Is a U.S.-Iran War Inevitable?

TIME ^ | Robert Baer, former CIA field officer

[maquiladora]

You wouldn't be wrong to wonder if Iran hasn't lost its mind seizing the fifteen British marines and sailors, and in so doing, handing Bush a causus belli even he couldn't have imagined.

But then again you'd be missing the grim fatalism that has settled over Iran of late, the resigned belief that a war with the U.S. is all but inevitable.

(...snip...)

I called up an Arab Gulf security official and asked him what he thought about it all. He said the view from his side of the Gulf is that if Iran does not soon release the Brits, a war between the U.S. and Iran is in the cards. "I for one am taking all the cash I can out of my ATM," he said before he hanging up.

[Pox]

Of course not. The cowards in the U.S. will do anything possible to avoid such a conflict, and I don't think our current administration has the spine to do it after the thrashing they've received over Iraq.

[JackDanielsOldNo7]

We can not afford to go to war with Iran. Period.

[Rutles4Ever]

Incredible. It's our fault. Again.

[Gay State Conservative]

Israel's war to get their own prisoners back last summer didn't go very well did it? How would a war with Iran be faster?

The answer to your question is contained in the last few words of my earlier post.

[JZelle]

"I for one am taking all the cash I can out of my ATM," he said before he hanging up.


I wish I had my own ATM.

[keat]

Here's a quick summary: It's all Bush's fault. ;-)

YTTWROOMM

[ASOC]

One of those "it's more a matter of not if, but when?" eh?

I don't see open hostilities breaking out. If the export of arms and men into the Iraq conflict didn't open open the door for the dogs of war, Iran would have to perform a spectacularly stupid (on a cosmic scale stupid) act to ignite a shooting war.

Should Iran through sheer, unmitigated stupidity provide the cause for a shooting war -- the outcome would be, I am sad to say, open as to the possible winner. Not that our military is weak - the will of our leaders has been demostrated to all the world to be, well, AWOL.

[rbmillerjr]

If the Brits go to war with Iran, we will too.

The one ally we cannot let down is Britain. They were there with us after 9-11 and we can't forget that.

[Diogenesis]

he was at CIA? what did he do about:

================= EXHIBIT 1 ================

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay attacked by Islamic terrorists.

---

================= EXHIBIT 2 ================

London attacked by Islamic terrorists.

---

================= EXHIBIT 3 ================

Madrid attacked by Islamic terrorists.

---

================= EXHIBIT 4 ================

AMERICANS MURDERED ON A BRIDGE IN FALLUJA BY ISLAMIC SUBHUMAN TERRORISTS

---

The War for Infinite Justice MUST BE ESCALATED

================= EXHIBIT 5 ================

TORTURE OF AMERICANS BY ISLAMIC SUBHUMAN TERRORISTS.

---

The War for Infinite Justice MUST BE ESCALATED

================= EXHIBIT 6 ================

VERY PARTIAL LIST OF ISLAMIC TERRORIST ACTIVITIES
Full list is pages and pages and pages and pages.

1968 Robert Kennedy assassinated
1972 Munich Olympics Sep-5,1972 (Black September)
1976 Entebbe Hostage Crisis, June 27, 1976
1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, Nov. 4, 1979 444 days
1979 Grand Mosque Seizure, Nov 20,1979
1981 Assassination of Egyptian President, Oct 6,1981
1982 Assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister, Sept 14, 1982
1983 Bombing of US Embassy in Beirut6, April 18,1983
1983 Bombing of Maring Barricks, Beruit, Oct 23,1983
1984 Hizballah Restaurant Bombing, April 12,1984
1985 Egyptian Airliner Hijacking, Nov 23,1985
1985 Rome Airport murders
1985 TWA Flight 847 hijacked, U.S. Navy diver murdered
1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, Homacidal maniac lived in saddams Iraq
1986 Aircraft Bombing in Greece, March 30, 1986
1988 Pan Am 747 Flight 103 Bombing, Lockerbie, 100's murdered
1988 Berlin Discoteque Bombing, Dec 21,1988
1992 Bombing in Israeli Embassy in Argentina, March 17,1992
1993 Attempted Assassination of Pres. Bush Sr., April 14,1993
1993 First World Trade Center bombing, February 26th, 7 Killed, Hundreds injured, Billions
1994 Air France Hijacking, Dec 24,1994
1995 Attack on US Diplomats in Pakistan, Mar 8,1995
1995 Military Installation Attack, Nov 13, 1995
1995 Kashmiri Hostage taking, July 4,1995
1996 Khobar Towers attack
1996 Sudanese Missionarys Kidnapping, Aug 17,1996
1996 Paris Subway Explosion, Dec 3,1996
1997 Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing, Sept 4, 1997
1997 Yemeni Kidnappings, Oct 30,1997
1998 Somali Hostage taking crisis, April 15,1998
1998 U.S. Embassy Bombing in Peru, Jan 15, 1998
1998 U.S. Kenya Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1998 U.S. Tanzania Embassy blown up, 100's murdered
1999 Plot to blow up Space Needle (thwarted)
2000 USS Cole attacked, many U.S. Navy sailors murdered
2000-2003 Intifada against Israel - 100's dead and injured
2000 Manila Bombing, Dec 30,2000
2001 4 Commercial airliners hijacked, 250+ murdered
2001 World Trade Center attacked, 2800+ murdered
2001 Flight 93 murders
2001 Pentagon attacked, 180+ murdered
2002 Reporter Daniel Pearl, kidnapped and murdered
2002 Philippines American missionary, Filipino nurse killed
2002 July 4, El Al attack Los Angeles LAX, several murdered
2002 Bali bombing - 200 dead, 300 injured
2002 Yemen, French Oil Tanker attacked
2002 Marines attacked / murdered in Kuwait
2002 Washington D.C. sniper
2002 Russian Theater attacked, 100+ dead
2002 Nigerian riots against Miss World Pageant, 200 dead, dozens injured
2002 Mombasa Hotel Attacked, 12 dead, dozens injured
2002 Israeli Boeing 757 attacked by missiles, fortunately no one injured
2002 August Hotel bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia. 12 dead, dozens injured.
2003 Rusian concert bombing
2003 Phillipines airport and market bombing
2003 Foiled SAM plot in the USA
2003 UN Baghdad HQ Bombing
on and on and on and on their terrorism has gone .........

---

The War for Infinite Justice MUST BE ESCALATED

================= EXHIBIT 7 ================

Islamic Terrorists (mainly from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) attack America
murdering 3000 Americans per hour [pictures censored by the MSM]

The War for Infinite Justice SHOULD HAVE BEEN ESCALATED IN 2001

---

================= EXHIBIT 8 ================

Russia, at Beslan, with children murdered by Islamic terrorists.

---

================= EXHIBIT 9 ================

=========== Documents linking Atta, Saddam, Nidal, bin Ladin ===========

Handwritten letter dated Feb. 19, 1998 linking bin Laden and Saddam Hussein
discussing arrival of a secret envoy sent by bin Laden to Iraq.
The signature beneath the letter is a codename, "MDA" - the Mukhabarat.

---

================= EXHIBIT 10================

=========== Islamic terrorists promising to conquer America prior to murdering all Christians and Jews therein.

"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith,
but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America,
and Islam the only accepted religion on earth"

--Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations), San Ramon Valley Herald, July 1998

Qur’an 8:12 “I shall terrorize the infidels.
So wound their bodies and incapacitate them
because they oppose Allah and His Apostle.”

Qur’an 8:57 “If you gain mastery over them in battle,
inflict such a defeat as would terrorize them,
so that they would learn a lesson and be warned.”

[rhombus]

We can not afford to go to war with Iran. Period.

It depends on what kind of war you are talking about. We might want to hope the following is true:

Tehran is convinced the U.S. or one of its allies was behind the March 2006 separatist violence in Iranian Baluchistan, which ended up with twenty people killed, including an IRGC member executed.

[beeber]

The Twelfth Imam:
Muhammad al-Mahdi

Muqtada al-Sadr ?

[livius]

Inevitable? Probably some time later this afternoon, EST.

[CaptRon]

From Powerline:

It's hard to believe, but that's what we're hearing from Capitol Hill. A resolution has been proposed in the House of Representatives that condemns Iran for the seizure of British sailors and marines, expresses support for our British allies. It's hard to see anything controversial in that. But apparently, the resolution has languished all week while Pelosi refuses to allow it to come to the floor.

Earlier today, Congressman Eric Cantor wrote the following letter to Pelosi:

Dear Madam Speaker:

Fifteen kidnapped British marines and sailors recently became the latest victims of a systematic Iranian campaign of terror and international defiance. The illegal seizure of the British forces is a signal that Iran views us as powerless to prevent it from realizing its aggressive ambitions.

For the sake of our standing in the world, our allies and most importantly the 15 British personnel and their families, I urge you to bring H. Res. 267 to the floor today before we adjourn. The resolution calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the British marines and sailors. It would also call on the U.N. Security Council to not only condemn the seizure, but to explore harsher sanctions to counter the growing Iranian threat.

A Republican Congressional staffer writes:

It is simply staggering to me that Pelosi refuses to stand beside America's closest ally. I literally would not have thought this possible, until I saw it this week.

Staggering, indeed. We'll see what happens this afternoon.

[Billthedrill]

Time continues its march into irrelevance. I haven't seen a shallower presentation of this confrontation outside of a bumper sticker.

The thrust of the article isn't actually the inevitability of war with Iran at all, but how much of it can be blamed on U.S. policy. Casting blame is a 24/7 industry over at Time but they are hardly alone in that. I notice a distinct lack of anything in the article that might be construed as a positive alternate approach. I don't see it in Congress either. Business as usual.

[doc30]

War with Iran is impossible with Dem control of both houses. They will never, ever support it. Then again, Bush might just sign the withdraw from Iraq bill and withraw the troops through Iran.

[bkepley]

"I for one am taking all the cash I can out of my ATM," he said before he hanging up."

They've got to be taking a hurting.

[JackDanielsOldNo7]

Where are we going to get the money? America is basically broke. How bout the troops? They are in Iraq. Not trying to be a pessimist but these are legitimate questions.

[sheik yerbouty]

Then we must "rise early and smite them first."

[NOLA_homebrewer]

ping for future reference

[TheDon]

President Bush has cleaned up the mess from a couple of previous presidents. Given the Treason Congress in power at the current time, cleaning up after President Peanut's mess doesn't look to be in the cards.