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Iran now pushing the limits
By Carol Devine-Molin
Iran has been exhibiting an increasingly bold and confrontational pattern in its dealings with the West. There's been a momentum growing, and not for the good. A few weeks ago, the Iranians detained eight British servicemen for three days and exploited them on a televised propaganda broadcast, claiming that their boat had illegally entered Iranian waters. This version of events is now questionable -- British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon has made recent assertions that the servicemen had been "forcibly" brought within Iran's waters by the Iranians themselves.
Moreover, during this last week, the US government expelled two Iranians that were ostensibly "security guards" at Iran's UN Mission in NYC, but were engaging in suspicious activities by photographing and videotaping NYC landmarks, subways, bridges, etc. However, this is nothing new on the part of Iranians, who have been caught on prior occasions participating in similar forbidden behaviors. The FBI was reportedly monitoring the two suspects over a period of time, leading the FBI to surmise they might very well have been involved in the development of "target folders" for future attacks on our nation's soil. Iran has long been dubbed the chief terror-sponsoring state of the Middle East, and is known to be harboring members of al-Qaeda at the current time.
Interestingly, there has been testimony before the 9/11 Commission that Iran and its surrogate Hezbollah have ties, albeit tenuous ones, to the September 11th attacks. As noted by the World Net Daily website: "Former CIA analyst Douglas MacEachin, a member of the 9-11 commission staff, said in testimony last week Iran and its terrorist group ally Hezbollah were linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group. Other U.S. intelligence officials said there is also evidence Iran is linked to the Sept. 11 attacks. According to the officials, two of the hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who were aboard the aircraft that hit the Pentagon, had stayed at the Iranian ambassador's residence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before entering the United States in January 2001."
However, some in the West are exceedingly alarmed that Iran is well on its way to acquiring a nuclear weapon. In the past, Iran played a game of jerking the chain of the International Atomic Energy Agency, manipulating the agency with only marginal cooperation and plenty of lip-service. Iran was to halt all enrichment-related reprocessing but it's apparently still bent on its nuclear ambitions. Iran will continue to construct centrifuges, so international concerns remain unabated. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is now raising the specter of sanctions against Iran because of its failure to comply with the IAEA run by Mohamed ElBaradei. Of course, Iran maintains that its nuclear involvement is for peaceful purposes only. But how can they be believed?
The truth here is not complicated. The ruling mullahs of Iran are a very dangerous class that despises the West, including Israel that is viewed as a western society and a significant affront to the Islamic world. The mullahs are in league with the jihadis that are determined to slaughter all infidels – this is common knowledge. Therefore, we must be very focused on Iran's efforts to arm itself with nuclear warfare, a notion that is given short-shrift by many Europeans.
Essentially, what this all boils down to is that Iran's nuclear facilities will have to be taken out, and soon. Clearly, Israel cannot have these fanatical mullahs in possession of nukes – one nuke would wipe out the tiny state. I think it's a fair bet that Israel will take preemptive action against Iran's nuclear capabilities within the year.
Carol Devine-Molin is a regular contributor to several online magazines.
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