Hat Tip to The Discerning Texan for the cartoon. Be sure and visit his blogpost Islamists Threat greater than Nazis and Soviets combined.Attacking Iran May Trigger Terrorism
U.S. Experts Wary of Military Action Over Nuclear Program
By Dana Priest, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, April 2, 2006; A01
Some excerpts:
As tensions increase between the United States and Iran, U.S. intelligence and terrorism experts say they believe Iran would respond to U.S. military strikes on its nuclear sites by deploying its intelligence operatives and Hezbollah teams to carry out terrorist attacks worldwide...
The Iranian government views the Islamic Jihad, the name of Hezbollah's terrorist organization, "as an extension of their state. . . . operational teams could be deployed without a long period of preparation," said Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism...
Former CIA terrorism analyst Paul R. Pillar said that any U.S. or Israeli airstrike on Iranian territory "would be regarded as an act of war" by Tehran, and that Iran would strike back with its terrorist groups. "There's no doubt in my mind about that. . . . Whether it's overseas at the hands of Hezbollah, in Iraq or possibly Europe, within the regime there would be pressure to take violent action."
Before Sept. 11, the armed wing of Hezbollah, often working on behalf of Iran, was responsible for more American deaths than in any other terrorist attacks. In 1983 Hezbollah truck-bombed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241, and in 1996 truck-bombed Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. service members.
Iran's intelligence service, operating out of its embassies around the world, assassinated dozens of monarchists and political dissidents in Europe, Pakistan, Turkey and the Middle East in the two decades after the 1979 Iranian revolution, which brought to power a religious Shiite government. Argentine officials also believe Iranian agents bombed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 86 people. Iran has denied involvement in that attack.
Iran's intelligence services "are well trained, fairly sophisticated and have been doing this for decades," said Crumpton, a former deputy of operations at the CIA's Counterterrorist Center. "They are still very capable. I don't see their capabilities as having diminished."...
I'd mentioned in an earlier post the Nazi historical ties to Islamism, and groups like Hezbollah. The article goes on Iran's capabilities for terror, but also how it may be weakened by other conflicts, both internal and external. It also talks about Sunni vs Shia in the Iran, Iraq and al Queda equation. It's worth reading the whole article, Here.
Photos from Hezbollah rallies; the neo-nazis of our times:
Related links:
Bomb Us, Please
Government in secret talks about strike against Iran
From the U.K., Teleghraph Newspaper. Graphic below is related to the article:
2 comments:
04 03 06
Hey there Chas:
Your post is scaring the socks off of me! But it is necessary information and we must plan strategically as a nation and LOOK at the writing on the wall. Personally, this may sound doom and glom, but if the radicalization of Islam coupled to hatred of the West continues, we will see mass alignments among those in Malaysia, Indonesia, The Filipines, The Sudan, Northern Nigeria, Parts of old Yugoslavia and EVEN Chinese Muslims. If due to wartime residues and oppressive regimes, these Muslims become radicalized, I believe we will be in a WWIII type situation. We must figure out a way to win this ideological war.
I realize that there is a lot of diversity within the Islamic faith, but what bothers me is that the radicalization has been growing as a movement worldwide for a while now. We MUST do something BIG! And unfortunately, I don't know what that is:( Warmest Regards:)
Islamism reminds me of Japanese Shinto, but that was confined to Japan, this is so much bigger, and spread worldwide.
Sometimes I think Bush is too soft on the Muslims, then at other times I'm thankful he is treading carefully. There are so many facets to the situation, it's difficult to know how to handle it. The only thing that seems certain is, we can't afford to ignor it anymore.
As you said, it's been growing for some time. Just trying to comprehend it all and what it means is... stagering.
We (the west) have allowed barbarians to resist change and stay in barbarism, while giving them access to technology that they never could have gained on their own, and should not have gained from us. We wanted them to modernize, but we let that happen scientifically without insisting on it culturally first, and we are paying the price.
We somehow have to bring them into the 21st century with us, and we don't have the benefit of a lot of time.
I keep reading about this stuff, and it's kinda gloomy, but better minds than mine are no doubt thinking about it too; many people have thoughts about it, and I keep thinking, surely ways to deal with this will reveal themselves... I'm still looking :-P
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