The annual US State Department report on terrorism was released today, and as they have in other recent years, the State Department declared Iran to the “the world’s foremost” state sponsor of terrorism. The report accused Iran of “destabilizing” the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.
This is an interesting region for the US to look for evidence of sponsoring terrorism, as Iran’s backing of militias in Syria and Iraq has chiefly been about fighting against ISIS, which the same US report confirmed was responsible for more terror attacks than anyone. The US and the Shi’ite militias have fought on the same side in Iraq for years, which makes the characterization of this as destabilizing, let alone terrorism, particularly odd.
The reality, however, is that as a matter of law there are only three “state sponsors of terrorism” in the world who would even be eligible for this report: Iran, Syria, and Sudan. Iran is the biggest of the three nations, so they inevitably end up the “top” of the list from the US perspective.
The Trump Administration has been particularly keen to emphasize this status for the sake of ratcheting up sanctions against Iran, trying to replace sanctions the US was obliged to lift over the P5+1 deal with new ones of different pretexts.
Of course Saudi Arabia has absolutely nothing to do with terrorist sponsorship. Remind me again where most of the 9/11 hijackers were from, and where was the leader of their organization from and what Middle Eastern royal family he was connected to? Remind me again where the wahabbi tradition is strongest and if anyone has ever tried to, oh, carve a Sunni caliphate through violence and terror?
Wow I would say our state department is in danger of losing all credibility. The state I am most afraid of is the USA, not yet at terror level but disquiet certainly.
You may give them too much credit. What credibility?
Truth is, John, our State Dept. lost credibility years ago. It’s been at its lowest in the Administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and it’s losing credibility in the Trump Administration.
So long as there are Obama hold-overs in the State Dept., there will be no credibility. Rex Tillerson, as Secretary of State, must clean up house in his dept. and kick out all of those Obama hold-overs. Maybe then, there’ll be a modicum of credibility.
A list? Well the, the usa is #1, israeli is #2,but it could be a tie for #2 with saudi arabia…
Who has Israel terrorized only the Palestine terrorists . The Israeli Arabs are doing much better than the neighboring Arabs .
Ever been there? No? Of course not…The Pals are under illegal military occupation under israeli military law. What would you do if your people were under occupation from foreigners?
Thankfully our two invasions and 12 years of sanctions didn’t destabilize Iraq. Only those pesky Iranians interfering with our destruction of that country could qualify. What large gonads we have.
“Destabilizing” has always been code for opposing us. Iran does. If the code is understood, this is even honest. Unfortunately, the code is used because it is so widely not understood, and taken instead at face value by those minimally informed.
We have not been able to destabilize Russia the more we try the more Unified Russia becomes .We are trying to hurt Russia by holding the price of oil down , The Russian government just cuts their pay in 1/2 and if oil goes lower they say they will cut it again . Would our government do that .
… Well, they torpedoed the American middle class. Can’t have them destabilizing the Deep State. Government workers are the last bastion of the working class, for all that they have done to destroy the private sector. Although they may be paid well now, the future of their generous pensions are in doubt.
Candidate Trump’s program to restore the middle class comes with a hitch; the Deep State understands full well that if the U.S. middle class is restored, the DS faces more substantial opposition. Therefore the U.S. middle class must remain in terminal decline.
Takes one to know one.
We got Iran beat hands down Yugoslavia Iraq , Afghanistan , Egypt and the Arab spring ,Georgia , Ukraine , Libya and Syria . And those countries have all really been hurt . Iran just mostly threatens Israel over this same time period . I’am not saying Iran is not dangerous . I think they are . No one has ever defeated Muslims because if you kill them they go straight to heaven and get their 72 black eyed virgins and win anyway because that’s what they wanted all the time .