THE LONG IRANIAN ROPE!
Iranian Men & Weapons Gaza-Tyre-Golan-Damascus-Baghdad-Kabul!
April 19, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The Iranian trail of trained guerillas and multiple military weaponry, has both tightened and extended its rope from Gaza Hamas to Lebanon Hizbullah to the numerous terrorist headquarters in Damascus to the Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq, and finally, the Taliban in Afghanistan.
I do not believe in announcing a time table for withdrawal, which does nothing for us, but gives aid and comfort to the enemy by allowing them to take more lives in profiting from knowing specific levels at certain times during the withdrawal. I am solidly opposed to the pork bill the Democrats are trying to force President Bush to sign to get the pork for their constituents and make him look bad if he doesn’t sign it.
As I have stated repeatedly, I believe it is impossible for a non-Muslim country to occupy a Muslim country in the Middle East and hold it for a long period of time. Simply st ated, we c
annot occupy and hold a nation in the Middle East because of organized guerilla warfare.
It was quite possible during the age of colonial conquest and occupation, but by the end of World War II it became impossible. The Soviets found it was true in Afghanistan, and I knew it would be
true in Iraq. This was the reason I was so certain we should go into Iraq, stay just long enough to get rid of Saddam, then quickly withdraw, and let the Shiites, Kurds, Sunnis and numerous other ethnic groups fight it out for supremacy. I was told that would destabilize the region. How could it be any more unstable than it is now?
The follow ing cha
in of articles from DEBKAfile on a single date, the 18th of April, shows the current instability in the Middle East. If I thought there was a snow ball’s chance in hell of us creating a stable democracy by staying in Iraq, I would be for it. But we will not be able to do it no matter how many body bags
we fill up.
DEBKAfile Article 1
As death toll climbed in Baghdad, Robert Gates said Wednesday: Insurgents determined to prove US-Iraqi crackdown is failing. They will not succeed
April 18, 2007, 11:11 PM (GMT+02:00)
The US defense secretary was speaking in Tel Aviv after his talks with Israeli defense minister Amir Peretz on April 18.
Gates also said that Syria’s actions are of great concern to the United States and was of the opinion that diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program are working.
DEBKAfile Article 2
Death toll rises to 190, hundreds injured, in four car bombings across Baghdad Wednesday
April 18, 2007, 11:14 PM (GMT+02:00)
Most struck predominantly Shiite districts. More than 140 were killed in a single blast at a big open-air market in the Sadriya district, 30 at a checkpoint outside Sadr City. This was the most disastrous day in the Iraqi capital since the US-Iraqi crackdown was launched six weeks ago to bring security to the city.
DEBKAfile Article 3
Senior US official: Syria or Iran still sends arms to Lebanese Hizballah in violation of UN arms embargo
April 18, 2007, 8:57 PM (GMT+02:00)
“The border between Lebanon and Syria remains highly porous,” assistant secretary of state David Welch told a Congressional panel Wednesday, April 18.
He said he agreed with the report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon confirming “serious breaches” of the arms embargo imposed by the Security Council last year in a resolution ending Hizballah-Israel hostilities.
DEBKAfile Article 4
Olmert: Israel has no plans to attack Syria although Damascus is clearly making war preparations
April 18, 2007, 4:34 PM (GMT+02:00)
The Israeli prime minister was briefing the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee Wednesday. He criticized the Palestinians for submitting a list of prisoners to trade of Gileat Shalit knowing that Israel cannot possibly release them.
His report was attacked from two ends of the opposition:
DEBKAfile Article 5
DEBKAfile: Thirteen Arab League foreign ministers set up four working teams to promote the Saudi peace plan – but line up with radical bloc on talks with Israel
April 18, 2007, 7:27 PM (GMT+02:00)
Saudi foreign minister Saud al Faisal announced at the end of their Cairo meeting on April 18 that three teams will explain to world governments the plan’s importance and lobby for its implementation.
The fourth team will hold talks with Israel.
DEBKAfile adds: This is no breakthrough.
The team charged with discussing the Saudi plan with Israel is restricted to Egypt and Jordan, which are in any case in regular official contact with the Israeli government. This restriction bows to the Palestinian unity government’s demand to keep Arab governments which bar recognition from Israel out of contact with the Jewish state, lest this be interpreted as recognition. It also enabled Syria at the head of the radical bloc make the meeting’s decisions unanimous.
The Saudi plan stipulates Israel’s withdrawal to the pre-1967 boundaries, acceptance of Jerusalem as capital of the future Palestinian state and acceptance of the Palestinian refugees’ “right of return.”
Arab League secretary Amr Mussa repeated Wednesday his objections in principle to any Arab negotiations with Israel.
“Israel must first demonstrate a fundamental change in its policy towards the Palestinians,” he said.
In these circumstances, even if Israel accepts an invitation to join these narrow-based talks – presumably in Cairo or Sharm e-Sheikh – they will only produce condemnation for its refusal to accept the Saudi peace plan wholesale and unconditionally.
DEBKAfile Article 6
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Tehran arms Lebanese Hizballah militia with air defense missile wing as part of war build-up
April 17, 2007, 9:38 PM (GMT+02:00)
April 15, on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Hizballah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders staged a grand ceremony at the Imam Ali base in northern Tehran to celebrate the launch of Hizballah’s anti-air missile wing.
They cheered the 500 Lebanese graduates of a course in the use of three anti-air missiles supplied by Iran:
The Sayyad 1 (Hunter), the Misagh 1 (Convention [with Allah]) and the Shahab Sagheb (Meteor), which is based on the Chinese Feimeng-80 system.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that these new weapons will seriously restrict the Israeli Air Force’s tactical freedom over Lebanon. In the event of hostilities, Israeli warplanes will have to evade a dense array of Hizballah-operated anti-air missiles which will also defend the terrorist group’s surface rocket batteries.
Those sources disclose that the Iranian-Chinese missile has already been smuggled into Lebanon and is in Hizballah’s hands. It is designed to shoot down planes and helicopters flying at ultra-low altitudes under radar screens for surprise assaults on ground targets such as military bases, missile positions and artillery.
Ordinary radar and air defense missiles are mostly ineffective against these low-flying tactics. The new missile makes up for this shortcoming.
On March 7, the 500 Hizballah trainees flew out of Damascus airport for Tehran aboard two civilian airliners; on April 16, they returned home – again through the Syrian airport – after training in
the Imam Ali base under Iranian experts commanded by Iranian Col. Mohammed Mnafi.
DEBKAfile hears from military circles wry remarks to the effect that, while Israel’s heads of state and chief of staff solemnly declared: “Never again!” in speeches marking Holocaust Remembrance day, they are seriously short on action for curbing Hizballah-Hamas preparations for their next war on the Jewish state. Surface missiles are routinely smuggled into Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, unopposed.
But the arming of Iran’s Lebanese proxy with deadly anti-air missiles poses a new and extraordinarily threat to the Israeli Air Force and, moreover, prevents air attacks on the Hizballah batteries shooting rockets into Israel. Questions are being asked about how Israel’s policy-makers and top brass could have allowed 500 Hizballah trainees to fly out of Damascus airport unhindered and return as air defense specialists, highly trained for shooting missiles at the Israeli Air Force and preventing Israeli warplanes from halting surface rockets should they fly against Israeli civilian locations once more.
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