ISSUES....
Inside,
confidential, off the record
Baker
takes US Presidency
James Baker,
with a big assist from Iran, is preparing to edge out President
George W. Bush and his designated successor, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, to
place his own man in the job.
The key to
the success of this plan is the likely Baker-Hamilton
recommendation that the US and Iran agree to share power in Iraq,
a
recommendation that, if accepted by President Bush, will bring
down the
Bush-Cheney administration and push the decision on the future
president
into the US House of Representatives.
The Baker-Hamilton recommendation for US power sharing in Iraq
will not work
because it comes too late. Iran already has the upper hand. Tel
Koppel,
who has just completed a documentary on Iran for the Discovery
Channel, said
in a recent interview, that as of today "Iran has more influence
in Iraq
than the US." Freeze that frame. Who needs the Baker plan?
Iraq now
belongs to Iran, after the loss of all that US blood and treasure.
How does Iran
gain influence in Iraq? Iran is doing it just like the US --
boots on the ground. Well in advance of the US withdrawal, Iran
is building
a substantial military presence in Iraq. IranFocus.com today exposes
the
linkage between Iran's feared intelligence service (the MOIS),
Iran's
regular army, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards elite Qods task
force, and
Iraq's Badr Brigade, a Shia milityia affiliated with the SCIRI
party, which
is Ambassador Khalilzad's favorite Iraqi political party (see
"Iran is
Behind the Badr Brigade" 17 November 06).
What Iran
is building in Iraq is another Hezbollah, just like the one that
is today taking over Lebanon at Iran's behest. Thanks to Ambassador
Khalilzad, who is now being mentioned as the next US ambassador
to the UN,
the Iranian-financed and controlled Badr Brigade, as an SCIRI
partner, now
essentially owns Iran's Interior Ministry, whose police are promoting
civil
war via attacks on Iraqi Sunnis and on the anti-Iran Muqtada al-Sadr's
Mahdi
Army.
Again, freeze
that frame. Ambassador Khalilzad is cooperating with Iran to
advance Iran's plan to foment civil war in Iraq as the quickest
means of
inducing a US withdrawal. Then, once US forces are out, and Syria
and the
Arab states are sidelined in Iraq, Iran will be positioned to
annex as much
of Iraq as it wants.
We know this
is happening because the Bush Administration is already
releasing trial balloons that signal a US retreat in Iraq on behalf
of Iran,
along with a US betrayal (the latest in a series) of the Arab
states.
To be specific,
the Guardian Newspaper reports that a certain David
Satterfield, identified as the State Department's top man on Iraq,
when
testifying before Congress yesterday, said the US will open channels
to Iran
to discuss mutual interests in Iraq, but not Syria.
With this
decision, which was concealed from the US Congress until it was
finalized, State and Baker-Hamilton have picked precisely the
most dangerous
and morally debased option; i.e. US-Iran collaboration in occupying
Iraq.
Not to worry,
the Iraqis will never accept Iran as an occupying power, even
if Iran comes into Iraq under a US flag.
Two big losers
are evident, however, on the US side: President George W.
Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. President Bush is a loser
because he
has been swindled by James Baker. To understate this point, Iran
will not
be a reliable US partner in Iraq, as it is not in Lebanon. It
can safely be
predicted that Baker's pro-Iran breakthrough will, over time,
collapse what
is left of the Bush presidency.
Speaker Pelosi
is a potential loser because the Bush presidency will come
crashing down on her. Is it possible that when she sees Rep. Hoyer
she sees
James Baker, who would prefer to have his own man, finally, after
Clinton
and George W. Bush, in the Oval Office?
ISSUES....
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