Unqualified Offerings

In a little-remarked column from January of this year, Michael Ledeen points to reports that Iraq moved some of its WMDs to Syria for safekeeping. Oh, I’m sorry. Did I write “Iraq” just now?

Iran. He said Iran had recently moved some of its WMDs to Syria for safekeeping.

Couldn’t these people at least show us the respect of coming up with some new lies? It’s a wonder anyone has room to move in Syria, with all those other countries’ ‘weapons of mass destruction” lying around. I fully expect that in 2007 we’ll learn that Hugo Chavez has shipped his WMDs to Syria for safekeeping, and in 2010, it will be the People’s Republic of China.

Ledeen’s source for this is supposedly Jane’s, which he calls “a serious publication,” presumably to distinguish it from National Review Online, but the only spoor of this Jane’s report to be found is a single second-hand report that seems to stem from WorldTribune.Com, which tells us only that Jane’s cites “diplomatic sources,” but not whose diplomats or how they supposedly know this. It also doesn’t tell us why, since the whole point of Ledeen’s article is that Bashar Assad’s regime is hanging by a thread, the Mullahs think Syria counts as “safekeeping” compared to Iran where, you know, the Iranian military has a lot of secret bases and stuff. Ledeen doesn’t tell us this either.

Via Axle Steele, who discusses a different part of the same wearyingly long article:

But rather than keeping a promise, lets instead listen in to something I completely missed in January written by our favorite Certainly not an iranian catspaw. Michael Ledeen. Also known as the bodisapa of bat-shit crazy. The point of which seems to mostly be that we need to go to war with Iran right now, before they team up with Syria (maybe) and Al-Zalqwari (not a chance in hell, and by the way I was evedently wrong about him being dead, and really I’d become convinced). And about how easy it would be to invade the arab areas of Iran and steal all their oil (no really that is in fact what he’s saying). So I ask, why does Iran want us to think this, is it because there are people on their side of the fence agitating for war. (yes).

Ah, but here I can be of assistance. Because Ledeen is actually suggesting we infiltrate the Arab population of oil-rich Southwestern Iran the same way Iran has infiltrated the Shiite population of Southeastern Iraq. Okay, not quite the same way, which was that the American and British militaries installed Iran’s tribunes as the ruling power there at considerable cost in blood and treasure – but I’m losing the thread. Thing is, Ledeen wants us to “support” the Iranian Arabs “provided we take care to stress that we have no interest in any separatist impulses, but seek to support all Iranians who wish to exercise their human rights” and sure, that’s exactly how it would go. The payoff (for his alleged Iranian masters) is in the conclusion of the column:

It sure beats drawing up a list of bombing targets, doesn’t it?

So you see, Ledeen is rather energetically trying to get us not to bomb Iran in this column. The whole column reduces to “Hate Iran? Pick on Syria!” Interesting, eh?