Article

2010-06-19 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

12 million Bassijis mobilised - commander

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Posted by Steve White 2010-06-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 A massive armed militia only weakly under the control of the central government. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted by phil_b 2010-06-19 00:40|| 2010-06-19 00:40|| Front Page Top

#2 Clearly GEN. FAZLI is mistaking NORTH KOREA's 180,000 Commandoes on the DMZ wid the South, for his 12.0MILYUHN BASIJIS!

Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-06-19 01:17|| 2010-06-19 01:17|| Front Page Top

#3 How many Battalions in a Horde ?

Posted by Lampedusa Thraling7047 2010-06-19 06:34|| 2010-06-19 06:34|| Front Page Top

#4 Good luck with supplies and food and bullets for a 12 man army.
Let alone fuel...

Posted by 3dc 2010-06-19 11:27|| 2010-06-19 11:27|| Front Page Top

#5 that means one sixth of the entire population is Bassijis

Not necessarily. Previous intel sez there are significant numbers of non-native Iranians (Palis, Chechens, various denizens of the Balkans and the 'Stans, etc.).

But the numbers likely are inflated, even with high unemployment and and some mission realignment.

A massive armed militia only weakly under the control of the central government

It does give the IRGC and, by extension, Ahmadinejad some plausible cover as well.

Posted by Pappy 2010-06-19 12:27|| 2010-06-19 12:27|| Front Page Top

#6 Yay, every dollar they spend on their internal thugs is a dollar not spent supporting goons that annoy their neighbors.

Posted by rammer 2010-06-19 14:03|| 2010-06-19 14:03|| Front Page Top

#7 I seem to remember Persians having a spot of trouble fighting just 300 real soldiers....

Posted by Frank G 2010-06-19 15:22|| 2010-06-19 15:22|| Front Page Top

#8 trouble fighting just 300 real soldiers....

Ouch! Hey, aren't Bassijis those African dogs that don't bark?

Posted by SteveS 2010-06-19 22:32|| 2010-06-19 22:32|| Front Page Top

23:40 phil_b
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