Scott Ritter
It is no longer a question of if Americans will die in a conflict with Iran, but when.
The United States has long been engaged in a secret shadow war with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), dating back to the American invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003.
This conflict took the lives of hundreds of American troops and hundreds more IRGC members. The Iranian opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and the inability of the U.S. to militarily defeat Iranian forces inside Iraq, was just one reason that the Obama administration decided to withdraw American troops in 2011.
Since that time, a tenuous truce has existed between the U.S. military in the region and the IRGC. Even when American troops were re-deployed to Iraq in 2014 to help defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), they did so in concert with IRGC who were fighting alongside Iraqi Shiite militias. American forces inside Syria likewise avoided direct conflict with the IRGC, which was aiding the Syrian military.
But now, the Trump administration has made the decision to designate the IRGC a terrorist organization. This little reported move will have large consequences, shredding the prior truce and putting the lives of thousands of U.S. service members at risk.
“Today, I am formally announcing my Administration’s plan to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Qods Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” the president announced on April 8. The designation will take effect on April 15.
Trump further noted, “This designation will be the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as an FTO,” adding, “This action sends a clear message to Tehran that its support for terrorism has serious consequences. We will continue to increase financial pressure and raise the costs on the Iranian regime for its support of terrorist activity until it abandons its malign and outlaw behavior.”
The Quds Force, a unit within the IRGC that specializes in operations outside Iran, has long been viewed as a terrorist organization by the United States. The IRGC as an entity, however, operates as an integral part of the Iranian government. As such, the U.S. has deliberately avoided classifying it as a terrorist organization out of concerns that doing so would hobble diplomatic efforts with Iran and even destabilize the greater Middle East.
Given the fact Washington is currently engaged in a global “war” on terrorism, this designation—which places the IRGC on the same footing as ISIS and al-Qaeda—means that the U.S. is in effect at war with Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to the designation on Monday. He recommended in a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that—given the ongoing overt and covert support of U.S. military forces in the region for groups that have been involved in terrorist acts against Iran—the Supreme National Security Council should designate U.S. Central Command as terrorists.
The Iranians have long assessed that U.S. intelligence services and Special Operations forces have used militant Iranian opposition organizations as proxies in a bloody, undeclared war to undermine the legitimacy of the Iranian government and harm the IRGC. For example, last February, a Baluch separatist group, Jaish al-Adl, claimed credit for the bombing of a bus carrying IRGC soldiers, which killed nearly 30 people. The IRGC claims that the group received its instructions, training, and equipment from U.S. personnel operating out of Afghanistan.
Likewise, in September 2018, a group calling itself the “Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz” launched an attack on an IRGC parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, killing scores. Iranian state media put the blame for this attack squarely on the U.S. and its Gulf allies, remarking, “The attack comes after a U.S.-backed campaign to stir up unrest in Iranian cities fell flat. The effort, known as the Hot Summer Project, sought to whip up public anger over water and electricity shortages in the face of a protracted drought.” Foreign Minister Zarif likewise blamed the United States and Gulf states. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been foursquare behind the U.S. in trying to thwart Iranian influence in the region, the four-year war in Yemen being the most catastrophic example of how far they will go to achieve that goal.
Then-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley adamantly denied that the U.S. had anything to do with the September attack.
Zarif’s recommendation to designate Central Command as terrorists was echoed by Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee. The IRGC also made its position clear regarding the FTO designation. “If the Americans take such a stubborn measure and endanger our national security we will put in place counter-measures in line with the police of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the IRGC’s commander-in-chief, declared. He further noted that if this happened, U.S. forces would no longer be safe in the region.
The impetus behind Trump’s decision is clear—he wants to support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu himself acknowledged as much in a tweet: “Thank you, my dear friend President Donald Trump, for deciding to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Thank you for answering another one of my important requests, which serves the interests of our country and the countries of the region.”
The other request referred to by Netanyahu was the decision made in May 2018 to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement. Since that time, the U.S. has found itself increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, especially Europe, which has opted to remain a part of the agreement, which it notes that Iran continues to fully comply with. The decision to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group is viewed by many as a mechanism for increasing pressure on Iran by expanding the scope and scale of economic sanctions against entities doing business with the IRGC. The timing of the announcement is seen as an attempt to influence the outcome of elections in Israel, where Netanyahu is struggling in a bid for reelection.
But another reason might be lingering resentment within certain American circles over the role played by the IRGC in fomenting resistance to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. “In Iraq, I can announce today, based on declassified U.S. military reports, that Iran is responsible for the deaths of at least 608 American service members. This accounts for 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011,” declared Brian Hook, the U.S. Representative for Iran, in a briefing this week.
Left unsaid was that during that same time, the U.S., through the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), was engaged in its own undeclared war with Iran on Iraqi soil. Far from being the fallout of unilateral Iranian acts of terrorism, the U.S. combat deaths referred to by Hook were part and parcel of a conflict waged in the shadows that only ended with the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq in 2011.
Given this direct link between American and Iranian aggression in Iraq, there can be no doubt that the Trump administration understands that by designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, it has placed the lives of thousands of American personnel still serving in the Middle East at risk. There are currently between 1,000 and 1,500 U.S. troops inside Syria, and they are surrounded by IRGC-affiliated forces and militias. And more than 5,000 U.S. troops are stationed inside Iraq, where the IRGC controls powerful Shiite militias as well as significant portions of the Iraqi military.
There can be no doubt that if the U.S. acts kinetically against the IRGC, Americans will die. That this policy has been implemented in support of the re-election campaign of an Israeli prime minister, in furtherance of an effort to undermine the Iranian nuclear deal that was likewise implemented at the behest of Benjamin Netanyahu, means these brave men and women will not have died in the service of their country. They will have perished as pawns of a policy conceived in Tel Aviv that places the political fortunes of a foreign politician above the lives of our heroes.
Scott Ritter is a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD. He is the author of Dealbreaker: Donald Trump and the Unmaking of the Iran Nuclear Deal (2018) by Clarity Press.
Interesting to me that “WILLY” here endorses ZeroHedge “comment boards”, “comment threads”, as one of the best on the web. Willy, Purposo Anonymi, DachsieLady seem a band of brigands, to me. They alone have reduced this thred to the level of comments on GOOD SUBSTANTIVE POSTS on ZeroHedge. Welcome aboard, sailors of the sea (Phoenicians, I understand) and rulers of the air. Troll on!
Willy April 12: Your assertion that ZeroHedge has “As an aside, it would do Dr. Fetzer well to look into ZH’s comment system…one of the best on the WEB.” Damned, sir, by faint praise. I suggest you log in to that site and ask such longtime stalwarts as the hedgeless_horseman his opinion! Trolls and worse corrupt, inflate and otherwise de-ball the comment threads. I am a ZHer for a long time, and I can confirm.
I think only the first minute of the video about Malibu I just posted a link to is relevant. But here is another stunning video of the Camp Fire:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/Malibu/FMfcgxvzLhdxvGkNMrxjlxGBdVgpDRhL?projector=1
These were not ordinary fires. I don’t believe the current explanation, that Pacific Gas & Electric caused these fires by not trimming trees around power lines. The trees aren’t what burned.
I think only the first minute of the video about Malibu I just posted is relevant. But here is another stunning video of the Camp Fire:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/Malibu/FMfcgxvzLhdxvGkNMrxjlxGBdVgpDRhL?projector=1
These were not ordinary fires. I don’t believe the current explanation, that Pacific Gas & Electric caused these fires by not trimming trees around power lines. The trees aren’t what burned.
Great, another war for the Esau/Edomites.
Israel is rather simple.
It gets billions in US foreign aid. Spends a lot of it on US made arms and intimidates the US Congress.
Meanwhile the Israeli Mossad runs rampant and unrestrained inside the US, doing a lot of mischief such as nuclear 911.
Even the mini fission nukes the Mossad used on 911 were originally from US military surplus stocks.
With friends like that, who needs enemies.
From my perspective, the CONgress is far more responsive to the eternal victim Israel and illegal immigrants than it is to it’s own citizens. I would almost bet many of our elderly on SS receive less than an illegal immigrant on….welfare…benefits…whatever euphemism they call it now.
CONgress seems totally irrelevant to more and more people. It is clear that have not concern for \”the greater good\” or \”the common good.\” They only think about money and power for themselves and winning the next election.
The whole illegal immigrant crisis looks like both sides want and need it and find uses for it. One side just wants total destruction of the USA and the other side is corrupt, greedy and incompetent.
It looks like for some unfathomable reason, I am going to get the captcha this time and that usually means my comment will not post.
CONgress is passe’, outdated…an anachronism. We don’t need them any longer and have not for many years. Everyone can be represented via the Internet. Imagine the money saved and the bribes (also called lobbying) thwarted. We need a People’s Convention to bring all this about. It’s time to take advantage of our numbers and use that power for the COMMON GOOD!
Let me put it succinctly: Government sucks and always has.
Captcha this!
OK, let me get my cards on the table…lest I wind up with elderly acne or hives. I have no doubt that 911 was a nuclear event initiated by the Mossad…an agent named Harrah (sp?). Full blown multi-kiloton nukes were used. They were not “brought in”. They were there from the initial construction (incidentally, I watched the towers go up as I worked a few blocks away for Allied Chemical on Rector St.). This is all spelled out in minute detail in Khalezov’s 911-Thology. The Third Truth (the first truth being that given to the general public…the second being that given to the CONgress and the Third Truth being reality. It’s a huge book…1096 pages. Few have read it in it’s entirety, but I have read it twice and constantly refer back to it as reference material. I started my 911 journey with “Crossing the Rubicon” and then went to Wood’s “Where Did the Towers Go”. All these books offer something, but Khalezov offers the most believable. BUT (and what the heck do I know, really), unlike Dmitri, I think other means were in place as a distraction.
Can anyone imagine the turmoil that would be created if the general populace realized there are nukes beneath most skyscrapers because they are in high end real estate areas. The insurance companies demand it. Think.
AND, Israel knows this and I will go out on a longer limb by saying this is what Israel holds over this government.
Sound crazy? Not really…and certainly less crazy since MOST of us here KNOW Sandy Hook was a drill.
A government (read corporation) capable of fake killing 20 children is capable of any insanity.
So, I would highly recommend reading Khalezov before you jump on my case.
I would not jump on anyone’s case about 9-11 unless I perceive that they have a clear agenda to have a “theory” that is based on an agenda and not based on anything resembling fact.
Dr. Fetzer has had at least one and I think maybe two guests on his radio shows over the years that have the idea that there are “bombs” built into the basements of all the large skyscrapers in NYC. One fellow said his father was a construction and real estate developer in NYC and and he had seen papers showing the building codes that actually required this for most all buildings. I forget the reason for these laws but it was something about in certain dire emergency situations there needed to be a way to take these buildings down fast and clean and clear, as much as possible. I cannot recall if they had to be nukes, and seem to recall that other explosive agents were supposedly used. In fact, way back then, I guess in about the 1930s and 1940s when the first really tall buildings went in, I do not think mini nukes and micro nukes were even in existence so it was probably the standard demolition explosives then.
I just have never seen anything in the statutes and administrative regulations in writing on the record proving these laws were actually in effect, only hearsay from a few people. It seems to me that there would be a record, the statutory code books for the federal, NY state statutes and the NYC ordinances. If no one wants to show me that, I pretty much discount the exact Khalezov ideas. I have heard him speak many times and he sounds knowledgeable and convincing but it is either fact in law or it is not.
It does seem that the main heavy heavy destruction work was done by nukes but there seem to have been other smaller first sequenced steps using other agents. The “explosions” appear to have originated from WITHIN the buildings, not from being flown in on a drone/UFO/ET technology, the latest theory, or deposited from a source or vehicle outside of the building.
I also would not at all put it past the plotters and planners to actually have destructive steps that were planned in simply to be misleading rabbit trails and not doing any substantial destruction because they knew people would be doing their own inquiries and investigation and would not buy the official ridiculous story.
Dr. Wood certainly had some good ideas as far as ways of looking at the data, but I doubt some of the data she saw was as she claimed it was, e.g., cold instead of hot etc.
To me once you acknowledge it was from something that happened in and to the buildings, you automatically make the planes a joke, except perhaps for a few ancillary planes in the area as maybe of the rabbit trail nature. But so many of the major theories seem to want to not speak about No Planes Theory or the planes at all and still have their destructive agents theories put forth, e.g., Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth.
Throughout it all, there seems to be for many of the “theories and theorists” a strong effort to NOT have the perpetrator issue looked at in relation to those entities we are not allowed to speak about working in and with the CIA or other top level US Government entities.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” —Voltaire”
Reading his book is well worth the time. There is a four hour interview out there on YT, but even with that length, in no way can it compete with 1096 pages of detailed information….and the revised book was written well after the interview. The first book was wiped from the WEB, but it is possible to find the first 11 chapters somewhere…possibly scribd (and they also have the revised book).
Wood’s book is well done (well done and the copy I have is published in China…I found that quite interesting) and DEW is the only thing I can reconcile for those strangely burned and melted cars. Khalezov offers a very weak explanation for those.
At least 15 years ago, I stumbled across something called the Godzilla project or option…something of that nature. It dealt with a program specifically in NYC about using nukes to demolish skyscrapers. It was wiped clean quickly. I can not find a trace.
Incidentally, Dr, Fetzer is quite familiar with Khalezov’s work. I do not know if he has read the entire book. Dmitri was on the writing staff of VT for a while. Actually, the good Dr. and myself had quite a discussion over Dmitri a while back.
The “toasted cars” which Judy Wood showed also appeared on Malibu Beach after the big fires earlier this year. Unbelievable devastation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=rcuwtHIwlSQ&fbclid=IwAR0k2aVSGc1h9KjkWX3tqZdgNBw5zjMMDU7OqYchePu_ro5N8MPrdYS165U&app=desktop
Great thoughts, Lady. I don’t think Woods data and analysis can be dismissed easily. Jim himself taught me the “Onions with Red Herring” theory that many different “Devices” or trails are often laid down to confuse researchers. After the DEW’s in California matched fingerprints with the peripheral twin towers damage I was even more convinced. It is quite the bone of contention between Jim and I, as I talk about on the March 29 radio show.
https://153news.net/watch_video.php?v=63XOXKSRMG9Y
We are working on a calendar and archive right on Jim’s site, and a way for him to be contacted if his comment fans are having trouble posting, like I did for so long. Great to have you here, we’re going to make our ability to converse and take action as a community more effective.
As I look back and remember some of the guests who came on Dr. Fetzer’s radio show years ago claiming that it was standard construction practice and building code law in New York City to build in explosives at time of original construction, those guests seemed to be a set-up propaganda operation to provide a rationale for how thousands of pounds of conventional demolition explosives could have been installed without objections from any quarter. This phony rationale could even explain how Dr. Steven Jones’ theory of thermite-plus-explosives could work.
My comments regarding how some claimed it was regular construction practice required byc legal code ostensibly for the purpose of needing to have a way to quickly demolish a tall building in certain emergencies is crucial to accepting Khalezov\’s theory. (Easy peazy – Just substitute nuclear for conventional demolition agents.) Importantly, IF there was no code, law, or regulation for buildings of certain height to have explosives built in at time of construction, and that factoid is obtainable and verifiable but curiously has never been secured, it makes the likelihood or probability of a one-off elaborate and tedious nuclear installation being at done at time of original construction per Khalezov’s theory extremely low.
As I look back and remember some of the guests who came on Dr. Fetzer’s radio show years ago claiming that it was standard construction practice and building code law in New York City to build in explosives at time of original construction, those guests seemed to be a set-up propaganda operation to provide a rationale for how thousands of pounds of conventional demolition explosives could have been installed without objections from any quarter. This phony rationale could even explain how Dr. Steven Jones’ theory of thermite-plus-explosives could work.
My comments regarding how some claimed it was regular construction practice required by legal code, code ostensibly for the purpose of needing to have a way to quickly demolish a tall building in certain emergencies, is crucial to accepting Khalezov’s theory. (Easy peazy – Just substitute nuclear for conventional demolition agents.) Importantly, IF there was no code, law, or regulation for buildings of certain height to have explosives built in at time of construction, and that factoid is obtainable and verifiable but curiously has never been secured, it makes the likelihood or probability of a one-off elaborate and tedious nuclear installation being done at time of original construction per Khalezov’s theory extremely low.
(Scott Ritter is not now and has never been the real deal and the subject of this article is not unrelated to 9-11 matters.)
If the insurance companies required (and why would they not) some way to efficiently bring buildings down with minimum damage to adjacent areas and expensive real estate, code or laws would mean little. In the case of the WTC, if you read 911-Thology, the number of devices (because of the fairly innovative way these buildings were constructed) would be prohibitive and highly susceptible to error because of the tens of thousands needed per tower. It would seem to me, nukes would be the only almost full proof method.
Very important to read the book to get a full understanding of HOW these devices worked and where they were planted.
Now, I will say this and have no way to substantiate my claim. I watched the towers being built. It was my pastime when lunch came. One could peer through these holes in the surrounding fence and watch the foundation being dug. There was a time those little “windows” were closed off. It’s too long ago to say when or for how long. But, it did happen. Was this when the devices were placed? Who knows.
Willy said,
“If the insurance companies required (and why would they not) some way to efficiently bring buildings down with minimum damage to adjacent areas and expensive real estate, code or laws would mean little.”
Had to stop reading there.
Insurance companies cannot require things, things especially of this nature, that are against the law.
DL..That’s a disappointing response…I’ll leave it at that.
Not to mention, Willy, that they likely have “blackmail bombs” under every oil rig, nuclear power plant and major dam in the country. I’ve heard the decommission of many of those has been a top priority for the white hats.
Not a simple operation!
Good to see you back.
I have often thought along those lines, but had nothing to back it up.
Israel has some power over the US, INC…..and it goes beyond being a supposed friend and ally for damn sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLxpNiF0YKs
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool
One of the most pertinent and important articles I have read in a long time. Figured this is as good a place to put it as any: (do not miss the vid!)
XXXXXhttps://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-11/day-america-diedXXXXX
As an aside, it would do Dr. Fetzer well to look into ZH’s comment system…one of the best on the WEB.
Comments are a big deal, Willy. Much bigger than “they’ let us figure out. Check out the radio show with Jim, we talk about it a lot, I think you’ll find it a fun listen.
https://153news.net/watch_video.php?v=63XOXKSRMG9Y
We are working on a calendar and archive right on Jim’s site, and a way for him to be contacted if his comment fans are having trouble posting, like I did for so long.
This is a fluff piece not worthy of mentioning. Just my opinion.
https://ehpg.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/israel_did_911.pdf
The U.S. Government is totally corrupt now. Any wars are not for the U.S. but for Israel. No one should join the totally corrupt U.S. Military. Remember Trump avoided service and found a doctor to discover some bone spurs so he could stay home and make money while others died or were injured in another corrupt war Viet Nam also based on lies. Do not sign up under any circumstances. The 9/11/01 con was a massive scam with Muslims as patsies. Israel did it with the aid of Bush, Cheney and General Myers and other four star generals who obviously stood down and did not lift a finger to defend the country that day. These are all criminal traitors who should be charged with treason and indicted and prosecuted and jailed for life but instead they are free as birds enjoying the good life. The Injustice Department is totally corrupt. They even gave Israel lover liar Trump a pass. This country is a disgrace today. Just say NO. Read the article at the above link and many others too.
Winfield J. Abbe, Ph.D., Physics
NuttyYahoo and Prince Kushy have surrounded Trump with antiMAGA mossadists, hell bent on WW Three, and we all get a front row seat.
Judas goats selling out America.
I vaguely recall Scott Ritter having trouble about certain issues related to pedophilia.
I have wondered whether he was set up by the Bushies, because he accurately said there were no WMD in Iraq.
This is an intelligent and informative article.
Nothing has changed. Trump is a liar and a disappointment. Israel still runs the US, INC.
HI Willy (and Tony) , in case you didn’t catch it, here’s that radio show with Jim where I gave you both a shout out….
https://153news.net/watch_video.php?v=63XOXKSRMG9Y
I address some things that might interest you regarding this comment. Talk to you later!!
We are working on a calendar and archive right on Jim’s site, and a way for him to be contacted if his comment fans are having trouble posting, like I did for so long.