HT Mark in Mexico

Interesting piece that Mark just posted. Rocketsbrain has long suspected a much bigger game is afoot - Dr. Watson. This is a MAD Magazine Spy vs. Spy cartoon panel at its best.

See these prior posts:

UPDATE - SADDAM'S WMDs IN SYRIA

While there has been open turf war between the CIA (CYA'g) and the Office of the President, it's disingenuous that our intel community has remained silent on this. Either they are considerably dumber then the general consensus or there is a bigger political/psy-ops game afoot. The former would mean we are in deep "do do" (ala Michael Jackson).

I would suggest a middle of the road position while we have made many mistakes along the way as Victor Davis Hanson has written many times will occur in war. The key however to winning the war is to learn from them, adapt, take risks but most importantly keep engaging the enemy.

Assuming an US/Israeli raid on Iran is on deck in the immediate future, this may be a trump card that is being held close to the vest. The LL and MSM have been allowed to run with a long rope with the meme, "Bush lied people died." They have been so focused on this like a pack of dogs on a kill; they have not seen what may be in plain sight. Of course OBL, Al-Zawahri and other are consumers of the MSM as they craft their PR responses accordingly and use this as a wedge issue to divide the American people. This administration has done little to dispel this notion that the intel was wrong going into the Iraqi invasion and we continue to bumble through.

Rocketsbrain suggests this "trump card" will be played if it becomes necessary to launch a preemptive strike against the Mad Mullahs of Iran and President MAD. The LL and the MSM will be left dangling in the wind. Praise be to Allah for President MAD in clarifying the aims of Islamofascism ideology much to the chagrin of the mullahs. No wonder planes are "crashing" in Iraq and there have been assassination attempts on President MAD, he's been too literal in his statements to the free world. DAMN!

Yes, this is highly speculative, but this is my current read of the tea leaves that gives some meaning to the puzzle pieces.

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Austin Bay - The Iranian Military Option
HT Austin Bay

UPDATED

The Blogos is ringing lately regarding a possible Israeli/US preemptive strike to take out the Mullahs' nuclear weapons building capacity.

As I said in other posts today, don't mess with Texas and don't mess with Texans!

If there is a military strike it will be lightning fast and extremely deadly for this is war. We have the ability to drive a stake into the very heart of the enemy and its ideology of hate and evil, Islamofascism. The only question is, do we have the political will and nerve? Or will we dither and only have to do it in the future at much greater cost?

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*****

Iran between steel jaws of a trap?

I found this very interesting, albeit disturbing article in Asia Times Online through Lucianne. The article is titled Iran and the jaws of a trap. It was written by a Paul Levian who is identified as a former German intelligence officer. Interestingly, a Google search for Paul Levian turns up exactly zip, zilch, nada. A search of Google News turns up the same article, but this time on a UK news site called mathaba.net, subscription 2.95 pounds Sterling per month. Hmmm.

Mr. Levian, whomever he might be, is of the opinion that the United States has not only handled its Iran dossier much more skillfully than Iraq, but also managed to set up Iran for a war it can neither win nor fight to a draw.

He says that the Iranians are in for a shock.

If the Iranian leaders think they can deter an attack because the US is bogged down in Iraq they are already between the jaws of a well-set trap. Though a Western war against Iran will be a big geopolitical defeat for Russia and China, they cannot but resign themselves to this outcome if they are unable to convince the Iranians to accept the Russian proposal - ie uranium enrichment in Russia.

Levian believes that China and Russia have been forced by the US, UK and France to bail out on their support for Iran. If Iran refuses to allow the enrichment of uranium in Russia, then Levian says we're on.

Levian claims that Iran is basing its intransigence and belligerence on four fallacies.

1. Iran is much stronger militarily than was Iraq, a much larger state, much tougher terrain and much more difficult to attack, defeat, occupy and pacify.

2. Iran is counting on the threat of world-wide condemnation of any attack to forestall just such an attack.

3. The interruption of the flow of Iranian oil would be devastating to the world's economy.

4. The US and UK forces are too busy in Iraq to constitute a threat to the Mullahs.

Levian then sets about to debunk all 4 of the Iranian misconceptions.

1. The US has no intention of occupying and pacifying Iran as it is trying to do in Iraq (more on that later).

2. With all of the big 5 (US, UK, France, Russia, China) on board, who cares about world-wide condemnation?

3. The attacking coalition would go right for the oil fields. Any interruption is assumed to be minimal.

4. The US and UK forces can be quickly re-deployed, especially under the cover of the first few days of an allied air assault. Levian doesn't say so, but he seems to hint that this has been planned for a long time. Also, Levian claims that the US has more than adequate forces already in position along the Iran/Iraq border to contain the expected initial surge of Iranian forces. Levian adds, almost as an afterthought, that any widespread uprising against US and UK forces in Iraq would be viewed as a nuisance and would simply be met with overwhelming firepower.

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