Iran's War against America

When does a smoking gun become a bullet in the head? For many American soldiers, unfortunately, that time has already come. Iran is in Iraq, fighting with the "insurgents" to kill American servicepeople:

The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces, according to senior Iraqi and American officials in Baghdad and Washington.

Used to be that this kind of action was as much of a declaration of war as bombing a flag ship (but I guess Bill Clinton's non-response to that provocation put paid to that 'ol saw, right? And how much did his fearful inaction contribute to the boldness of the 9/11 plot? Plenty, sez me), so what has President Bush had to say? Well...nothing, again:

The Bush administration made no public announcement of the politically delicate seizure of the Iranians, though in response to specific questions the White House confirmed Sunday that the Iranians were in custody.

Maybe those recently UN-approved sanctions that even the NY Times describes as "mild" will learn them their lesson! Yeah, right - instead, our ridiculous policy is catapualting us towards another 9/11 disister. Andrew McCarthy in the National Review:

But as for Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah, the approach has been strictly old school — as in, recklessly passive. That is a growing catastrophe. In their relentless anti-American jihad, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and al Qaeda are one.
Still, negotiating, appeasing, and looking the other way is exactly what we have been doing.

But really, why should Iran stop waging its 27 year old war against the US and the West? Look at just a brief roundup of their successes:

-American Embassy takeover in 1979; forcing Jimmy Carter from office (not a bad thing, but still...)
-Creation of Hezbollah - let's see, what anti-Americanism have they been up to? Well, they bombed the U.S. embassy in Beirut back in '83, killing over 60. Of course, the organization six months later truck-bombed a military barracks in Beirut, murdering 241 United States Marines. Even tough-guy Ronald Reagan bugged out after that ordeal. Not to mention, of course, the quarter-century war that Hezbollah has been waging against Israel, including this summer's attack that wound up backfiring a bit (although it gave Iran good battle knowledge regarding a future war against Israel; not unlike the Nazi's involvement in the Spanish Civil War - remember Guernica?)
-nukes! nukes! nukes! Why bow to the West when you can snub them, and still get away with building weapons of the apocalypse while threatening your neighbors with mass destruction? With barely a slap on the wrist from the entire international community, to boot!

And they are still planning ahead - more, from McCarthy (who has a great roundup on all the evil that Iran has done):

MEMRI recorded Yahya Safavi, a commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, repeatedly referring to the United States as “the enemy” in an interview on Iranian television. “The Americans,” Safavi brayed, “have many weaknesses. In fact, in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they clearly displayed their strengths and weaknesses. We have planned our strategy precisely on the basis of their strengths and weaknesses.”

They are planning for war, and our commander-in-chief just sweeps their daily provocations under the rug. I wrote yesterday that Tony Blair is finally starting to get on board; when will George Bush even admit the threat exists? Bill Clinton followed an identical course with al-Qaeda, and the end result was the worst attack on American soil in our history. Bush has done well so far to keep the mainland safe since 9/11; but a static strategy against an opponent that continues to evolve is doomed to failure. How many servicepeople in Iraq, and how many citizens of the United States, will pay for this strategic blindness?

Andrew McCarthy says that as far as Iran and the American perspective goes, it is September 10th all over again. Are our intelligence divisions that incompetent? Or have diplomatic considerations overwhelmed military necessities, and thus demand that we offer up another 3,000 American lives rather than face off premptively against our enemies? If this is so, can it be fixed? Or has the poison of political correctness and dictator-love become so ingrained in the State Department and Intelligence (and the media, of course) that even another 9/11 will only bring about the most minute of policy changes?

Where is our Winston Churchill; where is our Franklin D. Roosevelt? We seem to be surrounded by nothing but Chamberlains, and Quislings...

UPDATE: On the same subject at Gates of Vienna, Dymphna comments:

With the arrest of people it suspects of targeting Americans, the military has thrown down the gauntlet. Let’s see if anyone picks it up. So far, Iran is uncharacteristically mum - considering these events started on Thursday, that silence in itself is interesting.

If Imay beg to differ - the silence is characteristic; Iran is watching, judging, gaming the response America might make. As Commander Yahya Safavi noted above; they are carefully observing so that they know how to strategically alter their methods in the future (if it is actually necessary at all). And is there even a gauntlet thrown down? In this summer's Hezbollah-Israel war, captured Iranian soldiers were paraded out by Israel whom admitted they were fighting with, and arming, terrorists in Lebanon as per Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's orders. The world's response? A collective yawn. Expect very little different from W. and US policymakers, as they mimick the "See no/hear no/speak no evil" monkees.

And trust me, Iran will learn much from this skirmish as well....