Iran

Iran, Iraq, Islamofascists, War on Terror

Iran and Saudia Arabia vie to control terrorists

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The New York Post’s Peter Brooks explains that our friends the Saudis are competing with Iran to control terrorist organizations in the Middle East yet there is an up side:

* In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia backs the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Iran backs Shia Hezbollah, which has sought to topple the democratically elected government since the end of the war with Israel last summer.

* In the Palestinian territories, both Iran and Saudi Arabia are courting Hamas. While Tehran has long supported Hamas against Israel, Riyadh cut in on Hamas’ dance card in February by brokering a political agreement between Hamas and Fatah at Mecca.

* The Saudis recently stepped in to help ink a peace deal between Sudan and neighboring Chad. They won points for preserving peace within Sunni Islam – but also likely hoped to get Khartoum to stop Iran’s funding of the conversion of young Sunni Sudanese to Shiism.

But Iraq is the major flashpoint. The Iranian regime seeks two basic things there: 1) An ignominious defeat for America, leading to a U.S. withdrawal – from the region, if possible; and 2) The establishment of a Shia-dominated, pro-Iran Iraqi government.
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The Saudis, by contrast, largely back their fellow Sunnis in Iraq – with the important exception of al Qaeda and the insurgents. Above all else, they want to prevent Iraq from falling under Tehran’s sway. One big fear is that sectarian strife could flow over Iraq’s borders into Saudi Arabia – stirring up trouble with Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority.

Riyadh has been none too pleased with U.S. progress in Iraq; recently, it’s started taking matters quietly into its own hands. Covert Saudi support has been flowing to places like Anbar, where Sunni tribal forces are being “re-empowered.”

Happily, though, that support is bolstering the overall U.S. effort – for the Sunnis of Anbar have been striking back at the strong (and overwhelmingly foreign) al Qaeda presence in the province, rather than fighting Iraqi Shiites.

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Divest terror, Iran, Iraq, War on Terror

Terror’s lobbyist

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Since 1979, Iran has funded and directed Middle-Eastern terrorist organizations and those organizations have murdered hundreds of Americans. U.S. intelligence sources recently stated that Iran supplied the equipment and training used to kill at least 171 of our troops in Iraq. Currently, 22 senior members of the al Qaeda — including Osama bin Laden’s son — are in Iran and there is no evidence to prove they are in custody, despite that regime’s assertions. And Iran is developing nuclear weapons.

Given all that, why would any U.S. company do business with Iran when it continues to murder Americans and poses such an obvious threat to our national security? While our laws prohibit direct trade with Iran, it is taking place by proxy. In this morning’s Washington Times, Frank Gaffney provides an example of what is going on and explains what some states are attempting to do about it:

This week, the Ohio Legislature will hold its second hearing on legislation designed to help the state make a real contribution to America’s triumph in the War for the Free World. It would prevent investment by Ohio’s public pension funds in companies that do business with the terrorism-sponsoring, nuclear weapons- and ballistic missile-building and genocide-threatening Islamic Republic of Iran.

Unfortunately, the Iranian regime and the corporations partnering with it (almost all of them foreign-owned and -operated, since American companies are prohibited from participating directly in such dealings and only a few circumvent that by using offshore subsidiaries) are abetted by a well-heeled Washington lobby: the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC). Its president is William Reinsch, and the effect of its lobbying at the moment would be to keep American taxpayers and pension fund beneficiaries underwriting our enemies through their institutional and personal investments.

Mr. Reinsch had a checkered career prior to assuming his current role as Terror’s Lobbyist. For example, during the Clinton administration, he used his senior position in the Commerce Department to facilitate and excuse China’s acquisition of an array of sensitive and even dual-use technologies, despite restrictions on such transfers.

Now, the former Commerce undersecretary heads a trade council that favors doing business with America’s enemies and runs interference for those determined to do so. In his present role, Mr. Reinsch works to counter citizens and their elected representatives who believe such business dealings are strategically ill-advised and morally repugnant.

Specifically, Mr. Reinsch’s trade association is mobilizing its considerable resources to help public pension fund managers, their Wall Street advisers and state treasurers fight off initiatives like one adopted last year by Illinois. It ended investments on the part of that state’s firefighters, police officers, National Guard personnel and other public employees in companies doing business with the Islamofascist and genocidal regime in Sudan.

Until, that is, Mr. Reinsch and his friends sued to have the law overturned… READ THE REST

In addition, please take the time to learn more about the Center for Security Policy’s Divest Terror Initiative.