Decision ‘08

Why I’m Thankful For A Stubborn President

With all this talk of Iraq Study Group recommendations, and a new Democratic congress with its own ideas, it’s worth remembering that it is the Commander-In-Chief that largely calls the shots, and thank God this president is not going to give any traction to the idea of a larger role for Iran and Syria.

Today, ABC News has revealed what it calls ’smoking gun’ evidence that Iran is DIRECTLY supplying weapons to the Shiite death squads, and further, weapons that would only be of use to kill Americans and our allies, such as anti-tank weapons:

U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq: brand-new weapons fresh from Iranian factories. According to a senior defense official, coalition forces have recently seized Iranian-made weapons and munitions that bear manufacturing dates in 2006.

This suggests, say the sources, that the material is going directly from Iranian factories to Shia militias, rather than taking a roundabout path through the black market. “There is no way this could be done without (Iranian) government approval,” says a senior official.

Iranian-made munitions found in Iraq include advanced IEDs designed to pierce armor and anti-tank weapons. U.S. intelligence believes the weapons have been supplied to Iraq’s growing Shia militias from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which is also believed to be training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran.

Evidence is mounting, too, that the most powerful militia in Iraq, Moktada al-Sadr’s Mahdi army, is receiving training support from the Iranian-backed terrorists of Hezbollah.

Two senior U.S. defense officials confirmed to ABC News earlier reports that fighters from the Mahdi army have traveled to Lebanon to receive training from Hezbollah.

While the New York Times reported that as many as 2,000 Iraqi militia fighters had received training in Lebanon, one of the senior officials said he believed the number was “closer to 1,000.” Officials say a much smaller number of Hezbollah fighters have also traveled through Syria and into Iraq to provide training.

U.S. intelligence officials believe the number of Al-Sadr’s Mahdi army now includes 40,000 fighters, making it an especially formidable force.

Any talking done with Iran needs to be in the form of a warning, not an invitation…

2 Responses to “Why I’m Thankful For A Stubborn President”

1 Andy Says:
November 30th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
Dubya still infuritates me on some issues. I tried to take solace in the possibility that replacing Rummy was part of some ‘Rovian’ 5 card stud match. But too often things are just flat out apparently at odds, to wit the realist notion of bringing in Iran & Syria as partners for ~~peace~~ stability.

But given the unabated clamor for running with the Baker Plan by the Dems and others, would it be too much to hope that for all the hot air in favor of realpolitik is just that, HOT AIR? If so, then it’s another rope-a-dope, albeit high stakes. If Bush ends up ’staying the course’ Rummy is then in principle vindicated. Too bad it cost him his job.

Interesting that the Dems brayed incessantly about fully implementing the 9/11 commision recommendations and their platform of doing so within the 1st 100 days is now under the bus. The Bush admin had resisted some of the recommendations as being unrealistic, if not folly, et Tu, Pelosi?
2 Blue Crab Boulevard » Smoking Gun Says:
November 30th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
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