Secretary of State Pompeo against the advice of career professional officials at the Pentagon and the C.I.A. is clearly, like his president, not interested in following the recommendations of those officials who spend their careers studying our foreign allies and enemies. Like the president, Pompeo appears to be following the wishes of Prime Minister Netanyahu who has the ear of both Trump and his son in law, Jared Kushner, whose family has had close ties to Netanyahu before becoming Prime Minister. In my opinion, Trump's reckless abandonment of the Iran Nuclear Deal was also based on Netanyahu ability to influence U.S. foreign policy via Kushner, which again was contrary to the advice from our own officials who had worked years to negotiate the agreement along our allies in the region
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Mr. Pompeo, I also recommend you to consider declaring Pakistan's ISI branch providing support to terrorist organizations who attack India as global terrorists and invoke sanctions.
3
A few years ago my wife and I went on a Metropolitan Museum of Art ten day trip to Iran. We encountered many everyday Iranians in our daily tours, and occasional unsupervised walks. We had an emergency visit to an Iranian hospital where we were treated very well. We were present at a government staged protest and talked with some of the school-age protestors who were friendly and wanted to practice their English. Virtually all seemed the US, and were also proud of their country. Our government should encourage more people-to-people ties which is where progress will be made, not with threats and sanctions.
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Quds Force is still a means of Iranian power projection, and not ineffective. But today the organization is diversifying into running profitable businesses. I expect Quds Force to become less the tip of the Shiite spear because of this.
The article is correct that so designating a foreign military unit would be unprecedented, and that it could lead to foreign governments so designating American units, such as the Navy Seals.
2
Putting the spotlight on Iran's militants could easily prompt them to greater security and the possibility of any infiltration. Again, Pompeo acts as Trump's personal surrogate when we need intelligent, thoughtful people at the state department to carry out our nation's business.
Echoing Trump's paranoid tweets is the last thing our Secretary of State should be doing.
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Why is Iran our enemy? It is an enemy of freedom everywhere, not just our enemy. It is a totalitarian, militaristic juggernaut of subjugation of: free speech, freedom of religious belief; women's rights; and human rights in general, and it's goal is to require the entire world to conform to a fundamentalist form of Islam. Just because Pompeo said it doesn't mean it's wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day - call terrorists what they are.
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What isn't really discussed in this article is what Pompeo says accurate or not. Are they or specific parts, like the Republican Guard, Terrorist or support terrorism? The slant here is basically that Iran's won't like us gauge is higher than it already is. What about ISIS? Should be mute about them so they might like us. For a while they were bringing 50 million dollars a month on oil sales. We could have stopped that but for some reasons we held back. How many lives were lost because the money was rolling in to finance their actions? Did that make them like us. We should be looking to Pompeo to back up his claims. If he has proof, so be it. If he doesn't, challenge his reason. But whether someone thinks Iran will gets its feelings hurt or not, should not be the issue.
1
The problem the US just cannot get over what a strategic failure the invasion of Iraq was. The dual containment policy was destroyed by GWB, and a more representative Iraqi political order, where the Shia are the majority would obviously be more friendly toward Iran, where the Shias make up 90% of the population. The US can huff and puff, yet they are entirely the cause of this and they can't undo what they have done, so they are grasping at straws trying to undo their own failure, but it won't work. The region will never be what it was pre-2003, Iran is more powerful than ever, the Saudi debacle in Yemen has only intensified Iranian influence there as well and yet, the administration continues to prevent a resolution that would end that conflict and enhance negotiations between the parties.
While it gives me no pleasure to say this, I say it is quite fitting that after destroying a country and leaving hundreds of thousands dead, that the strategic outcome is a failure and an empowerment of an adversary. If anything, you'd hope it'd force the US to really rethink any "adventures" in a part of the world it clearly lacks the ability to understand.
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With every passing minute, I care less about these kinds of countries.
But of course, I am not in the money train that passes through them.
1
I have never been a supporter of trump, and want him out of office a.s.a.p. and I know that Mike Pompeo is a psychopath and even looks like one, but I have to agree that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is a terrorist organization. They have been responsible for assisting in numerous terrorist attacks along with the training of terrorist and Iran in general has supported and funded terrorists. I don’t get why so many people have this belief that Iran should continue to be treated with kid gloves.
Even though past United States presidential administrations are responsible for the current state of Iran, and I know that Isreal is also a factor into these current pushes, Iran is responsible for many atrocities. But if declaring that the Revolutionary Guard is a terrorist organization than one may declare the entire country of Saudi Arabia a terrorist organization as well.
To this day I find it sickening that our government continues to have these deep ties to the Saudi Royal government, even after their funding, support, and citizens being mainly responsible for the deaths of thousands of America citizens in the WTC attacks.
The United States needs leaders that hold these governments responsible for their actions, whether it is in the form of sanctions or military actions to remove those in power.
I have am just fed up with so many Middle Eastern countries and their religious hatred of our entire country, and just about every other country, that doesn’t conform to Muslim beliefs.
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@David Parchert. There's someone I can agree with 100%
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This only reinforces that U.S. policy in the region is not aimed at peace but continued instability. When will we learn that the arbitrary lines designating Iraq, Iran and other countries drawn after the first world war are as fluid as the sands on the ground the hope to define. The traditional game plan to exploit the Sunni and Shite schism used by the west for decades appears to be having less effect.
Leaders in the region now seem to understand that they have long been used as pawns in a game that served to enrich western business interests by encouraging and fueling their tribal differences. Ironically the emergence of ISIS seems to have been the catalyst behind the change. It appears that leaders in the area now feel that by communicating openly and directly and by increased cooperation they have been able to contain and defeat the radical element.
Western military leaders see this as a positive and a chance to finally remove themselves from the battlefield. The current U.S. administration, however is terrified that any “unification” of sorts will challenge their continued arbitrary goal of portraying Iran as terrorist state.
I am encouraged by the fact that many European and Asian countries have tired of the U.S. approach of constantly making Iran the bogyman in the region. I only hope that U.S. politicians will have the courage to take a hard look at the genesis of current middle east instability and lay the blame squarely where it belongs; the House of Saud.
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@Lester Deane
"I am encouraged by the fact that many European and Asian countries have tired of the U.S. approach of constantly making Iran the bogyman in the region."
It's Israel that shapes American foreign policy: the US just does what Netanyahu wants. Israel has bought our Congress and uses it as it prefers.
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why should we even care??? we should let go of these countries after all these years of taking their oil and meddling in their politics. let them settle their own issues and bring our kids home and stop wasting our wealth. we need universal health care, not universal colonialism!
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"Analysts said Mr. Pompeo’s trip and its focus on Iran is an attempt to lend Trump administration support to embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel before national elections set for April 9."
What was it that Ilhan Omar said about dual loyalties?
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I'm curious as to why the headline in the print edition is "U.S. Strategy to Isolate Iran Roils Pentagon". Why the difference? And I agree with so many of these comments -- why is Iran Our Great Enemy?
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Our nation's roads, bridges, and schools are falling apart, and our costs of health care are exploding, but we have a government whose top priority is to tell nations on the other side of the globe with whom they may associate, and how to govern themselves in ways that meet our approval. This is yet another attempt by the war-mongers to create another profitable war of opportunity, which will make the world and our own nation less safe, kill thousands more innocents, and benefit nobody but the war profiteers.
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@James It would also serve Trump and Netanyahu well. A nice little needed distraction.
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@James
It is called operation Timber Sycamore and has since been partially declassified. We armed ISIS to take out Assad.
Everyone would be well fed, and by everyone I mean the defense industry and Israel’s Likud.
The wrench in the our pie was of course Russia, who came in and actually bombed the daylights out of ISIS, aided by Iranian troops on the ground.
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@James...Did you fully support Trump when he announced the removal of ALL troops from Syria and thousands of troops from Afghanistan? Did you support Trump when he supposedly considered ignoring NATO Article 5? Or, did you demand that WE honor our sacred commitments to our "friends" and "allies"?
I just want to ask: What threat is Iran to the United States? What has Iran ever done? They have supported militias that have helped defeat ISIS and are merely trying to defend themselves from Israeli and US expansionism in the Middle East.
Last time I checked it was the US that supported the jihadists in Syria and is aligned with the bloodthirsty regime that is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are in no position to argue about "backing terrorists".
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@Luke Ramundo
I totally agree with you Luke. As an Australian, who abhors the fact that our governments always want to tag along with America's military ventures, I see that intervention in the Middle East by America, and by European powers over the last 100 years, as the source of current imbroglios. I travelled through Iran last year and most of their very young population (who I found to be strangely supportive of America, and ignorant of America's past meddling in their country's affairs) wants an end to this stand off and the establishment of some kind of peaceful, working relationship with the US and other western nations. They see their government as a problem, but America's backing them up against the wall will never lead to any rapprochement. I can also say, I felt much safer there than I think I might in the US, where, however, I have never been.
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@Maria Yeah people forget that Iran prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979 was a world leader on the Human Development Scale. It also has an incredibly large middle class that is willing to study American culture.
My belief is that it is America's alliance with Israel that drags us into these conflicts with countries that really are no threat to us. Same can be said for most other muslim countries in the Middle East.
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@Maria...On behalf of all repentant Americans, I sincerely want to apologize to you and all of our Aussie friends for interfering in your internal affairs during the period of 1941-45. It was wrong for us to demand that Australia support our expansionist crusade in the South Pacific. We pledge to never repeat that terrible affront again. Please find it in your hearts to forgive us...And, yes, America is a very dangerous place. Stay away.
Pompeo who comes from the middle of Arkansas has no clue about the Middle East. And because the US doesn't need Iranian oil there is no interest in building productive relationships with the country. As a result, the Trump administraion does what they think will be looked at positively by Fox news and its viewers vs what is in the true strategic interests of the US which is de-escalation of tensions between Sunni and Shia, dealing with the escalating water supply shortages, investments into employment creating technology to get young unemployed people off the streets, support in moderately moving towards demorcartic structures, etc., etc.
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@W
You miss the primary causal factor: Israel has bought our Congress and determines our foreign policy.
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The hubris of this Administration is leading us into another war in the Middle East. Our military will be called upon one more time to meddle in another country's business and government. A popular vote in the US would be a resounding "No." to invasion and bombing of Iran. That said, we never dump a president when we're in the middle of a war, and Mr. Trump knows it. The next terrorist act could incite a full blown response.
2
I know there are men and women in the U.S. government who study these issues on a daily bases; and know the characters involved far better than I do. However; ANYONE who has even a fleeting knowledge of the Middle East knows the struggle for ultimate power in that bloody part of the world knows that the eternal struggle for supremacy between the Sunni`s and Shiite forces is all consuming. The idea that the Shiite majority government is not going to ultimately embrace the Iranians is ludicrous. The rise of ISIS is directly linked to the fact that Sunni`s see their isolation in Iraq as something unacceptable. When Saddam Hussein was running roughshod over the Shiite majority it was the same truth in reverse. Until this never ending turf battle is resolved by peace or war; there will NEVER be stability. One can either choose sides (which the U.S. has done for decades by backing Saudi Arabia after the fall of the Shah of Iran) ; or just stand back and let the chips fall where they may. Since Iran has become the bogeyman since 1978; the idea of keeping Iraq away from Iran since Hussein`s death is a pipe dream. The Unholy clash between the 2 branches of Islam goes on and on. No one in the West is going to ultimately stop that. The best one can hope is contain their abilities to escalate this into a nuclear nightmare. That involves Russia as well. There are too many vested interests involved for there to be a happy ending.
4
We seem to have a gift for piling new blunders on top of old ones. What can be the anticipated result of this? It will only alienate Iraq and spoil the very fragile stability that the US spent so much blood and treasure to establish..
Also who helped to kick ISIS out of Mosul? The same militias on Pompeo's list.
11
Our Secretary of State is absolutely wrong in this!
5
It’s way past time for the US to stop doing Israel’s bidding. The American taxpayers should not be paying for Israel’s security. Iran is a country with a culture that goes back thousands of years it is no threat to the US.
11
Didn't George HW's advisers tell him in the early 60s that if he invaded Iraq it would destabilize the country, we would end up fighting a never ending insurgency, and Iran would fill in the vacuum among the problems that he would have. He didn't, but his son did a little over a decade later and now we are suffering the consequences another decade plus later.
10
The US is the major reason for an entire region destabilized and in a hot shooting war for more than two decades.
The US has killed way more civilians in the region than any other armed forces or terrorist organizations.
Without the US and their support for Saudi Arabia, quite a few tens of thousands terrorists would not have been activated or organzied in the region killing scores of people.
So, based on US government logic, the US is trying to declare the only local force that is currently trying to end the bloodshed and war, a terrorist organisation: Iran.
If there is a military that this region needs to get rid of and declared a foreign terrorist organization, it is the US armed forces with all its branches.
And there is one more terrorist organization that needs to be brought to an end: the US government that has waged these wars for more than two decades.
Put the war lords Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump with all their gang members like Rumsfeld, Cheney, Clinton, Schwarzkopf, Powell, Pompeo, Albright, Bolton and all the other war mongers in a local court and let the people in the Middle East decide what to do with them.
Seen from experience here, I can tell you for certain that you will not need reservations for a return flight for these criminals.
What the Trump administration is doing is an overture for an invasion in Iran and for genocide because there is oil in Iran and the Saudis need some support in a religions war of Sunni vs Shia.
Stop it before it starts!
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What's with Trump and Iran?
Is Trump going to end up making a similar disastrous mistake like Dubya did with Iraq?
Some of the ideas are really nutty, like designating the Revolutionary Guards in Iran to be terrorists.
Trump abhors Iran yet cosies up to KSA (not to mention good friend Vlad). Go figure.
13
@Bruce Stafford, it not so much Trump and Iran but Kushner and MbS and Bolton and Pompeio in the services of US and Saudi Oil.
Trump alone doesn't explain this mess they are about to make.
This goes back to the 1950s.
This is a combined effort to get even for being kicked out of Iran in 1979 and for making Saudi Arabia finally victorious over the Shia devils.
Pure madness on the part of the US government, but what do you expect from a country that, for many decades, did not understand any type of local culture or politics and has allways relied exclusively on military power - mostly against civilians.
The US is by far the most hated country country in the region, way ahead of Israel and Saudi Arabia.
And there is ample reason for it.
So the next logical thing is attack the next enemy, in this case Iran.
16
There are those who whisper in administration ears. They are the sole "expert" sources of information on foreign intelligence, foreign affairs. Whisperers all have the same mindset. They work for the CIA primarily, some for the FBI and other "intelligence" agencies. They are pushed by the MIC, mostly armament CEOs.
Once upon a time they were countered by smarter people from the State Dept. On infrequent occasions Presidents were also smart enough and informed enough to say No. And then Korea occured. After that there were Sandanistas and other non-obedient voices in South and Cetral America. The whisperers became bodies lock-stepped onto Presidents when their Director became President himself in 1988.
Nothing was learned from the grotesque intallationof the Shah of Iran after they had kicked out the freely elected President. Nor Allende. Nor Kadaffi. Nor Saddam.
From the beginning, it was Republicans who had ears most in tune with whisperers, but even the general public saw that W was wearing no clothes, so they found two compliant Democrats with promises of riches, fame. One was elected and he put the other in State. The whisperers had done "Check" and "Mate" perfectly.
Even the winning of the Presidency by a renegade was OK. He heard no voices but his own and Money's. His dictatorial desires installed a serious group of obedient extremists around himself, the dictators personal, ignorant whisperers. And there we are: Hate Iran, Russia, China, even friends.
4
Haven't we poured enough of our treasure and the blood of our troops into building a "democracy" in Iraq? A "democracy" in which our vision is that the minority keeps the Shiites in check (just like Saddam). and both sides do what we tell them to do. What could possibly go wrong?
4
@highway
The US never wanted a "democracy" in Iraq.
It simply wanted a puppet government that would put the US "national interest" ahead of Iraqi interests.
It wanted the oil, which is why the oil ministry was the only Iraqi ministry that wasn't allowed to be vandalized,
but the Us allowed the great museums and the library with ancient manuscripts were allowed to be destroyed.
1
"Analysts said Mr. Pompeo’s trip and its focus on Iran is an attempt to lend Trump administration support to embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel before national elections set for April 9. Iran and Israel are longtime enemies. Mr. Pompeo has denied such intentions."
If this is not his intention, what is it? Just another stick in the hornet's nest? We have been mired in Middle East hostilities for the past fifty years, at least, and at some point we should get serious about butting out.
13
This is insane. Iran fought ISIS in Iraq and basically saved the country and now we are trying to designate those loyal to Iran as terrorists?
Let’s not pretend this hysterical Iran policy has anything to do with US interests. Pompeo represents Israel, first and foremost.
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All of this was foreseen and foretold. When Saddam ruled Iraq he had the Suuni minority (20% of the population) ruling over a Shiite population that made up 50% of the population. He was able to do that by educating and employing only the Suunis in government positions, including the police. By invading Iraq, America upset the balance that was created by having Iran (a Shiite population) counter and check the Suuni population at it's border. Now the two biggest enemies in the Middle East can find common ground in their shared sectarian goals. Anyone who knew anything about the Middle East knew that that invasion would only strengthen the Iranian regime but if you brought up any reservations you were shouted down as unpatriotic and "you didn't support the troops". We can't put the genie back in the bottle but next time we should listen to those who are experts. As Dick Cavett said in his last opinion piece for this newspaper "We put our faith in people who didn't know Shiite from Shinola".
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If the US Government is looking for terrorist organizations let me recommend they start in Idaho and Michigan and the Republican Party. Maybe they should check on the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.
30
All these "terrorist designations" and yet majority of the world population believe US is the bully and a much bigger troublemaker in Middle East than anybody Pompeo, Bolton and Netanyahu accuse of terrorism. That trick doesn't work!
19
"It would be a first instance of the United States designating a unit of another government’s military as a terrorist group" Shows you how elastic the US Government's definition of terrorism is.
6
After the horrible tragedy willingly inflicted on Iraq by the United States, maybe apologizing and sending vast amounts of cash to make up for the devastation and the untold deads would be better than dictating a sovereign nation who it can befriend.
18
What did they think would happen after we took out Iran's chief enemy (Saddam Hussein, a secular Sunni) and left behind a Shiite (60/40) majority? That they would suddenly side with Israel and Saudi Arabia? And now we think we can strong arm Iraq into cutting off their Shiite brethren with 5200 troops? Sometimes I don't understand our government.
31
@Andy: Exactly so! And many of us who had devoted our careers to studying the region said so at the time. Ignored and dismissed then, ignored and dismissed now. Reality, however, has a pesky way of asserting itself, as Andy in Illinois rightly states.
11
Why isnt the US also pressuring Pakistan also to surrender the terrorist camps. Why isnt US pressuring the UN Security council to make China accountable for why it is blocking the terrorists to be not listed. Cleaning up the yards starts at your immediate allies.
8
This is very much like: Who's on first."
No one knows and so on.
The results of sticking our noses into areas that maybe do not really concern us.
And it all started when a duly elected official was replaced, over thrown, by the United States and others.
22
An alliance--or at least an end to hostilities--between the US and Iran offers such enormous benefits to both countries that there must be some obvious explanation for the continuation of their long feud.
Such an explanation need not be logical, however. In fact, with Trump and the neocons, plus Netanyahu, as principal players in this absurd conflict, one can assume that the causes are irrational.
In this case, Trump's psychological problems, especially when dealing with President Obama's successes, plus Trump's desire to realize Likud's every aspiration, along with Israel's disproportionate fears of Iran, seem sufficient to explain this Kindergarten-like conflict.
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@SPQR
"disproportionate" fears of Iran? The country whose leaders have been threatening to wipe Israel off the map since the Iranian Revolution? The country for whom Hezbollah is a de facto army in Lebanon (ask Lebanese Christians how they feel about Hezbollah and Iran)? The country that supports Hamas? The country supporting the Houthi rebels in Yemen, a Sunni majority country (Iran and Iraq are the only Shiite majority countries)?
Let me know your definition of proportionate. Or as Maya Angelou ( ironically an anti-Semite herself yet the quote still applies here) said, "when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
According to Trump I thought we were so out of Iraq?
6
@Jim Smith He also said he wouldn’t cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The only promises Trump has kept are those involving slicing and dicing and pitting Americans against each other.
7
The US supported Saddam Hussein and Iraq in the Iraq-Iran war. The US invaded Iraq and deposed Hussein on the false pretense of WMD's. Now The Trump administration attempts to dictate terms of the relationship between Iraq and Iran. Trump says that he reads the bible. Here is a quote he might have missed: "They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind",
27