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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iranian Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard) Threatens To Abduct US Troops |
| 2007-01-30 |
| Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, have threatened to abduct US troops if Washington does not release five Iranian officials kidnapped in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil in a raid on Tehran's consulate earlier this year. In an article published by the Pasdaran's mouthpiece, Sobhe Sadegh, the director of the centre for strategic studies of the Iranian presidency, Reza Zakeri, also says Iran will retaliate against any further abduction of Iranian nationals. Five Iranian officials were detained in the Kurdish-controlled city on charges of being connected to a faction of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, that funds and arms insurgents in Iraq. "The United States has put together a list including the names of 35 high officials of the Pasdaran and Iran's atomic agency to kidnap and question them on the military and nuclear potential of the Islamic Republic but if they will try to kidnap even one person our reaction will be harsh and immediate," Zakeri wrote in the article. The article follows a report in the Washington Post last week saying that the Bush administration has authorized US troops to kill or capture Iranian operatives in Iraq. The Washington Post reported that the so-called 'kill or capture' programme of the Bush administration was authorized by the president himself at a meeting with top advisers earlier last autumn in a bid to diminish Iran's influence across the Middle East and convince the country to ultimately give up its nuclear programme. The idea reportedly gained momentum after the 34-day war between Israel and Lebanese militia Hezbollah, armed by Iran, which ended with a fragile ceasefire on 14 August. "The US military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Caucasus, central Asia, Europe and Latin America is significant and at the same time extremely isolated and therefore abducting a US soldier in uniform is less expensive than buying a low quality product made in China," the article also said. Stressing how the Mahdi militia of Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who have no military preparation, were able to kidnap US soldiers, the Sobhe Sadegh article claimed it would be an easy enough task for the well-trained Pasdaran. "Even if a state had no influence in the country where US troops were posted and had no close relations with local forces and, finally, even if it did not have well-trained officers for similar actions, it would not be difficult to capture blond men with blue eyes wearing a military uniform, it would just be necessary to open a wallet and be generous," Reza Zakeri concluded. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #29 Let's tell them they can have their people back in 444 days. |
| Posted by: Keystone 2007-01-30 22:45 |
| #28 Me thinks the Iranians are relying on their allies - the Democrats and MSM to hold our hand back if they do decide to kidnap some of our soldiers. I bet And yes - I am serious! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2007-01-30 22:29 |
| #27 A big club if the Americans can turn him. Oh, we can turn him, and in such a way that he'll never even know he talked; it just takes a little time. OldSpook wrote a very interesting post on applied psychiatric chemistry around the time Saddam Hussein was captured, if I recall correctly. No torture, not even a broken hangnail, just comfortable surroundings and a carefully chosen menu... and a sympathetic ear. Basic research so often benefits humanity in unexpected ways. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-01-30 20:34 |
| #26 Wasn't it the Iranians who kidnapped our Chief of Station in Lebanon and tortured him to death? They are now sending AA missiles and bombs to Iraq to kill GIs? The Pasdaran may not deserve the "shoot on sight" orders, but they did ask for it. It may not be as much fun for those cowards, when the intended victims begin the "shoot on sight" orders. |
| Posted by: whatadeal 2007-01-30 20:06 |
| #25 US Forces appear to have picked up some fairly large fish. One could say that if a #3 is captured, then Iran must have extensive assets in Iraq at the moment. American intelligence is also better than advertised. Why start a hot war with Iran when the 'flypaper' still works well. |
| Posted by: john 2007-01-30 19:54 |
| #24 These guys have to be real card carrying idiots to think this. Have they looked towards the water lately? And what do they see? gray boats. lots of gray boats. and some of them have aeroplanes on them.they can load all sorts of explodythings on them aeroplanes and deliver them just about any place they want. go ahead stupid ones, try to grab a GI. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-01-30 19:51 |
| #23 Methinks the real message here is that Radical Iran does NOT recognize the new Iraqi Govt-Democracy, nor international border lines ala LEBANON 2006. IOW, IRAN = NORTH VIETNAM, and LEBANON-IRAQ-SYRIA? = SOUTH VIETNAM = SSSSSHHHHHHH, PART OF "GREATER" IRAN/VIETNAM??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-01-30 19:31 |
| #22 gorb - the problem is, even if Maliki wants Iranians there, he can hardly say so in public. Not now, with the Dems screaming about him. Good cop, bad cop. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-01-30 17:21 |
| #21 Sure, gorb. Moqtada al-Sadr said they could come in. |
| Posted by: Rambler 2007-01-30 17:11 |
| #20 I wonder if Iran has Iraqi permission to perform ops in Iraqi territory. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-01-30 16:48 |
| #19 God, it's gonna feel so good to line up revolutionary asstards against a wall and shoot them. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-01-30 16:43 |
| #18 One the the arrested is third in command of the IGRC Quds force, the official terrorist force of the Iranian government. Among other things, these are the guys protecting Saad bin Laden and Seif al Adel and other top AQ leaders. They are directing Al Qaeda operations in Iraq, supplying armor piercing and anti-aircraft missiles, and laying the foundation for an Iranian run Iraq. Another arrested is Mahommad Jaafari. He is wanted for killing in Vienna the leader of the Kurds on the orders of Rafsanjani (actually the ambush meeting itself was arranged by Rafsanjani). A big club if the Americans can turn him. Those arrested were under the protection of the Iraqi government. The first batch were sponsored by Talibani and meeting in Hakim's house at the time of arrest. The second batch in a "consulate" in Kurdish Arbil. Our forces almost got into a shooting war with Kurd forces during the Arbil operation. Expect more operations like the recent abduction in Karbala and stepped up attacks including missile attacks on helicopters. If we get real lucky, then a real shooting war will break out between the US and Iran. But, I fear the Iranians are not yet that arrogant or stupid and US leaders too timid to provoke one. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-01-30 16:41 |
| #17 Yeah, tu that triple play took the sting out of my cruise missile, and it has to sting Ahmadisnuz to be effective... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-01-30 16:29 |
| #16 Retard. Just tap the button once. The "submit" button. Just once. You think you can handle that? I have my doubts... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-30 16:25 |
| #15 The Iranian people are right to rise up against US imperialism. Bush is worse than Hitler. Anyone who disagrees with me is a fascist. Vive Fidel! Vive Che! |
| Posted by: Revolutionary Masses 2007-01-30 16:20 |
| #14 The Iranian people are right to rise up against US imperialism. Bush is worse than Hitler. Anyone who disagrees with me is a fascist. Vive Fidel! Vive Che! |
| Posted by: Revolutionary Masses 2007-01-30 16:20 |
| #13 The Iranian people are right to rise up against US imperialism. Bush is worse than Hitler. Anyone who disagrees with me is a fascist. Vive Fidel! Vive Che! |
| Posted by: Revolutionary Masses 2007-01-30 16:20 |
| #12 Talk? If anything like this happens, send a Cruise Missile right up Ahmadisnutz's pointy little ass. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-01-30 16:06 |
| #11 As long as the US was acting with the permission of the Iraqi govt in arresting Iranian agents on Iraqi soil we were well within rights our rights (actually we may be within our rights even if Maliki says no, given UNSC resolutions authorizing the status of the occupation) If Iran, without permission from the Iraqi govt, were to abduct US troops using their own personnel, that IIUC, would go beyond the "wink, its only covert support" rule and would give the US a pretty widely recognized right to respond with deadly force on Iranian soil. However IIUC this is not a reliable source, and I wouldnt count on this happening. It does quote a Pasdaran paper, so presumably they didnt make it up, but I wonder if the Pasadaran paper is really that authoritative, or this is just some guy spouting off. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-01-30 14:34 |
| #10 Iran kidnapped British soldiers not long ago and the response was to do exactly nothing. Much like the British response to street crime, sedition, the moth-balling of the Royal Navy, etc. etc. etc. We have some very hard lessons to re-learn. I hope we survive the process. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-01-30 14:08 |
| #9 Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, have threatened to abduct US troops if Washington does not release five Iranian officials kidnapped in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil in a raid on Tehran's consulate earlier this year. Kidnapped? KIDNAPPED? They were Iranian military in Iraq illegally in possesion of material implicating them in fomenting terror, murder, and treason. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2007-01-30 14:07 |
| #8 Exactly Zhang: Whoever it was that we grabbed, they were important enough for these guys to start issuing threats. Its the snarling of the cornered dog: Iraq fought them to a standstill, and they saw what the US did to Iraq, so they know they don't have a prayer save in what the Democrats do. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2007-01-30 13:55 |
| #7 Go ahead and try. We will wipe out one city with a nuke for every soldier taken/killed. I can wish that would be the response. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-01-30 13:09 |
| #6 This is kind of an admission that they are in Iraq. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-01-30 12:46 |
| #5 They seem to believe that they can achieve a stutus vis-a-vis USA, that Paleos have with Israel. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-01-30 12:37 |
| #4 It's way past time these idiots received a serious and up-close taste of the kind of smackdown only the US can deliver to them. That's pretty much the problem, isn't it? all those warriors declaring war, bombing randomly, breaking stuff, making dire threats and grandiloquent stories... without having to ever pay the piper, because the other side isn't really at war (while they are, at least mentally and psychologically, even the bulk of supposedly "moderates"). Is it because at heart their religion-civilization is in a perpetual state of war and aggression against th eoutside world? Funnily enough, this might apply to the car-BBQ and rapes and assaults in France and elsewhere, too. A constant forward drive from one side, no response from the other. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-01-30 11:23 |
| #3 That's because kidnapping is a normal tool of warfare, as is terror... all this while pretending not to be at war and claiming victim status, yet flaming the rubes with high-octane hate rethoric. Or when the western way of war and interaction between Nation-States meets its islamic counterpart. We're just not playing according to the same rules, because we're not hardwired the same way (see what's happening in |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-01-30 11:18 |
| #2 I wonder what the Geneva Convention says about kidnapping troops of a foreign power for purposes of obtaining the release of agents captured in a foreign country operating against the designs of the foreign country whose troops are to be kidnapped. I also wonder what the US military would tend to say about said kidnappings. If Israel's reaction to having its troops kidnapped in a cross-border raid I'd be really, really careful about kidnapping US troops. Of course, to the Iranians who have been at war with us since 1979, America is a mere paper tiger. It's way past time these idiots received a serious and up-close taste of the kind of smackdown only the US can deliver to them. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-01-30 11:08 |
| #1 Stressing how the Mahdi militia of Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who have no military preparation, were able to kidnap US soldiers, the Sobhe Sadegh article claimed it would be an easy enough task for the well-trained Pasdaran. Yeah, funny how they stress that. Almost like they had nothing to do with it. Find them. Kill them. Now. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-30 10:56 |