Jihad Watch: U.S.: Iran maintains "capacity in the Americas as a threat against us in the event of any conflict"

May 7, 2008

U.S.: Iran maintains "capacity in the Americas as a threat against us in the event of any conflict"

The Iranian presence is nothing new, of course, especially in Argentina, Nicaragua, and Hugo Chávez' Venezuela. "US sees Iran as potential threat in Latin America," from Agence France-Presse, May 7:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Isolated Iran sees Latin America as a place to push back US influence, from which it could maintain a terrorist threat against the United States in the event of a conflict, a senior US official warned Wednesday.

Iran views Latin America as a chance to break out of some of its international isolation and defy Washington's major power status in its back yard, State Department official Thomas Shannon said in Washington.

"It's a way to push back on us," Shannon told a conference bringing together cabinet ministers and other officials from North and South America to promote greater economic integration.

Shannon, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said it also posed a threat there as he repeated charges that Iran was behind bombings against Israeli and Jewish targets in Buenos Aires in the 1990s.

Iran denies any links.

"Our broader concern is that it ... maintains that capacity in the Americas as a threat against us in the event of any conflict," Shannon said.

Despite a loud rattling of sabers over Iran's alleged support for Shiite militias in Iraq, the US military said last week that it has not embarked on new planning for war.

"As we urge countries to respect UN-based sanctions (over Iran's disputed nuclear program), we also remind them about AMIA, we remind them about the Israeli embassy bombings," Shannon said.

Twenty-two people were killed when the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed in 1992 and 85 people were killed when the headquarters of the AMIA, a charities federation for Argentina's big Jewish community, was bombed in the Argentine capital in 1994.

"And we remind them about the continuing relationships that exist in the region between groups in Latin America and groups that we consider to be terrorist in the Middle East, especially Hezbollah and Hamas," Shannon said.

Israel blames the Iranian-backed Hezbollah for both bombings in Buenos Aires, but there have so far been no convictions in either case.

"And we urge their intelligence services and their police services to monitor this activity with great care, because we do not want Iran to become a factor of violence within the Americas," Shannon said.

Posted by Marisol at May 7, 2008 7:58 PM
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Anyone reading this from anywhere in Latin America - please, please, spread around the Spanish translation of Mr Spencer's 'Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades'!!

Someone, please, get cracking on Spanish translations of the other books: Islam Unveiled; Onward Muslim Soldiers; and Truth About Muhammad. Brazilian Portuguese translations would be well advised, too.

'Fitna' is circulating in Spanish. Has 'Islam: What the West Needs to Know' been dubbed into Spanish yet? And Portuguese - for Brazil.

All Catholics - please be bending Pope Benedict's ear, urging him to get to work on a blisteringly truthful encyclical, not just for Catholics but for the entire non-Muslim world, that will challenge the Empire of Islam head on, not only theologically but morally and intellectually; that will expose, and dissect, as immoral, indeed, as downright evil and antihuman, that nazi-like worship of raw power at all costs, that ideology of terror and slavery, which is the politico-spiritual core of Islam. Allah as supreme slavemaster and his 'slaves' in turn as ruthless slavemasters.

His predecessor challenged Communism.

Benedict XVI is the first Pope for some centuries who has had to rally the Church against the encroaching Empire of Islam.

He knows, from his own experience, what Nazism was like, what it did to the souls of German people and those whom they attacked. He of all people should be able to discern that - except for the fact that those it violently assails and seeks to subjugate can 'join the conqueror' by converting, and thus change their status from kafir untermensch to Muslim Ubermensch - Islam is in many, many respects horribly similar to Nazism; that it contains the same ugly and destructive, sadistic dominance/submission despotism/slavery paradigm.

He has got to keep hammering on the awful fact that Islam does not teach the Golden Rule, and is, therefore, profoundly antihuman; that it permits and indeed encourages the use of deception, a practice which destroys trust even within the ummah.

I want to see him rip into it. He needs to use that St Peter's pulpit for all it's worth. He could make sure that all Christians, indeed, all Infidels, everywhere, get their heads straight - and, especially, the Latin Christians of Central and Southern America, from Mexico to Patagonia.

Posted by: dumbledoresarmy

at May 7, 2008 8:56 PM

Dumbledore, excellent suggestion about translating Robert's books into Spanish and Portuguese. The South Americans are still fiercely Catholic conservatives, still listen to the Pope, and could be a powerful force in stopping encroachments of Islam into the Southern hemisphere.

"...the US military said last week that it has not embarked on new planning for war."

Yep, we're still using yesterday's plans, but you can be sure we'll update them as the need arises.

Posted by: Eastview

at May 7, 2008 9:21 PM

let the iranains make one nuke and they will get bigger delusions that the can take on the usa

Posted by: crusader

at May 7, 2008 9:36 PM

Stating the obvious.

Posted by: awake

at May 7, 2008 10:45 PM

Just wait for the North American Union or another form of easy entry to become the norm. Iranians might not be able to come to the US directly but they'll get here through our friendly (?) southern neighbors. Right now they have to sneak across, as is evidenced by the discarded passports found in Texas and elsewhere. Soon none of that will be necessary.

Posted by: PMK

at May 7, 2008 11:00 PM

Don't you wonder how many of Iran's operatives have come across the border disguised as fruit pickers?

This story dovetails perfectly with the "Perfect Day" scenario. What kind of 5th column activities will we see here at home when (not if) we start 'degrading' Iran's nuclear and military capabilities? When bombs start falling in Iran, will bombs begin detonating in the United States??
Pray, plan, and prepare while you can. Time may be short. If you wait until the trouble starts to get ready...you've waited too long.

Posted by: livefreeordie!

at May 7, 2008 11:49 PM

I think Bush will attack Iran before he leaves office. I think he will wait until the presidential election is secured by McCain, if Hillary or obama, especially Obama, become imminent he will attack sooner. Obama may inherit a war, if he does, he will quickly loose it for us...

Posted by: duh_swami

at May 8, 2008 12:21 AM

The war was lost right after 9/11 when Jorge Bush decided he had to play kissyface and kowtow to the Islamists including CAIR. He has not learned one iota of their history in the past 7 years. Nor any world history, especially WWII and Nazi Germany. Making matters far worse, he and his lackey Rice have decided "newspeak" will be so much less offensive to our Moooslim friends. He may well completely destroy our country before he leaves office.

Posted by: protozoah

at May 8, 2008 1:29 AM

guess we didnt fight the Nazis in WWII, they were the mostly blonde people with an impossible language and a leader with a strange moustache. They flew their planes over London and "things" fell down on the city & made an awful lot of noise. Smoke, too. Oh, and they built some crematoria for the Jewish population so they could keep warm in the cold winters. The blonde large men ("supermen" makes them appear invincible)marched into Russia and gosh, a whole lot of Russians somehow died. There's more, courtesy of the US State Dept, office of the Chicken, but if we tell the whole story of the war, including the Japanese, we will sound like we're trying to insult people. Oh dear me...ohhhh, I just heard a coworker referring to (gasp) "head-choppers"!

Posted by: protozoah

at May 8, 2008 1:57 AM

Israel blames the Iranian-backed Hezbollah for both bombings in Buenos Aires, but there have so far been no convictions in either case.

Seems AFP has forgotten that Argentina's Justice department has asked for extradition of certain Iranians to stand trial for the bombings.

Then again many, including the governments of Brazil and Paraguay, close their eyes to the "Tri-Border" area (where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay have a common border) where Hezbollah and other groups launder money and run arms and drugs.

Posted by: Cynic

at May 8, 2008 7:14 AM

Pray, plan, and prepare while you can. Time may be short. If you wait until the trouble starts to get ready...you've waited too long.

livefreeordie,

Any suggestions? I don't own a gun and have never fired one. I suspect a gun in this state (NJ) wouldn't be of much use, either.

Posted by: PMK

at May 8, 2008 8:24 AM

PMK,

If you don't feel where you're living would be safe, is there a safe/safer place you can go if things go crazy?
As far as preparations, make sure you have what you need in the way of food and other consumables to get by from day to day for a while. If you think you might relocate, preposition the bulk of your stocks there if possible. You don't want to leave a lot of stuff behind if you can help it.

Concerning self defense, I don't know what to tell you. My Dad started teaching me to shoot when I was about 4 or 5 years old. That was almost 40 years ago. Needless to say, my security plans center around firearms.
Being able to fight hand-to-hand with something sharp is much better than nothing at all; Cross bow?; Air rifle?; Maybe find a private shooting range where you can learn to shoot? A single-shot 12 or 20 gauge shotgun is easy to handle, inexpensive, and makes a good defensive weapon.

Basically, site down and map out your needs. Evaluate your situation. Can you make a go of things where you are? Will you need to evacuate to a safer location? Once you decide that, you cna start physically making purchases and preparations.
Whatever you do, don't give up. The enemy would like you to think the situation is hopeless, but it isn't. We're Americans, dammit, there's nothing we can't do if we put our minds to it.
I'll be praying for you.

Posted by: livefreeordie!

at May 8, 2008 8:55 AM

Hey, offer me a copy of the book and i'll start on translating it to portuguese, will ya? :P

Posted by: José, the fenec.

at May 8, 2008 10:39 AM

livefreeordie,
Thanks. I'll never give up. I also won't leave my home for them to take from me. No running away. I don't know how long I can last but I DO know that submission is not an option.

Posted by: PMK

at May 8, 2008 10:45 AM