January 29, 2012
Tomgram: Engelhardt, Iran Through the Looking Glass
Iranian Aircraft Carriers in the Gulf of Mexico
It Can’t Happen Here
By Tom Engelhardt
Exclusive: New Iranian Commando Team Operating Near U.S.
(Tehran, FNA) The Fars News Agency has confirmed with the Republican Guard’s North American Operations Command that a new elite Iranian commando team is operating in the U.S.-Mexican border region. The primary day-to-day mission of the team, known as the Joint Special Operations Gulf of Mexico Task Force, or JSOG-MTF, is to mentor Mexican military units in the border areas in their war with the deadly drug cartels. The task force provides “highly trained personnel that excel in uncertain environments,” Maj. Amir Arastoo, a spokesman for Republican Guard special operations forces in North America, tells Fars, and “seeks to confront irregular threats...”
The unit began its existence in mid-2009 -- around the time that Washington rejected the Iranian leadership’s wish for a new diplomatic dialogue. But whatever the task force does about the United States -- or might do in the future -- is a sensitive subject with the Republican Guard. “It would be inappropriate to discuss operational plans regarding any particular nation,” Arastoo says about the U.S.
Okay, so I made that up. Sue me. But first admit that, a line or two in, you knew it was fiction. After all, despite the talk about American decline, we are still on a one-way imperial planet. Yes, there is a new U.S. special operations team known as Joint Special Operations Task Force-Gulf Cooperation Council, or JSOTF-GCC, at work near Iran and, according to Wired magazine’s Danger Room blog, we really don’t quite know what it’s tasked with doing (other than helping train the forces of such allies as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia).
And yes, the quotes are perfectly real, just out of the mouth of a U.S. “spokesman for special-operations forces in the Mideast,” not a representative of Iran’s Republican Guard. And yes, most Americans, if they were to read about the existence of the new special ops team, wouldn’t think it strange that U.S. forces were edging up to (if not across) the Iranian border, not when our “safety” was at stake.
Reverse the story, though, and it immediately becomes a malign, if unimaginable, fairy tale. Of course, no Iranian elite forces will ever operate along the U.S. border. Not in this world. Washington wouldn’t live with it and it remains the military giant of giants on this planet. By comparison, Iran is, in military terms, a minor power.
Any Iranian forces on the Mexican border would represent a crossing of one of those “red lines” that U.S. officials are always talking about and so an international abomination to be dealt with severely. More than that, their presence would undoubtedly be treated as an act of war. It would make screaming headlines here. The Republican candidates for the presidency would go wild. You know the rest. Think about the reaction when Attorney General Eric Holder announced that an Iranian-American used-car salesman from Texas had contacted a Mexican drug cartel as part of a bizarre plot supposedly hatched by senior members of the elite Iranian Quds Force to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in a Washington restaurant and possibly bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies as well.
Fact of the matter is, the Republican Guard’s North American Operations Command, if there was such a thing, would never dare mess with the cartels. "Oh, you're from Tehran, we're from Ciudad Juarez. Brrrap, brrrap you're dead, your family is dead, your next-door neighbor is dead, your paper boy is dead, the guy who cuts your grass is...wait a minute he's a Mexican, never mind."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg7goEASO5E
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 30, 2012 at 05:53 PM
HA,HA,HA,HA,HA..... WN, You are the Ultimate Pin Stripe, Check Pants RINO.
@ OneAmerican, You are ON to something about Rocky. He really blows a gasket when shown how this Country became the Greatest Nation on Earth, as well as in History. Then Splutters about "Simplistic Solutions". America Screwed up first under Woodrow Wilson, Then even worse under that sick Polio ridden FDR and then came LBJ... Its been downhill since 1913. The only reason We're Still Limping along is because The American Success Story has been so hard for Sick Twisted Types like Rocky to Kill.
Posted by: warren, | January 30, 2012 at 06:14 PM
On Fridays, it's oxford button down without tie, khakis and tassel loafers. On the weekends, it's polo shirt with the collar turned up, khakis and docksiders. RINOs for Romney!
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 30, 2012 at 06:47 PM
Oh, and don't forget your cashmere, dear!
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 30, 2012 at 06:49 PM
President Barack Obama could learn a lot from President Lyndon B. Johnson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYqmO0PJ5Zk&feature=related
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 30, 2012 at 06:55 PM
Wow, Tony. That almost brought a tear to My eye. It could well be LBJ's Finest Hour. I can almost hear Lady Bird whispering "Thaatz Awl Right" in His Ear as She Hugs Him.
Posted by: warren, | January 30, 2012 at 08:44 PM
My boys at the Romney fundraiser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwirWWnzJKM&feature=related
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 30, 2012 at 09:08 PM
Streuth!!! Not Another Republican Debate!
- I'm reaching for a Castlemaine XXXX........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtwkDGlpWJk
Posted by: warren, | January 30, 2012 at 09:18 PM
That's some Liquid Gold. Not to be Confused with the REAL McCoy....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XeEGJP-Huk
Posted by: warren, | January 30, 2012 at 09:25 PM
So Lads, How do We ...... i.e. "U.S." Get the Gold Back?
Awnswer Iz,
http://abolishthefederalreserve.org/
Posted by: warren, | January 30, 2012 at 09:37 PM
Who Commissioned Us to Remake the World?
http://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2012/01/27/creators_oped
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 31, 2012 at 08:30 AM
"I think it's time again that 'we the people' showed the media and Washington elite exactly who is in charge." Chuck Norris.
http://townhall.com/columnists/chucknorris/2012/01/31/proof_voters_are_smarter_than_media_and_washington_elite/page/2
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 31, 2012 at 08:47 AM
Newt does not look too Good, And He's not Polling Well in FLA Either...WN might be Smiling Tonight.
Posted by: warren, | January 31, 2012 at 08:56 AM
Will FLA kiss the Newt?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYO0joolR0
Posted by: warren, | January 31, 2012 at 09:07 AM
There are still seven months until the convention and lots of dissatisfied Republicans out there. Best not plan the coronation festivities just yet.
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 31, 2012 at 09:11 AM
A two-day "tour and discussions"?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-31/iaea-to-end-tehran-trip-amid-tensions-over-iran-nuclear-work.html
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 31, 2012 at 09:24 AM
Green electricity finds few customers in Mass.
Wind farms bring higher NStar bills
http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/01/31/green-electricity-finds-few-customers-mass/awxGuGG44ENt0UmrDAOegN/story.html
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 31, 2012 at 01:19 PM
"Jobs, jobs, jobs" and "Let's do lunch."
http://s847.photobucket.com/albums/ab40/katiepavlich/?action=view¤t=Screenshot2012-01-30at115728AM.png
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 31, 2012 at 01:34 PM
Please step over here, the "Authorities" would like to have a word with you.
Welcome to America 2012. Not bad, only took less then 100 years to piss it all away. Sometimes you don't know a good thing till it's gone. Sorry kids, our sincere desire to keep you safe has made you a slave. This is what we are leaving you, good luck.
http://reason.com/archives/2012/01/31/the-tsas-war-on-innocent-travelers
Posted by: One American | January 31, 2012 at 03:56 PM
It's not gone, yet. Going, perhaps. At risk? Definitely.
Lesson from the past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZvWt29OG0s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkKCb7uElcs&feature=fvwp&NR=1
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 31, 2012 at 04:58 PM
And the wiener of the Florida primary is......
BIG GOVERNMENT!!!!
http://media.reason.com/mc/tcavanaugh/obamney.jpg?h=476&w=328
(told ya so)
Posted by: One American | January 31, 2012 at 08:17 PM
And the loser is....look in the mirror
Posted by: One American | January 31, 2012 at 08:19 PM
Delegates needed for Republican nomination: 1144
Delegates committed for Romney: 87.
Patience.
2016 is coming.
Posted by: Antonio Andolini | January 31, 2012 at 08:21 PM
It's early Day's and there is room for Error...
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/delegates
Let the Demolition Derby Go On!
Posted by: warren, | January 31, 2012 at 08:34 PM
Tribute to Our Troops (Currently on TV in Florida)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vts0tqsFcJ0
Posted by: One American | January 31, 2012 at 10:40 PM