khalijefars News, Blogs, Art and Community
By Charles Faddis
Ever since Jimmy Carter’s back channel communications with Ayatollah Khomeinei, American politicians on the left have attempted to paint the radical Islamic Republic of Iran as something other than what it is — a deadly and persistent enemy dedicated to the domination of the Middle East and the destruction of the United States and its allies.
Never before, however, has anyone succeeded to the extent of Barack Obama in selling the deadly fantasy that Iran is some sort of force for good in the world.
The amount of delusion and deception at play here is truly staggering.
As Shiite militia and its Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allies surge into Anbar Province kidnapping and executing perceived opponents and terrifying the Sunni Arabs of the region with threats of ethnic cleansing, we are told that an Iraqi unity government of some sort is winning the day.
As Boeing prepares to sell Tehran upwards of 100 state-of-the-art aircraft, the airframes of which are identical with those used in many capacities by the American military, we are told that the deal has no defense implications and will not affect the regional military balance in anyway.
As $150 billion surges into Tehran’s coffers as a result of the Iran nuclear “deal,” and Hezbollah openly brags that as long as Iran has money it will have all the cash it needs to wage war across the Middle East, we are told that the Iranians intend to put their newfound wealth to use in peaceful pursuits.
Perhaps, though, nothing is so egregious as the extent to which this administration has quietly swept under the rug Iran’s direct involvement in the killing of American servicemen and our coalition allies.
In fact, Iranian-supplied weapons have led to untold American, British, Israeli, Afghan, and Iraqi casualties. Estimates are that in Iraq alone over 1,000 American servicemen have been killed by weapons supplied by Iran in the last 15 years. These weapons include explosively formed penetrators (EFP), shaped charges designed specifically to defeat American armored vehicles.
In addition to the thousand Americans killed, EFP have wounded many thousands more.
There is no doubt about the origin of the EFP in question.
Those supplied to anti-American forces in Iraq are identical to those used by Hezbollah against Israeli forces in 2006. Training of Iraqi insurgents in the use of EFP’s is known to have been conducted at Hezbollah camps in Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel.
To keep up with demand for these weapons, at one point three separate factories in Iran mass-produced them. In 2009 Gen. David Petraeus said that Iran was funding, training, equipping, and directing groups that were conducting attacks against American personnel all over Iraq.
He added that there were daily attacks on US personnel using weapons made only by Iran.
Think of that the next time you attend a veterans event in your hometown or watch one on television. Take a moment to think about how many of the young Americans whose lives and bodies were shattered are the victims of deliberate Iranian efforts to target, kill and maim our people.
Other weapons supplied by Iran to insurgents in Iraq include 81mm mortars, 107mm rockets, RPG-7 grenade launchers and 240mm mortars.
Similar weapons have been supplied by Iran to the Taliban. Iran has also provided the Taliban with at least one shipment of SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles. The subsequent downing of a US Army CH-47 helicopter in Afghanistan in 2007, in which five Americans and two allied soldiers died, has been conclusively shown to be an SA-7 shootdown.
Iran has for many years paid a bounty of $1,000 to Taliban fighters for every American serviceman they kill. There is no evidence to suggest that this bounty is no longer in effect. IRGC Qods force personnel have armed and trained Taliban fighters.
Nothing in Iran’s behavior today suggests any change in their focus or activities. So-called “moderate” Iranian President Rouhani recently appointed Brigadier-General Hossein Dehghan to be minister of defense. Dehghan played a key role in the October 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in which 241 Marines and 58 French paratroopers were killed.
Shortly after Dehghan’s appointment Ayatollah Khameinei announced the appointment of Major-General Mohammed Bagheri as Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces. Bagheri began his career in anti-American activities as one of the students who overran our embassy in Tehran in 1979 and then held our diplomats captive for 444 days.
No matter how the White House spins it, Iran remains the world’s terror master. Their army of terrorists controls Lebanon, fights in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, and destabilizes Bahrain, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.
And when a mob in Tehran chants, “Death to America,” they mean it.
Charles S. Faddis, president of Orion Strategic Services, LLC, is a former CIA operations officer with 20 years of experience in the conduct of intelligence operations. He is the senior intelligence editor for AND Magazine and a contributor to a wide variety of counterterrorism and homeland security journals. He is author of “Operation Hotel California.” For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
