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We Have Met the Enemy . . .
Weekly Standard ^ | 10/26/2009 | Michael Ledeen

Posted on 10/24/2009 5:41:30 AM PDT by nuconvert

Speaking publicly about the role of Iran in Afghanistan--which is substantial, and about which we have considerable information--seems to be taboo for our current leaders. This is neither new nor surprising. Iranians, and Iranian-trained terrorists from organizations such as Hezbollah, have been killing Americans for years. The Bush administration, for example, had similar information about Iran's role in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and top officials did their best to suppress it. According to reporter Bob Woodward, a top State Department official knew that Iran had committed "acts of war" against our troops in Iraq and kept that information from the president, fearing a forceful response.

Nonetheless, we learned a lot about Iranian activities against our troops, both because the basic elements in the lethal roadside bombs were traced to Iran, and because Iranian military officers (from the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force) were captured in Iraq and provided details of the mullahs' training, arming, funding, and protection of insurgents sent to kill Americans and other coalition forces.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; iran; ledeen; michaelledeen

1 posted on 10/24/2009 5:41:30 AM PDT by nuconvert
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To: AdmSmith; freedom44; Valin; odds; sionnsar; LibreOuMort; Pan_Yans Wife; Army Air Corps; GOPJ; ...

“Therefore, in Afghanistan as in Iraq, no matter how well we do, no matter how many high-level targets we eliminate, no matter how many cities, towns, and villages we secure, unless we defeat Iran we will always be designing yet another counterinsurgency strategy in yet another place. We are in a big war, and Iran is at the heart of the enemy army. “


2 posted on 10/24/2009 5:47:21 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: nuconvert

They live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue


3 posted on 10/24/2009 5:48:11 AM PDT by JessieHelmsJr (Tree hugging liberals call it global warming. We call it summertime.)
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To: nuconvert
...a top State Department official knew that Iran had committed "acts of war" against our troops in Iraq and kept that information from the president...

Seriously, when was the last time anyone was tried and convicted for treason in this country? And executed?

Our government is useless if it fails to take the most basic steps to protect us. Hiding "acts of war" is far more serious.

I'd bet that this "top State Department official" is a career appointment who thinks he's the one who's really in charge, and that our elected leaders are merely a hindrance to his diabolical plans. If guilty, he should be publicly executed.

4 posted on 10/24/2009 5:50:39 AM PDT by RetroSexual
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To: nuconvert
Last week there was an announcement that NATO forces found 860 Iranian made shaped IED’s.

There should be as many explosions going off in Iran as there are in the Ghan.

5 posted on 10/24/2009 5:56:43 AM PDT by Recon Dad (It's a shame that stupidity isn't painful)
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To: nuconvert
Obama will never follow this advice. He is spending more effort trying to overthrow the democratic government in Honduras and reinstalling a would be dictator.
6 posted on 10/24/2009 5:56:48 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: nuconvert

Look, anyone remotely paying attention knows that Iran is behind the IEDs that have killed and maimed thousands of our citizens.....far more than the terrorists killed and injured on 9/11.

If you don’t know Iran is engaging in “acts of war” you are either mentally deficient or deliberately ignorant.

We will fight Iran....someday. It is inevitable.


7 posted on 10/24/2009 5:56:52 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Too many conservatives urge retreat when the war of politics doesn't go their way.)
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To: nuconvert

This whole mess began 30 years ago because of a certain peanut farmer from Georgia.


8 posted on 10/24/2009 7:03:04 AM PDT by Clink (The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.)
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To: Erik Latranyi
Look, anyone remotely paying attention knows that Iran is behind the IEDs that have killed and maimed thousands of our citizens.....far more than the terrorists killed and injured on 9/11.

The authors statement that this was kept from President Bush doesn't hold water, in the sense that the President certainly had other sources to inform him of this situation of Iran being directly involved in supporting the Muslims killing our troops in Iraq by suppplying them with munitions and people.

You and I knew about it for years , how could the President not have known.- Tom

9 posted on 10/24/2009 7:06:15 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
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To: Capt. Tom

“The authors statement that this was kept from President Bush doesn’t hold water, in the sense that the President certainly had other sources to inform him of this situation of Iran being directly involved in supporting the Muslims killing our troops in Iraq by suppplying them with munitions and people.
You and I knew about it for years , how could the President not have known.”

It isn’t the author, Ledeen’s statement. He is quoting Bob Woodward, and this was back in Bush’s time toward the beginning of the war. So, we hadn’t known about it for yrs.(though certainly there were suspicions, but no proof)

“The Bush administration, for example, had similar information about Iran’s role in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and top officials did their best to suppress it. According to reporter Bob Woodward, a top State Department official knew that Iran had committed “acts of war” against our troops in Iraq and kept that information from the president, fearing a forceful response.”


10 posted on 10/24/2009 7:21:44 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: nuconvert

A truth I have known since the Beruit Marines Bombing for sure and suspected before that.

Thank you for the ping.


11 posted on 10/24/2009 7:24:41 AM PDT by mazda77 (Rubio for US Senate)
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To: nuconvert
Basically, what Ledeen is saying is, "We have met the enemy, and he is us"!
12 posted on 10/24/2009 7:26:47 AM PDT by Gritty (The quickest way to end a war is to lose it - George Orwell)
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To: Clink

In far more ways than you or most everyone knows.


13 posted on 10/24/2009 7:30:51 AM PDT by mazda77 (Rubio for US Senate)
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To: nuconvert
We are in a big war, and Iran is at the heart of the enemy army.

If Obama's team doesn't understand this, they're not fit for office.

14 posted on 10/24/2009 7:36:52 AM PDT by GOPJ (Rahm Emanuel IS Uriah Heep - - - It's NOT "hate" when it's true.)
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To: nuconvert

Should Obama forget about withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan and work on his exit-strategy from the White House?


15 posted on 10/24/2009 8:38:38 AM PDT by IbJensen (If Catholic voters were true to their faith there would be no abortion and no President Obama.)
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To: Erik Latranyi
If you don’t know Iran is engaging in “acts of war” you are either mentally deficient or deliberately ignorant.

I.e., President BO?

This isn't exactly "news" news (as Whoopie might put it). I think this is a lot like the Mob. We can know who the bosses are, and know what they're up to, and still it takes a miracle to lock them up. Hard evidence is hard to come by. Witness the debacle of Iraqi WMD evidence that was swept away by the time we inserted troops. (Yet what honest person believes that Hussein wasn't developing them.)

a top State Department official knew that Iran had committed "acts of war" against our troops in Iraq and kept that information from the president, fearing a forceful response.

Meaning they kept it from Pres. Bush, of course. No need to "fear" what BO would do. Even that shouldn't be "news" news for anyone. We know the nature of the snobs in our State Department.

16 posted on 10/24/2009 8:45:32 AM PDT by Nevermore (...just a typical cracker, clinging to my Constitutional rights...)
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To: Clink

“This whole mess began 30 years ago because of a certain peanut farmer from Georgia.”

All the crap that is going on in the middle east today is the result of Jimmy Carter. He should have informed the Iranians that what they have done is an act of war. He should have went to Congress and gotten a declaration of war against Iran.

I would suggest a very high altitude air burst of a small nuclear weapon South of Theran over the Great Salt Desert. This would not have caused injury but sure as hell get their attention. They should have then been informed that a passenger jet will be landing at Mheabad Airport for the immediate pickup of our citizens. If the citizens were not delivered immediately or our passenger jet interferred with we would mark the American Embassy as ground zero for a 250 kiloton airbust at 3000 feet.

They do understand power and death, but not much else.


17 posted on 10/24/2009 9:02:56 AM PDT by cpdiii (roughneck, oilfield trash and proud of it, geologist, pilot, pharmacist, iconoclast.)
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