This Means War! (or at Least a Finger Wag and a Glare!)

Very few situations will elicit profanity from me, and even fewer news reports. Maybe I am mellowing with age. But the reports I have been reading today have brought forth a hearty “What the hell!” (and not a few raised eyebrows!) According to these news reports one Manssor “Jack” Arbasiar, a naturalized United States citizen from Iran, has been actively trying to recruit Mexican drug cartel hit men to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador with a bomb, while the ambassador was on American soil. Apparently the hit was to take place while the ambassador would be dining in a Washington, D.C. restaurant – a restaurant frequented by, among others, United States congressmen. Arbasiar dismissed those Americans who would be killed as “collateral damage” with an unemotional “f**k ‘em”. The attack was to be immediately followed by bombing attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, as well as attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Manssor Arbasiar (left) planned to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir (right)

Arbasiar has said that he was working in collusion with a relative of his, Gholam Shakuri, who is reportedly a high ranking member of the Iranian Quds Force, the special forces branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard responsible for coordinating and carrying out terrorist operations outside of Iran. It is also reported that Arbasiar may have been working with others in the Iranian military, or government, as well. Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal has stated that Saudi Arabia believes this report to be authentic, and stated, “The burden of proof is overwhelming…and clearly shows official Iranian responsibility for this. Somebody in Iran will have to pay the price, whatever the level of these persons is.” It should be noted that Iran is a predominately Shite Muslim country, while Saudi Arabia a predominately Sunni Muslim country. The two Islamic sects consider each other to be apostate and blasphemous, and the animosity between them strong and deeply rooted. (Source)

Contrary to the obvious threat to the United States, defense officials have said that this situation “is not a trip wire for military action in Iran,” and “no one should read into this as a pretense for any type of military response.” According to STRATFOR, a private intelligence agency, the plot seems “far-fetched.” STRATFOR’s analysis of the situation says “Iran has been known to carry out preoperational surveillance in the United States, but it has not yet used this intelligence to carry out a high-profile attack.” Pentagon officials report that they are comfortable allowing the Department of Justice handle the terrorist plot. Predictably, an Iranian representative at the U.N. has denied that anyone in Tehran has played any part in the plot. (Source)

Of particular interest (at least to me) are STRAFOR’s comments regarding Iran’s preoperational surveillance in the U.S., and that they have not yet used this the intelligence they have gathered to carry out an attack. Because of this, STRATFOR (and apparently the United States government) are of the opinion that the notion that this was an operation officially sanctioned or even implemented by the Iranian government is “far-fetched.” This sounds simply ridiculous to me. Given the fact that our southern border is about as porous as a salad colander, and that Islamic terrorists are known to be in Mexico, it makes perfect sense for Arbasiar to contact Mexican cartel members to carry out the assassination and accompanying terrorist attacks. I don’t see that this is far-fetched at all. Just because Iran hasn’t yet used their preoperational surveillance for an attack doesn’t mean they won’t. It means they haven’t yet, and I am sure they are not conducting this surveillance just for kicks and giggles.

Let’s take into account some other related facts as well. Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, and is known to be supplying the Taliban with weapons and training to attack and kill Americans in Afghanistan as well as sending Iranian forces to Iraq to fight against Americans there.

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