Posted by
Tzimisce on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 2:46:54 AM
On April 2nd, the Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom released a story entitled "The botched US raid that led to the hostage crisis". (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2414760.ece) The word "hostage" in this story isn't going to play well with liberals worldwide, but that isn't going to slow down the hate America first crowd who will go right to what they consider the meat of the story - namely that it's all our fault (again.)
By this point in time, this should be a non story. The entire chronicle of history is basically some white guy (probably a Christian and most likely an American) puts the screws to someone who has tan skin and a different religion. This particular case deals with low level Iranian officials in Arbil Iraq. Apparently the "botch" was that the real targets (Mohammed Jafari, the powerful deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council and General Minojahar Frouzanda, the chief of intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard) weren't there. Unfortunately for the thinking population, *why* two high level Iranian military officials were in Iraq doesn't pique the curiousity of the journalists involved here. From my limited understanding there has never been any love between the Kurds and the Iranians. I'm sure there is a good explanation - too bad none of us are to be enlightened.
But I digress. The story then goes on to cast doubts about the level of Iranian military activity in Iraq. No Iranian bodies have ever been found after a suicide attack, right? Of course this contradicts the great, unbiased, bipartisan Iraq Study Group's finding that Iran *is* assisting insurgents in Iraq - but the unbiased, bipartisan mainstream media will likely forget that too.
The truth is that we don't have all the information about what is going on in Iraq behind the scenes. Our military isn't going to tell the civilian population everything it knows for obvious reasons. US forces carried out the attack themselves instead of using Iraqi security forces. Obviously army intelligence thought something big was up - and they might have been right.
But none of this is going to matter to the patriots in the Left wing blogosphere. They'll talk like they know everything and give the Iranians more leeway in shaky answers than they will give their own countrymen.
Here is the real question: What does this story change? Liberals worldwide already blame the United States for what's going on. The Iranians too, blame the United States for what is going on. Nothing's changed there. Iranian military officials were in Iraq talking to the Kurds. We didn't hop the border and grab these people. That hasn't changed anything either.
The Iranians siezed British sailors from Iraqi waters. That fact didn't come from US intelligence. The Iranians are violating the Geneva Convention by humiliating and denying their hostages a right to religion. That hasn't changed either. In fact, how does this failed US military operation change *anything* in this whole story? Do two wrongs make a right? This was a US raid, you'd think that the Iranians would strike at US forces. Why attack a third party? And why will these questions and points be largely ignored by everyone that matters?