We Are Already at War with Iran - Part II

The people debating whether we should be at war with Iran are ignoring the fact that we are already at war with Iran. The only question at this point is what terms this war will be fought on.

Iranian soldiers have already exchanged fire with US troops when Iranians entered Iraq in order to kill or kidnap American soldiers. Iran has been repeatedly charged with being behind much of the terrorism in Iraq, both arming and directing operations and even recruiting terrorists and providing them with orders, using Sadr much as Iran has used Nasrallah in Lebanon. It is unknown how many American soldiers have been currently murdered by Iranian weapons, Iranian personnel or on Iranian orders, but the toll is likely a high one.

The following excerpt from a larger article is an inside view of part of the Iranian terror operation in Iraq.

Higher-ranking terrorist leaders are given laminated cards that make them untouchable by all Iranian officials, aside from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Mustafa was told that these cards were issued on the personal orders of Ali Khamane’i, Iran’s ruler. The cards, which include a picture and other identifying details, simply say that the holder is a “political refugee”—or “Karti Panahandayi” in Persian—but everyone in Iran knows what it means. Ordinary refugees do not get these cards.

After a long introduction by Ali, Mustafa was put on the payroll. Col. Mohammed Yaqubi, a senior officer in the Itilaat Sanandaj, a section of Iranian intelligence, interviewed him. A man who knew as Mr. Sardani, another Iranian intelligence officer, took three photographs of Mustafa. Then he was told his code name: “Sharuzur No. 4.” Sharuzur is a neighborhood in Mustafa’s hometown of Halabja.

Later, Osman was sent to Mr. Ibadi for processing and briefly met Mr. Amiri, the chief of sabotage for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. All of these names have checked out with an allied intelligence service and are bona fide names of Iranian intelligence officers, except for Mr. Ibadi, who may be too low-level to concern that service.

As Mustafa waited for his first mission, he began to learn more about Iran’s sponsorship of terrorist attacks inside Iraq. “I was told that Ansar al Islam members met with [Iranian] Brigadier [General] Qasim Sulemani,” a high ranking member of Iran’s Quds Force, on April 4, 2005, Mustafa said. “The meeting was in Kermanshah, at the head office” of Iran’s intelligence service there. He said that the Itilaat service also briefed him on upcoming missions of the al Qaeda-linked terror group. Iran often has advance knowledge of these attacks and helps fund and plan them, he said.

He was paid $400 a month, but he was eager for the bonuses that came with missions inside Iraq. Those could pay as much as $1500. By contrast, his police salary in Iraq was $220 per month in 2005.

The US has declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be a terrorist organization (a statement that elicited furious outrage from liberals) but the Revolutionary Guard is simply part of the apparatus of the Iranian state. It is not an independent organization. It is a terrorist organization because Iran is a terrorist state.

In essence Iran has chosen to fight a proxy war with the United States. This is typical of Iran's ongoing strategy in Lebanon and in Gaza, where Iran helped Hizbollah and Hamas with weapons, training and even directed some of their campaigns. Under Iranian control, both have improved their organizational capabilities and are rolling in money, enabling them to rearm after each setback.

Iran's core strategy is to achieve nuclear weapons and to tie down America and Israel in local conflicts in Iraq, Gaza and Lebanon until Iran can have the bomb. The second aspect of the strategy is disinformation, such as the leaks that helped make up the NIE report and cultivating ties with the American anti-war movement, something Saddam had excelled at doing. Much of this of course would prove unnecessary if the Pro-Iran Obama or Hillary Clinton were to come to power in the US, ending any American ability to defend itself.