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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Their Best Shot?

We're supposed to worry that Iran will unleash sleeper cells who will conduct an orgy of skilled and deadly terrorist violence against the West if we attack Iran to prevent their mullah regime from getting nuclear weapons.

Iran already failed in an attack in Washington, D.C. And now the Iranians, having unleashed their terrorists on the hated enemy Israel in retaliation for the subliminal war on Iran's nuclear program, aren't looking quite as awesome as we fear:

Israeli officials ramped up accusations Wednesday that Iran was launching covert attack plots, saying "sticky" bombs found in a Thai house rented by Iranians were similar to devices used against Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia. ...

Thailand's government was struggling to piece together what a trio of Iranian men were plotting when a cache of explosives detonated by mistake in their home in Bangkok's busy Sukhumvit Road area a day earlier. ...

On Monday in New Delhi, an explosion tore through an Israeli diplomatic vehicle, wounding the driver and a diplomat's wife, according to Indian officials. On the same day in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, authorities say attackers planted an explosive device on the car of a driver for the Israeli Embassy, but it was discovered and defused before it went off.

So this is what they've got? A wounding (that could alienate India, which has been fairly friendly with Iran), a discovered attack in a small nearby country, and a shot in their own foot are what the Iranians unleash on the hated Jews who are targeting Iran's most prized program?

Iran is surely a supporter of terrorism. And in areas with lots of supporters and given time, Iran can rack up a body count. But the idea that Iran has a bunch of terror cells with advanced plans held in readiness for a signal from Tehran is ridiculous. In two wars with Iraq, people warned that Saddam would unleash a wave of terrorism in the West if attacked. Saddam didn't manage that.

Obviously, Iran will fight back if we strike them to knock out their nuclear program. Which is why we should take them seriously and treat this as a war that ends with Iran's mullahs overthrown and not a knuckle-rapping of a naughty boy caught with gum in class.

But the Iranians aren't terror and asymmetric masterminds who will run circles around our intelligence and military assets.

UPDATE: Oh, toss in a failed plot in Azerbaijan:

Piece by piece, the tools for an alleged Iranian-directed murder team were smuggled into Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea. A sniper rifle with silencer. Pistols. Sixteen pieces of plastic explosives and detonators.

Finally came a dossier with photos, names and exacting details — down to workplace drawings — for Israeli targets in the capital of Azerbaijan.

Iranian agents aren't ten feet tall.