If we do have special forces units or CIA helping arm the revolutionaries, I doubt we'd be making it public knowledge. I'm not saying that we are arming Iranian revolutionaries, but that we probably won't know about it until much later.

Between units in Iraq and Afghanistan, I wouldn't be surprised if we offered a little unpublicized help.

No, no one is noticing this, because the media is VERY committed to ignoring this mini-revolution as it makes Iraq look much less bad when you consider there is a nutty nuclear-wannabe dictatorship carrying out mass murder of political dissidents next door.

Who know? Maybe by the time American troops enter Tehran, Iraq may look so good by comparison that the Iranian people will be cheering us.

I think we (the USA) are neck deep in their insurgency. It makes nothing but sense to topple the moolahs.
(I loved that more than anything else in the debate. "Moolahs." Shit. I'd vote for him just for that!)

Geez! Don't you guys sleep?!

Did this guy just ask if WE ever sleep??

"Posted by Bill from INDC at October 3, 2004 02:31 AM"

You know, if we can get together 10,000 or so armed Iranian resistance fighters, they can sweep through Iran in a matter of weeks with spec ops and support from a couple carrier groups. We wouldn't need a single American infantry boot on the ground.

It's easy to forget that precision weapons systems are a HUGE force multiplier. We can do with 10 sorties what it would have taken 100+ sorties to do 20 years ago.

TC-LeatherPenguin,

Actually "Moolahs" is the correct pronunciation.

Bill,

No. If I did I couldn't read your most excellent blog.

The Us has a long history of aiding revolutionaries to subvert other countries, and of proping up unsound regimes that show it favor, Africa, the middle east and latin America have had similar interventions for decades, and let us remember Cuba, haiti, Vietnam, Korea, Laios, and even the early west German and Japanese governments and the Chinese nationalists.

This is perfectly in character for the country that tried to start an uprising in Iraq, only to leave the people to be nerve gassed to death without raising a finger to protect their allies.

I think that the failure to aid the Iraqi insurgents after Gulf War I was one of the greatest moral failures of US foreign policy in a generation, but I'd be awful careful about throwing around scathing, accusatory generalizations about US foreign policy if I were you ...

A. By modern and especially historical standards, the US is relatively benign in terms of cruel self-interest, especially for a hyperpower.

B. Realpolitik is a part of realistic foreign policy.

>>>The Us has a long history of aiding revolutionaries to subvert other countries

Generally for the better, as in Eastern Europe.

>>>This is perfectly in character for the country that tried to start an uprising in Iraq, only to leave the people to be nerve gassed to death without raising a finger to protect their allies

It's also the country that is directly or indirectly responsible for the freedom of every person living in a free country anyhere in the world today.

It would have been impossible to garner any international support to directly support the Kurdish or Shia uprisings beyond establishing the no-fly zones. The coalition would have crumbled. That said, like Wolfowitz I would have supported such an intervention as it could have led to democracy ten years sooner.

Bill:
Check out Allahpundit (I think from wednesday) he says this activist website does this every couple months and nothing comes of it.

Instapundit picked it up today buts its actually a few days old.

http://www.allahpundit.com/archives/001031.html

As I mentioned at Stop The Bleating:

I'm not being conspiratorial, and the CIA is not all-powerful. But, just for example, in the 1980s my in-law parents, who were from Poland, often railed in rage at the fact that the US sent money and other aide to other countries but when it came to Poland, all the President did was tell Americans to pray for Poland and otherwise did absolutely nothing visible to support Lech Walesa, the Solidarity movement, etc.

During the Clinton administration, when a bunch of stuff was declassified, we found out that the Reagan administration gave Walesa and his supporters millions of dollars, covert intelligence, and free FAX machines and photocopiers and two-way radios... and believe it or not in that time and place, the FAX machines and copiers were probably the most effective thing for them.

Anyway it was all hush-hush because it would have caused all kinds of problems if they'd done it openly.

The same is true if we openly supported any resistance in Iran right now. If we did anything about it, it would have to be very careful and very quiet.

A woman journalist in Teheran emailed me that it's not true, there was no fighting in their cities. Jeff Jarvis linked to a post by Toronto photoblogger Hossein Derakhshan about a new crackdown & she said that wasn't true either (& had some choice words for Derakshan).

Like most of the Iranian bloggers I've interacted with, she's VERY anti-mullah & VERY anti-Bush. She said many of the younger kids call themselves Buddhists or Confucians & want nothing to do with Islam.

Yeah. We backed the good guys and secretly gave them the tools they needed to win, copiers and faxes.

The left backed the bad guys and secretly gave them weapons they used on the good guys.

See the moral equivalency? No. Well that's because you're a good guy.

Dean,

Thanks for the comment over at my place; I've added some additional thoughts there. I could post them here, but of course that wouldn't generate hits, would it? ;-)

No one's questioned the timing?

Bill, how old are you actually and what do you know about the Poles of Poland. Or about Hungaria? Now go out and gather your acts.

You think old WWIers are wrong. Weong how? Maybe on the Russian millions dead?

I'm growing crazy with your insistence that the MoonBats have some point. Then what is it?

When the Kerry and Bush arrived on the stage, I saw Kerry definitely pull out a paper from his upper right inside jacket pocket with his left hand. He quickly placed whatever it was on the podium..I wondered then why he was bringing something in..

This man never ceases to lie, distort, or to defy rules and regulations.

I hope the Debate committee calls him on this cheating...

Just to clarify that I saw Kerry pulling something out of his pocket, I was watching the debate on t.v.. and it was quite clear that whatever it was was brought out just before he approached the podium.

http://kerryfollowrsforbush.tripod.com

5325 How can this all be as nice? Check out my site http://www.pai-gow-keno.com

It seems to me that nobody has a clue about middle east culture and history, and you can not win the hearts and minds of Moslem countries by bombing them to democracy.It seems to me there are resources that they have that we want, and there is nothing that we have that they want.Don't insult my intelligent talking about expanding democracy, most people here don't give a damn about freedom in Iraq.