Gee, This Is Encouraging
The former head of Pakistan's army, retired General Mirza Aslam Beg, has just revealed that an Iranian delegation came to him and asked how to head off military action against Iran. General Beg, being helpful and all, gave them advice – take a hostage. Israel to be specific.
Retired Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg said he suggested their government "make it clear that if anything happens to Iran, if anyone attacks it — it doesn't matter who it is or how it is attacked — that Iran's answer will be to hit Israel; the only target will be Israel."
Since Beg spoke in an interview with The Associated Press, echoes of his thinking have been heard in Iran, though whether they result directly from his advice isn't known.
Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, was quoted last week as saying that if "America does make any mischief, the first place we target will be Israel." The threat was disavowed the next day by Brig. Gen. Alireza Afshar, deputy to the chief of Iran's military staff, who said it was Dehghani's "personal view and has no validity as far as the Iranian military officials are concerned."
And on Tuesday, Israel's vice premier, Shimon Peres, warned that "Those who threaten to destroy are in danger of being destroyed."
In the AP interview that took place several weeks before these threats were exchanged, Beg said a delegation from the Iranian Embassy in Pakistan had come to his office in January, seeking advice as Western pressure mounted on Iran to abandon its nuclear effort. Beg said he offered lessons learned from his experience dealing with India's nuclear threat.
So, there are helpful people all over just now, aren't there?
This is real simple – all the helpful people who think only of short term political gain are virtually guaranteeing that there will be a nuclear war.
UPDATE: And The Anchoress is burned out on politics, too. I understand where she's coming from. The toxicity is becoming a major problem.
