Sometimes I think the MSM journalists coordinate their memes. Time Magazine talks about the Revolutionary Guards in the same misleading way as the BBC. After pointing out that the British hostages were taken by the Revolutionary Guards Naval Forces, Time “explains”:
The IRGC is a powerful, separate branch of the Iranian armed forces. Soaked with nationalist ideology, it has grown into a state within a state in Iran, with its own naval, air and ground forces, parallel to official government institutions. The IRGC is directly controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, the ultimate font of religious and political power in Iran. The IRGC also has its own intelligence arm and commands irregular forces such as the basij — a voluntary paramilitary group affiliated with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — and the Quds force, which has been accused by the U.S. of supplying material to Iraqi insurgents bent on killing American soldiers. The IRGC is also known for its clandestine activities including logistical support for militant organizations like Lebanon’s Hizballah, which it helped to set up in the 1980s, and several Shi’a militia groups in Iraq. The IRGC’s activities are often a thorn in the side of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, which is forced to repair the ruptures in Tehran’s diplomatic relations with countries the Guard has inflamed with its self-directed adventures. Nevertheless, it has been one of Iran’s main instruments in projecting power and influence over the last few decades.
Because the IRGC’s actions are always interwoven with the religious-nationalist ideology of Iran’s hardliners, extricating the British may be complicated.
Time would have us believe that the IRGC are something other than the regime–look at all the heartburn they create for those poor diplomats at the Foreign Ministry. And unlike the rest of the government, the Revolutionary Guards are tied in to the wackos, the “religious-nationalist…hardliners.”
One should ask Time’s journalists just what exactly they believe this regime is, if not a bunch of religious fanatics. Religious fanaticism is what the Islamic Republic of Iran is all about, and has been since its creation by that great Islamic Fascist, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The IRGC was created in order to protect the regime from anyone who might prefer freedom to Islamic Fascism, and to extend the domain of the Islamic Republic outside Iran’s borders.
The IRGC IS the regime, not some aberration.
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9 Comments
Brian:Time and Beeb have fallen hook, line and sinker for the old “good cop - bad cop” routine.
Or worse, they’ve conjured it (the routine) out of thin air, and believe their own fantasy.
Mar 25, 2007 - 4:57 pm David Smithson:There are reports in the Turkish Daily News, my favorite newspaper, that the US is going to attack Iran next month. No invasion. Just a little exercise by sea and by air.
If this happens at least three democratic senators will have strokes and die in the middle of speeches demanding the President be impeached. Hopefully, they will be from states with Republican governors.
ML:
These reports have been going on for quite a while. Most likely is that the Brits will pay some sort of ransom and the negotiations fraud will continue.
Mar 25, 2007 - 5:27 pm winston:the entire regime is rogue. why don’t these dumb journalists get it?
ML:
Various reasons. 1) It is “good for Bush” which they hate; 2) Everything bad in the world MUST be our fault; 3) If by some chance some other country that does something bad, it has to be an accident or…some rogue element running amok (and probably our fault, again).
Mar 25, 2007 - 7:26 pm Brian:Winston wrote:
ML answered:
FWIW, I agree completely. The power of ideology (leftist egalitarian utopianism) plus that of hate (of Bush), when added to that of guilt (it’s all our fault because we’re so well off), produces a blindness that is difficult to overcome.
It is a willful blindness. Or so I believe.
ML:
mostly. the desire to be invited to the right dinner parties also plays a big role.
Mar 25, 2007 - 9:47 pm rich:As conservatives on the very leftist Upper West Side of Manhattan, my wife and I can assure all that ML’s comment about dinner (and cocktail) parties is on the mark. Neighbors are friendly and all smiles until they connect us with our bedroom window, with its American flag and pro- American slogan.
Mar 26, 2007 - 1:33 pm Ritchie Emmons:I’m afraid that I’ve dismissed the MSM as a news source. I’ve boycotted the NYTimes, WPost and Boston Globe (I live in Boston) and refuse to any longer purchase those papers. I’ll see headlines in some of those publications when I go to their on-line versions to read a sports article. I simply disregard whatever the headline is. It may indeed be true, but I’m not sure that it is and I’m definitely not sure that this bit of news is truly important or just given prominence because it puts Bush/Republicans in a bad light.
I wonder what the status of the Iraq war would be in the American psyche if the media, academia and Hollywood were instead as conservative as they are indeed liberal. Methinks that the war would be going quite nicely right now what with the accomplishments being made in the ancient caliphate in just 4 years with a historically low number of casualties. If only….
Mar 26, 2007 - 8:16 pm Winston:Btw, rogue elements are being shot in Iran.
Mar 27, 2007 - 1:56 am simone bellandi:… e non è finita, col suo ottimo italiano affinato qui a Firenze, avrebbe potuto pure leggere l’articolo mi pare di ieri sul Corriere della Sera firmato da Guido Olimpio, coincidente con quei reports.
saluti e congratulazioni
Simone Bellandi
Mar 27, 2007 - 5:52 am David Smithson:I don’t know…Ace (Ace of Spades) says that Americans actually like watching the US attack by sea and by air. And I tend to agree. It seems so much less complicated. People can associate it with the Fourth of July. Heck, even Hillary, I mean President Clinton, did his share of AF and Naval bombardment!
Mar 27, 2007 - 10:06 amAnd this phrase Mr. Blair is using…”a new phase”. People are wondering what it means. Is it a hint ? Could he be making reference to the phases of the moon. Because that could mean that….Hillary is Back!! And the worst time of the month for her is right around next week sometime.
Be afraid, Mr. mullah. Be very afraid.