I have grave problems with this:
US Defense Secretary James Mattis today outlined a new vision for the Pentagon that seeks to counter Iran and other nations that the United States accuses of pursuing a world order aligned with authoritarian values.
The new National Defense Strategy envisions America’s military focusing on combating authoritarian ideals rather than the protracted global war on terror. The announcement comes as the Donald Trump administration has made clear in recent days that it plans to keep 2,000 US troops in Syria indefinitely to help usher in a political process to replace President Bashar al-Assad and confront Iranian influence in the country.
as reported by Jack Detsch at Al-Monitor. Not only do I not think that Iran is our most serious geopolitical challenge, I don’t think it’s our most serious geopolitical challenge in the Middle East. That would be Saudi Arabia.
Iran isn’t the greatest state sponsor of terrorism; that would be Saudi Arabia. Iran isn’t sponsoring radical imams all over the world; that would be Saudi Arabia. Iran isn’t pursuing a war of aggression; Saudi Arabia is. I don’t think that Iran’s mullahocracy is benign but neither is Saudi Arabia’s version of theocracy.
IMO we should be trying to promote a balance of power in the Middle East rather than siding with either the Saudis or the Iranians. Just because the Israelis have a burr under their collective saddle about the Iranians isn’t enough reason for us to take sides with the Saudis against them.
Would have rather heard something along the lines of “defense of the realm … military second to none… East of the Suez” etc instead of what sounds like the Bush-Obama regime change, Col. Blimp with his maxim gun in the shadows part II.
The US has a burr under its saddle about Iranians. We were embarrassed when a batch of youngsters took over our embassy there back in Jimmy Carter’s day and kept them hostage for over a year. The neocons who run American foreign policy have never been able to forgive and forget that offense, and it seems to have been the magic ingredient that convinced many Americans even before 9/11 that Moslems in general were dangerous intractable terrorists.
Pity in a way, I’ve liked the Iranians I’ve worked and taken clases with.
With all respect, I’m afraid I don’t think much of the analysis here.
What Trump is doing in Syria is exactly what he should be doing…preventing Iran from putting together a Shi’ite Iranian ruled bloc that extends to the Mediterranean. Iraq and Lebanon are essentially Iranian colonies at this point. And that includes teaming up with al-Sissi in Egypt and the new Saudi Crown prince. Neither of them are jihadis, and Qatar is far more complicit than either in fanancing radical imams
For starters, let’s separate the regime from a large chunk of the Iranian populace, which the regime brutalizes and exploits. Khomeini took over Iran in a way very similar to the way the Bolsheviks took over Russia from the more moderate Menshiviks and Kerensky.Like it or not , they’re in control.
Second, the real danger with Iran is that the Regime are not rational actors and are now working towards possession of some very dangerous toys. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about the Shi’ite Twelver sect that dominates the Iranian regime knows exactly how crazy they can be and how they justify their behavior. During the Iraq/Iran war, Khomeini bought hundreds of plastic keys made in Taiwan. They actually had 12-year-old kids acting as live minesweepers for Iran’s tanks wearing these ‘keys to paradise’ given to them by the regime. You really don’t care if these folks have nukes???
Iran was openly complicit in 9/11. Even the 9/11 commission report mentioned it and evidence of Iran’s role in 9/11 was a major part of a ruling in Federal court.
http://joshuapundit.blogspot.com/2011/12/federal-court-ruling-iran-and-hezbollah.html
Just imagine Iran with nukes and ICBMs that can hit more than Israel. Just imagine the extortion we’ll have to deal with then, or what happens when they start selling enriched uranium or even small nuclear warheads to the other jihadis.
Think it’s just the Jew’s problem so who cares, it won’t effect us? Believe me,it will. And you know what, MAD won’t work with these folks. As Khomeini once said, “We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world. ”
And here’s another gem: “If one permits an infidel to continue in his role as a corrupter of the earth, the infidel’s moral suffering will be all the worse. If one kills the infidel, and this stops him from perpetrating his misdeeds, his death will be a blessing to him.”
The first quote is ‘disputed’ by a regime source, although every single native Farsi speaker I know swears that’s exactly what Khomeini said. Is anyone naive enough to think Rouhani or Khamenei think any different..when they’re back home leading chants of ‘Death to America’ and playing us for fools?
Just because GW Bush was stupid enough to go into Iraq and destroy the balance of power between the Iranians and Saddam (something Arik Sharon told him would be a mistake, speaking of Israelis) is no reason for the U.S. to ignore a major security threat from a country that still says it’s officially at war with us and pretend the ayatollahs are just another bunch of world leaders, rational folks whose word we can believe and who wouldn’t hurt a bunny rabbit.
The world made this same mistake before, and the results were not pleasant.
Think about it.