Daily Briefing on Iran Friday, 12/2/2005

Bush's Plan for Victory is a Sucker's Game

Michael Ledeen, The New York Sun:

The president gave us an often brilliant assessment of the war in Iraq, along with a welcome outline of his plan for victory over the terrorists there. It was full of vision and grit...

But the hard, unpleasant fact remains: we are playing a sucker's game in Iraq, because we are trying to win a regional war by fighting in a single country. The president knows this.

He constantly describes Iraq as one battlefield in a broader war. ...

It is impossible to believe that this vision can be fulfilled. Indeed, it is more likely that, by limiting our actions to the Iraq theater, we will give our tyrannical enemies the chance to find a winning strategy that will lead to our defeat, to the triumph of the fanatical forces in Iraq, and to the consolidation of the dictatorships in Riyadh, Damascus, and Tehran. READ MORE

A must read!

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.
**Iran Press News reported on the prosecution of four publishers and editors-in-chief.
**Iran Press News reported that protesting workers blocked the Rasht-Bandar’eh Anzali main road.
**Iran Press News reported on the regime's anxiety over the proximity of the Persian Gulf countries with NATO.
**Iran Press News reported that Iran has imported 3 times its export of Gas.
**Statfor provided their interpretation of the Khalilzad initiative with the Iranians.
**American Enterprise Institute published the ninth chapter of Gaffney's "War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take in the War for the Free World." A must read.
**The Foreign Press Association reported that Akbar Ganji was a recipient of the "Dialogue of Cultures" Award.
**The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Aharon Ze'evi Farkash said: it is clear that Iran has passed the point of no return ... unless Iran encounters a major interference, it will have a functioning nuclear arsenal within one or two years.
**Richard Bernstein, The New York Times argued that Mao's 'Fight Talk' strategy is a winning one for Iran.
**United Press International reported that U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns explained the U.S. policy toward Iran.
**DEBKAfile reported on the abrupt firing of Alexander Rumyantsev as head of the Russian Agency for Atomic Energy, trusted by the US and Israeli governments.
**CBS 2 Chicago reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that he is confident all diplomatic efforts will be exhausted before any military action might be taken against the Iranian nuclear program.
**Eli Lake, New York Sun reported that Iranian Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi told reporters that his side is winning in Iraq.
**Iran va Jahan published "A Word with the Nation, A Warning to the Regime." A statement dated November 2005 signed by 674 personalities including former Members of the Iranian Majles (parliament); well know academics, political and cultural personalities as well as student activists.