At War With Iran
By MICHAEL D. EVANS
Published: August 16, 2007
All the speculation about whether the United States will eventually have to resort to force in order to keep Iran's finger off the nuclear button just misses the point. America and the Islamic Republic have been at war for a couple of years now, with Iranian infiltrators using Iranian arms to kill American troops.
Iranian-backed and Iranian-trained Iraqi warlords, like Muqtada al-Sadr and the so-called Special Groups, constantly engage US troops as they search tor al-Qaida terrorists. The "Special Groups terrorist network [is] known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq into Iran for terrorist training," according to a report by the Multinational Forces.
The Special Groups cells are considered to be the Iraqi version of Hizbullah, which ties in with European concern for the safety of its troops in Lebanon. The UNIFIL troops, particularly the Italians and the French, are sitting ducks in Hizbullah's shooting gallery, just waiting for the word from Teheran to cut loose and derail any peace talks.
President George W. Bush has denounced Iran for its nuclear program, for supporting terrorism, for threatening Israel, and for supplying the explosives used to kill and maim US troops. The president has also warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Iran is a danger to the Middle East.
Except for not being a superpower, Iran resembles the Soviet Union of the 1980s. It challenges the West in a reckless game of nuclear chicken while sponsoring terrorism throughout the world, while its people have lost so much faith in its Islamist ideology that its secret police is taking increasingly harsh measures against opponents of the regime, which scoffs at United Nations' sanctions while counting its oil income.
The world waited about 70 years for the fall of the Soviet Union. The world does not seem to have that long to wait while Iran becomes increasingly dangerous – and not just to other countries. Ahmadinejad's regime has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Iranians over the past several months just for violating the fanatical Islamic dress code. Security police have arrested and abused hundreds of university students, labor union leaders, and other would-be reformers.
Much worse, the Iranian government has executed more than 150 people since the beginning of the year, including women and teenagers. Ahmadinejad's method of choice is public hanging, often broadcast on television. There are reports that another 150 are to be hanged or stoned to death in the near future.
On the diplomatic front, the United States is trying to broaden UN-sponsored economic sanctions in an attempt to halt Iran's nuclear program. But no one expects such a logical campaign to work against a regime of religious fanatics.
This week the United States took a different kind of step to isolate Iran by declaring its elite Revolutionary Guard to be a terrorist organization. This appears to fit in with Vice President Dick Cheney's lobbying for air strikes against Revolutionary Guard training camps.
This week the United States designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a "specially designated global terrorist." This move against Iran's 125,000-member military elite makes the group's finances vulnerable to US intervention.
While the Revolutionary Guard is the first national military unit to be so designated, as opposed to non-governmental terrorist organizations like Hizbullah or Hamas, it is a logical move, given the ever-growing confrontation over Iran's nuclear threat. This is another signal from Washington for the mullahs to step back from the brink before it is too late.
We are already at war with the Islamofascists of Iran, if just at the skirmishing stage. Just as the forces of democracy had to fight the totalitarianism of the Nazis, and then stand firm against the totalitarianism of Communism until it collapsed on itself, so we must be prepared to do what is necessary to win this conflict.
Published: August 16, 2007
All the speculation about whether the United States will eventually have to resort to force in order to keep Iran's finger off the nuclear button just misses the point. America and the Islamic Republic have been at war for a couple of years now, with Iranian infiltrators using Iranian arms to kill American troops.
Iranian-backed and Iranian-trained Iraqi warlords, like Muqtada al-Sadr and the so-called Special Groups, constantly engage US troops as they search tor al-Qaida terrorists. The "Special Groups terrorist network [is] known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq into Iran for terrorist training," according to a report by the Multinational Forces.
The Special Groups cells are considered to be the Iraqi version of Hizbullah, which ties in with European concern for the safety of its troops in Lebanon. The UNIFIL troops, particularly the Italians and the French, are sitting ducks in Hizbullah's shooting gallery, just waiting for the word from Teheran to cut loose and derail any peace talks.
President George W. Bush has denounced Iran for its nuclear program, for supporting terrorism, for threatening Israel, and for supplying the explosives used to kill and maim US troops. The president has also warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Iran is a danger to the Middle East.
Except for not being a superpower, Iran resembles the Soviet Union of the 1980s. It challenges the West in a reckless game of nuclear chicken while sponsoring terrorism throughout the world, while its people have lost so much faith in its Islamist ideology that its secret police is taking increasingly harsh measures against opponents of the regime, which scoffs at United Nations' sanctions while counting its oil income.
The world waited about 70 years for the fall of the Soviet Union. The world does not seem to have that long to wait while Iran becomes increasingly dangerous – and not just to other countries. Ahmadinejad's regime has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Iranians over the past several months just for violating the fanatical Islamic dress code. Security police have arrested and abused hundreds of university students, labor union leaders, and other would-be reformers.
Much worse, the Iranian government has executed more than 150 people since the beginning of the year, including women and teenagers. Ahmadinejad's method of choice is public hanging, often broadcast on television. There are reports that another 150 are to be hanged or stoned to death in the near future.
On the diplomatic front, the United States is trying to broaden UN-sponsored economic sanctions in an attempt to halt Iran's nuclear program. But no one expects such a logical campaign to work against a regime of religious fanatics.
This week the United States took a different kind of step to isolate Iran by declaring its elite Revolutionary Guard to be a terrorist organization. This appears to fit in with Vice President Dick Cheney's lobbying for air strikes against Revolutionary Guard training camps.
This week the United States designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a "specially designated global terrorist." This move against Iran's 125,000-member military elite makes the group's finances vulnerable to US intervention.
While the Revolutionary Guard is the first national military unit to be so designated, as opposed to non-governmental terrorist organizations like Hizbullah or Hamas, it is a logical move, given the ever-growing confrontation over Iran's nuclear threat. This is another signal from Washington for the mullahs to step back from the brink before it is too late.
We are already at war with the Islamofascists of Iran, if just at the skirmishing stage. Just as the forces of democracy had to fight the totalitarianism of the Nazis, and then stand firm against the totalitarianism of Communism until it collapsed on itself, so we must be prepared to do what is necessary to win this conflict.
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