Is recent news part of a pattern? Consider:
We continue to go after Sadr's Mahdi Army:
As U.S. jets roared overhead, Mahdi Army militiamen on Sunday battled with Iraqi troops and local police searching for two militia leaders in the southern city of Diwaniyah. At least three people were killed and 24 wounded, official Iraqi sources reported.
The southern clashes came just hours after American helicopter gunships attacked targets in Mahdi Army-dominated Shiite east Baghdad, killing four suspected militants, the U.S. military reported, as the radical Shiite militia faced growing pressure to bow to central government authority.
The Lebanese government is also continuing to go after the Iranian- and Syrian-backed jihadis holed up in the refugee slum outside of Tripoli:
Plumes of white and gray smoke rose from the Nahr el-Bared camp as the army bombarded Fatah Islam militants with heavy artillery shelling. The militants appeared to be retreating deeper inside the camp, but one of their leaders vowed the group would not surrender.
Tanks and artillery pounded Fatah Islam positions on the northern edge of Nahr el-Bared, located on the outskirts of this northern Lebanese port city, in a wide area concentrated around 10 buildings.
In addition, we are on the offensive in Afghanistan:
A defence ministry spokesman told reporters in Kabul the operations launched last week were in the southern provinces of Ghazni, Helmand and Kandahar. All have seen intense Taliban activity in the past weeks.
And I'd like to note that sometimes you just get lucky:
The offensive caused 60 Taliban fighters to flee across the Helmand River Friday, he said. Their boat sank and they were all killed, he said.
That was a freebie, I guess.
So, with the Iranians backing jihadis in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Iraq (with Syrian support in Lebanon), we are striking at those groups that could in theory be used by Iran to strike us in case we go after the mullahs.
Why would we go after the mullahs in Iran? Well, Ahmadinejad reminds us:
Ahmadinejad said last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah showed for the first time that the "hegemony of the occupier regime (Israel) had collapsed, and the Lebanese nation pushed the button to begin counting the days until the destruction of the Zionist regime," IRNA quoted him as saying.
"God willing, in the near future we will witness the destruction of the corrupt occupier regime," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying during a speech to foreign guests mostly from African, Arab and neighboring countries who attended ceremonies marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who is known as the father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Ah yes, the Jew-cleansing power of nuclear-generated electricity! And he may have given us formal notice of his intentions already.
And remember that in southern Lebanon where Iran- and Syrian-backed Hizbollah fought last year, UNIFIL may have blunted Hizbollah's ability to be used by Iran and Syria (despite my doubts) to strike Israel (quoting Jane's):
Lebanon's Hizbullah organisation is establishing a new line of defence just north of Lebanon's southern border district patrolled by the UN Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL).The emphasis on a new front line and the lack of military activity in UNIFIL's area of operations further south suggests that the Iran-backed Hizbullah has chosen to abandon any attempt to resurrect its formidable defensive infrastructure along the border with Israel for the time being.
We may have publicly denied any intention to wage war on Iran, but that isn't what I really expect. I know I've connected dots lately, but are these actions against Iranian proxies more dots indicating we're contemplating regime change against the mullahs?
If I'm right, we'll find out soon. We've had a lot of time to prepare the fertile ground in Iran for a revolution. We really have no excuse for having to use the blunt instrument of an aerial campaign to end the Iranian nuclear threat.
If not, why do we have the CIA at all?
UPDATE: in a timely article, Secretary Gates notes the Iranian hand in Afghanistan:
"There have been indications over the past few months of weapons coming in from Iran," Gates said. "We do not have any information about whether the government of Iran is supporting this, is behind it, or whether it's smuggling, or exactly what's behind it."
The Iranian weapons are being supplied to the Taliban insurgents, he said, adding that some may also be headed to criminals involved in Afghanistan's drug trade. Gates did not specify what types of weapons were involved.
Iran is our enemy. They know that. We as a nation are having a hard time grasping this simple fact.
