Meet A Main Player In Iran’s Fight With The United States
Psst.. Its spelled S-E-R-I-O-U-S
And you call yourself hardliners..
The Daily Star
Let’s try for a moment to put ourselves in the mind of Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. For it is the soft-spoken Soleimani, not Iran’s bombastic President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who plays a decisive role in his nation’s confrontation with the United States.
Soleimani represents the sharp point of the Iranian spear. He is responsible for Iran’s covert activities in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and other battlegrounds. He oversees the regime’s relations with its militant proxies, Hizbullah and Hamas. His elite, secretive wing of the Revolutionary Guard is identified as a terrorist organization by the Bush administration, but he is also Iran’s leading strategist on foreign policy. He reports personally to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his budget (mostly in cash) comes directly from the supreme leader’s office.
Soleimani is said to be confident about Iran’s rising power in the region, according to an Arab official who met recently with him. He sees an America that is weakened by the war in Iraq but still potent. He has told visitors that United States’ and Iran’s goals in Iraq are similar, despite the rhetoric of confrontation. But he has expressed no interest in direct, high-level talks. The Quds Force commander prefers to run out the clock on the Bush administration, hoping that the next administration will be more favorable to Iran’s interests.
“The level of confidence of these [Quds Force] guys is that they are it, and everything else is marginal,” says the Arab who meets regularly with Soleimani.
Soleimani has been adept at turning up the heat in Iraq, then lowering the temperature when it suits Iran’s interest. A good example was the Basra campaign in March when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki attacked the Mehdi Army, the Shiite militia headed by Muqtada al-Sadr. Though the Iranians had been backing Sadr, they made a quick switch to supporting Maliki. It was Soleimani himself who brokered the cease-fire that restored calm in Basra.
The simultaneous support for Maliki and Sadr is characteristic of Soleimani, according to people who know him well. Rather than pick a single ally, as Americans tend to do, he will choose at least two. By riding several horses at once, he maximizes Iran’s opportunities and reduces its risks.
Soleimani’s opportunism was evident during the heavy shelling of the Green Zone in March. The Iranians had supplied their Mehdi Army allies in Sadr City with very powerful 240 mm rockets and mortars, and they had bracketed their targets in the Green Zone so precisely that US casualties were rising sharply.
After a particularly heavy day of shelling, Genral David Petraeus sent Soleimani a message - “Stop shooting at the Green Zone.” The message was conveyed verbally by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The Quds Force commander didn’t react immediately. But the heavy mortar fire on the Green Zone soon tapered off. Iran had flexed its muscles and demonstrated America’s vulnerability, and then opted for a tactical retreat.
This ebb and flow of Iranian tactics was noted by Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Baghdad. He told journalists Thursday that the Iranians have withdrawn Mehdi Army fighters from Basra and Sadr City, but it isn’t clear yet whether they have decided that “the militia era is over” in Iraq, or are just making a “tactical pause.”
The question for Soleimani-watchers is how he will play his hand in the growing confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program. The Bush administration seems to have decided on a course of escalating pressure against Tehran during its remaining months in office. The Iranians, while maintaining a tough line on the nuclear issue, as well as in Iraq and Lebanon, appear wary of an all-out confrontation.
So imagine that you are Qassem Soleimani, commander of a covert Iranian army deployed across the Middle East: You doubt that the Bush administration would run the risk of a military strike against Iran, but you can’t be sure. You think America can’t afford to play chicken in an election year, but you can’t be certain of that, either. You think Iran is on a roll, but you know how quickly that advantage could be squandered by unwise choices. You know that Arabs, even in Iraq, have become peeved at what they see as meddling and overreaching by Tehran. So you watch and wait. You give ground where necessary, but you prepare to strike back, as devastatingly as possible - and on your own terms, not those of your adversary.
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maybe they graduated from westlake, ohio?
June 6th, 2008 at 8:26 pm“We are your serions (aka serious) enemies”
I was kinda hoping for something a bit more challenging. You are all dead meat so stand by for it.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:31 pmThe only “high level talks” I want with this piglet is the kind of high-level talking that a JADAM does when it is released from the bomb bays of B-1’s and B-52’s.
Giving these apostate followers of the anti-God legitimacy through high-level talks is more comic relief for the late-night jihadi hour shows in the ME.
Let’s launch a tactical nuclear strike against Iran and talk after they’ve surrendered.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:38 pmWorked with Japan … I always say.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:44 pmFor a pissant the dude thinks an awful lot of himself and his adeptness at tweakin’ his betters.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:55 pmLet’s kill him.
Carbon credits, anyone?
June 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pmSoleimani has been adept at turning up the heat in Iraq, then lowering the temperature when it suits Iran’s interest.
Let’s see is Soleimani is as adept at turning up the heat as a high-impulse thermobaric bomb thru his bedroom window…
Ululululululululululululu….
June 6th, 2008 at 9:18 pmWhy do we tolerate the existance of these assholes? The hostage situation happened in 1978, I was 7-years-old. Thirty years I have known that shit like this was going to go down. This is what happens when you only HOPE things will get better. Hey, isn’t that the platform of Obama’s foreign policy?
June 6th, 2008 at 9:49 pmAccording to A’jad they have no gays there, so let’s drop the gay bomb on them, in the process sparing thousands of persian goats from a life of sodomy and mistreatment (should please PETA), and then open their borders to mass migration from SF - progressives can show them how to build a gay parade float that doesn’t include a cheery picker and noose.
/sarc off.
Seriously, Dan’s recommendation FTW!!
June 6th, 2008 at 10:11 pmI was in the Green Zone during the heavy shelling, and the retards still could barely hit shit. Most of them fell outside the Green Zone, and most of the ones that hit inside still didnt hit shit.
June 7th, 2008 at 1:33 am