I suppose after the Shah, the Iranians might’ve wanted to avoid one-man power by dividing up functions (like the Romans after they overthrew their last king) . . . Still, that’s one silly-fucked system they got, if the president’s “plausible deniability” is for real!
I think you guys are being entirely too credulous.
What, as to any of this having happened at all? Or as to Iran being behind it? Or what?
And who is ‘you guys’?
-XT
Hell if I know. Ask Iran.
I would think that an Iranian plot involving a failed car salesman and Mexican drug cartels sounds like the plot of a bad television show, not a credible terrorist plot.
Let’s not forget that the FBI has entrapped supposed “terrorists” in cockamamie plots before. They make contact with them, encourage them to act, then arrest them. I don’t think the government has a lot of credibility when it comes to this stuff anymore.
The president of Iran is not the country’s leader, political or otherwise. Next time the US gets caught on some black op, you personally have “plausible deniability”… because you aren’t in charge. Same deal. Nothing sleazy.
So who in high government would be expected to know about this sort of thing (or not)? The Supreme Leader?
Good point. Better to wait and see where the plot goes, right?
The only case like that I can think of is the “Liberty City Seven,” who did seem pretty freaking clueless even if they did want to make some kind of terrorist attack. There’s a lot we don’t know here, but I’m not sure a case involving people with ties to the Iranian government is comparable.
You seem to be under the impression that Ahmadinejad is Iran’s leader.
He’s no more it’s leader that the President of Israel is the leader of Israel.
The real force is the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei which is why his official title is The Supreme Leader.
As for Iran’s government setup, it’s largely a result of Khomeneini being a fan of Plato’s The Republic.
It’s an example of rule by the intellectuals with himself, and later his successor, as the Philosopher King.
In theory.
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I would think that an Iranian plot involving a failed car salesman and Mexican drug cartels sounds like the plot of a bad television show, not a credible terrorist plot.
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Yeah, I agree (somewhat) with what you are saying. It DOES seem pretty improbable, on the face of it. Of course, in the double and triple think realm of covert intelligence that might actually make this more plausible. Also, from what I read, this guy DID go to Iran, and there were 2 payments made of over $40k to a covert FBI account by someone. If the guy is a failed used car salesman it’s had to figure where he’d get the kind of scratch needed to do all that, let alone pay the proposed $1.5 million that was being asked.
Still…I’m skeptical that this is anything close to cut and dried. There is a lot that is setting off my own BS detector here…FWIW, coming from me.
-XT
So are these philosophers ultimately the ones in buck-stop charge of any black ops?
Might not be a real plot. Definitely too early to openly speculate on Iran’s supposed involvement.
“The name is Bond. Existentialist-Pragmatist.”
In reading about this, the so-called plot was announced back in June.
So why the sudden interest?
Could it be that Atty. General Holder was about to be served a subpoena? (Regarding his role in “Fast and Furious”)
I’ll reserve judgment till more info emerges.
You might want to reserve your wild-ass conjectures as well. Just a thought.
The plotting is supposed to have continued long after June. If Holder was subpoenaed today, he’s not appearing before Congress for a while. I don’t know how announcing a plot yesterday is supposed to distract everybody from that.
In many regimes, the person who is officially in charge and the person who is actually in charge may not be the same person. Deng Xiaoping, for instance, ruled China for 14 years without actually holding any political office. In countries like these, you has to see who holds the actual power, rather than the person who bears the right title.
My point is this: Ahmadinejad either controls, or is closely associated with those who control the Revolutionary Guard, the post powerful force in Iran. Saying that he doesn’t officially have the power to do what he wants doesn’t change the fact that there may be no-one in Iran who can actually stop him from doing what he wants.
So, who (if anyone in Iranian top-level government) could reasonably be expected to be behind this kind of thing or know about it – the President, the Supreme Leader, or who?