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February 26, 2007

Making Sense of Iran

I have been awaiting with dread the latest installment in Seymour Hersh's play by play of America's Imperial adventures and sure enough in this week's New Yorker he lays it out in plain talk:

"One contradictory aspect of the new strategy is that, in Iraq, most of the insurgent violence directed at the American military has come from Sunni forces, and not from Shiites. But, from the Administration’s perspective, the most profound—and unintended—strategic consequence of the Iraq war is the empowerment of Iran."

One of my smarter friends explained the above to me over a year ago and I assure you every single report I have read or heard since distorts or ignores this truth. And since Bush has pretty much made it clear that he is holding Iran responsible for the violence in Iraq, it means that as soon as something big happens to our boys - bombs are gonna start falling over Tehran.

Of course it's not that simple, there is the small matter of covert funding for Sunni terrorist groups, and then there is the embarrassing fact that the main thrust of the Shiite militias has been to protect its people from the attacks of the very terrorists we are now funding. Most distressing though is the undeniable reality that the Sunni insurgency has won! By killing as many American and Iraqis as it could - it succeeded in redirecting American resolve and policy. Or perhaps - this has been the plan all along.

Posted by bw at February 26, 2007 08:19 PM