Posted on 05/08/2007 11:28:09 AM PDT by Fennie
David Samuels reports that the US is promoting a campaign against Iran that includes covert action. Last fall, he writes, "Rice and her colleagues in the administration decided to embark on a daring and risky third course: a coordinated campaign, directed with the help of the intelligence services of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel. The bill for the covert part of this activity, which has involved funding sectarian political movements and paramilitary groups in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories, is said to amount to more than $300 million...
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
More of the CIA campaign to destroy the Bush Presidency?
Please allow me my occasional flights of rhetorical excess.
Maybe, but the posting rules say you are supposed to put the url of the document posted.
There are plenty of oppressed, angry and armed (or armable) minorities in Iran, and just about any other country that would threaten us. Maybe we'll start by distributing radios and satellite dishes, and hosting websites, and funding dissidents, but maybe we'll go straight to passing out the M-16s, targeting intel and signing up the natives for Special Ops run insurgency school.
Time to teach the enemy, or at least one or two thoughtfully selected enemies, that we can go “asymmetric” right back at ‘em. (Loads cheaper too.)
Iran has been quite actively involved in slaughtering our Troops who serve in Iraq, and everybody knows it.
Covert means “SHHH”! Unfortunately that’s gone...now I guess we’re gonna just have to announce that Saddam’s weapons of Mass Destruction were found and destroyed inside Iranian borders. Due to the sensitive nature, no further details will be reported!
It’s about as covert as Plame.
Sheesh! I’m sure glad there are no saudis sponsoring covert terror against the US! /s
Thanks for the link.
I see a grand strategy at work here.
To start with, the Iranians are correct in their assumption that even if we strongly attack their nuclear infrastructure, they will be able to rebuild it over time. Just decapitating their government won’t work, either, as the typical Iranian on the street *wants* nuclear weapons. No matter who is in charge, they will want to continue the nuclear program.
What *will* work, however, is not just destroying their nuclear infrastructure, but *also* partitioning Iran, so that it no longer has the wealth or resources to rebuild their nuclear ambitions.
The partitions themselves are obvious. They are large territories run by minorities hated and despised by the Persians. Iranian Kurdistan, Arabic Khuzestan, Iranian Baluchistan, and possibly the Iranian Azeri lands. The Persians loot these lands for their wealth, and give only oppression in return. Each of them has far more in common with adjacent lands.
So our grand strategy should be to first prepare these lands to leave Iran and rejoin their respective real nations, where the people will be treated fairly; and to have each adjacent nation in turn ready and willing to defend their respective new territories.
Inherent in this is that the Iranian military and Revolutionary Guard must be “reduced”, so that Persia may not reclaim these lands once taken.
The actual fight would be mostly by air, with two US divisions slicing off Iranian Kurdistan and Khuzestan (which would also deny Persia access to the Persian Gulf.) Then they would be turned over to Iraqi Kurdistan, to form a “Greater Kurdistan”; and Iraq, respectively.
The Pakistan army would annex Iranian Baluchistan, which is a very mineral rich, if restive region, and would economically strengthen Pakistan considerably while ending Baluchi resistance against Pakistan.
All told, the grand scheme would not require attacking Persia itself, an invasion could be surgical, and then US forces could turn over captured lands to these other armies, the Kurdish Peshmurga and the Iraqi army. Only the Azeri lands might need any US occupation, as Azerbaijan is a very underpopulated nation and would be hard pressed to defend their lands from an even token assault.
It would be of great value to the scheme that in each of these annexed lands, a small core of intellectuals and local leaders be ready to take the reigns of government, to officially ask their annexing nation to intervene and protect their territory.
Persia proper would not be in ruins, and would still be successful as a less-than-nuclear nation. The vast majority of people, who do not support their government, would be spared, and it would be an end to their tragic ambition to control and dominate the region.
Ping
Is this a good time to bring up the Carrier groups in the area?
Me thinks it is time for covert action against David Samuels and "The Atlantic" right away!
Gadzooks! What a time... for Nordberg to be AWOL!
Your link goes to the Atlantic, but not the story specifically.
Also, you need to subscribe to read anything more than small excerpts.
Really? Is Iran still in a state of war with us?
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