TA-ANALYSIS: Iranians Arrested in Iraq, Trying to Detonate Explosives

In July, 2003, two months after President Bush declared victory in Iraq, the war, far from winding down, reached a critical point. Israel, which had been among the war�s most enthusiastic supporters, began warning the Administration that the American-led occupation would face a heightened insurgency�a campaign of bombings and assassinations�later that summer. Israeli intelligence assets in Iraq were reporting that the insurgents had the support of Iranian intelligence operatives and other foreign fighters, who were crossing the unprotected border between Iran and Iraq at will. The Israelis urged the United States to seal the nine-hundred-mile-long border, at whatever cost.

The border stayed open, however.

The top German national-security official told me that he believes that the Bush Administration continually misread Iran. �The Iranians wanted to keep America tied down in Iraq, and to keep it busy there, but they didn�t want chaos,� he said. One of the senior German officials told me, �The critical question is �What will the behavior of Iran be if there is an independent Kurdistan with close ties to Israel?� Iran does not want an Israeli land-based aircraft carrier��that is, a military stronghold��on its border.�

Originally posted by curme
I think Iran is on the path to democracy. Look at the last Presidential elections, there is a generation there who want thier MTV. I think these hardliners will be ousted, if democracy can grow naturally. If we go in there with guns, they will hate us. We need a delicate hand. A question, who in the hell made the border so porous!