Defense Secretary, in Afghan Capital, Scolds Iran

NYT ^ | 01/16/07 | DAVID S. CLOUD

[TigerLikesRooster]

Defense Secretary, in Afghan Capital, Scolds Iran

By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: January 16, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 15 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that Iran was “acting in a very negative way” in the Middle East and that the United States was building up its forces to demonstrate its resolve to remain in the Persian Gulf.

“The Iranians clearly believe that we are tied down in Iraq, that they have the initiative, that they’re in a position to press us in many ways,” Mr. Gates said, speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels before flying here. “We are simply trying to communicate to the region that we are going to be there for a long time.”

Delivering that message to Iran — and to allies in the region worried that Washington is consumed with stabilizing Iraq — is one of Mr. Gates’s priorities on a trip to the region this week that will take him later to the Persian Gulf.

Senior Pentagon officials said they also planned to stress to the largely Sunni Arab governments worried about Iran that they must assist the United States in Iraq with reconstruction aid and with putting pressure on fellow Sunnis to reach political reconciliation.

President Bush announced last week, in his speech laying out his new Iraq strategy, that he was also sending a second aircraft carrier and several Patriot antimissile batteries to the Persian Gulf.

[xzins]

Excellent move; excellent message.

The only thing I'd add is cross-border strikes on anyone/anything deserving of being struck.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

“We are simply trying to communicate to the region that we are going to be there for a long time.”

The Demoweenies are going to be so upset...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Sounds like Rummie never left...

[Grampa Dave]

If Tehran Knew!:

"In America, they lie for tactical reasons, stating over and over that military action against Iran is unlikely. However in Iran, out of ignorance, they reiterate that American military action against their country is impossible because the US is "unable" to do so!

We say and hope our analysis is wrong. A possible military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities is in the final stages. Unless a political miracle occurs that revives the halted dialog between Iran and the international community, Iran and its neighboring countries should not be surprised by a scenario that includes American military action. "

Just maybe, President Bush is purposely allowing the media and the left to spout their garbage in order to create the illusion that we are completely incapable of taking any action against Iran. It would come as a complete surprise if we did take action.

Iranian Map: Before our upcoming Victory:

Iranian Map: After our upcoming Victory:

Over the past week, the U.S. Navy has given orders to the U.S.S. John Stennis carrier battle group, based in Bremerton, WA, to steam toward the Persian Gulf, where it will join the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Navy sources say the Pentagon is getting ready to announce the dispatch of a third carrier battle group – the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan – from San Diego. That will make three carrier battle groups in the region starting at around the end of January.

Oh, and along with them is the amphibious assault group led by the U.S.S. Boxer, which can land several thousand U.S. Marines to seize and destroy strategic sites near the coast at a moment’s notice. (Busheir? Bandar Abbas? Jask? The three Persian Gulf islands Iran seized from the UAE in the 1990s and has since fortified to harass Gulf shipping? Your pick).

A Quote from: The Dogs of War - Lessons of the 20th Century. By Victor Davis Hanson, (author most recently of Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power):

“"I would not wish to fight the United States - either militarily, politically, or culturally. For every threat, our history teaches us that Americans offer not just a rejoinder, but the specter of a devastating answer of a magnitude almost inconceivable to those now chanting and threatening in the streets of the Middle East.

"Do they have any idea of what sort of dangerous people we really are? Do they understand the history of the names of those ships now off their coasts, like the USS Peleliu or Enterprise, or the pedigree of the 82nd or 101st Airborne?"

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[Grampa Dave]

"The Demoweenies are going to be so upset..."

"Sounds like Rummie never left..."

Does anyone else get the feeling that Gates was GW's Fox in the Baker et al henhouse? He is doing just the opposite of what was predicted of him.

[petercooper]

bttt

[Marine_Uncle]

That's about right. And the stupid jerks on the left and L/MSM are now going to have to (assuming they have any teeth left) grind the remains into powder. Rummy got tired of the bullshit, finally got his wish to step down, Gates steps in with the understanding WE SHALL STAY THE COURSE.
Tough beans Pelosi and Murtha.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I like Gates comments.....

News overhere:

BBC: Castro 'worse after failed ops' ~ after three failed operations, a Spanish newspaper says.

[Seadog Bytes]

[BIGLOOK]

Democrats are always upset or very disturbed or very troubled......but mostly confused. But then Iran must be upset too, since Gates is throwing down the gauntlet in the theater.

Something is up that is probably based on skinny that hasn't been leaked and has to do with Iran's nuclear ambitions and their accelerated interference and subversion in Iraq, over the past few months. The raid on Iran's so called consulate I view as an offensive measure and intelligence gathering. If Iran sees it as provocative, so be it. There will probably be more like it. Any response by Iran to US actions against their agents in Iraq or any action against shipping and commerce will be met with a devastating blow to their military and naval assets.

Today, Tony Snow stated that we have no intentions of invasion of Iran and I'll take that at face value. However nothing was said about a US response to hostile actions on Iran' part nor the scope of the response.

In the end, Iran will be asset poor......and perhaps the disenchanted Persian population will seek advantage changing the regime.

Patriot missile defense, Task Forces (which are actually Battle Groups) and Force Protection are arriving with purpose.

Check!

[SunkenCiv]

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that Iran was "acting in a very negative way" in the Middle East and that the United States was building up its forces to demonstrate its resolve to remain in the Persian Gulf.

Time for another old standard. Ready? Here goes.

Iran is acting in a very negative way, and the Elephant Man had a little puffiness around the eyes.

As someone around here speculated, I think the "accidents" which have been claiming so many military and other officials in Iran are not exactly accidents.

[Fred Nerks]

Three strong explosions jolted southern Iran on Thursday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, but gave no information about possible casualties. "Three explosions were so strong that they shook windows of houses," the agency said, adding that the explosions happened in Khorramshahr in the border province of Khuzestan.

Khuzestan, the heartland of Iran's oil industry, has been simmering with unrest among the province's mostly Arab population for more than a year.

Slightly more than half of Iran's are 69 million people are Persians and the rest are ethnic Azeris, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Baluchis and Lors.

-----------

Iran to Execute Seven Arabs For "Anti-Government Activity" In Oil-Rich Khuzestan Province Iran is planning to execute seven Arabs sentenced to death after a secret summary trial, this according to three United Nations human rights investigators.

The families of the seven men from Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province (south-west Iran), were told earlier this week that the executions would occur “in the next few days”. Seething with resentment over high levels of unemployment, Khuzestan is home of anti-government movement.

The UN officials said the seven were part of a larger group of Arabs arrested in June 2006 in the province on charges including intent to destabilise Iran and overthrow its government. Three were executed last month.

The suspects were also accused of training in Iraq by US, British and Israeli officials, said Philip Alston, the UN Human Rights Council's expert on summary executions, and fellow investigators Leandro Despouy and Manfred Nowak.

-----

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/211721.php

ABADAN.ABADAN.ABADAN.

[Fred Nerks]

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, if Iran's mullahcracy doesn't want Arabs in the country, why are so many goon squads made up of Hizzies and Hamas?

[Fred Nerks]

Hey, if Iran's mullahcracy doesn't want Arabs in the country, why are so many goon squads made up of Hizzies and Hamas?

Fair question. Methinks it has to do with sects. I'm hoping USF is around, he'll know more.

[Fred Nerks]

Oil-rich Khuzestan is largely populated by Shia Arabs who have long complained of discrimination by the dominant Iranian majority. During 2005 there was considerable unrest and sporadic anti-government bombings in June and October, followed by widespread public protests.



Arab resistance groups in Khuzestan are rather shadowy. The “Ahvaz Resistance Squad” may be a new group, or perhaps a cover name for one of the older groups that have claimed responsibility for incidents in the province in the past – the Arbav Martyrs of Khuzestan, the Arab People's Democratic Front, the Arab Struggle Movement for Liberating Ahvaz, and Afwaj al-Nahdah al-Musallahah Al-Ahwaz. Indeed, it is possible that all of these “groups” are just cover names for the same organization.



The Iran-Iraq War during the 1980s began when Saddam Hussein invaded Khuzestan with the intention of annexing it to Iraq. The Iranian Arabs largely remained loyal, perhaps more because they knew Sunni Arab dominated Iraq was not nice to Shia Arabs. But after the war, the ethnic Iranians resumed their long term disdain and domination of Iranian Arabs (and Arabs in general). The Iranians can't believe their Arabs are smart, or organized, enough to get an effective terrorist organization going. Thus, it must all be a CIA or MI-6 backed plot.



On a related front, the latest wrinkle in the Iranian hard-liner government’s propaganda war against the Britain and the U.S. includes blaming them for the crashes of two military aircraft during the last two months, one of which killed a number of senior defense officials. Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi says that agents of the two countries – and Israel (naturally) – used “electronic jamming equipment to disable the planes,” and went on to say "Given all intelligence information that we have gathered, we can say that agents of the United States, Britain and Israel are seeking to destabilize Iran through a coordinated plan," and that "We knew that enemies had launched fresh efforts to make the country insecure."


http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20060203.aspx

[SunkenCiv]

Wait a minute. Is this sects done in private, between married people? ;')

[Fred Nerks]

Ahmedinejad failed to deliver on indigenous Arab problem

By Daniel Brett, Arab Media Watch member and chairman of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society.

9 January 2007

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's four-day visit to Khuzestan last week was billed as a chance to listen to the province's largely Arab population. Instead, it turned out to be a long lecture on foreign policy with little attempt to address the causes of ethnic unrest in the province...(good read.)

http://www.arabmediawatch.com/amw/Articles/Analysis/tabid/75/newsid395/3575/Ahmedinejad-failed-to-deliver-on-indigenous-Arab-problem/Default.aspx

[Fred Nerks]

muzzies don't have sects, they propogate.