Further to this, David Warren at the Ottawa Citizen:
With the sort of arrogance made visible even to Canadians in the recent “trial” of suspects in the murder of Zahra Kazemi, the regime’s officials from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei down have been making bellicose declarations against America, Israel, and the West generally.
“Today we have in our possession long-range smart missiles which can reach many of the interests and vital resources of the Americans and of the Zionist regime in our region,” writes Yadollah Javani, political head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the daily Kayhan, which has become the Iranian “Pravda”.
General Javani was echoing remarks made by Ayatollah Khamenei in Hamadan a week earlier, in more Koranic language. “The entire Islamic Middle East is now a volatile and tangled trap, and will be set off by the smallest bit of silliness,” Javani declares. “Indeed, the White House’s 80 years of exclusive rule are likely to become 80 seconds of Hell.”
Translations on the excellent MEMRI website (see Internet) flesh out such threats. Recent announcements include: the recruitment and training of thousands of Iranian volunteers for suicide attacks against U.S. and other targets in Iraq; the resumption of work on Iran’s long-range Shihab 4 and 5 missiles, capable of reaching targets in Europe and the U.S.; and references to a “master plan” to eliminate “Anglo-Saxon civilization” with missiles and martyrdom, mentioning “29 sensitive targets”.
These threats are not uttered from a cave in the Hindu Kush. They are official Iranian state announcements. The ability of the Western media to ignore them is astounding.
Just a question… how much airtime over the past 6 months do you suppose has been devoted in the national news airwaves to the current NHL player-owner stalemate by CTV and CBC? To Todd Bertuzzi? How many man hours spent bringing us stories about former figureskaters turned boxers? To stupid pet tricks and the threats of sun exposure and uncooked meat?
What are we going to say about the seriousness of our press, when the day comes that a major metropolitan area is laid waste, and we know more about obese film makers than we do the formally sworn enemies of our civilization?
Hat tip – Occam’s Toothbrush
I highly doubt that Iran will be allowed to reach a point where it can produce a nuclear weapon, even in a clandestine sense.
I would see a few things that would happen, lacking the political will of the American people to start another war.
For one, Israel is not going to sit on it’s hands while Iran develops a nuclear capability. And I’m sure they will be more than willing and prepared to take unilateral action (airstrikes) such as they did in Iraq during the 1980’s to cripple Iran’s nuclear development program.
I wonder if Iran would really attack America and expect to get away with it. I wonder if its true?
Mike’s right. Israel would clean Iran’s clock well beforehand. And there will be much teeth-gnashing and hand wringing, but ultimately very little else.