The left is focused on the failure of the U.S. to stop Iraqi-on-Iraqi brutality and torture.
But there is a theme in the documents which has enormous implications not so much for the past, but for the future. Iran has been killing American soldiers for years in Iraq, both directly and through groups trained and deployed by Iran, as has Syria to a lesser degree.
As reported by The New York Times, one of the newspapers given prior access to the Wikileaks files:
Scores of documents made public by WikiLeaks, which has disclosed classified information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, provide a ground-level look — at least as seen by American units in the field and the United States’ military intelligence — at the shadow war between the United States and Iraqi militias backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
During the administration of President George W. Bush, critics charged that the White House had exaggerated Iran’s role to deflect criticism of its handling of the war and build support for a tough policy toward Iran, including the possibility of military action.
But the field reports disclosed by WikiLeaks, which were never intended to be made public, underscore the seriousness with which Iran’s role has been seen by the American military. The political struggle between the United States and Iran to influence events in Iraq still continues as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has sought to assemble a coalition — that would include the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr — that will allow him to remain in power. But much of the American’s military concern has revolved around Iran’s role in arming and assisting Shiite militias.Few in the media will choose to make the connection between the intra-Iraqi violence and Iran's role, but there is a connection. Iraq without Iranian (and Syrian) meddling would not have devolved as it did.
If there was a clear failure of the Bush administration, it was the failure to deal with the Iranian and Syrian involvement in Iraq, under domestic Democratic Party pressure claiming that Bush officials were looking for a pretext to expand the war.
Our policy makers need to accept that the Iranian regime -- much like al-Qaeda in the 1990s -- declared war on us long before the American public knew it.
If anything good comes from the Wikileaks disclosure, it will be to pull the mask off of Iranian involvement in Iraq, how much the Iranians contributed to the deterioration of Iraq after the 2003 invasion (and yes, the intra-Iraqi violence), and the continuing Iranian war against us.
When are we going to stop kidding ourselves about Iran? The Iranian war against us cannot be swept under the rug anymore in light of Iran's nuclear program.
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Related Posts:
John Kerry's Persian Delusion
What Do Juan Cole and "Death to America" Have In Common?
He Who Cannot Stop Talking, Is Silent On Iran
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And, they're doing similar skullduggery in Afghanistan. Make no mistake, ultimately we will have to deal with Iran in harsh terms.
ReplyDeleteHow inconvenient for the Obama administration that they now have to deal with public knowledge that the real threat to American safety in the middle East is not our ally Israel, but our enemy Iran.Sadly I don't think this will make any difference to our inadequate commander in chief or his foreign policy clowns at State, and especially to that useless individual we have representing us at the UN. What will be interesting is how they will spin this to fit into their convoluted and demented view of international reality.Watch when they are done with their machinations it will still end up being Bush's and Israel's fault.
ReplyDeleteObama wouldn't even condemn the post-Iran 'election' crackdowns and brutality. So don't expect much toughness from Mr. O against Iran. He is afraid of them!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the extent of the Iran involvement was hardly a secret, as the NYT points out, Bush mentioned it and the seriousness of it again and again. But the dems and libs stuck their hands in their ears and ignored it. They are scared weaklings.
So let's not make the Australian ass behind Wikileaks into some kind of hero for 'exposing' this (which I seriously doubt was his intent in the first place), his criminal and evil doings have done and will do NO good.
Stuxnet hobbles Iran's nuclear program
ReplyDeleteMassive fire destroys Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missiles
Someone has been paying attention..
Just got back from watching an air show in Houston. Some of the equipment we have is astouonding. We need to put it to good use.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan, sir. But I do not think for a second that Bush failed to deal with the mad men of Tehran. Iraq to the west, Afghanistan to the east... hello? can you say Iran Sandwich? We may argue about whether GWB did enough, or conclude that he did the maximum possible given all the political circumstances. But to say that he failed is to ignore a great deal of information, and to suppose that what we do not know (or are not told by our media) couldn't explain many open questions. I extend the same courtesy even to the dithering dipstick currently at the helm.
ReplyDeleteI do thank you for diving into the Wiki pile and pointing out things that will go un-noted in the mainstream press. I have a jarring physical reaction to the face of that miscreant with the name that sounds like French perfume... is it a he or a she? Is it even human?
While I was deployed I never understood why the Iranian involvement in the war was not covered more by American Mainstream Media. What was the liberal media trying to protect us from? Sometimes I think the liberals of that time frame were calling Bush a liar just to demonize him.
ReplyDelete"The Iranian war against us cannot be swept under the rug anymore in light of Iran's nuclear program."
ReplyDelete=================
Yes it can.
Sigh.
This blog really opens my eyes to a lot of things that I have been ignoring. Thanks. I have shared a link with the community at Bleditor.com, a place where you can also share by becoming a bleditor. Come check it out. http://bleditor.com/bledit.php?bleditID=14888
ReplyDeleteYou know, every time I hear that wikileaks is about to release a ton of top secret documents, my knee-jerk reaction is that they should be shot. But I'm not so sure. Although I supported taking out Saddam in Iraq in the first and second Gulf wars, I never supported the nation building. There is something immoral in fighting prolonged wars of attrition without an official declaration and without clearly stated goals. And how does everyone feel about Iraq's oil going to China and Europe?
ReplyDeleteIf we aren't fighting to win, let's get our troops home. We have a major war going on at our own border and crooked politicians, bankers and other people are getting rich exploiting the situation.
Iran has been killing Americans with impunity ever since the fall of the Shah, more than 30 years ago.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think will happen when they get the "bomb"?