Webloggin » All-Qaeda in Iran and Other News

As I read the news this morning, I am reminded how complicated this war against terrorism really is. The diverse countries, nationalities, religions, tribes who are all involved in some way, make it seem an almost impossible mission. But it’s not impossible. It is absolutely necessary that we achieve victory. Some folks don’t realize that not only is Iran a threat to Israel, Iran has been sheltering members of al-Qaeda.

Putting those words in print I know the anti-war crowd will respond with “here we go again from the neo-cons.” But facts are facts.

… a recent report by counterterrorism experts at West Point suggests that, between 2001 and 2005, Iran harbored Al Qaeda’s third-ranking official and director of military operations, and that he could still be operating there today.

The disclosures in last month’s report, ” Al Qaeda’s (mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa,” from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, are the first official government documents to acknowledge that Saif al-Adel, who is one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists, was inside Iran. Based in part on captured documents that were funneled to the government’s Harmony Database, the new disclosures suggest that Iran was more complicit with Al Qaeda than the Bush administration has previously suggested. (more at NY Sun)

Most folks believe it’s “too late” to stop Iran’s nuclear program, so we will have to deal with it (live with it?). “Iranian officials have ratcheted up the pressure for negotiations with more direct threats - while their technology advances” — CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk

Gabriel says the West should take the side of the Persians and the Shi’a, — if they takes side at all. He points out just how confusing relationships in the Middle east really are:

All Shi’a Arabs in Iraq are not happy to be lumped with or dominated by Shi’a Persians. All Shi’a are not religious – see eg, the difference between Amal and Hizbollah in Lebanon. And even within the seemingly same groups, amity is not guaranteed: the secular, Sunni, Arab and Socialist Syrian Baath party has long been a mortal (and lethal) enemy of the secular, Sunni, Arab and Socialist Iraqi Baath party. (Read it all, by Gabriel at Owlthoughts of a Peripatetic Pedant)

Michael Totten comments “on a week-long exchange, hosted on their site, between Michael Freund of the Jerusalem Post and Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com.

… Freund and Raimondo set out to debate what America and Israel should (or should not) do about Iran, but their epistolary turned sour — and quickly. My contribution is here, and reproduced below. I sought to address what I believe is the heart of the matter — the nature of the Iranian threat.

Eric, new to the blogroll at Right Truth and author of THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS writes about Colonel David Hunt & the JFK Plot — They Still Just Don’t Get It. Go check check out his blog. He says, “First of all, we have to get mad. Then we have to stay mad.”