran’s supreme, murdering, repressive leader sees Allah’s vengeful hand as directing this movement of useful imbeciles to defeat unbelief and enable Islam’s restoration of the caliphate-and he will do everything in his power to assist it in sowing mayhem and discord to hurt and weaken the Great US Satan. As this mindless mob of leftist losers, and aging burnt out sixties hippies, has welcomed the support of subversive Moslem extremists Khamenie’s triumphalist speech will be seen as a signal to American-Iranian radicals (such as accused Iranian bomb plotter Mansour Arbabsiar) to penetrate the destructive movement and advance its insane course.
Michael,
Appears the ingredients needed to bring the Zoroastrians back to civility is occuring, despite our limp leadership, or lack thereof, from the rear.
Great to see the fire in your gut has not been extinguished.
Semper Fi
Tks Sean. The fire burns brightly; i eat lots of spicy pasta…
Holder and, probably, Obama are lying through their their teeth over Fast N Furious. How do we know they aren’t also lying about the Iranian plot to divert attention from all their criminality?
Absolutely spot on! No explosives, no vehicles, no one in Washington, New York, no operatives; just some dumb Iranian who couldn’t make a hot dog stand work! The FBI counter-intelligence offered him $50,000 and he went for it. The Iranians grow up hating the Saudi’s. No surprise here. You probably could have found 40 Iranians that would go for $50,000, just hanging out at the deli on Friday. This is too close to Fast and Furious to be real!
It was a Saudi ambassador that was targeted. I’ve no interest in acting on behalf of the Saudis. None. Zero.
Let the Saudis deal with it if it’s such a big deal.
It is OUR business when the assassination is to take place on OUR soil AND other innocent AMERICANS are going to be MURDERED! How do you function in everyday society with “illogic” such as this?
The US agencies did their job. They stopped the plot and arrested the perpetrators. As far as retaliation beyond that is concerned, I consider it a Saudi issue.
What I’m saying is that Saudi Arabia needs to step up to the plate regarding Iran and Middle Eastern issues. We did them $55 Billion im miltry hardware earlier this year. There’s no need for the USA to be their mercenary lackeys.
Given the ineptitude of the current American regime, I seriously doubt it was a manufactured plot. So I consider it to be real. Though why this plot, at this target, at this time remain mysteries.
My real concern is the link up between the mullahs and the drug gangs. Haven’t there been contacts between radical Muslims and the cartels before? You don’t suddenly go halfway around the world for such a plot and hook up with unknowns. And if you do and on the first try the person you meet happens to be working for your enemy? I don’t like those odds. So how much contact is there between the drug gangs and the Iranians? Remember, the gangs have recently started to behead people — a new behavior, and who also beheads people — radical Muslims.
What kind of analysis is required of the whole situation?
You have a President of Iran who has said before the United Nations that he will try to hasten the day of the return of the 12th Imam, a child who fell down a well in the 8th century.
The only way the young Imam can come back and fix the world is creating Armageddon.
This same President is trying to create a Nuclear Weapon by any means necessary and as fast as he can.
Am I missing something?
Bumbling Biden and Irate Iran
There’s a common thread running through two recent news developments. Interwoven through Vice President Joe Biden’s politically-exaggerated prediction of rapes and murders and Iran’s farcical anger over being implicated in terrorism is the spectre of the man who, in one way or another, emboldens them both, Barack Hussein Obama.
Drudge.com featured two juxtaposed, starkly-contrasting pictures on Wednesday, one of candidate Obama’s October 27, 2008 rally in Pitttsburgh showing his wildly passionate supporters overflowing an arena, the other of his October 11, 2011 appearance in the same venue before mostly-empty seats. Drudge’s caption: “Enthusiasm Gap?”
The photos reflect more than an enthusiasm gap.
They reflect the reasons Joe Biden has gone off the deep end and why the equally-nutty Islamic Government of Iran is tempting fate: Both Biden and Iran know Obama is a one-termer. As a result, Biden has lost what was left of his mind and Iran is figuring it’s now or never to humiliate and terrorize the United States.
Pulling the bizarre card in Flint, Michigan, the always intemperate now totally screwy vice president was ostensibly making a pitch for Obama’s $447 billion American Jobs Act, which his own senate Democrats have effectively buried, when he predicted that more rapes and murders will occur if it isn’t passed.
As if that were not sufficient to scare politicians into backing another massive waste of money, after citing crime stats in lawless Flint, Biden aeemed to invoke the Almighty to attest to salvation granted by virtue of passage of his boss’s original boondoggle in 2009 with the line, “And God only knows what that number would have been had we not been able to get a little bit of help.
God only knows but what He knows mostly is that Joe Biden has reached the end of his tether and should resign himself to the inevitable or simply resign. Before he does, someone should remind him that people rape and murder not because there are fewer cops on the street but because they have no respect for law and other people.
Iran has little respect for much of anything unless it’s governed by sharia law or for anyone unless they adhere to the Islamic “faith.”
Over the last few years, Iran’s titular leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his fellow “holy men” have demonstrated a profound disrespect for international law, for fundamental human rights, and common decency as they prepare for the establishment of a worldwide Muslim caliphate.
Based on their provocation in vowing to send Iranian warships to within striking distance of America’s shores and now, allegedly, conspiring to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and murder countless Americans in the process, they must think their conquest is at hand.
That, or they believe the American president is such a wishy-washy, indecisive, Muslim-loving leader who is on his way out and they might as well seize the opportunity before a real president takes his place. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5708.)
Guess they didn’t get the “Islam is a religion of peace” memo. I recently read a bone-chilling new novel by a former CIA agent about an Iran-sponsored terror attack on the US, “The Woolsorter’s Plaque.” It’s all too probable. We may yet see it overtaken by events. I will link to this from my Old Jarhead blog.
Robert A. Hall
Author: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
(All royalties go to a charity to help wounded veterans)
For a free PDF of the book, write tartanmarine(at)gmail.com
You need to think this through. Use this hypothetical scenario: imagine that you are an oppressed man (Iran) living in a neighborhood where a tiny, but strong bully (Israel) is constantly picking on you. And that tiny bully is strong only because he is supported by a big, strong bully (USA). You’ve been picked on for so long, beat up so much, that you finally decide to fight back, as there’s nothing to lose. Would it not make sense to say a few prayers to your god of peace, thrown on a turban and a silk shirt (sans the Old Spice), and lash out at your bullies? And you don’t even have to target the bullies, but can aim for those “bully-supporters” and their agents who fuel the bullies (Saudi Arabia with their scummy oil). Put this way, it makes sense. I don’t necessarily condone this behavior, I think, but it makes a lot of sense. So stop you’re neocon whining!
Oh my are you mixed up! Israel was given to the Jews by British mandate after WWII, after the systematic extermination of over 7 million Jews by the Nazi’s and the Russians. It is as narrow as 12 miles, and 300 miles north to south, and 85 at its widest. In square miles Israel is approx. 8000 square miles. Iran is 750,000 square miles. Israel has a population of 8 million, and Iran has a population approaching 80 million. Israel has never attacked any of its neighbors, and has only responded to aggression with comparable force. Remember the Jews invented all of our nuclear weapons in this country. All the top scientists on the Manhattan Project were Jewish, and they have our top fighters, systems, and of course the ultimate weapon, but have shown great restraint in not using them up until this point. Provoked, or facing ultimate destruction, I predict a short day for the Muslims. Unfortunately, if you study Muslims since their inception, they only respond to the sword, the gun, or death. Any bargaining with them is seen as a sign of weakness. Ultimately, there will be many to die because of the ridiculousness of their leaders. Israel does not want to be the one to reintroduce the world to nuclear war, but the time is drawing nigh….
As an Iranian-American (everyone these days is hyphenated so, moi aussi) I have to agree that Iran is oppressed. However Iranians are oppressed not by Israel, not by the US of A, not by Europeans but by a bloodthirsty fundametalist clique that has hijacked the nation and unleashed its tyranny over innocent people. This tyrannical regime is the local bully. Lebanon, once the Paris of the east, the home of free market Phoenician trade, the center of learning and culture is now a sad tapestry of ugliness thanks to Hezbollah, a proxy of the Iranian regime. All the IED’s in Iraq and Afghanistan are produced and paid for by this local bully. Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq has been bullied by Iran into submission, as Dr. Ledeen correctly pointed out.
Israel is not strong because it has the support of the US. Israel is strong because it cherishes values that inevitably lead to strength. Do democracy, value of human life, education and a meaningful legal system ring a bell? Do you really think that a people whose contribution to all disciplines is beyond question can in any human way stay weak? As the foes of Israel are sending young people to blow themselves up in downtown Tel Aviv Israel is freeing 1000 prisoners for just one, count it, just one, Israeli soldier. Not a General, not a Colonel, not even a Captain, just an ordinary soldier. Do their foes attach such value to human life?
The US of A, up until the arrival of a President who is an enemy of Israel, supported Israel because of shared values, and Israel, I am sure, appreciated that. But don’t for a minute think that Israel will evaporate if US support is withdrawn. If they have survived 4000 years of pogroms, red housings, arm bands and holocausts, they will survive this segment of history as well.
Let us pray and hope that the people of Iran wil, once again, join the civilized world with the same shared values that have sustained Israel and the USA. Let us hope that Iran and Israel will, once again, be friends and allies as they should be and as they were pre 1979.
The left will ridicule reality to bully you away from the truth. Recognize that and don’t allow it. If i may paraphrase Schopenhauer, all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Please jump to 3.
thanks for that, radish. bravo.
Shhh ! The commie in chief is busy, golfing.
And when he will be done golfing, he will beg the UN to do something, maybe voting a nasty nasty resolution with a lot of bad words.
Look who has the most to gain here and you’ll find the culprit, yup it’s Israel, this has Mossad written all over it. I might be killed just for suggesting that, but you heard it here first. Israel wants WWIII w/ Iran and will do anything to achieve that goal–ANYTHING.
Let’s see, Israel finds some Iranian stooge in the US who is willing to spend the rest of his life in a US prison. Why would ANYONE ever agree to that? And for bonus points, if the FBI is to be believed, the dude has a brother/cousin in the Iranian Rev. Guards terror operations department who the FBI was able to record encouraging the dude to murder Saudi’s ambassador.
You are a most credulous person to find a Jewish conspiracy in this.
You are the village idiot. The Mossad doesn’t hire half-ass morons or Mohammedans to do its work. It doesn’t do operations on US soil, and it isn’t in the business of looking or being STUPID. This smacks more of a plot by ATF or the FBI to get the heat off of Holder for Fast and Furious. The perp is a pathetic loser, and didn’t even care about politics. This plot is so weak whoever thought it up was blowing bubbles throw a straw when he was 18. No explosives, no means, no access, just talk; who bought this little fantasy? Our own morons, probably.
You should call yourself “Former mossad agent currently a frikkin genius)
mossad aint gonna kill anyone especially not a ____ (fill in the blank) like you.
Inasmuch as I am in awe of you as a former agent of Mossad and in fear of my life for even whispering the following, I have to say that in my humble opinion The Zohan was more impressive than you. Ya know, no one messed with him and he turned out not to be a fegele after all.
Ezekiel 38:11-17 . . .
‘Thus says the Lord GOD:
“On that Day it shall come to pass
that thoughts will arise in your mind,
and you will make an evil plan:
You (the one who leads Russia) will say,
‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages;
I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely,
all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’
to take plunder and to take booty,
to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, (look at Israel today)
and against a people gathered from the nations, (this will take place after 1948!)
who have acquired livestock and goods,
who dwell in the midst of the land.
TAKE NOTE OF THIS!
Sheba (Saudi Arabia), Dedan (Kuwait), (Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will not join this invasion)
the merchants of Tarshish (may be England),
and all their young lions (may be former colonies like Canada, Australia, and the US)
will say to you,
‘Have you come to take plunder?
Have you gathered your army to take booty,
to carry away silver and gold,
to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”’
God’s word already has foretold the people, their stances, the sides of who will be doing what.
When you see that IRAN ie Persia is going to join this force to wipe out Israel along with all the other Arab spring states, it’s fascinating to see history unfold just as it has already been told of by God.
US/UK/Saudi Arabia all sit back together and watch…
For Iran to try and kill Saudi officials just help cement more and more the stances that will take place in these last days coming up to the war against Israel that is already to begin. Awesome times people to live in. Just get your heart right with Jesus Christ before it all comes down.
Terror bombings by Iran of a Washington DC restaurant filled with US citizens and two foreign embassies in Washington DC where US citizens work and walk by would not be acts of war?
The al-Qaeda bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam killed far more citizens of Kenya and Tanzania (about 200) than US citizens. They would not be considered acts of war against those two countries if, for example, Iran was behind them?
The plot was thwarted and no one was killed, so maybe the plot was not an act of war. But if the attacks had been successfully executed these three bombings could have killed over a hundred US citizens and injured hundreds more. How many US citizens would Iran have to murder on US soil in one day for it to be considered an act of war?
were the embassy bombings considered acts of war by iran when it was proven that the iranians were deeply involved in the operation? everybody’s an expert around here…
Let me expand. I am not advocating declaring war on Iran. I do not think we should do that. I do not think we should escalate our ongoing conflict with Iran into an open hot war over this.
What I am suggesting is that *if* we decided it would be in our best interest to retaliate with some form of military response, as Reagan did with Libya, we would be justified. An escalation in the conflict and a change in policy is needed. Iran must pay a price beyond harsh rhetoric and annoying things like calls for more sanctions that will be ineffective even if the UN agrees to them — which is unlikely. I suspect Putin and China are enjoying watching Obama, and the US, squirm in humiliation.
That said, if we decided to respond to an act of war with an act of war we would be within out rights. What would Iran do? Declare war in us? Why bother? I assume they are already doing everything they can do short of that. The only unused credible threat I’ve read of is the possibility they have sleeper cells in the US. They are using this as a deterrent by threatening to activate them and launch widespread terrorist attacks in the US. I assume you have some idea how credible that threat is.
My argument is we need to realize we are at war with Iran and start behaving accordingly. This plot demonstrates Iran is undeterred and willing to engage in acts of war against the US. We should not restrain our responses to their provocations out of concern and fear about their reaction.
Acts of war are what the state declares to be so.
In theory a mere threat can be an act of war, witness the Cuban missile crisis.
We have ample grounds to go to war with Iran, we lack leadership willing to do it:
US Embassy takeover
Flight 847
US embassy bombing in Beirut
the marine barracks in lebanon
Imad Mugniyeh as the likely operational planner of 911
allowing 15 of 19 al qaeda 911 hijackers to pass through the Iranian police state on their way to attack the US
harboring al qaeda after 911
3500 dead and thousands more in Iraq
hundreds more dead in Afghanistan
an illegal nuclear program
add in the torture/kidnap/murder of Col. Higgins and dozens of things I don’t know about and you have a butchers bill that is way past due.
I will never sleep peacefully while the Mullocracy is in power; they are base evil men.
So, to answer the often-asked question (how could the leaders of the Iranian regime have approved such a provocative action in this country?): they do not fear us, they do not believe that Obama is capable of doing anything that would threaten their grip on power, and they viewed the operation as both a provocation and a humiliation of him and his administration.
Precisely. I am not at all surprised by this plot and Iran’s involvement. There is a good chance they did not care if the plot was thwarted and their involvement exposed. They planned to deny it while winking at the world.
If Obama does not respond with anything more than harsh words and calls for more useless sanctions they will have successfully publicly humiliated both Obama and The Great Satan in the eyes of the world. And we already know that’s probably all the response will be. Most US citizens do not expect him to do anything more than that. Why would anyone else?
Meanwhile the world will silently laugh at Obama, and discount the chances of an aggressive US response to anything they might do.
I was stunned and flabbergasted that iran would think up anything like the attacks in Washington DC. I thought iran would be to scared of our strong decisive leader obama. You know how you feel about junk mail and where you round file it. The iraians must be quaking in their sanddles knowing obama is going to send them a nasty, nasty letter! Oh My!
Mr. Ledeen, I have a question.
If this plot had been successfully executed as a three-in-one-day terror bombing attack, with up to a hundred US citizens dead, including possibly one or more US Senators or Congressmen, is it possible Iran would have let al-Qaeda take credit, as retribution for the killing of OBL?
The surprise that I have is that anyone has actually fallen for this “plot” meme in the media.
So far the FBI has “foiled” around 17 terrorist plots since 9/11. Each one was carefully handled, orchestrated, facilitated and expanded by the FBI. None of them were any real threat. All of them were used to inspire fear and diminish your freedoms through reactionary governmental policies.
This is yet another example of Wag the Dog. Are the Albanians carrying a suitcase bomb through Canada again? Because they hate our freedom?
Sadly, U.S. citizens are upset that a foreign government may have, allegedly, without significant evidence, attempted to assassinate another foreign diplomat, but they’re not upset about the assassination of a U.S. citizen who clearly should’ve been protected by his Constitutional right to trial a.k.a. Anwar al-Awlaki. I didn’t like him, but that doesn’t change the law, or the obscene violation of constitutional principles.
In this case, apparently a Texas used car salesman was down on his luck and was quite angry at the system. Slowly, as he was a bumbling idiot, he made himself known to the FBI. After time, the FBI contacted and incentivized him to expand his plans in the name of Terror/Islam/Baby-murdering/other nonsensical media fear word/etc. Eventually, a DEA plant and former Mexican Drug cartel assassin got into contact with him to bomb somewhere. He initially wanted to hit only a single target without collateral damage. Eventually, the DEA plant wore him down so that he would accept collateral damage, even if it would result in the death of U.S. citizens.
Don’t let this distract you from the fact that our interventions in the middle east and elsewhere result in countless deaths due to collateral damage, let alone the deaths of our own soldiers. Do not dishonor their memories by falling for this distraction.
This guy is probably nuts, but it doesn’t help that the FBI and DEA were facilitating it all along the way. Nor does it make any sense to think that Iran was somehow involved in a plot conjoined with a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate a member of the Saudi government on U.S. soil, when Saudi Arabia and Iran have only the Persian Gulf between them. They could’ve done this at home, especially without involving us. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad may be a completely evil Islamic totalitarian–but even he’s not this crazy.
Do the research. The government’s evidence on this matter is flimsy at best.
Oh, and the Obama adminstration knew about this for months. Now that Holder is being slammed for Fast & Furious, they’re pulling this card as a distraction of the week and likely to get us into another war.
Wake up.
despite a welter of doubletalk from the administration, it is ridiculous to speculate that such an operation could be carried out without the explicit approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, to whom the commanders of the Quds Force report.
I’m going to change a few key words in this sentence, and you decide if the result is sensible:
despite a welter of doubletalk from the administration, it is ridiculous to speculate that Fast and Furious could be carried out without the explicit approval of President Obama, to whom the political appointees of the Department of Justice report.
Oh, and Mr. Ledeen, I have a correction for you. It’s not been going on for 32 years.
It’s been going on for 48 years. Since 1953. When we used our intelligence agencies in conjuction with Britain to remove their heads of state and replace them with the Shah and our oil cronies.
That’s when people became upset. This, and other interventions, fomented into anger and eventual hatred. It wasn’t obvious until 1979 when Islamo-fascist groups, remembering our intereventions (plural), rose up to take control.
I agree that their policies are one collectivist failure after another and that their internal media blames these problems on everyone except themselves. However, they’re not wrong to think that we’ve screwed with their sovereignty a few times. Our continued, oppressive, and idiotic presence in the region isn’t helping.
The difference between brilliance and lunacy is success. Nere’s a headline, “CIA BEATEN BY BAFOON!” Why is it a big deal now? Holder needs a distraction for GUN WALKER.
Yeas Michael,this is a long war on defined targets in largest places.We, here in Argentina know about it;The two terrorist incidentes in Buenos Aires,and iranian pouch,subrogates,and complicities.
Iran is not at war with Saudi Arabia? Nonsense!
The Iranians/Persians still resent Alexander the Great’s conquest and only a fool would think they have forgotten the overthrow of the Persian Sassinid Empire by the Rashidan Caliphate in 644AD….in what was more an extension of earlier plundering raids than anything.
The Persians have actively resisted Arab culture and language to the present….this a 1400 year long blood feud…
Iran is the enemy of Saudi Arabia and Israel, but not the enemy of the USA.
We should stay out of the silly religious wars in the Middle East.
You know, after 63 years, nothing surprises me anymore. But hey, maybe the Administration should have let the terrorist attack happen? Then the Iranian “act of war” would be a factual event, not some debatable conspiracy subject to differing partisan proclivities regarding the appropriate response–apparently making decisions is easier over the dead rather than over living hostages, as with Iranian hostage crisis. What’s a hundred dead bodies and a dead Saudi prince in the big scheme of things, especially for a DOJ that has apparently no problems with facilitating the deaths of hundreds of Mexican nationals with smuggled guns? Maybe the new Obama CIA should realize Maxine Waters nightmare and facilitate the importation of 100 percent pure Afghan heroine just to see if the mass over dose among the victims would be a representative cross sample of American society?
Hypocrisy in the world never ends…
Saudi Arabia has been funding terrorism through its Wahhabi schools for over 200 YEARS, does nobody on this website remember the attack in NYC..?? Those were Saudi nationals…not Iranian, not cartel members.
Wahhabi schools promote fundamental and violent interpretations of Islam, since the 1970′s Saudi Arabia has been heavily promoting terrorist acts worldwide. We just cannot do anything about it since Saudi Arabia is the worlds largest liquidity account for US Petro dollar settlements systems.
What exactly allows this type of manipulation so easily, that today we are joined at the hip with the worlds largest and oldest supporter of global terrorism…?
The Iranian / cartel story is a joke, being swallowed hook line and sinker by groups for no other reason than it fits their fears and suspicions. This is no different than Iraq having WMD, or Vietnam attacking our ships in Tonkin.
Fer heavens sake, we need to educate ourselves how the world actually works.
There is a difference between being fearful of going down in history as a monumental coward and actually being one. I fear our current President is one. If I’m right, he won’t respond any differently than he has so far.
(I posted this by mistake on another article)
During the 80′s Iran led a successful campaign against the enemies of the revolution – Iranian exiles and they assassinated (raise your eyebrows) hundreds of Iranians on European soil. Europe being the lily livered ladies that we came to intimately know back in the 1930′s and 1940′s turned a blind eye, or more accurately rolled up into a ball and went to sleep.
Just compare these Europeans in dealing with the Iranians with for example the case where hijackers were killed by an Israeli security guard on a flight that landed in Switzerland. The security guard had a pistol and they had automatic weapons. After killing singlehandedly most of the terrorists and (if I recall correctly while wounded) giving chase and arresting one other terrorist he was brought to a sudden halt (politely) by a Swiss airport security gendarme who proceeded to arrest him and he was subsequently held in jail for months without being charged. Only after a massive media campaign was he “pardoned”. As I recall he was later to become prime minister Golda Meirs’ personal bodyguard.
After stories such as this I prefer an Iranian to a peace loving European any day
Yeah, well, the Europeans are not better off than Obama. The leading politicians are as much cowards as the president. If the US felt, that the European Union leaders were to rely on, maybe then a more realistic stance to the islamo-nazi state could be effectuated. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not an excuse for Obambi.
During the Second World War, FDR had doubts about the UK, especially when it came to self-inflicted wounds.
Whatever goes ’round, comes ’round, eventually.
Micheal Ledeen take on issues:
Khamenei: ” Israel is a cancerous tumor” Micheal: taken at face value
Khamenei: ” We are against nuclear bombs” Micheal: NOT to be taken at face value
Khamenei: ” attempt to kill Saudi diplomat absurd and ludicrous.”
Micheal: NOT to be taken at face value
Ahmadinejad : “Holocaust is questionable” Micheal: taken at face value
Ahmadinejad: ” We want mutually respectable relations with US: Micheal : Not
Iranians: ” Stop sanctions against Iranian airlines that are literally causing our death” Micheal: Who cares
Iranians: ” We don’t like this government” Micheal: let’s help iranians
Khamenie: ” the wave of revolutions will spread to Europe”
Micheal: what Wall street protests??
Iraqis: “Sorry can’t stay any longer Yankees”
Micheal: they are recieving Iranian marching orders
Iraqis: “We hate Iran” Micheal: Make sure to put in my next article
Ziad Alasali (president of Palestine Lobby in DC): no to reurn of Palestinians
Micheal: he is speaking for all Palestinians
Mahmoud Abbas: ” We;ve had it with your Bull shit peace treaty and no results for past 30 years” Micheal: he is becoming a terrorist
Micheal: ” Sources say Rafsanjani is shoe in and will win elections in article” Manny, Moe….” REality: Rafsanjani lost to Ahmadi
Micheal: ” Iran behind 911″ Senate : He’s delusional
Micheal: ” Obama scared to act on Iran…running away” Reality: US out of $$$
Micheal: “Khamenei is on deathbed” Reality: two years passed, Khamenie still around
Conclusion: Loss of credibility and objectivity.
you’d be more convincing if you learned to spell my name, you know. just saying..
Hitler addressing the Reichstag, May 21, 1935:
“….The German Reich, especially the present German Government, has no other wish except to live on terms of peace and friendship with all the neighboring States… ”
Mixing truths with lies has always been a common modus operendi by tyrants with bellicose intentions. Now, my dear Ms. Bagheri, if Dr. Ledeen happens to parse through these lies and truths so that his readers can cut through the confusion, it puts his objectivity into question? If Khamenei points at the moon and claims that it must be night time and Dr. Ledeen agrees with him that will make him less credible?
Your line of reasoning is begging for the author to prove a negative. Do you really think that you have the necessary intellectual cunning to catch him falling into that trap? Do you really think they just sell their diplomas at Pomona???
Family name pronounced “buggery”.
don’t do that, please, Tim Bus. No personal slurs, just serious discussion. Wit is great, and this comes close. But please deal with the issues.
Mr Ledeen’s past 6-7 articles if not over 90 % of all his articles have to do with Iran. Where so obsessed?
Are we to believe you care about Iranian human rights? So why aren’t you lobbying to remove Boeing sanctions against Iranian planes?
I love Iran and I love how smart my country’s leaders are. Even when i feel like i’m tired, I can count on our government to stay vigilant.
Luckily, Iraq is for sure in our sphere of influence.
For sure, Assad will survive the armed terrorist movement and he will owe his rule and presidency to Iran- the only country that stood with him.
This will open the doors wide wide open for Iran to completely take over Lebanon- (yes there are in Lebanon some competition between Iran and Syria)
These are my predictions and I am ready to bet on them.
This leaves us with four spots:
Bahrain: it will continue to be a Sunni Kingdom for the next 3-4 years until something major happens- like what? it’s hard to tell
Yemen: US will lose big- it will do a half ass job against Al Q. and they will support a fragile pro- Us/Saudi government until the people bring it down
Egypt: The parliamentary elections results will be a major factor especially if the uslim Brotherhood gain 40% and above seats
Palestine: you can have it- Iran has no more need for Hamas. With Hezbollah solidly in control of Lebanon, there really isn’t much value to Palestine from an Iranian Strategic point of view.
I used to be in favor of better Us- Iran relations – in hopes that the US will make Iran the region’s police.
Now, I’m against better relations because Iran is not only the region’s police but the KINGMAKER. Seeing the US/Saudi alliance and how devastating to Saudis it has been not only politically but also economically- finance this, buy all these weapons only to see them malfunction in their battle against the Houthis makes me be against relations. Today Iran has a hugh economy and a population where every walking person is an innovating and creative person.
Micheal, ever wonder why people still fall for Ponzi schemes? It’s because they think it’s “different for us- this is legit.”
You too need to open your eyes and realize that all your predictions are no different than the person falling in for a Ponzi scheme. If history is an indicator, it’s that Iran always comes on top.
you have too much spare time, IMHO.
Here are my predictions:
1) Sooner or later the officials of the IRG will ask, nay order, you to change your name from that associated with Christian apostasy to Zeynab lest you and Von Sacher Masoch enjoy the same hobbies.
2) Sooner or later the good people of Iran will force you to remove your Chador of oppression and that of your sick morality squad sisters.
3) Sooner or later Iran will join the civilized world and, as a fish out of water, you will find refuge among the Taliban on that lovely resort, Tora Bora.
4) Sooner or later the Tora Bora brothers will treat you the way a good fundamentalist Muslim woman should be treated.
Khamenei’s predictions:
1. revolts will spread to Europe
2. The US will even turn against its friends –meaning watch out Saudi Arabia
Well, 1. is already happening
As far as 2. , I think there is a feeling amongst the “real” policy setters -no not Hillary Clinton or other TV ready figures and it doesn’t change with change in presidents, there is a feeling and US strategy to change their policies in the ME. This is being worked on with the British.
The US having realized that the masses in ME hate the US simply because it has supported dictators and tyrants, will now play a different game. Bring in new faces, elected by the people but make sure they work with the US.
What this means is this: The US will sacrifice the Al Saud family. All the speedy reforms -urged by US- in SA and the existing poverty in that country are meant for the US to pit the ruling family against the Wahhabi sheikhs which have traditionally supported Al Saud. Al Saud’s financial drain and distraction in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria will energize the Wahhabi sheikhs to get emboldened and urge the people to overthrow Al Saud.
I see the writings on the wall- it’s a new US strategy not seen since Eisenhower’s days. The US can no longer afford to be seen as supporting tyrants and dictators in ME. They will let Al Saud fall and the rest will fall suit.
mr ledeen instead of obsessing about iran, maybe you can look into this and shed some light.
from nypost:
he owners of the former Burlington Coat Factory near Ground Zero — who sold the site for a song to the developer of the proposed mosque there — wound up investing in a $45.7 million deal with him four months later, city records show.
The revelation is the latest twist in a puzzling series of transactions involving the former property owners and the new prospective developer, Sharif El-Gamal.
As The Post reported Sunday, the family of the late Stephen Pomerantz — including his widow, Kukiko Mitani — sold the building to El-Gamal for $4.8 million in July 2009 after spurning dozens of higher bids.
One developer, Kevin Glodek, offered $18 million cash in 2007 but was rejected.
While it isn’t clear why the higher offer was turned down, it is evident that after the Pomerantz family accepted El-Gamal’s lower offer, several of the family members were eager to do business with him again.
When El-Gamal’s company, Soho Properties, plunked down a total of $45.7 million for a commercial building at 31 W. 27th St. in Chelsea, Mitani and two other family members chipped in some of the capital.
% El Gamal is partners with Noor Mousa relative of Amr Mousa. Pormenatz- very very jewish &israeli name. Was Israel trying to bribe Amr Mousa indirectly so he can soften the statements from the Arab League???
This plot appears to be so amateurish that one suspects the Iranian government wanted it to get found out. I think they wanted to get caught.
If the Iranian government had sent an “A team” against the Saudi ambassador, that would have been too respectful. No, they used an Iranian-American car salesman from Corpus Christi as a middleman for this attempted plot. The more ludicrous and amateurish the plot is, the easier it is to deny the plot.
The Iranian government probably wants this plot to be found out as a distraction from its other plans. Such a plot suggests that the Iranian government is planning a series of atrocities by its “A teams”. It also seeks to create the impression that Iranian-Americans are agents of the Iranian government rather than refugees from its tyranny.
I also suspect that the United States government does not have an “informant” within the Zetas. Instead, I think the Zetas have a liaison with the United States government. The Zetas are cruel and brutal, but they’re not stupid. Few criminal syndicates want to be seen doing the bidding of Middle Eastern terrorists; it gets in the way of business.
All of this adds up to this plot being a cover story for something even more evil.
With reference to “maria bagheri”‘s postings:
ANTI-SEMITISM IS AN INCURABLE DISEASE.
With reference to “abu safiyyah” :
You and your cohorts used the “anti-semitic” and “terrorist” charge so much, it hardly gets anyone’s attention- thanks for crying out wolf.
I am surprised of the Western hypocrisy and complicity, in particular American! In my eyes that Saudis and the Iranians are two sides of one coin.
I would like to ask the western, Have you forgotten the tremendous support from Saudi oil revenues for global jihadism movement against you? Have you forgotten that fifteen of September Mujahideen were an Saudis?
Today Saudi Arabia prohibits the public practice of any religion other than Sunni Islam. and you are still prohibited of entering certain places in Saudi Arabia because they see you as a “filth”.
Indeed it is the same Western hypocrisy and complicity in the right of Jews during and after World War II when they allowed the Nazis and its collaborators of Poles to massacre millions of Jews. Ironically!
yeah, we’re blackmailed. and we haven’t been very good on these questions anyway, as you say.
Michael, why the blackmail and bad on such questions?
OK, I appreciate your writings and insight… but most humbly disagree on two points.
I find the government in Iran is run by dictators that parade as religious/mullahs…referring to Iranian dictators as religious is self defeating and not true…
We disagree on a second point; and I think it will help you to understand my point of view; my view can easily be dismissed with invalid objections…I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that since 1979 the US: Executive Branch has a policy of keeping the dictators in Iran in power at all cost. The policy is to maintain as high a price for oil as possible; for the express purpose of being able to sell weapons to the fat with cash seventh century people who are still fighting the crusades…to maintain the “nice Long lasting War and sell lots of weapons” (C me 1991 Long.. War) and delivered to every member of congress…Iran is the bad boy; Iraq was invaded for one reason: keep the second largest oil reserves off the market to maintain minimal supply of oil…same Libya, same Egypt: one can only assume the US wants the Suez Canal closed…With Afghanistan, we are sacrificing our best to Islime as a policy; we are not declaring martial law and banning hyjobs /burqas, and we read them their rights before we shoot…kind of evens the playing field for maintaining the “nice Long lasting War and sell lots of weapons”…
You seem to be in “denile” on this point, like the US is really just trying hard but inept; I think as stated: “these wars are best explained as: only a weapons deal”!
I’m not a mind reader, but if you make policy you have to protect against the worst-case scenario. the ayatollahs say they are religious fanatics and act as if they were, so that should be the policy baseline.
as for the “it’s all about oil” thesis, you have lots of company, but not much convincing evidence. Iraq is pumping lots of oil and oil prices are relatively low, and we’re not getting much Iraqi oil. of course the evil capitalists may be manipulating the whole world, but if so, they are so smart that resistance is fatuous, and we’d best just accommodate…
…From a way of wisdom, a thousand ways of wisdom can be deduced; however if one miss-deduces along the way, nothing after holds true. Likewise, policy developed with false assumptions is unlikely to succeed.
…I tried to communicate we should deal with the current mid-east arena as if “it is all about weapons sales and long wars”; oil happens to be a convenient funding source…yes in 2011, Iraq seems to be closing in on 3 million bbl/day… not 8 million bbl/day…we succeeded only in keeping oil off the market from Iraq for decades now, the extra oil is the difference between 100/bbl and 30/bbl…
People regularly go to court and claim G-d instructed them, we do not deal with them as religious…Iran can claim they are a monkeys uncle, we have to deal with them and refer to them as we find them: murderous dictators that parade as religious. Otherwise, we give legitimacy to their murderous dictatorship as religious instead of the terrorist murderers that they in fact are.
Whether one believes “it” is a weapons deal or not has no relevance; dealing with “it” as a weapons deal explains, predicts, and accounts for what we are observing…and almost guarantees that the charade/ war will end favorably. Iran, Al Qaeda et al will not be able to recruit over a period of time if the recruits believe they are pawns in a weapons deal… OBL should have only been referred to a s a mercenary marketing director for various government owned weapons manufacturers parading as a religious person; because there is no English definition of “religious” that could include flying airplanes into buildings (WTC)..so we are left to “duck theory” to figure out what OBL was: a mercenary marketing director for various government owned weapons mfg. parading as a religious person…