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Why We Won’t Bomb Iran
By Michael Weiss / August 27, 2007
Reuel Marc Gerecht on the U.S.'s "terrorist" designation of Iran's cadre of holy warriors:
America's unilateral efforts, particularly its use of the international financial system to block Iran's access to dollars and credit, have proved more successful than many thought possible. But without greater international support, they probably won't force Tehran to moderate its behavior. The Europeans, who are among Iran's largest trading partners, must agree to biting measures—something these states, which are as addicted to noncoercive diplomacy as they are to commerce, seem unlikely to do. In the meantime, the diplomatic process over Iran's nukes will crawl forward or stagnate but is unlikely to lead to war.
Deja vu, with minor exceptions. It's quite easy to take the pulse of the nation by how such a pro forma shift in diplomacy — Gerecht points out that the entire Iranian state has long been classified by the U.S. as an apparatus of terror — can distract us from the necessary conversation. Instead of asking what else can be done to stop Iran from sponsoring the murder of coalition and Iraqi troops (provocations that lie somewhere on the cold war spectrum between proxy warfare and open "skirmishes"), the worry of the hour is instead how much closer a reckless president just moved toward bombing Iran.
The likelihood of this happening is actually decreased by the U.S.'s amplification of coercive diplomacy, not to mention the passage of sanctions, the removal of which were the happy concomitant of the last war. There is precious little time left for Bush to start a coordinated military campaign against another rogue regime, even assuming he'd again skimp on the post-campaign planning. However, Bush's thinking here is clearly motivated by his failure to appreciate the true threat that Saddam's Iraq posed.
The Ba'athist equivalent of the Revolutionary Guard, the Fedayeen Saddam, we now know had been planning attacks against the West long before the 2003 invasion. The Iraqi regime had also been training jihadists of all stripes, including the Bin Ladenist one, out of camps like the Salman Pak "weapons facility" south of Baghdad, and it was looking to end U.N. sanctions in order to being the slow, steady process of reactivating its nuclear weapons program.
Only a fool thinks that we were responsible for turning Iraq into a cynosure for global terrorism. It had already become this, from housing Abu Nidal, to courting OBL via the future genocidaires of Khartoum, to making alliances with Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi and Mullah Krekar and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Much like our present dilemma with Iran, these riffraff had been stationed in one seemingly "stable" country and setting about their bloody business in neighboring countries.
What's different? There's a more vocal and media-hyped opposition movement within Iran; a more ostentatious Iranian leadership that begs for the kind of international attention that Saddam, in his autumn, actively eschewed; and an already large U.S. military presence in the Middle East. The latest move against the mullahs is therefore designed as an act of soft power preemption, and also a butt-covering policy adjustment on the part of a vitiated executive. Should we find ourselves the victim of a terrorist attack that can be traced back to Tehran, the last thing this former administration will want to hear is: Why did you never warn us?
UPDATE: Sarkozy speaks about Iran in the uncertain terms Chirac would never use.
POST A COMMENT
It boils down to this it seems:
Invading Iraq was correct, bombing Iran is not.
You are a neo-con, and you are still clinging to the discredited fake reasons for invading Iraq. You guys disgust me.
High Holiday Call-In Campaign for Jonathan Pollard
(IsraelNN.com) The National Council of Young Israel has launched a White House call-in campaign for Jonathan Pollard. Young Israel has taken out full page ads in some 20 American and Jewish newspapers both in Israel and in the US each urging Jews to call the White House daily for Jonathan Pollard for the next few weeks during the period leading up to the Jewish High Holy Days. Young Israel said it urges everyone to participate in the mitzvah of ‘pidyon shvuyim’ – the good deed of redeeming a captive.
Pollard has been incarcerated in US prisons for over 21 years for passing Israel information regarding Arab military might. His supporters note that others accused of similar offenses have received a fraction of the sentence.
The ad reads:
Jonathan Pollard needs your help!
Let’s flood the White House with phone calls during this critical time!
Tel: 202-456-1414
Tel: 202-456-1111
Get your family, friends, colleagues and organizations involved!
Please recirculate, reprint, repost this flyer.
Top Rabbis Send Personal Plea to President Bush for Pollard
by Hillel Fendel
Two of world Jewry’s most renowned Torah Sages, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv of Jerusalem and Rabbi Aaron Leib Shteinman of Bnei Brak, have signed a historically unprecedented letter to U.S. President George Bush, calling for the release of Jonathan Pollard.
It is reportedly the first time that these Torah Sages have ever addressed a foreign head of state about any matter.
The letter was relayed to Jeremy Katz, Special Assistant to the President and Liaison to the Jewish community, and others in the White House. Copies of the letter, written in both Hebrew and English, were also sent to various Jewish communal leaders and activists.
The joint letter to the U.S. President was the initiative of Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel. Lerner, who has visited Pollard many times in his prison cell in North Carolina, met of late with leading Torah sages in Israel and asked for their involvement in securing his release. Another rabbi who has taken great active interest in the case, and whom Pollard considers his personal rabbi, is the Rishon LeTzion, former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Lerner discussed with Rabbis Shteinman and Elyashiv the special elements of the Pollard case, over and beyond its being a supreme Torah value of “Redemption of Captives.” Mentioned were Pollard’s self-sacrifice on behalf of the security of the Jewish People, the disproportionate nature of the sentence, the failure of the Israeli Government to act on his behalf, Pollard’s failing health, the positions taken by former CIA head James Woolsey and Dennis Ross [see below], and more.
Rabbi Elyashiv (l) and Rabbi Lerner (r)
Rabbi Shteinman (l) and Rabbi Lerner (r)
The rabbis then decided that their best course of action would be to send a concise personal letter to President Bush. The letter reads as follows:
Dear Mr. President,
We appeal to you as President of the greatest power on earth, the epitome of compassion and generosity, to grant clemency to Mr. Jonathan Pollard who has been incarcerated for more than twenty years.
With deep respect and appreciation,
(signed: Rabbis Elyashiv and Shteinman)
In Oct. 1993, nearly 30 leading rabbis in the United States took out a full-page ad in the hareidi-religious Yated Ne’eman newspaper, calling upon “every Jew to make efforts to free [Jonathan Pollard] from his imprisonment; those who can should write letters to the government, and whoever can intercede on his behalf should do so.”
The White House has also been bombarded of late with calls for Pollard’s release from another direction: A nation-wide call-in campaign, also initiated by Young Israel and endorsed by Agudath Israel.
Jonathan Pollard’s wife Esther, speaking with IDF Radio this morning, called on Prime Minister Olmert to follow the example of the Torah sages by making an immediate demand for Jonathan’s release. “Mr. Olmert does not have to free murderers or terrorists,” she said. “All he has to do is bring Jonathan home now and he will have blessing and the thanks of the Nation.”
“After 22 years in prison,” Mrs. Pollard said, “22 years of torture and affliction and the worst possible treatment by the Government of Israel – and by the Americans – Jonathan deserves to be home in Israel well in advance of Pesach so that he can truly celebrate the Holiday of Freedom.”
Jonathan Pollard has been imprisoned since November 1985 regarding his conviction on one count of passing classified information to an American ally – Israel. The normal sentence for this offense is 2-4 years, and his unprecedented life sentence was in direct contrast to his plea bargain arrangement. He has long been in a maximum security prison, under difficult conditions.
U.S. Appellate Court Justice Steven Williams has called the Pollard case a “fundamental miscarriage of justice,” and even James Woolsey – former head of the CIA, a body that has traditionally been against clemency for Pollard – believes Pollard should be released. He recently told Arutz-7, “Now that [Pollard] has served [over] 20 years in prison, my view is that 20 years is enough. I also think that the close relationship between the US and Israel is also of some consideration, and at this point I think he’s served long enough.”
Former US Ambassador Dennis Ross, who has been involved in shaping US policy in the Middle East under Presidents Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush Jr., has said that Pollard’s sentence was excessive, and that he told all three presidents that Pollard should be released. “Pollard has been in jail for so long,” Ross said last December, “that whatever facts he might know would have little if any effect on national security today.”
_____________________
This is a kol kore by Gedolei Yisrael for people to contact the White House as often as possible between now and Pesach asking President Bush to release Jonathan Pollard. Please comply with this kol kore and participate in the mitzva rabba of Pidyon Shevuyim! Thank you very much.
On Salman Pak: http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/salman_pak.html
See also the Duelfer report, which stated:
M14, Directorate of Special Operations: M14, directed by Muhammad Khudayr Sabah Al Dulaymi, was responsible for training and conducting special operations missions. It trained Iraqis, Palestinians, Syrians, Yemeni, Lebanese, Egyptian, and Sudanese operatives in counterterrorism, explosives, marksmanship, and foreign operations at its facilities at Salman Pak. Additionally, M14 oversaw the 'Challenge Project,' a highly secretive project regarding explosives. Sources to date have not been able to provide sufficient details regarding the 'Challenge Project.'
Structure of M14: Special Operations Department, composed of a foreign and a domestic section, performed government-sanctioned assassinations inside or outside of Iraq.
The 'Tiger Group' was similar to Special Operations, except that it was primarily comprised of suicide bombers.
The Training Department provided training for all IIS officers going abroad.
The Counterterrorism Department handled counterterrorism activities in Iraq and at embassies; reportedly, it disarmed terrorists hijacking a Sudanese airliner from Saddam International Airport.
The Administrative Department provided support services such as administration, finances, communications, and logistics.
The Anti-Iranian Department infiltrated operatives into Iran for intelligence collection and operated against Iranian groups attempting to enter Iraq.
There is a lot of debate about the true intent of the facility. Sy Hersh and others say it did nothing to train foreign or domestic terrorists. You may draw your own conclusions from the available evidence. But so far I have not seen the Foreign Affairs' findings on "Blessed July" — the Fedayeen Saddam's planned spate of foreign operations — refuted or debunked.
On Saddam and Sudan: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/27/walq27.xml
(Also keep in mind that Richard Clarke, not exactly a neon hawk, added Saddam's dealings with Khartoum in his legal case to authorize the Clinton administration's bombings of Iraq in the late-90's.)
Info on Maqdisi as Zarqawi's "spiritual mentor" and a guiding light of Ansar al-Islam (now Al Qaeda in Iraq): http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/08/feb8ae3d-4025-4940-aaee-a9903776638a.html
As for a link showing that Zarqawi was in Iraq before the invasion, and fled there after the rout of the Taliban, you can Google this easily yourself.
“Only a fool thinks that we were responsible for turning Iraq into a cynosure for global terrorism.”
From my years in sunday school, i seem to recall the ‘old testament’ taking a rather dim view of the use of that term.
now i’m new to the site, but do you have any links that aren’t simply to an opinion piece by a like-minded thinker? although i admit that’s the beauty of circular logic: no holes…
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