“We Are Already at War with Iran”
A U.S. Military Officer in Iraq who does not wish to be identified writes about Iranian involvement in attacks on U.S. troops:
You may have recently seen in the news where Admiral “Fox” Fallon, the Commander-in-Chief of Central Command, resigned his position and retired from the Service. Ostensibly this has to do with the disagreement that he and the President have had on how to handle Iran. He, the military man, preemptively taking military action off the table, while in the media’s view an overly aggressive President is trying to start a war with Iran.
I am not going to delve into the complex history the United States and Iran have with each other; if you want to do that, read the Persian Puzzle by Kenneth Pollock.
I will tell you that activity is increasing here in southern Iraq, and we have captured several key planners. They have all been ethnic Iranians and members of the IRGC’s Qods Force.
Admiral Fallon could not possibly prevent a war with Iran. Why?
Because we are already at war with Iran.
He told me, making clear that he was speaking for himself and not the military: “I think you will see the South escalate this summer, while other areas quiet down.” He added that the military is evaluating whether there is a new level of sophistication at play in the use of indirect fire — a level beyond that previously seen from the Iraq-based insurgents, suggesting possible Iranian involvement in those types of attacks.
He also shared some disturbing details that he didn’t want me to repeat, even given his cloak of anonymity.
I came away from the exchange convinced that there’s more bad news from Iraq on the horizon, mainly in the south. President Bush needs to take what we learned from our success in Anbar — especially the engagement with local leadership — and apply it to the south, particularly in Al-Basrah and Maysan provinces. Because we have some rough going ahead there.
An Inconvenient Truth:
Another Drew (8018ee) — 3/15/2008 @ 12:02 pm“Because we are already at war with Iran.”
Yes, it began during the Carter Administration!
I still don’t understand the British activities in Basra. It seems that they decided to let the militias run things. How much this has to do with the Iranians is the issue. There was a reason why the Iranians chose to humiliate the British last spring.
Mike K (86bddb) — 3/15/2008 @ 12:20 pmThe British have historically acted like the Middle East is a land filled with lesser humans in which the most one can hope for is that the natives will be satisfied with killing each other and leave the Anglos alone. It’s a patronizing attitude that never solves anything.
DRJ (a431ca) — 3/15/2008 @ 12:41 pmMy understanding is that the Brits made an early (2004) agreement to let Iran run Basra as long as things stayed quiet. Considering how they dealt with the hostage situation last year, I am not surprised. I wonder whether we will see Bush push active strikes against Iran in the months between the election and inauguration.
DrT (340565) — 3/15/2008 @ 12:47 pmI’m dying to know the “disturbing details” but I suppose it’s one of those attorney-client privilege things. As clergy, I have to confess that all my very best stories are the ones I can’t tell. sigh…
On the other hand, I have a lousy memory, so I could never remember them anyway.
Don (c9e244) — 3/15/2008 @ 3:20 pmMajor General Rick Lynch, Commanding General, Multi-National Division Center (MND-C,)was very clear in his last Bloggers’ Roundtable interview.
“So the Iranian influence is still there and from my tactical perspective, I really don’t see a drop in Iranian influence.”
http://northshorejournal.org/index.php/2008/03/competent-capable-effective-leadership
Chuck Simmins (e8fc2a) — 3/15/2008 @ 4:53 pmWith all respect due the source, I believe he has the formulation backwards: we are not at war with Iran, but Iran is already at war with us. This is not a recent development, it’s just become more recently obvious and hard to ignore since U.S. forces have been in Iraq.
If the unnamed source is correct, that we are waging war back, then that represents progress of a sort.
I’ve quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2008/03/re-we-are-already-at-war-with-iran.html
Consul-At-Arms (24ca24) — 3/15/2008 @ 11:34 pmPatterico:
Just on a hunch, I suspect there is very little that your source knows that is opaque to Gen. Petraeus… <g>
Dafydd
Dafydd ab Hugh (db2ea4) — 3/16/2008 @ 3:57 am“Yes, it began during the Carter Administration!”
Or mossadegh
stef (57aa5a) — 3/16/2008 @ 7:55 am