Scott Ritter's most recent essay is published at Aljazeera and it's a strange one. It's about the upcoming -- or, as Ritter would say, ongoing -- attack by the USA against Iran, but first half or two thirds talk about the war in Iraq. It's tough to say exactly when that war actually started, but it's quite clear, especially in light of a recently released British memo, that the war was going long before bush started taking responsibility for it. In public, anyway.
I suppose all the preamble is necessary for those readers who won't believe we're at war with Iraq until bush tells them we are. Or until they see pictures of Tehran -- flattened. But according to Ritter,
The reality is that the US war with Iran has already begun. As we speak, American over flights of Iranian soil are taking place, using pilotless drones and other, more sophisticated, capabilities.And there's a lot more, too. But, as I've been saying, you have to scroll quite a ways to get to it.
The violation of a sovereign nation's airspace is an act of war in and of itself. But the war with Iran has gone far beyond the intelligence-gathering phase.
President Bush has taken advantage of the sweeping powers granted to him in the aftermath of 11 September 2001, to wage a global war against terror and to initiate several covert offensive operations inside Iran.
The most visible of these is the CIA-backed actions recently undertaken by the Mujahadeen el-Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group, once run by Saddam Hussein's dreaded intelligence services, but now working exclusively for the CIA's Directorate of Operations.
It is bitter irony that the CIA is using a group still labelled as a terrorist organisation, a group trained in the art of explosive assassination by the same intelligence units of the former regime of Saddam Hussein, who are slaughtering American soldiers in Iraq today, to carry out remote bombings in Iran of the sort that the Bush administration condemns on a daily basis inside Iraq.
Perhaps the adage of "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" has finally been embraced by the White House, exposing as utter hypocrisy the entire underlying notions governing the ongoing global war on terror.
But the CIA-backed campaign of MEK terror bombings in Iran are not the only action ongoing against Iran.
To the north, in neighbouring Azerbaijan, the US military is preparing a base of operations for a massive military presence that will foretell a major land-based campaign designed to capture Tehran.
Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld's interest in Azerbaijan may have escaped the blinkered Western media, but Russia and the Caucasus nations understand only too well that the die has been cast regarding Azerbaijan's role in the upcoming war with Iran.
Talk about burying the lead! Seriously, Scott!
But on the other hand, is this a surprise?
The BBC reported last week: Iran rocked by series of blasts
Six bombs have exploded in Iran, killing at least 10 people, days before the presidential election.Hmmm. Bombs exploding in Iran. I haven't heard of such a thing in a long time.
Four blasts targeted public buildings in the south-western city of Ahwaz, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 70 others.
Hours later, a bomb exploded in the capital Tehran, killing two people. Three other bombs were defused.
Bombings have been rare in Iran since the war with Iraq ended in 1988.Well then ...
No group has claimed responsibility.Ahem.