Word: hizballah
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...that exists outside the Iranian state apparatus. It is funded by semiprivate charitable institutions, called bonyads, that manage the Shah's confiscated assets, which are enormous. The bonyads aren't part of the government, either. They-and the Revolutionary Guards-are the patrons of Iran's external terrorist organization, Hizballah. In fact, there are Iranian Revolutionary Guard trainers currently stationed in Lebanon. Complicated enough for you? I haven't even begun to conspire...
...West, to the Israelis and also to Khamenei: I'm not a powerless figurehead like my predecessor, Mohammed Khatami. My friends in the Revolutionary Guards give me veto power over any deal. It would not be difficult for Ahmadinejad to send the message, via the Guards, to both Hizballah and the military wing of Hamas, which is based in Damascus and funded in part by Iran: Let's rile up the Israelis and start a crisis. Let's change the subject from the Iranian nuclear negotiations. At the very least, let's lay down an opening marker in the negotiations...
...this was an Ahmadinejad ploy, it might well backfire. The Israeli response has seriously damaged Lebanon economically. The Lebanese patchwork of constituencies that governs the country may now conclude that it can no longer tolerate a heavily armed Hizballah substate in the south. And if it can be proved that Iran instigated the mess, the members of the U.N. Security Council might be nudged toward a tougher stance on the nuclear issue-and the threat of international sanctions, which could have terrible consequences for Iran's oily economy. But it is also clear now that a major consequence of George...
...patiently broker a real Middle East settlement-mostly because he refused to speak to Yasser Arafat or demand concessions from the Israelis-helped lead to Israel's unilateral withdrawal policy in Gaza. Peace isn't made unilaterally. An unstated part of Israeli policy was that provocations by Hamas and Hizballah would have to be met with real force, lest it seem that Israel was merely retreating from a tough fight. Furthermore, it was the Bush Administration-not the Israelis, not the Palestinian Authority-that insisted the Palestinian elections go forward last January, with disastrous consequences. "The only people who want...
...Back in the spring of 2002, when the moderate government of then President Mohammad Khatami sought to cozy up to the United States, Iran ordered Hizballah to call off its rocket attacks on Israel's northern border. Iran's then Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi flew to Beirut, and made an uncharacteristic public call for Hizballah to "exercise self-restraint." Within days, the border went quiet. But with an agitator like Ahmadinejad at the helm, Iran is more likely to watch the conflict burn than help to put it out, all the while playing to the crowds in the streets...